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20.03.2002 Nagel, Michael <nagel
Re: Karaite branch of Judaism
20.03.2002 Jockheck, Lars <Lars.Jockheck
Forscher/innen-Verzeichnis
Re: Karaite branch of Judaism
21.03.2002 Czaplicka, John Joseph <Czaplicka
Re: Karaite branch of Judaism
24.03.2002 Wedel, Gerhard <gwedel
Re: Karaite branch of Judaism
I have seen the question and answers on "die Karaeer, the Karaites, die Karaimen, ha-qara'im" and I like to add some basic information on theis subject:
In the Winter term 2001/2002 I had the opportunity to give two lectures in the "Ringvorlesung": "Geschichte, Sprachen und Literaturen der semitischen Voelker" im Seminar für Semitistik und Arabistik der Freien Universitaet Berlin. (University lectures: History, languages and literatues of the Semitic peoples).
My special concern is in Jewish communities in the Medieval period when they used the Arabic language in oral and written communication, though somtimes in Hebrew square script or Samaritan script. There are several sources of this kind, particularly in the Cairo Geniza and Firkovich Collection in St. Petersburg. (I did my Ph.D on the Samaritans.) Today I am working on Transmission of Knowledge in Islamic Societies in Medieval times as depicted in Arabic Biographical Lexica. This includes also Jewish and Christian people when included. Homepage:
www.fu-berlin.de
www.fu-berlin.de
The Karaites are one of the four living Jewish religious communities: Rabbanites, Samaritans, Falaschas and Karaites. The Rabbanite Jews are the majority. But particularly, the Samaritanes I would better describe as Israelites because they split from Judaism in the 4th / to 2nd centuries BC, and they celebrate Old Testament festival until now, and they reject both all Prophetic and Historical books of the Old Testament and the whole Talmud.
Concerning the Karaites there are several questions which are of research interest:
- origin of this most important Jewish sect in Baghdad and Persia in the 8th century CE (Anan ben David) - contradictory "Gründungslegenden" / several tales of origins / legends of origin - questioned share of Karaites in Massora of the Tanach = i.e. inserting vowel marks and other reading markers in the Jewish Bible (or: was Ben Asher a Karaite?) - 10th to 11th century CE: "Golden Age" of the Karaites, Karaite Academy in Jerusalem which produced many scholars - common fate of the Rabbanite and Karaite Jews in Jerusalem when the Crusaders killed both without making any difference between them: in 1099 - emigration of Karaites to Byzantium as consequence of persecution by Christian crusaders - time of blossom under Ottoman rule in Konstantinopel together with Jewish refugies from Spain (Sefardim) expelled by Christian requistadores, since Sulaiman the Magnificent conquered Byzantium and made (now) Konstantinopel the Ottoman capital in 1453 - settlement on the Krim / Crimea and adoption of the Tatar language = Karaimic (written in Hebrew letters) - the Chasar question: did the Chasar rulers (the people also?) adopt the Rabbanite or the Karaites Judaism? the Chasars were a Turk people living around the Caspian Sea, therefore the Arabs called this sea "bahr khasar" = the Chasar sea - (forced) emigration to Lithuania: in 1392 Witold, the prince of Lithuania, settled captured Karaites in Troki near Wilna, in Lutsk and Halicz and made them his special gard to borders and his fortress in Troki - Abraham Firkovitch (1785 - 1874) from Krim / Crimea, the most important Karaite figure in Russia to establish the Karaite Nation: "Russian Karaim of Old Testament faith" - rôle of Karaites in Nazi occupied territories of Poland and Sowjet Russia, especially on the Krim: the "Semitic Nazis" in Waffen SS und Tataren Legion
The beginning of Karaite movement and communities
The Karaites started as a Jewish opposition to the mighty Rabbanim in Baghdad (especially the Geonim = heads of the Jewish Theological Academies in Sura and Pumbedita). They rejected the whole Talmud (i.e. the identification of the Rabbanite Judaism). And therefore they called into question the power of the Rabbanite Geonim to decide on the life of Jewish communities all over the world (in those times around the Mediterranean Sea).
The origin of the Karaites schisma is to be seen as an Messianic movement against the Rabbanites and as an adoption of the Islamic Kalam (speculative / scholastik Theology) with the right to interpret the Holy Scripture by themselves and without orders by scholars from the Academies. They based their study for the first time on linguistic study of the Holy scripts, with the result of a deeper understanding of Semitic languages.The Karaites compared of Aramaic, Hebrew and Arabic in glossars of the Bible translations and recognized how closely related these languages are!
The name Karaite can be derived from two linguistic roots:
- "people who read the Bible alone" = Hebrew mikra;
- "people who make propaganda" = Arabic qara` (like Shiite propagandists).
There is a special Organisation concerned with publication, organisation of congresse etc. in Paris: SAMEK = Societé des Amis des Manuscrites et des Etudes Karaites
Statistics
Today there are about 15.000 Karaites in Israel. Their religious centre is in Ramle.
There are also Karaites in:
Lithuania: in Troki some Hundred;
Poland: Warschau, Krakau and Gdansk;
France: in Paris 100, in Marseille 20;
USA: San Francisco and Chicago and other places; (many Karaites assimilated to American Jews);
Australia / Canada Schweiz: Lausanne 30 families
total more than 20.000
compare:
Leon Nemoy (Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd. edition, Karaites): 15.000 Schur, History, 1992: > 15.000 (p. 141-142)
selected literature on Karaites
1. Articles in Encyklopeadias
- Schenker: Karäer, in: Theologische Realenzyklopädie. 1988
- Nemoy: Karaites, in: Encyclopedia Judaica EJ 1971
- Karäer, in: Encyclopedia Judaica EJ Berlin 1932
- Nemoy / Zajaczkowski: Karaites, Encyclopaedia of Islam EI (second edition) - Firkowitsch, in: Encyclopedia Judaica EJ 1971 -
Nemoy: Kirkisani, in: Encyclopedia Judaica EJ 1971
2. Monographies
Schûr, Natan History of the Karaites. Frankfurt am Main u.a., 1992 (including the newest bibliography)
Schûr, Natan The Karaite Encyclopedia. Frankfurt am Main u.a., 1995
Szyszman, Simon: Das Karäertum. Lehre und Geschichte. Wien 1983 (Le Karaisme. Ses doctrines et son histoire. Lausanne 1980)
Dubinski, Aleksander: Caraimica, Warszawa, 1994
Zajaczkowsky, Ananiasz: Karaism in Poland. Warszawa 1961
Ankori, Zvi: The Karaites in Byzantium. New York 1959
3.Collections of sources
most important:
- Cairo Geniza (now in Taylor-Schaechter-Collection in Cambridge, UK; - Firkovitch-Collection in ST. Petersburg
some texts are translated:
Mann, J.: Texts and Studies in Jewish History and Literature. Philadelphia 1935. Bd. 2
Nemoy, Leon: Karaite Anthology. Excerpts from Early Literature. Translated from Arabic, Aramaic, and Hebrew Sources with Notes. New Haven. Yale University Press 1952
4. the Nazi-question
some material in: Schûr, Natan History of the Karaites. Frankfurt am Main u.a., 1992 e.g.: - Green, Warren Paul: The Nazi Racial Policy toward the Karaites, in: Soviet Jewish Affairs VII, London 1978, 36-44 -
Trevisan-Semi, Emanuela: The Image of the Karaites in Nazi and Vichy France documents, JSS = Jewish Social Studies 32, London December 1990, 81-93 (there are other papers by Emanuela Trevisan-Semi)
sincerely,
Dr. Gerhard Wedel
Seminar fuer Semitistik und Arabistik
Freie Universitaet Berlin