tworthy historian. His _Megillah 'Afah_, written in
classic Hebrew, is a valuable source of information on the critical
period in which he lived. He won the esteem of the Polish nobility by
his secular attainments. To judge from his correspondence, he must have
been on intimate terms with Vidrich of Leipsic.[27] Of the grammarians,
Jacob Zaslaver wrote on the Massorah, and Shabbatai Sofer was the author
of annotations and treatises.[28] Our taste in poetry and grammar is no
longer the same, but the polemic and apologetic writings of those days,
called forth by the discussions between Rabbanites and Karaites and by
the constant attacks of Christianity, are still of uncommon interest.
Specimens of the former kind are the polemics of Moses of Shavli, which
caused consternation in the camp of the Karaites. Of the apologetic
writings should be mentioned the reply, in Polish, of Jacob Nahman of
Belzyc to Martin Chekhovic (Lublin, 1581), and the _Hizzuk Emunah_ of
the Karaite Isaac ben Abraham of Troki. In the latter the weakness of
Christianity and the strength of Judaism are pointed out with trenchancy
never before reached. The work stirred up heated discussions among the
various Christian sects, with the tenets of which the author was
intimately acquainted. It was translated into Latin (1681, 1705),
Yiddish (1717), English (1851), and German (1865, 1873). Voltaire says
that all the arguments used by free-thinkers against Christianity were
drawn from it.[29]

In philosophy, mathematics, and medicine, the three main branches of
medieval knowledge, many Slavonian Jews attained eminence. Devout
Karaites as well as diligent Talmudists found secular learning a
diversion and a delight. For the lovers of enlightenment Italy,
especially Padua, was the centre of attraction, as France and Spain had
been before, and Germany, particularly Berlin, became afterwards.[30]
Towards the middle of the sixteenth century we find young Delacrut at
the University of Bologna, the philosopher and Cabbalist, known for his
commentaries to Gikatilla's _Sha'are Orah_ (Cracow, 1600) and Ben
Avigdor's _Mar'eh ha-Ofanim_ (1720), and his translation of Gossuin's
_L'image du monde_ (Amsterdam, 1733). His famous disciple Mordecai Jaffe
(Lebushim) spent ten years in the study of astronomy and mathematics
before he occupied the rabbinate of Grodno (1572)[31] At the request of
Yom-Tob Lipman Heller, Joseph ben Isaac Levi wrote a commentary on
Maimuni's _Moreh Ne