Karaites

Who are the Karaites?

“The Karaites are a Jewish sect which does not recognize the authority of the post-Biblical tradition incorporated in the Talmud and in the latter Rabbinic works.”‘

The main hallmark of the Karaites is their rejection authority of the Oral Law and the belief in the necessity of direct, independent, and critical study of the Bible. A “Karaite” reads the Mikra (the Pentateuch) and recognizes the Scriptures as the exclusive source of religious law.

In Karaite Judaism, the burden of interpretation rests on the individual and not a central authority

They formed in opposition to the "Rabbanites" who accepted the Oral Torah as Divine

History of the Karaites

The Karaites are first mentioned in written sources in the late eighth century. They themselves claim to be descendants of dissident sects of the First Temple period, and the rabbinical tradition traces them back to opposition trends of the Second Temple period.

Eli Barnavi’s A Historical Atlas of the Jewish People

Why don't they believe that the Talmud is a Divine source?

1. The word “Torah” (in the sense of Divine Instruction) is always used in the singular. Were the Mishnah a genuine (oral) Torah, surely somewhere in Scripture the existence of two Torahs would have been mentioned at least once.
2. If the Tannaitic Sages have received their tradition through an interrupted chain of tridents going back to Moses himself, how could disagreement arise among them? They should have been of one mind in every particular.

Modern Karaite Communities

• The only established Karaite community with its own synagogue is in Daly City, CA.
• There are approximately 30,000 Karaites worldwide. The majority live in Israel and comprise a substantial community there, making endogamous marriages much easier.

• The Karaite siddur is mostly Psalms and prayers woven together with biblical verses

• Karaites follow patrilineal descent

• Many in the Orthodox community refused to acknowledge Karaites as Jews; however, a 1984 teshuva of the Conservative movement established the Egyptian Karaites as Jews who were eligible for membership in their synagogues

• Karaites qualify for the Law of Return in Israel and their marriages and conversions are recognized under their own religious court system in Israel

• women are forbidden to enter into the synagogue when they are menstruating

• women are allowed to divorce their husbands

• Karaites remove their shoes in synagogue and prostrate on the ground

Karaite Motto

"Search Scripture well, and don't rely on my opinion"

- they do not believe that man's word can ever override the written word of God

Passover

• The word hametz, in addition to its usual translation of “leavened bread,” also means vinegar, which is made by the process of fermentation. Since leavening happens as a result of fermentation, most Karaites will not eat fermented foods or drink fermented beverages during Pesach.

• Among the Karaites of Egypt, the preparations for this holiday began as early as January. It was the responsibility of the chairman of the Matza Committee to take all the necessary steps: to buy wheat, grind it, and bag the flour in ritually clean bags. It was his responsibility to get the kasher bakery ready and to start baking the massot seven weeks before Passover.
  
  Those who used to make the masaot were Egyptians. They came from a village north of Cairo. Once they arrived at the Karaite Bet-Din, they were under the strictest possible regulations. They were all sent to the public bath house, after which each member received a set of clean white clothes. During the making of the massot, no bread or non-kasher food was allowed inside the bakery. The workers all slept in a special place in the bakery building. In all, they were 11 persons: a dough maker and his helper; a person to cut the dough and weigh each piece to almost a half a pound; and two groups of four each, who sat at two long oak tables spreading the dough to a certain size. The last one spread it until it was almost transparent (18 inches in diameter) and then threw it to the baker, who then baked it to a golden color and afterwards let it cool. When ready, it was wrapped in a special paper, usually 5 or 10 pieces per package. They were then put in a crate made of palm branches. The massaot were stored in a special room for future delivery. The person who used to wrap the massot was responsible for the daily production count as well as for the total production.

Bar Mitzvah

• The concept of “bar mitzvah” doesn’t have the same religious significance in the Karaite community, since individual responsibility for the mitzvoth are incumbent on a person once he or she is old enough to understand and perform them. The “age of majority” in the Karaite community is situational, although many will point to the age of 20, the age of eligibility for military service according to the Torah[1], as a milestone.

Hanukkah

Because the story of Hanukkah is post-biblical[1], it wasn’t celebrated among Karaites

Kashrut and Dietary Laws:

The Jewish Calendar and its Festivals:

• both Rabbanite and Karaite Jews relied on the observation of the aviv and the new moon sightings to set the proper times for the festivals, as outlined in Leviticus 23.
• The Rabbanites adopted a fixed calendar while the Karaites base their calendar on the actual observation of the moon.

Counting of the Omer:

• • Leviticus 23:15 commands the Israelites to begin counting the 49 days of the omer from “the day after the Sabbath.” Rabbinic Jews interpret “the Sabbath” as the Pesach festival, and begin counting on the evening of the second day.[1]. The Karaites interpret “the day after the Sabbath” literally, and begin counting the omer on the first Sunday after the first day of Passover, which means that Shavuot is always observed on Sunday.

Shabbat

• Unlike Rabbanites, who will keep food warm on a blech (a large, flat piece of metal covering a stovetop to keep food warm) or an oven turned on beforehand, Karaites will only eat cold food on Shabbat, or food that has been kept warm in a Thermos® type of container.
• the Sabbath is holy and hence sexual intercourse is not permitted during that day.
• Because it is not permitted to have wine inside the synagogue, the hazzan reads the blessing outside the sanctuary.
• no candles are lit and not lights are allowed to be left on during the Sabbath

Karaite Anthology

Anan Ben David

V. SABBATH
I. Carrying a burden, which is forbidden on the Sabbath, signi- 4

fKs only the act of carrying upon one’s shoulder, since it is written: they carried upon their shoulders (Num.7:9).

2. [It is forbidden to light fire in Jewish homes on the Sabbath or to permit fire kindled before the arrival of the Sabbath to con- tinue burning into the Sabbath, as it is written: Ye shall not kindle f i e in all your dwellings upon the subbath day (Exod. 35: 3).J

3. One might perhaps say that it is only the kindling of fire on the Sabbath which is forbidden, and that if the fire had been kindled on the preceding weekday it is to be considered lawful to let it remain over the Sabbath. Now the Merciful One has written here: Y e shall not kindle fire, and elsewhere: thou shalt not per- form any work (Exod. 20: IO), and both prohibitions begin with the letter taw. In the case of labor, of which it is written: thou shaltnotpet-iorm anywork,itisevidentthatevenif theworkwas begun on a weekday, before the arrival of the Sabbath, it is n-
a r y to desist from it with the arrival of the Sabbath. The same rule must therefore apply also to the kindling of fire, of which it is written: Ye shall not kindle, meaning that even if the fire has

been kindled on a weekday, prior to the arrival of the Sabbath, it

must be extinguished.
4. In the case of Work, just as one is forbidden to perform it him-

self, so also is he forbidden to have others perform it for him. [So, too, in the case of fire, one is forbidden to make others kindle it for him on the Sabbth, just as one is forbidden to kindle it him- j self.] Thus it is clear that we are forbidden to leave either a lamp or any other light burning on the Sabbath in any Jewish home.

Rosh Hashanah. Yom Truah

Yom Teruah, interpreted by Karaites as “Day of Shouting,” as in “shouting in prayer.”

• For Karaites as well, Yom Teruah is a day of prayer and rest, but “It is a joyous holy day and Karaites took full advantage of that. It was the day to pay parents and grandparents a visit, a day to have parties and celebrations.”[1] The shouting to God in prayer on this day also begins the process of teshuva–repentance that will culminate on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, which is observed similarly in both communities.
• Torah specifically commands us to sound – teru’ah – the shofar on Yom Kippur to announce the Jubilee year (Lev. 25:9), the Rabbinic interpretation that Yom Teru’ah is intended to be celebrated by the sound of the shofar, does make sense to the Karaites.
• Karaites do not blow the shofar, because neither the temple nor the altar exist in Jerusalem.

Conversion

For centuries the Karaites didn’t accept converts; they were an insular community, afraid of foreign influence

On August 1, 2007, 14 individuals (10 adults and four minors) from varied backgrounds and areas of the US and Canada participated in the first known Karaite conversion ceremony in over 500 years,