Tobiah ben Moses ha-Avel was a Byzantine Karaite scholar, exegete, translator, and liturgical poet of who studied for a period in Jerusalem. The wide range of his intellectual activities, personal qualities, and life experiences gained him a number of Hebrew honorific titles in addition to conventional Karaite appellations like he-ḥakham (the sage) and ha-maskil (the teacher). Since he had studied with the Jerusalem Karaites known as Mourners of Zion (avele ṣiyyon), his colleagues in Byzantium called him ha-avel (the mourner), but also ha-ʿoved (the worshiper); his great erud…