How much do you know about the Karaite religion?

[Justcurious]

This morning I read a most interesting article in a Finnish newspaper about the Karaite religion, which derives its origin from Judaism. Members of this minority are to be found in Lithuania, Poland and the Ukraine. According to the article, based on an interview with Karina Firkaviciute, the leader of the Karaite Cultural Society, there are only 257 Karaites left in the world.

Much of the research concerning this minority has been done in the University of Helsinki.

"The Karaim are a non-talmudic Jewish group, and they were located mainly in Crimea, where they became turkicised in language. From Crimea, the Karaim spread to Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine. Their main settlements today are Trakai, near Vilnius (Lithuania), and Halich, near Lviv (Ukraine). Today, the turkic Karaim language is understood only by 50 people in Lithuania and 8 people in Ukraine. The Karaims in Poland and Crimea do not use Karaim. There is also a Karaim diaspora around the world." (http://www.geocities.com/Athens/9479/krim.html#kar)

http://www.helsinki.fi/lehdet/uh/198j.html

[KettleWhistle]

Karaitic Jews are those that don't believe in divine authority of Talmud. Their source of divine guidance is Tanah--the Jewish Bible. They reject Talmudic rules and many Talmudic interpretations of the scripture because those were written by men who wrote the Talmud and didn't come from God.

This web site has a good FAQ: http://www.karaite-korner.org/karaite_faq.shtml

[Womble]

The Karaim, I believe, are considered the descendants of the Khazars- a group of Turkish tribes that built sort of a semi-nomadic empire in the central Asia and adopted 8th century Judaic herecy called Karaism as their official religion. There's less than 5000 of them left in the world.

[KettleWhistle]

Karaites are not related to Khazars. Some of the European Karaites are of Turkic origin, but most are Safardic Jews. And it isn't a heresy. It is just a different way of interpreting the scriputure. 8th century is considered the Golden Age for Karaites. After that their numbers diminished, yet there are more Karaites out there than their theological opponents, the Rabbis.

[SteveK]

Hi Justcurious,

There is a big Karaite community here in Israel. I think around the city of Ashdod. According to some figure that floated by me, the numbers of the practicing Karaites in the world today are in the thousands. Certainly, your figure of 257 of them left in the world today is somewhat vastly understated.

Anyway, you can turn to a prime source for info about them at:

http://www.karaite-korner.org/

You can also contact one of the leadership here in Israel who speaks fluent English by the name of Nehemia Gordon at email ngordon4@yahoo.com . From time to time I get news updates from the Karaite organization here in Israel just for interest. I never met or spoke with anyone from the organization.

The Karaite are a sect of Judaism which rejects the Oral Law or the Talmud
as binding, and they interpret the Torah only. Remember, that the Rabbis, and their Rabbinic Judaism were once only a sect of Judaism too.

Though, my basic question for the Karaite is if they became the national Torah leadership for Israel, then on what basis would they run the legal system? The Talmud is the codified knowledge not only for the standard in Jewish living, but also for the structure and functions of the Torah sovereign nation.

My problem with Rabbinic Judaism is that now we have the current problem
of Jews being locked into the mentality of being Jews through institutionalized Judaism internationally, and not yet identifying as truly a Jewish nation through being one united sovereign nation in Israel.

And, I don't see that the Karaite offer any better potential for such national Torah leadership than Rabbinic Judaism. All are religious movements, and all literally teach Jews to be just as good Jews, if not better, in places like Brooklyn and Los-Angeles than they can be in Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv.

[KettleWhistle]

So you believe that Israel should become a theocracy?

[SteveK]

Hi KW,

A "theocracy" comes under the definitions understood by religious movements.

The Jewish heritage is not about religous movements, or the separation of state and religion. Our Jewish heritage is about the resolution of God into State. Tragically, the Jewish People deviated from that from the beginning, and very early in our history found the diaspora much more enticing with the
justification of "Have Torah. Will Travel".

In other words, the Jews are the "Chosen People" not to make God into just the personal God, but into the political God.

[KettleWhistle]

The Jewish heritage is not about religous movements, or the separation of state and religion. Our Jewish heritage is about the resolution of God into State.

On what basis do you make these assumptions? It is my understanding that while many Jews did travel during the good old times of the Temples, and they have established several colonies and Diasporas, neither the centrality of the homeland was lost, nor did the majority live or actively participate in the religious life. Rather, the religion was the domain of the priests, and everyone else lived secular, but Jewishly secular nevertheless, lives.

[SteveK]

Hi KW,

The ultimate purpose of the Jews is stated quite explicity in the Torah:

EXODUS (19:3-6):


"And Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him out of the mountain [Sinai], saying, Thus shalt thou say to the House of Jacob, and tell the Children of Israel; You have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I bore you on eagles' wings, and brought you to Myself. Now, therefore, if you will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then you shall be my own treasure from among the peoples; for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak to the Children of Israel."

All of us Jews are to be to the level of the Kingdom of Priests under God.

I also think that the following Torah passage wraps it up in a nutshell:

DEUTERONOMY (6:20-25):

If your child asks you tomorrow saying, "What are the testimonies and the decrees and the ordinances that HaShem, our God, commanded you?"

You shall say to your child, "We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and HaShem took us out of Egypt with a strong hand. HaShem placed signs and wonders, great and harmful, against Egypt, against Pharaoh and against his entire household, before our eyes. And He
took us out of there in order to bring us, to give us the Land that He swore to our forefathers. HaShem commanded us to perform all these decrees, to fear HaShem, our God, for our good, all the days, to give us life, as this very day. And it will be a merit for us if we are careful to perform this entire commandment before HaShem, our God, as He commanded us.

[KettleWhistle]

Well, SteveK, how would you say that could work? I mean, what particularly would people be doing in such a state? How would the state be ran? What would the lifestyle and culture be like?

[Womble]

Karaites are not related to Khazars. Some of the European Karaites are of Turkic origin, but most are Safardic Jews. And it isn't a heresy. It is just a different way of interpreting the scriputure. 8th century is considered the Golden Age for Karaites. After that their numbers diminished, yet there are more Karaites out there than their theological opponents, the Rabbis.

Well, the Karaim themselves consider themselves descendants of the Khazars, partially at least:

http://www.turkiye.net/sota/karaim.html

Crimean Karaims are people of Turk(ic) descent who have adopted Karaism. This movement could be described as a return to the roots or sola scriptura. Although the Karaite reformation never became a mass movement, an ethnic mixture of Alans, Cumans and a number of Turkic Kipchak tribes in Crimea and northern steppes of Black Sea, as well as the ruling junta of Khazaria (not all the Khazars) converted to Karaism. These people became known as Karaims, thus combining the religious denomination with ethnonym. The following pages are about the native people of Crimea, their ancestors, the Khazars, and the areas they settled.

Religion has played an important part in forming the Karaim people. In the 8th century, Karaism was initiated by Anan ben David in Mesopotamia. From the 8th to the 10th centuries, the Karaims were subjected to the rule of Khazar Kagan. It is recorded in the 13th century that the Karaim congregation practised in Solkhat, the capital city of the Crimean Tatars. Karaism is Mosaism, an independent, non sectarian, monotheistic religion of Abraham. Anan Ben David, the founder of the actual Karaite religion, preached about a return to the written word of the Old Testament. He refused to recognize the Talmudic thought. This religion is distinct from Rabbinical Judaism.

[Womble]

Hi KW,

The ultimate purpose of the Jews is stated quite explicity in the Torah:




All of us Jews are to be to the level of the Kingdom of Priests under God.

I also think that the following Torah passage wraps it up in a nutshell:

Nothing of what you have quoted indicates a need for non-separation of the religion from the State. All of this refers to being faithful to God on the individual level.

[KettleWhistle]

Well, the Karaim themselves consider themselves descendants of the Khazars, partially at least:

http://www.turkiye.net/sota/karaim.html

Crimean Karaims are people of Turk(ic) descent who have adopted Karaism. This movement could be described as a return to the roots or sola scriptura. Although the Karaite reformation never became a mass movement, an ethnic mixture of Alans, Cumans and a number of Turkic Kipchak tribes in Crimea and northern steppes of Black Sea, as well as the ruling junta of Khazaria (not all the Khazars) converted to Karaism. These people became known as Karaims, thus combining the religious denomination with ethnonym. The following pages are about the native people of Crimea, their ancestors, the Khazars, and the areas they settled.

Religion has played an important part in forming the Karaim people. In the 8th century, Karaism was initiated by Anan ben David in Mesopotamia. From the 8th to the 10th centuries, the Karaims were subjected to the rule of Khazar Kagan. It is recorded in the 13th century that the Karaim congregation practised in Solkhat, the capital city of the Crimean Tatars. Karaism is Mosaism, an independent, non sectarian, monotheistic religion of Abraham. Anan Ben David, the founder of the actual Karaite religion, preached about a return to the written word of the Old Testament. He refused to recognize the Talmudic thought. This religion is distinct from Rabbinical Judaism.

That may well be true about the Crimean Karaim, but there is much information on Karaite thought originating with the Sefardic Israelites prior to 8th century. Karaite-Korner web site says the following on the subject:

Didn't Anan ben David found Karaism in the 8th century? No. Anan ben David was a political leader who convinced the Muslim authorities not to allow the Rabbanites to continue persecuting those Jews who believed in the exclusive authority of the Tanach.

The Rabbanites often credit Anan ben David with founding Karaism, yet Karaite-Korner claims that Karaism was founded c. 1500 BCE

Additionally, I am usually very sceptical about any claims of links to the Khazars. There is very little that's known about them, and the archaelogical and scientific expeditions into the areas of the former Khazarian kingdom number at about a dozen. Yet, there has been much speculation about the Khazars and their influence on the Jews. Much of that was used and abused for political purposes, and thus got significantly distorted.

[Ariksan]

There are two groups of Karaims, the ones that define themselve through their theological difference to the rabinical Jews (Sephardic/US Karaims) and the second group of turkic speaking Karaim in the former sowjet union who claim to be an ethnic group. Don't mix them!

[SteveK]

Hi KW and Womble,

Individual bricks bind together to form super-structures.

The individual Jews are to bind together in the super-structure of a united sovereign nation with the mortar being our faith, fear, and awe in the Living God of Israel. Again, the personal God is to be elevated to the political God.
The Jews have the unique mandate and knowledge to run a nation under God. This is our ultimate sanctification of Him in the sight of the other nations, and our being a light to the other nations.

Through the history of the Jews, that mortar apparently was never high enough grade to hold us together, and today we need it re-formulated to ensure that required strength for unification.

I feel reasonably certain from the Tanach that God, the Jewish People, Torah, and the Land of Israel are meant to be one inseparable package deal.
And, God repeats through the Tananch how He took us out of Egyptian bondage into our own Land to be His People.

The Jews already have that knowledge about running a Torah sovereign nation. That's what our full heritage is about. My question is who would be the candidates for such national Torah leadership. That leadership must effect not only radical change in the State of Israel, but radical change in you diaspora Jews to make mass aliyah here.

I think that we should first make a big effort to come to grips with the purpose of our Jewish heritage on the level of our service to God as a united nation here in Israel.

The what to do is the most important thing. And, that what to do is built on one's faith, fear, and awe in God. If you can tell the world our Passover story, then do you really believe it yourselves?