Elijah Bashyazi - Aderet Eliyahu

In order to settle the religious laws he compiled a code entitled Aderet Eliyahu (The Mantle of Elijah). This code, which contained both the mandatory and prohibitory precepts, is rightly regarded by the Karaites as the greatest authority on those matters. In it Bashyazi displays a remarkable knowledge, not only of the earliest Karaite writings, but also of all the more important rabbinical works, including those of Saadia Gaon, Abraham ibn Ezra, and Maimonides, whose opinions he discusses.

The "Aderet" is divided into subjects and these again are subdivided into chapters. The subjects treated are: (1) the fixation of the months (42 chapters); (2) the Sabbath (22 chaps.); (3) Passover (10 chaps.); (4) matzah (7 chaps.); (5) the Feast of Weeks (10 chaps.); (6) Rosh Hashannah (2 chaps.); (7) Yom Kippur (5 chaps.); (8) Sukkot (5 chaps.); (9) prayer. This last subject comprises three parts: theology; ethics; and laws concerning prayers, synagogues, slaughtering, clean and unclean, prohibited degrees in marriage, niddah, the years of release and jubilee, the prohibition of Shatnez, and oaths. The last three subjects were completed, after Bashyazi's death, by his disciple, Caleb Afendopolo.