28 Facts About Karaite Judaism

1.

Karaite Judaism or Karaism is a Jewish religious movement characterized by the recognition of the written Torah alone as its supreme authority in halakha and theology.

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2.

Unlike mainstream Rabbinic Judaism, which considers the Oral Torah, codified in the Talmud and subsequent works, to be authoritative interpretations of the Torah, Karaite Jews do not consider the written collections of the oral tradition in the Midrash or Talmud as binding.

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3.

Karaite Judaism holds every interpretation of the Torah to the same scrutiny regardless of its source, and teaches that it is the personal responsibility of every individual Jew to study the Torah, and ultimately decide personally its correct meaning.

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4.

Judah Halevi, an 11th-century Jewish philosopher and rabbi, wrote a defense for Rabbinic Karaite Judaism entitled Kuzari, placing the origins of Karaism in the first and second centuries BCE, during the reign of Alexander Jannaeus, king of Judaea from 103 to 76 BCE:.

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5.

Karaite Judaism's mother was under suspicion of being a 'profane' woman.

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6.

Geiger's view is based on comparison between Karaite and Sadducee halakha: for example, a minority in Karaite Judaism do not believe in a resurrection of the dead or afterlife, a position held by the Sadducees.

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7.

Later Medieval Karaite Judaism commentators did not view Philo in a favorable light.

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8.

Karaite Judaism's followers were called Ananites; they did not believe the rabbinical oral law was divinely inspired.

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9.

Karaite Judaism was sentenced to death, but his life was saved by his fellow prisoner, Abu Hanifa, the founder of the madhhab or school of fiqh known as the Hanafi.

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10.

Karaite Judaism further said that Shabbat should be kept from sunrise on Saturday to sunrise on Sunday.

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11.

Karaite Judaism adopted many principles and opinions of other anti-rabbinic forms of Judaism that had previously existed.

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12.

Karaite Judaism took much from the old Sadducees and Essenes, whose remnants still survived, and whose writings—or at least writings ascribed to them—were still in circulation.

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13.

Karaite Judaism scholars were among the most conspicuous practitioners in the philosophical school known as Jewish Kalam.

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14.

Karaite Judaism changed the title Hakham to "Hakhan", forbade the use of Hebrew, and in the 1930s reintroduced Yahwist elements.

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15.

Karaite Judaism Jews do not object to the idea of a body of interpretation of the Torah, along with extensions and development of non-rabbinic halakha that strives to adhere to the Tanakh's straightforward meaning.

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16.

Karaite Judaism communities are so small and generally isolated, that their members commonly adopt the customs of their host country.

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17.

KJU teaches various forms of Karaite Judaism and includes Sevel HaYerushah in its course materials.

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18.

Accordingly, the mainstream in Karaite Judaism takes the passage to mean that fire should not be left burning in a Jewish home on Shabbat, regardless of whether it was lit prior to, or during the Sabbath.

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19.

Thread of Tekhelet is a blue-violet or blue thread, which, according to the traditions of Rabbinic Karaite Judaism, is to be dyed with a specific kind of dye derived from a mollusc.

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20.

Therefore, they do not put up mezuzot, although many Karaite Judaism Jews do have a small plaque with the Ten Commandments on their doorposts.

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21.

In Israel, in an effort to make Rabbinic Jews comfortable, many Karaite Judaism Jews do put up mezuzot, but not out of belief that it is commanded.

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22.

Karaite Judaism follows patrilineal descent, meaning a Jew is either someone whose father is Jewish or both of whose parents are Jews, or one who has undergone a formal conversion which entails circumcision for uncircumcised males and formally accepting the God of Israel as one's own God and the people of Israel as one's own people.

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23.

Scholarly studies of Karaite Judaism writings are still in their infancy, and owe greatly to the Firkovich collections of Karaite Judaism manuscripts in the National Library of Russia that have become accessible after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

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24.

Karaite Judaism's Sefer Diqduqei HaTe'amim was an original collection of grammatical rules and Masoretic information.

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25.

Karaite Judaism had a tremendous influence on the world of Biblical criticism.

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26.

Marzouk was considered a hero in Israel; however, his Karaite Judaism identity was downplayed in newspapers, which usually just described him as an Egyptian Jew.

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27.

Person whose mother was a Karaite Judaism Jew is regarded as halakhically Jewish by the Orthodox Rabbinate.

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28.

Maimonides decreed that Jews raised in a Karaite Judaism household are considered to be Tinoq she'Nishba, like babies taken captive by non-Jews; they cannot be punished for their supposedly wayward behavior, because it is the result of their parents' influence.

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