F?r?z
F?R?Z
F?R?Z , Karaite family, probably of Persian origin, prominent from the 12th to 19th centuries. Its members were authors, physicians, poets, envoys, copyists, and bibliophiles. Approximately 50 members of the family can be traced. They include: al-shams al-kar?m ibn, head of the Karaites in Cairo in 1465 and court banker; and moses ben isaiah, Karaite scholar active in Damascus, 1630–45. An engraver by profession, Moses b. Isaiah is referred to as "Yerushalmi," indicating that he had made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Possibly he should be identified with Moses b. Isaiah F?r?z, the ?azzan in Damascus, a translator from Arabic into Hebrew, mentioned in the itinerary of the Karaite *Samuel b. David. His son daniel ben moses, author and physician, active 1663–1700, wrote Kit?b al-Murshid, an Arabic compendium of the Duties of the Heart of *Ba?ya b. Joseph ibn Paquda. F?r?z included in this a Karaite chain of tradition. He is probably the author of an Arabic introduction to the Karaite prayer book according to the Damascus rite published by Margoliouth. Pozna?ski listed F?r?z' liturgical poetry and also published his polemical poems directed against *Shabbetai ?evi and *Nathan of Gaza.
bibliography:
S. Pinsker, Likkutei Kadmoniyyot (1860), 61, 167–9 (second pagination); Steinschneider, Arab Lit, 158; G. Margoliouth, in: jqr, 18 (1905/06), 505–27; H. Hirschfeld, in: Jews' College Jubilee Volume (1906), 81–100; S. Pozna?ski, in: mgwj, 57 (1913), 44–58, 620; 60 (1916), 149–52; Mann, Texts, index.
[Isaak Dov Ber Markon]