History Karaism

The Karaism can also be written "carasme", "qarasme" or "charasme") is a stream of Judaism scripturalist because based solely on the , that is to say the Hebrew Bible and the refusal of the Oral Law. It is therefore in opposition to Pharisaic Judaism , more exactly in rabbinic Judaism. Its adherents are called "Karaite" or "Karaite" ( qaram), sometimes nicknamed Bnei or Ba'alei haMiqra ("son" or "masters of Mikra ").

Originally, the word "Karaite" and "Karaite" (both versions most often encountered in French to designate the followers) are interchangeable. As the ^nineteenth century , however, the Karaites living in the Tsarist empire (and only them) are redefined as primarily a people distinct from the Jewish people, an ethnic Turkish Tatar , practicing a specific religion after the Mosaic and with his tongue own. The custom was widespread enough then to designate the supporters of this new approach as "Karaites" or "Qaraylar or the First Temple. The Al-Yaakov Hakham Qirqissani thus wrote to ^the ninth century and qu'ananites Karaites were two separate groups. Some historians also recognize an origin of pre-ananite Karaism, not necessarily back that far.

The Karaism enjoyed a golden age of the ninth ^century to the ^eleventh century, according to some sources being adopted by 40% of the world Jewish population, both in Europe and the Arab world . His influence waned gradually, and there would be the twenty-first ^century more than 30,000 Karaites in the world, with 20 000 to 25 000 in Israel , mainly in Ramle , Ashdod and Beersheba.

Summary 1 Before Karaism 2 Principles of Karaism 2.1 Deviations from Judaism Rabbanite 2.2 Similarity with Judaism Rabbanite 3 Anan Ben David 4 The development of Karaism 4.1 For the origins of the movement 4.2 Anan ben David 4.3 Influence of Islam 4.4 The Changing the ninth century - Persia and Babylonia 4.5 The Karaism the tenth and eleventh century - the Palestinian Center 4.6 of the twelfth to the sixteenth century - the center of Byzantine 4.7 The Karaism in Western Europe 4.8 The Karaism Eastern Europe 5 rabbinic reactions 6 In Eastern Europe 6.1 Summary 7 The separation - the Turkish case 7.1 The problem 7.2 The Khazars 7.3 The Karaite Jews as 7.4 The beginnings of separation 7.5 The separation 7.6 The reason the political success of the Turkish case 7.7 Conclusion 8 The modern era 8.1 Eastern Europe 8.1.1 Prior to the Soviet regime 8.1.2 Between the wars 8.1.3 The Second World War 8.1.4 After the fall of the USSR 8.1.4.1 Overall Situation 8.1.4.2 Situation in Ukraine 8.1.4.3 Situation in Lithuania 8.1.4.4 The issue of Jewishness 8.2 Egypt 8.2.1 Modern History 8.2.2 Emigration Israel 8.3 8.3.1 Demographics 8.3.2 Religious Organization 8.3.3 Social and economic 8.4 The United States 8.5 Conclusions 9 Annexes 9.1 Bibliography 10 See also 10.1 Internal Links 2.10 External Links 11 Notes and references

Before Karaism

For Orthodox Jews today, or Jews Rabbanite, the oral Torah, later compiled in the Talmud , was given to Moses on Mount Sinai.

In antiquity, this vision was that of movement Pharisee , but was challenged by other groups, the most famous were the priests of the temple in Jerusalem , heads the movement Sadducee. Besides these, there were other currents scripturalists non-Sadducees for which the oral Torah compiled without popular traditions, religious values.

We do not know the relationship between these Jewish religious movements of antiquity and Karaism later, but it was probably used religious ideas that pre-existed.

After the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem in 70 AD, and the disappearance of the Sadducees who were related to him, the Pharisee Judaism Judaism became dominant, later known as Orthodox Judaism. Both Talmuds compile the oral law from the ^second century and the ^fifth century , and impose their interpretation of the Bible.

The Talmud gives an interpretation of certain passages in the Hebrew Bible , but also adds some commandments ( mitzvot ) that are unclear or absent from it.

Principles of Karaism

Deviations from Judaism Rabbanite

The Karaism gives no credit to any source other than the Hebrew Bible to determine the religious law. Talmudic interpretations are considered only as a human interpretation, acceptable or not as appropriate. The commandments are not clear in the Bible (such as the transmission of Judaism by women) were rejected.

Corollary of the refusal of the oral law, the Karaites reject the principle rabbinical Emounat Khakhamim of "faith in the sages . According to this principle, every pious Jew must give a rabbi , well versed in the oral Torah and its interpretations, which will guide his life, at least religious. The terms "wise", "great in the Torah," "lights" or "decision" means the most important rabbis, who "have access to the" highest knowledge " . The authority of the rabbis, and more specifically the great "wise" in the interpretation of the Torah, can not be called into question by one of his peers.

For the Karaites, the only legitimate authority is that of the priests of the temple of Jerusalem , missing since the destruction of it in 70 CE, priests and that only the rebuilding of the Temple would be restored. The rabbis therefore can not have a monopoly on the interpretation of texts. Each can theoretically participate in the organization of worship, although in practice the Hazzanim (singers) and hakhamim (sages) held a religious role more important. Karaite community in Cairo on the eve of his emigration to Israel, the priests, although denying any reference to the Rabbinate of Cairo, is wearing the title of Rabbi , that of hakham .

The Karaites, or if they reject the necessity of biblical exegesis, or even the need for an oral tradition , refutes this "deification" of predecessors and experts, and do not hesitate to depart if they believe their teachings remain more loyal to the obvious meaning (most obvious) of the verses in their biblical exegesis , both homiletic than legalistic.

From this principle flows the understanding that the determination of religious practice to adopt is at the discretion of each. However, far from being an exhortation to personal choice, it is a call for personal responsibility, as stated in the Hakham Sahl bin Matzliah HaCohen , "know, the children of Israel that everyone is responsible for its soul, and that our God will not hear the words of one who is justified in saying, "my teachers taught me well". "
The Hakham Daniel ben Moses al-Qumisi says even more determined: "He who sits on the experience of exile, without really looking through his own wisdom, is like an idolater .

Despite this lack of standard interpretative absolute movements Karaites knew how to avoid anarchy. The hakhamim , unless they have a community role as prominent as that of the rabbis , were still considered important authority if not definitive, and this in terms of exegesis, halacha and tradition, and exegeses individual tended to conform to theirs.

The Karaites, however, refuse any earlier as definitive exegesis, including that of hakhamim, although they hold strongly considered. The last Hakham al-Akbar (1934-1956) of the community of Cairo, Tuvia Levi Babovich Egyptian Russian origin, met the objection that the Karaism develop a code like the rabbani , pressing the non- -final decrees hakhamim: "Many researchers have established the difference between the foundations of faith and those of Rabbinites Karaites, in that the Karaism each generation builds on the Torah written, and the possibility of the hakhamim generation to change the customs and laws according to the time without deviating to right or left of the letter, while the rabbinic Judaism is based on the words of the wise , which take precedence over the words of the Torah. "

Because of these differences of interpretation, the Karaites are also differences in rituals. The Karaites pray together three times a day with reference to the Book of Daniel . Following the same biblical source, the Karaites pray, prostrating themselves . The Karaites do not generally use the term beth Knesset (synagogue), but he, too distant from kenessa (both terms are derived from the Hebrew Knesset, meeting). Finally, the Karaites, even practicing, move head uncovered (without KIPA ), except at the kenessa and when they read the holy texts.

The calendar used by the Karaites is unlike that of Rabbinites or predetermined or based on the calculation, but on observing the moon. Thus, "the Karaites reject .

Similarities with Judaism Rabbanite

While hotly debated Rabbinites Karaites and points of law ( mitzvot ) and practices, they were largely in agreement on theology.

A century before the formulation of Moses Maimonides , the Hakham Yehuda ben Eliya Hadassi exhibited at Constantinople principles of faith in his Eshkol ha-kofer (1148):

1. God is the Creator of all created beings.
2. God is transcendent and has no equal or partner.
3. The entire universe was created.
4. God called Moses and other prophets of the biblical canon.
5. The Law of Moses alone is true.
6. Knowing the language of the Bible (the Hebrew ) is a religious duty.
7. The Temple of Jerusalem is the palace of the Master of the world.
8. Belief in the resurrection, contemporary with the coming of the Messiah son of David.
9. Final Judgement.
10. Compensation.

These principles are quite similar to the thirteen principles of Maimonides , with the exception of Articles 5 and 6, which put the emphasis on the rejection of the Oral Law and the obligation to learn Hebrew.

The Karaites adhere to belief in eschatological coming of the Messiah and the resurrection of the dead , and why are based on biblical sources . In this area, the Karaites thus have a belief very similar to that of Jews Rabbinites, but differ fundamentally with the Sadducees (who did not believe), another current scripturalist (based on writing), some Karaites consider yet they are the heirs . Adherents to this view attempt to resolve the paradox by postulating the existence of several common Sadducees on the one hand, and a possible earlier this current belief in the resurrection of the dead on the other .

Anan Ben David

We may know a thing about Anan Ben David. His books have disappeared and are known only through quotations in later books, or through attacks, it has attracted.

It is often presented as the creator of Karaism, although it is likely that the movement opposed to the Talmud he had pre-existed. It is even possible that the Karaism itself is older.

Subsequent to the Karaites also sometimes been critical vis--vis Anan. Ya'acov Al-Qirqisani a hakham Karaite of ^the tenth century , says that his disciples followed him like Rabbinites or that his exegesis was heavily tainted rabbinate.

Some historians have formulated based on text Qirqissani and Messaoudi, a Muslim scholar who writes with the same period, the assumption that the separation between the pineapple and Judaism Rabbanite did not place the time 'Anan ben David (they in fact attended the same religious academies), but his great-grand-son, Anan II. Conversely, it is possible that the Karaism has an older origin Anan, based on sects scripturalists earlier.

It seems in any case Anan ben David has given opponents of the Oral Law that they lacked the visibility and tools for the analysis of a Talmudic otherwise impenetrable.

Development of Karaism

Karaite doctrine has gradually been shaped by a series of authors, expressing some differences against each other.

Over time, religious centers Karaites moved, along with the centers of gravity demographic populations Karaites were to change.

hakhamim) have subsequently reduced this pluralism, several schools of interpretation, extent and duration uneven, compete and generate currents as the pineapple , the youngest or the groves.

In general, the non-European Karaites maintain principles close if not identical to those of Rabbinic Judaism , with specific interpretations due to the refusal of the Talmud , while some European currents, due partly depend on historical circumstances, clearly falls outside the scope of traditional Judaism in favor of a redefinition of non-Jewish Eastern European Karaite from the ^nineteenth century.

The origins of the movement

In his polemics with the Karaites in the ^ninth century , Saadia Gaon accuses the movement to be of recent origin, and motivated only by desires for revenge of Anan ben David. His opponent Karaite Solomon ben Yeruham , considered a serious historian, does not refute the recency of the Karaites .

However, less than a century after Saadia Gaon, the hakham Yaakov al-Qiriqissani wrote in his Kitab al-Anwar Anan not founded as ananites and that they do subsequently became integrated with the Karaites .
The contemporary Egyptian Karaite author Mourad el-Kodsi reported an Egyptian document stamped by Amr ibn al-As , the first Islamic governor, dated in the year 20 after Hijra ( 641 ) which are mentioned by the Karaites name. This document would, however, disappeared around the beginning of the twentieth ^century . The origin of Karaism can not be dated with certainty, most Karaites (and some historians, including Moshe Gil) believing that Anan ben David , it was the first major leader to oppose the rabbinate, not the creator of the Karaite movement.

In general, the Karaites tend to trace their movement in antiquity. Thus, the ^eighteenth century , the Hakham Mordecai ben Nissan , incorporating the ideas of Caleb Afendopolo and Eliyahu Bashiatzi ^, , traces its existence to Judah ben Tabb , a contemporary of Shimon ben Sheta (I ^st century AD) .

According to others, descended from the Karaite sect tzaddiqim ("fair" ), not to be confused with tzedouqim, the Sadducees.

In the nineteenth ^century , Avraham Firkovich defended the idea that "the ancestors of the Karaites .

Some Karaites also defended the idea that they descended from the most famous Jewish school scripturalist (therefore opposed to the oral law) of antiquity , the Sadducees. This supposed connection, which was later used by the Karaite of Eastern Europe in order to exculpate himself from the accusation of deicide people , had been convicted in the ^twelfth century by the Hakham Hadassi Judah , who demonstrated their many disagreements theological, whose belief in the resurrection of the dead (denied by the Sadducees). However, it had been supported by medieval rabbis, including Judah Halevi , Abraham ibn Ezra , Abraham ibn Dawd and Moses Maimonides , but this view could also be merely a reflection of a desire to discredit the sect, presenting it as the afterglow the sect of the Second Temple, hated by Rabbinites . It was taken over by one of the founders of Reform Judaism , the rabbi Abraham Geiger , but disputed by Rabbi Bernard Revel , who notices a strange analogy between the halakha Karaite and that of Philo of Alexandria

It was noted that the Karaism would also have in common with the Essenes. Authors (Kowzalsky et al.) Have indeed found a "remarkable similarity" between the writings of hermits of the Dead Sea and the Karaite texts. The writings of Hakham Benjamin al-Nahawendi would influence Magriyah (Men of the Caves), that Abraham Harkavy identifies the Essenes . The author Karaites modern Szyszman Simon defends an Essene origin of Karaite religious doctrine .

Whatever their version of the origins, Karaites do not see themselves as innovators, but rather as the legitimate successors of the original currents of Judaism, whose Talmudic Judaism (or rabbinical ) will be removed.

However, the Karaism if opposed to rabbinic Judaism, it does not totally apart, especially in the case of Anan ben David , who did not hesitate to use methods of hermeneutics Pharisees (the thirteen principles Rabbi Ishmael ) or to take over the ideas expressed by the Pharisees and rejected by them, like asceticism in remembrance of the destruction of the Temple . It would have more, according to some versions, claimed to be the repository of a revelation from the prophet Elijah , attributing to it a role as intercessor closer to the Pharisaic tradition that the Bible reading.

Anan ben David

In ^the eighth century , a Talmudic scholar named Anan ben David , Davidic ancestry supposed protested against the hegemony of the exilarcat and Geonim. He goes, or may be exiled to Jerusalem, where he engages in an intense missionary activity, takes practice discontinued, such as determination of the months according to the lunar cycle, and certain orders of Abu Issa , a heretic Jew who would have preceded by about a century, according to Al-Yaakov Qirqissani (a hakham Karaite historian and the ^tenth century , and repeals other, like the wearing of tefillin.

However, if founded no doubt the current ananite said, and is considered an important figure for Karaism, he is not sure he is the creator: Ya'acov Al-Qirqisani a hakham Karaite of ^the tenth century , says that his disciples followed him like Rabbinites or that his exegesis was heavily tainted rabbinate. Some historians have formulated based on text Qirqissani and Messaoudi, a Muslim scholar who writes with the same period, the assumption that the separation between Judaism and pineapple Rabbanite did not place the time 'Anan ben David (they in fact attended the same religious academies), but his great-grand son, Anan II. Conversely, it is possible that the Karaism have an older origin Anan, based on sects scripturalists earlier.

It seems in any case Anan ben David has given opponents of the Oral Law two bases that had been missing: the legitimacy of Davidic ancestry assumed, and tools for the analysis of a Talmudic otherwise impenetrable.

Anan code, described by some as an attempt to create "a new Talmud," has certainly similarities with the Hanafi Islamic but also borrows the Talmud (specifically the views expressed in the Talmud, but not convinced sages of the Talmud) and Jewish sects. This expansion, which initially attracts everyone leaves the Talmud "unhappy" finally does not find favor in the eyes of Rabbinites or even thousands of Karaites. In addition, very ascetic practice of pineapple is hardly compatible with an ordinary life.

The descendants of Anan ben David to reign Jerusalem into princes, and conduct intense missionary activity among Jewish communities. "Karaite communities ensure their protection through prominent members of the sect, prominent figure in the court of the powerful . The weight of Karaite intellectuals of that time is important, and is all the more if Aharon ben Asher and other Masoretes who fixed the Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible were Karaites, like the Karaites themselves are fond of believe. However, this importance may be overstated in whole or part, with some researchers, as Simhah Pinsker , identified any scholar focusing his research on the Bible as a Karaite.

Influence of Islam

The coincidence of the rise of Islam and that of Karaism was noted by some authors , and, more ancient and more controversial in the circles of Judaism Rabbanite , which was accused of being the Karaites Imitators of Islam .

There are indeed some similarities practices (prostration during prayer, which is bare feet, abstention from wine, etc. ...) and approaches (direct relation between the believer and God, between the believer and the sacred text ).

But beyond these practices, the exact weight of Islam in the birth of Karaism remains unknown.

Rabbi Bernard Revel Karaism even denies that the Jewish could merely be a consequence of the rise of Islam and of Shiism in particular.

Developments in the ninth ^century - Persia and Babylonia

From the ^eighth century to ^ninth centuries , a period of slightly more than a century, they are religious Babylonian or Persian which are the most influential in the Karaism, which is consistent with the onset of the movement area, itself at the center of gravity of the Jewish world at that time (rabbinic Judaism is also dominated by religious Babylon, the Geonim ).

Both interpretations methodology Anan beginning to be criticized in the ^ninth century by the Persian and Babylonian religious Karaites themselves.

Around 830-860 CE, Benjamin al-Nahawendi , native as well as its name suggests Nehavend (Persia), away from certain methods of interpretation of Anan (perhaps marked by the Hanafi ). It relies on allegory of the old Judeo-Alexandrian school, and seems heavily influenced by the Essene writings.
It is the first, according to al-Yaakov Qirqissani and really shaping the Karaite doctrine : ignoring anti-Talmudic, it adopts many rabbinical orders, and sets out the principles of freedom and rejection exegesis the argument of authority.
However, although his analysis differs completely from Anan, Benjamin al-Nahawendi makes no explicit criticism against him, at least to have survived to us.

That is not true of his contemporary, Ishmael Akbar, and his disciples. Ishmael, the founder of Akbarites, meanwhile do not hesitate to deal Anan of "ass" and to repeal its measures. Other undercurrents of Karaism, founded by his disciples, such as Mashwites the Tiflissites Ramlites and do the same.

Daniel Al-koumiss, the last great figure of Karaite ^ninth century , also a native of Persia , passing admiration for Annan (appellant hamaskilim rosh, head of light) to derision (hakessilim rosh, head of Fools). Unlike Annan, he shows great respect for science and medicine.
He considers that the principle of biblical prescriptions should not be interpreted allegorically, or explained in disagreement with the simple meaning of the verses. He seems to have been somewhat influenced by the ideas Sadducees, especially in his conception of angels, and Islam.

The ananites are quickly outvoted and disappear completely in the ^tenth century.

The Karaism the ^tenth and ^eleventh century - the Palestinian Center

That Al-Qumisi who developed the Karaism in Palestine around 875 . The new center becomes the Palestinian ^tenth century Karaite dominant in education, and remain until the Crusades , two centuries later. The community of the city was more important at the time that the community Rabbanite. Many important books of the ^tenth century and ^eleventh centuries are written, but not all.

In the second half of the ^tenth century , Levi ben Japheth wrote to Jerusalem a code of religious laws, the precepts of the book .

But the most important authority of the ^tenth century is a href = "Yaaqov_al-Kirkissani" class = "new" title = "al-Yaakov Kirkissani (non-existent page)"> Yaakov al -Kirkissani. Besides his important work on the Jewish sects, it is commentator, legislator, philosopher and above. He also begins to admire the person of Anan ben David but failed to accept his interpretations.
It al-Yaakov Kirkissani who writes in Arabic the book of light and guard towers, systematic code of law Karaite .

At the beginning of XI ^century Joseph ben Abraham ha-Hacohen ro' ("LED") "polemic against Saadia Gaon , and contributes to the spread of Karaism ^{From the twelfth to the sixteenth century - the center of Byzantine}

The destruction of the powerful community of Jerusalem during the First Crusade ( 1099 ), and the campaign undertaken against the Karaite community in Egypt by Moses Maimonides and his descendants, weaken the lasting Karaism Oriental, whose center of gravity moves partially (but not entirely) to the Byzantine Empire (Greece and Turkey today, essentially). Missionaries from Jerusalem there had indeed Karaite centers located in the second half of the ^eleventh century

original religious thinkers after the ^eleventh century. The doctrine appears to be fixed now, and more on the defensive against a rabbani which gradually takes the advantage. But the end of innovation does not mean that the Karaite literary production ceases.

Yehuda ben Eliya Hadassi writes to Constantinople in 1148 his Eshkol ha-kofer, "sum of Karaite theology, and probably the most important Karaite work ever written in Hebrew ^{The Karaism in Western Europe}

The followers of Yeshua ben Yehuda carry his teachings throughout Europe.

Under the leadership of Ibn al-Tarras, the Karaism expands into Spain in the ^twelfth century , but the missionary is probably too aggressive, because it causes a reaction Rabbanite, which ultimately define the Karaites in a citadel. Their passage to Spain inspired the creation of works of prominent rabbinical, as the Sefer HaKabbala of Abraham ibn Dawd or Kuzari of Judah Halevi , both written to defend rabbinic Judaism , which indicates the success of the theses Karaites.

The Karaism Eastern Europe

The Eastern Europe (from XV ^century to XVIII ^century ): From the ^fifteenth century , communities of Arab-Muslim world seem to be less active, and communities in Crimea, which spread through the Volhynia and Lithuania , are important writers appear.

At the end of the ^sixteenth century , Isaac Troki written in Lithuania 's "strengthening of faith , vigorous defense of Judaism against Christianity, or the author rejects the Messiah Jesus, or the prophetic character of the teaching of Muhammad.

In 1698 , Mordecai ben Nissan Dod Mordekai his writing, where he meets three of the four questions posed to David Shalom ben Jacob Trugland, a professor of theology from the University of Leyden. Two of these questions (origin of Karaites and holy books) allow them to define Judaism Karaite vis--vis the Rabbinic Judaism or Christianity. He says in particular:

1. that the Karaites are not descended from the Sadducees , but existed at the time of the second temple (so at the time of Jesus).
2. the Karaites use the same Hebrew Bible than Rabbinites .

Beginning in the late ^eighteenth century , the Karaites in Eastern Europe are beginning to cease all religious work. The ^nineteenth century will be primarily devoted to the quest for better integration into Russian society, and beyond the "modern" West. The latest center of religious reflections disappear in favor of secular education, and assimilation is beginning to threaten the small Karaite society in Eastern Europe .

Some innovations seem to appear at the time, however, perhaps in connection with this desire for integration. Thus, a current European Current claiming Anan ben David himself does not hesitate to say "The teaching of Anan was a new approach

. "" The religion of the Karaites recognize the Old Testament with the Ten commandments .

This new approach seems to date from the early ^twentieth century, at a time when the break with the Jews is affirmed, and probably intended to reinforce it. One of the main propagators of this idea, and maybe its inventor is Sheraya Szapszal, elected in 1911 responsible for the Karaites of the Russian empire, then became responsible for Karaites of Poland between the wars. In 1936, he said "Christ is our great prophet but not the Messiah . The community of Poland in 1938 he directed summarizes his view: "The Karaites are the Christ and Muhammad as prophets .

This approach is not found among the founders of Karaism as Anan ben David , nor in more recent texts, since the Karaites Troki Isaac wrote in 1593 in his book the strengthening of faith: "we see many compelling evidence to support our belief that Jesus was not the Messiah . About Muhammad , the author Karaites said "even you Christians agree that Islam is nothing but a false system introduced by their alleged prophet Muhammad .

Mary Holderness also reported in 1816 " .

The acceptance of Jesus and Muhammad in European Karaite is relatively recent and is probably connected with the desire to separate Jews appeared in the ^nineteenth century. It is formally rejected by other Karaites .

Reactions rabbinical

Rabbinic Judaism (or Rabbanite) reacted very negatively to Karaism, and the Karaites rejected outside the community, as' heretics.

As the ^tenth century , the advance of Karaism seems to have abated, and he begins a slow decline at first, then louder. In Fayoum , Egypt, Saadia Ben Joseph Gaon , rabbi and philosopher (892-942), begins a polemic against the Karaites with such a strong impact as it is regarded by the Karaites Rabbinites as one of the most influential architects of the reflux. "authoritarian leader, scholar and polemicist incisive, Saadia" used as weapons of the exegesis, arguing that "the Talmudic interpretation was not contrary to the demands of reason "that of controversy, sometimes very aggressive, causing marked Karaite heretics by Islam . The three books written by Saadia Ben Joseph Gaon against the Karaites (the first cons Anan ben David himself 915) have disappeared, but are known by the large quotes that are found in later authors, the weight of evidence Saadia .

At the ^eleventh century , the taking of Jerusalem by the Turks Seljuks in 1071 and then by the Crusaders in 1099 has profoundly weakened the main Karaite spiritual center, which has undoubtedly contributed to the decline. Thus, when taking Jerusalem , the Crusaders threw Karaites and Rabbinites in a synagogue , and burn them alive . These, in turn, would constantly bring charges over his alleged conversion to Islam.

The fight will continue through the generations. His great-grand-son, Avraham Maimonides II, would have returned a large Karaite community in the bosom of Judaism Rabbanite in one day .

The conflict spread over the centuries has been marked by clashes very hard, sometimes hate. "This puts sect was so serious danger to the unity of Israel, the rabbis spoke out against it the most serious excommunications. In an unprecedented move, they forbade the reinstatement of the Karaites in the official Judaism. "until today. However, the ban on the reinstatement of the Karaites was not respected everywhere and at all times, as indicated by the example of Abraham Maimonides II above.

Although relations were often strained, documents found in Guenizah Cairo (a sort of "graveyard" of religious materials used) attest to marriages between Karaites and Rabbinites, proof that the relations between Jewish communities were not always also conflicting than the text issued by religious leaders can suggest.

It has been many Karaite communities, indeed in almost all countries where there were Jews of Spain to Persia , of Lithuania in Morocco . But they all eventually disappear, except those essential to Eastern Europe, and that of Egypt. The Spanish community seems to disappear in the ^thirteenth century , and the last North African community of Morocco has disappeared in the eighteenth ^century.

In Eastern Europe

The Karaite had settled in southern Ukraine at the earliest ^eighth century or even later (see below, " the Turkish case "on the possible conversion of Turkish Khazars to Judaism Karaite).

This region has remained from the early Middle Ages to the late ^eighteenth century under the domination of various Turkish populations (with occasional episodes of foreign conquests: Mongols , Lithuanians , ...).

The Crimea with its capital Cufut-Kale (southern Ukraine), appears at least to the late Middle Ages as an important Karaite center, attracting immigrants from elsewhere other Karaite communities. Local communities are of course Turkish.

In XIV ^century , the Karaite there have a separate political organization, while recognizing the sovereignty of Mongolia ( Golden Horde ), which is then exerted on the former territory of the Khazars and the Khanate of Crimea.

At the end of the ^fourteenth century that is the transfer of prisoners from the Crimea to Lithuania. This transfer follows a victory over the Golden Horde of Vytautas the Great , Grand Duke of Lithuania. Among these prisoners, were a majority of Tatars , but also a number of Karaite . These people will settle in particular in and around the capital of Vytautas the Great: Trakai (or Troki). The Grand Duke gives them official status of recognized religious community. The Karaite northern successful implantation, while preserving their native language Turkish, at least for religious use.

"Faced with repeated threats from outside the Golden Horde and the Teutonic Knights , added to the risk of internal betrayal, Vytautas Magnus acquires a defense "or have embedded Karaite troops." In exchange for receiving military Karaite land so they can in some cases claim to titles of nobility. Meanwhile a middle class develops Karaite devoted to trade and rent Customs. This community enjoys a special status, similar to that of the nobility and similar privileges granted to cities by the charter of Magdeburg. . "

These Lithuanian Karaite enviable status retain their traditions, including vis--vis their fellow Rabbinites from Central Europe. One of their greatest scholar, Isaac Troki , which intends to refute "the arguments of authors against the Jewish religion and "will publish in 1593 his treatise against the Christian theology "The strengthening of the faith , which later attract the benevolent attention of Voltaire.

After the Protestant Reformation , the interest they generate is increasing. "Finding Judaism strictly scriptural , which completely rejects the traditional Talmudic and rabbinic served immediately mirror and ally in the fight against Catholicism. Some basic principles of Karaism, such as faith as the sole condition of salvation, and the almost obsessive insistence on the study of Scripture combined with the demand for freedom in his interpretation, had a magnetism about the scholarly circles Protestants . Thus King Charles XI of Sweden despatch mission a professor at the University of Uppsala , Gustav Pering, which in 1690 went to Riga , Lithuania. His Epistola Karait Lithuaniae is a wealth of information on the particular language. It also emphasizes the distinction between Jews and Karaite from Lithuania, proof that the divergence between the communities is well underway. According Pering, the Karaite from Lithuania still speak Turkish , and use that language for liturgy : "They differ significantly from Rabbinites, which are much more abundant in this region, their customs, language, religion, and even their faces and their language is Tatar , Turkish, or rather . However, comparing Pering Rabbinites Lithuanian Germanic language ( Yiddish ) and Crimean Karaites of origin and Turkish culture. A comparison between the Karaites and Rabbinites ( Krymchak ) of Crimea have shown smaller differences, the two populations share a common Turkic culture.

After this period of flowering, Karaite Territories are the site of wars, invasions, epidemics, famines, which weaken the position of Karaite.

In 1783 , Russia conquered Crimea in the Ottoman Empire.

After the third partition of Poland in 1795 , which relates the Lithuania to the Russian Empire, most of the Karaite population of Eastern Europe ( Lithuania , Ukraine , Crimea ) is found in the Russian Empire. Only exception of small communities in Galicia , which have since 1772 in the Austrian Empire , an empire that will give them a special status in 1775.

Summary

After a strong period of expansion before the year one thousand , the Karaite community began a slow reflux population, especially from the ^thirteenth century.

In the late ^eighteenth century , there were small communities remaining: one in Turkey (Constantinople), one in Iraq (at Hitt), one in Jerusalem (refounded in 1744 by members of other communities) and another in Damascus (Syria, destroyed by the massacres of 1860 ). But remained above two major Karaite:

• the Egyptian community in Cairo.
• communities of the Russian empire.

Separation - the Turkish case

Karaite community has profoundly changed the very definition of the term Karaite since the Karaites in European ^nineteenth century chose to redefine itself as an ethno-religious group completely independent of Judaism, then or any time the Karaites had self-defined as Jews.

The anti-Jewish laws of the Russian empire in fact heavily weighed heavily on Jewish populations subject, and the question has inevitably raised the status of newly attached Karaite population (between 1783 and 1795 ) to the empire. The issue was not theoretical: it was the well-being of the entire community in Russia profoundly anti-Jewish.

Karaite population also benefited from a social and economic status rather favored over that of people Jewish Rabbinites : traders, merchants, notables often socially well integrated, and that both Lithuania and Poland in Crimea, the two major Karaites population centers of the time .

From the outset, the Russian rule announced himself auspicious: in 1795 , a delegation of three leaders Karaite from Catherine II of Russia (Catherine the Great), gained special recognition which does not benefit the Jews. The Crimean Karaite were indeed exempt from the double tax which weighed on the Jews, then exemption extended to other Karaite of the Empire .

The Karaite were subsequently exempted from military conscription in 1827 and recognized as a community with autonomy in religion in 1837 and obtained the same rights as Russian citizens in 1863.

The construction of a status far above that of the Jews took place over three generations and has created an intense work of Karaite to justify their non-Jewishness.

The problem

The Karaites of the Russian empire originally lived on the north shore of the Black Sea (southern Ukraine), an area dominated by peoples Turkic since the early Middle Ages, and remained under the political control of the Ottoman Empire until the late ^eighteenth century.

It is therefore not surprising that the local Karaites have been profoundly influenced by Turkish culture. Philip Miller also notes that Jews Rabbinites Crimean Tatars also spoke dialects as well as the Karaite, who lived in the same cultural context that they .

Therefore, there were Karaite Jews Karaite cultural influence in Turkey, or Turks converted to Karaism? And Karaism Was a form of Judaism, a religion or having separate from Judaism?

The Khazars

Proponents of the theory of the origin of Turkish Karaism have particularly refers to the likely conversion to Judaism of at least part of a Turkish population of the region, the Khazars , in the ^eighth century , as evidenced by conversion certain texts.

The story of this conversion is best known through the Spanish Judah Halevi , who wrote the ^twelfth century its Kuzari in response to a "heterodox" (hawarik al-din, that is to say probably a Karaite). Built on the model of Al-Ghazali, the Kuzari reports an imaginary dialogue between haver, a doctor of Jewish law that identifies Isaac Sangari and Kuzari, king of the Khazars. However the text, written four centuries after the events reported, is not of much historical accuracy as well as the author points out in his introduction. Another version of the conversion of the Khazars is in the correspondence between Hasdai ibn Shaprut and Aaron ben Joseph , the king of the Khazars, who cites his ancestor Bulan namely. Finally, as the document of Cambridge , discovered by Solomon Schechter in the Cairo Geniza , and which some scholars place a claim on the Jews of Iran and Armenia, fleeing persecution, mingled with the tribes Khazar nomads, until 'that a Khazar warlord named Sabriel, having himself some Jewish descent, converted to Judaism at the instigation of his wife Serah. Despite the legendary character of these documents, conversions seem likely, and are also attested by archaeological evidence.

The conversions they did in Talmudic Judaism, or Judaism Karaite? What proportion of the population they touched? These issues are now discussed, but often seen as only the elite Khazar , that is to say a minority, was converted.

Given the lack of documentation on the people involved, there is nothing to say if the Jews Rabbinic Karaite local or descend fully, partially or not at all the people of Khazar converts. One can only note that some names appear Karaites original Persian , not Turkish.

The Turkish case was not only supported by the Karaites. Others have extended to Rabbinites Eastern Europe, or some of them.
Thus, Krymchak , Jews Rabbinites Turkic Crimean were discussed during the Nazi invasion, they are inclined to believe that it was indigenous, and even converted Khazars, rather than individuals "Jewish race" .
Arthur Koestler will go further in his book The ^13th Tribe ( Calmann-Levy , 1976), that they are all Jews from Eastern Europe who are of Khazar. This thesis is very much a minority among historians .

The Karaite Jews as

Before the ^nineteenth century , the definition that the Karaite give of themselves is also Jewish, as evidenced by the work of Isaac Troki at the end of the ^sixteenth century . It will review the "Christians who tend to cast doubt on the truths of the Jewish faith," and asks God's "Divine protection over me and all Israel "(Israel here means" people of Israel " ).

In 1993, Philip Miller also notes "Many Karaites , well before the development of these (the Talmud was written between the ^second century and the ^fifth century of the Christian era ). The Karaites of Crimea were so long regarded as Jews, and fired arguments about the supposed antiquity of their settlement in pre-Talmudic to say they had always been Karaites, followers of Judaism more faithful to the old forms, and the even more legitimate. However, "it is not accepted today to define all the varieties of non-Talmudic Judaism or pre-Talmudic like Karaism. .

After 1744 and the recreation of a Karaite community in Jerusalem by Samuel ha-Levi ben Abraham of Damascus, the community was then composed of Karaites of Syria, Egypt, Turkey and Russia who were married .

In 1834, the Marshal of the Empire of Augustus Frederick Louis Viesse Marmont visit Eupatoria (Gozlow), Crimea, and it estimates the population at 12,000 people, "composed entirely of Jews, Karaites and Tatars . In 1839, still on the Crimean Karaite, "Scottish missionaries Bonar and McCheyne . These two quotes seem to confirm the time that despite the redefinition "Turkish" advocated for some time, as the vision of the Karaite Jews still firmly rooted in the 1830s.

This work for the non-Jewish Karaite, through the assumption of Turkish origin, was so complex, and subject to opposition.

The beginnings of separation

Initially, without questioning their Jewish origin, the Karaites who had just entered the Russian Empire in particular insisted on their non-involvement in the crucifixion of Jesus , one of the official reasons for anti-Jewish policies of the empire, and express an alternative hypothesis on their origins "in their written reports, European travelers in Crimea in the eighteenth ^{and nineteenth} centuries that relate to the Karaites considered themselves as descendants of the Sadducees "assigned to the Pharisees, that is to say to Jews Rabbinites. Mary Holderness in 1816 reported "the Karaite Jews, although they do not receive Jesus as the promised Messiah . "In Interestingly, asserting innocence in the crucifixion of Jesus by proclaiming lowering Sadducees was a ploy familiar to Lithuanian Karaites and Volynsky . To confirm the origin of the fairly recent Sadduccean thesis, one can note that a century earlier, Hakham Mordecai ben Nissan ( XVII ^century - XVIII ^century ) argued that a separate congregation Karaite (ie separate Sadducees ) and do not differ externally from other congregations, already existed at the time of the Second Temple of Jerusalem in the days of Shimon ben Sheta'h . In the ^twelfth century , the Karaite author Yehuda ben Eliya Hadassi "outraged those who identify the Karaites with the Sadducees .

The attempt to escape the fate of other Jews obtained a first success fairly quickly. In 1794 , the Karaites and Jews / A> were all subject to local taxation doubled compared to that of Christians. After a delegation of three of their leaders, the Great Catherine sent June 8, 1795 letter to Plato Zubov, governor of the Crimea, exempting "the Jews Crimean Karaites called" the double tax .

The delegation traveled to St. Petersburg and obtained a special status for Karaite, exempt from that requirement . After that date, Babovich became famous among his people, and saw its influence grow.

The report left by Solomon Joseph Lutsky, one of three members of the delegation of 1827, shows that to date the identity switch to "non-Jewish" has not yet occurred. The author addresses them "members of our nation Karaite, which were included among the Hebrews , and entitled his report (written in Hebrew alphabet ) letter on the issue of Israel. The presentation of the arguments made by Sima Babovich, the chief negotiator, does not yet speak of the Turkish case. Babovitch would only stated (according Lutsky) "the Karaites were considered distinct from Rabbinites since the days of the great Czarina Catherina . This part of the report speaks well of the Karaites and Rabbinites, not the Jews and Karaites, which confirms, after the early references to the character " Hebrew "of the Karaites, members of" Israel "(ie, tell the people of Israel), that the Karaites and Rabbinites are still seen as subsets of "Israel." We note however that self-designation by Lutsky's report on the delegation of 1827 describes the Karaites as "Karaites", "Hebrews," "Israel" or "nation Karaite, and never directly as" Jews ", this which confirms already a clear commitment to differentiation, although it is not as complete as she will become.

Separation

The crisis of 1827, following that of 1794 showed that present themselves as Jews "innocent" of the death of Jesus (assuming Sadducees) remained clearly risky in relations with imperial authorities profoundly anti-Jewish. Some in the Karaite community have begun to advocate a new interpretation: the Karaites of Russia were not Jews, but Turkish. Their religion was not a particular form of Judaism, but a specific religion of Judaism (such as Christianity , for example).

The two main proponents of the theory Turkish tireless defenders of their people, trying at all costs to avoid the fate of the Jews , were Firkovich Avraham and Sima Babovich , the former head of the delegation of 1827. Babovich, took charge of the Jews of the Crimea, did repeatedly with other Karaite, especially Crimeans to redefine the identity of the Karaites in Eastern Europe, not as Jews but as Turks Karaite confession. He and Abraham Firkovich organized historical research to defend their thesis (especially Firkovich, which appears as the historian of the movement), and were focal points of the tsarist authorities, managing to gradually convince them of the non-Jewish Karaites. Obtaining the status of autonomous religious community of Jews in 1837 directly attributable to them, and civic equality with citizens of Russia 1863 is a future consequence of their actions.

The main thesis of the two men was a mixture between a religious argument similar to the thesis Sadducees, and the ethnic Turkish thesis: "The ancestors of the Crimean Karaites came in the seventh century BCE and thus could not have been involved in the crucifixion of Jesus . Their descendants had converted the kazari Turkic. The Karaites were therefore converted by a Turkish variant of ancient Judaism, far from the rabbinic Judaism. This position will be particularly formalized "in 1839 when the Governor General Crimea, Voronzow, addressed six basic questions about the origins of the Karaites to Babovich .
It was around this time that the official records of government keep talking about "Jews Crimean Karaites called . The Karaite were no longer Jews privileged situation always reversible in a very anti-Jewish empire, they became officially non-Jews.

Firkovich work after his death proved flawed, or even forgeries, but it has also provided work acknowledged in gathering a large collection of documents Karaites, whose famous codex Leningrad.
Another contested point in Firkovitch, his anti-Judaism. In his greeting to persuade Russian authorities to differentiate between Jews and Karaite he did not hesitate to send them a letter in 1825 where he advised to evacuate (or deportation) Jews outside the western border areas, to avoid smuggling.

Beyond these criticisms, Avraham Firkovich and Simhah Babovich were regarded as the saviors of their people, and enjoyed great prestige within their community. While some continued to regard themselves as Jews, they chose to do so discreetly, to avoid discrimination and pogroms tsarist.

If these two authors are the best known of which is sometimes called the "National Movement Karaite , one can also cite "Benjamin ben Samuel Aga .

In Judaism, the concepts of the Jewish people and Judaism have traditionally been very confused (though not entirely: according to halacha , a Jew converts to another religion will remain a member of the People). In the new approach is needed in the nineteenth ^century in Eastern Europe , the notions of religion and people find themselves completely separated. The East European Karaite and consider belong to the same religious community as the Karaites of the Arab countries (who nevertheless consider themselves as Jews), but they also believe they belong to a different people of Turkish origin, much different from Jews in general than other Karaite Jewish communities in particular.

In 1917, representatives Karaite adopt a statement that sums up this new approach: " .

A Modern Karaite author writes in 1980 Karaites they "rejected the idea .
The author does not hide his criticism elsewhere Karaites of defining themselves as Jews, accused of being "somewhat confident in their strength, or his hostility to Zionism , whose "leaders "Karaite ideas. The term Zionism covering two thousand years here clearly refers to Jewish communities in general. Rabbinites Jews, always designated by the single term "Jews" are also regularly accused by the author, for example having "ruined physically "the Karaites of Poland and Lithuania.

Beyond the control of ethnic breakdown, the Karaite had the desire to maintain the idea of Karaite religious community. The Karaite of Crimea and will establish links with the religious Egyptian Karaites, and they often rely on religious leaders of European origin .

The reason the political success of the Turkish case

It may be noted that the issue of biological origin may arise for any Jewish community living in a country long, and deeply marked by the culture of it. Are they native converts, alien semi-assimilated, or a mixture of both? The Jews of Ethiopia or India and have a physical appearance similar to those in which they live. Their ethnicity is largely local. They regard themselves as Jews, however.

There was no prima facie reason for these particular historical questions of origin are more questions about the Karaites in Eastern Europe, especially the Jews Rabbinites of Crimea (the Krymchaks ) also spoke dialects Tatars in same way as the Karaite, who lived in the same cultural context that they . Two reasons seem to have yet drives the success of "the Turkish case" with Karaite:

1. The legal status of Jews in the Russian Empire

   The status of Jews was legally and practically very unfavorable. The question of whether the Karaites were Jewish or not was therefore very practical consequences and potentially very disadvantageous.

2. The attitude of Orthodox Jewish rabbis

   Orthodox Jews do not consider the Karaites as real Jews. It was heretical at best. Therefore, for the Karaites, a dangerous state of his Judaism (because of the discriminatory attitude of the Russian Empire) to be in any case rejected by other Jews probably seemed absurd.

   It was not until the secularization of a part of Russian Jewry in the late ^nineteenth century to more favorable attitudes appear to Karaites.

Two other reasons may explain the success of this same argument with the imperial authorities, justifying the allocation of progressive equal rights:

1. The social status of Karaite

   The social status of Karaite were generally more favorable, and they were more socially integrated than the Jews Rabbanite . It is possible that it fostered a greater acceptance by the Russian government after taking control of areas of residence Karaite to the late eighteenth ^century.

2. Demography

   Jewish populations entries within the Empire to the late eighteenth ^century are estimated at about 500 000 people. The Karaite represented only a small proportion of this population, a few thousand at most . The integration of a non-Christian relative ease and reduced may have been considered simpler by the Russian authorities.

Conclusion

Around 1690 , Gustav Pering already noted a marked tendency to differentiate the Karaites Jews Rabbinites. In 1794 , representatives Karaites had got the beginnings of a separate status in the Russian Empire (while remaining Jews from the perspective of the authorities and it seems theirs).

In the first half of the ^nineteenth century , some community members have organized on this basis a new definition of their identity. They have officially chosen to define themselves as Turks overwhelmingly practicing a religion came from Judaism , no longer even Judaism. Some European Karaites, however, continued to regard themselves as Jews, or at least to hesitate between a Turkish identity and Jewish identity, as shown by the emigration of some to Israel in the late 1940s.

Given the relationship between the Karaites pretty bad and Orthodox Jews, Russian Empire has gradually accepted the hypothesis of Turkey, and exonerated the Karaites of the constraints on the Jews.

In the mid- ^nineteenth century , the two major Karaite (Europe and the Muslim world ) are not only separated by space, they are in fact by definition they give of themselves:

• The Karaites of the Arab world (especially Egyptian) continue to define themselves as Jews.
• The Karaites of the Russian Empire, or Karaite, now define themselves primarily as Turks adhering to a specific religion separate. However, "even after the Russian Karaites have completed their spiritual and national independence, they continued to send money to help their impecunious brother of Palestine", a composite community of Russian and Oriental Jews who considered themselves . This is a sign of religious solidarity, not ethnic, but which proves the absence of complete rupture in relations with communities seeing themselves as Jewish.

Modern times

Beginning in the late ^nineteenth century , the only remaining truly Karaite communities of the Russian empire and Cairo in Egypt. You can add a small Turkish community, culturally fairly close in fact Russian communities, and a tiny group in Iraq.

Eastern Europe

Before the Soviet regime

"According to the 1897 census, the total population Karaite of the Russian Empire amounted to 12,894 souls. " Well integrated with a social situation favored populations Karaites had a relatively low birth rate .

On the eve of the First World War, the population of the Russian Empire Karaites (from the Crimea to Lithuania ) was modest, but the majority (57%) in the Crimea, "in 1914, their number was 8,000 people, while their total population in the Russian empire was 14 000 .

In 1910 , to further enhance their differentiation from the Jews in a context where pogroms became regular, "the Congress and hakhamim Hazzanim decided not to allow marriages between Rabbinites and Karaites, or acceptance of Rabbinites wishing to become Karaites .

In 1911 , Sheraya Szapszal is elected Hakham chief Karaite community of Crimea (the largest group of the empire). This election is revealing the evolution of Karaite for two reasons.
On the one hand, Szapszal had no specific religious training. We note here the gradual secularization Karaites of the Russian empire, population undergoing rapid modernization and secularization, or secular education had become more prestigious than religious studies.
On the other hand, expressed a vision Szapszal accentuating the break with Judaism. He defended in particular the idea that Jesus Christ and Mohammed were to be recognized by the Karaite as great prophets. In 1936 , became head of the Karaites of Poland and Lithuania , he said "the Christ is our great prophet but not the Messiah . The community of Poland he leads summarized in 1938 his vision: "The Karaites are the Christ and Mohammed as prophets . At this stage it is not only a break with ethnic Jews (but also with the Karaite Jews of the East) that is sought is a break with the principles of Judaism, as well as scripture and Karaite (the strict interpretation of the Hebrew Bible ). This radical departure would also raise some objections at the time in the Karaite community . In addition to any religious beliefs Szapszal, this trend seems to have had three advantages:

• accentuate the differences with the Jews in Czarist Russia and the pogroms became very numerous;
• Karaite make religion more acceptable to Orthodox Christians in partially accepting Jesus ;
• Karaite make religion more palatable to the Turks , overwhelmingly Muslim , partly by accepting Muhammad. Sheraya Szapszal was indeed a supporter of Turkish nationalist movements at the time in full swing (movement of Young Turks ).

In 1917, the Karaite community of Crimea proclaimed, rejecting any comparison to the Jews: " .

The First World War (which would have been 700 deaths in the ranks of soldiers Karaite ), then the Ukrainian civil war (1918-1920), particularly violent in Crimea , and finally emigration of part of the elite to the West has experienced the small Karaite population.

Between the wars

After the Bolshevik revolution, the boundaries are much shaky, and Karaite communities, while most of Russia (except the small community Galician ( Halich ) of the Austro-Hungarian Empire ), was found cut in two groups.

The Crimean Karaite and the Soviet Ukraine, about two-thirds of the former Russian community, find themselves placed within the USSR. In accordance with the general policy of the regime in matters of religion, religious culture has also been severely affected by the anti-religious policy of the Soviet government, the kenessa and community institutions (schools, religious seminaries) are quickly closed .
The Holodomor , the Ukrainian famine of 1932-1933 (4 to 10 million deaths estimated), has undoubtedly contributed to hit the Karaite population on the eve of the Second World War. This period marks the beginning of the Karaite population decline of populations which will be even further amplified by the Second World War and assimilation into the Soviet culture of the postwar period.

Other Karaite (about one third) are found included in the boundaries of Poland (from Halich south to Vilnius to the north), and marginally more in the small independent Lithuania. In these countries, freedom of worship remain.

The few hundred refugees Soviet emigres in the West for much settled in France, where they will create a small community of about 300 mostly Parisian members quickly threatened by assimilation .

The Second World War

The refusal to consider themselves as Jews allowed to escape the Russian Karaites part in the genocide of Jews, the Nazis had decided even before the war do not consider them as Jews but as Turks, sometimes with some doubts (the issue of Jewishness of the Karaites arose in Nazi Germany before the war because few families lived there).

However, communities of Eastern Europe were often affected by the Nazi massacres, they sometimes have trouble distinguishing them from Rabbinites Jews , or do not bother giving it. Civilians of all backgrounds were anyway regularly killed by occupation forces or the fighting.

In Ukraine and Crimea , the Karaite communities would have lost by some 70% of their members because of the war (either in battle or because of the Nazis themselves). These statistics are of course taken with caution because there is no thorough demographic study. The figure may be too high, but the destruction caused by war are undeniable.

It may be noted that some inhabitants of the Crimea , in particular Turkish ( Crimean Tatars ) enlisted in various German troops, or by hostility to the regime of Stalin , or to win favor with the Germans. A letter dated September 27, 1944 by Gerhard Klopfer, an assistant of Martin Bormann at the chancellery of the Nazi party, said that 500-600 Karaites are fighting in the Wehrmacht , the Waffen-SS or the Legion Tatar (Tatar volunteers pro-German) ^, . According to a surviving Jewish ghetto Lutsk (Ukraine), the local Karaite have assisted the Nazis in their policy against the Jews ^, . "In Lithuania, there are reports that the Nazis have placed a Karaite sadistic as responsible Ghetto Vilnius .

Conversely, soldiers Karaite fought in the Red Army , and Karaite in positions of responsibility in the administration and the Soviet Communist Party were executed, according to the usual policy of the Nazis . Some Polish Karaite have also joined the resistance in this country .

After the partial destruction of the war, the Karaites were also affected by the actions of anti-Tatar communist regime (deportation of Crimean Tatars ).

After the fall of the USSR

After the fall of communism, some kenessa have reopened, but the trend to assimilation, also sensitive to the Jews, is particularly strong among Karaite, based on what is more numerically far fewer communities.

Overall Situation

The number of Karaite living in Eastern Europe or from the latter is now very difficult to estimate. These constitute in any case almost all the Karaite population living outside Israel, this country has hosted almost every Karaite Muslim countries (especially Iraqis and Egyptians). Estimates, very vague, so will 2000 to 25 000.

Situation in Ukraine

The old city of Crimean population no longer has much of Karaite. According to a survey of "1991, Mr. El-Kodsi said he remained 800, including 250 in Simferopol , 90 in Gozlov (Eupatoria), 70 to Feodosia , 60 to Sebastopol , 50 to Bakhchisarai (Chufut-Kale) 30 to Yalta and the other elsewhere . 10 times less than in 1914. The whole of Ukraine in 1200 count .

Situation in Lithuania

In Lithuania , which became a center Karaites important since the ^fourteenth century , "an ethno-important statistic was conducted by the Department of Statistics of Lithuania, which can extract the overall figure of 257 including 16 children Karaites in Lithuania in 1997 . This figure shows a steady decline of the community: "1959, 423, 1970, 388; 1979, 352; 1989, 289, although for the Soviet period statistics are universally regarded as unreliable . This steady decline seems related to the rapid assimilation. As of the perestroika and independence of Lithuania, some reorganization Community is emerging: "The year 1988 saw the revival of a cultural association Karaite, 1990 to organize a Sunday school. In 1992, we make a solemn kenessa of Vilnius to worship, after the community has reclaimed the building previously nationalized . But with a population so small and that so many members have forgotten their religious traditions, maintaining a Lithuanian community seems doubtful in the long term.

The question of Jewishness

Approaches religious divide also significant communities few and becoming assimilated. The question of Jewishness is thus not completely resolved.

The majority of East European Karaite maintained a sense of community (which is not true of all, given the degree of assimilation of Karaite) seem to define themselves as Turks, not Jews as "the Crimean Karaite are people of Turkish descent who adopted the Abrahamic religion Karaism . In the 1990s, "communities of Karaites in the Crimea , of Dnepropetrovsk , the Kharkiv of Galich and other parts of the country . In this context, Krimkaraylar adopted exactly the same terms, the declaration of 1917 that " .

Some Karaite asserts against their Jewishness, as those who emigrated to Mandatory Palestine and Israel , in 1947-1948 . There is also a small emigration to Israel has resumed since the collapse of the Soviet Union , showing that the redefining non-Jewish is still not accepted by all the Karaite . However, this migration can only accelerate the decline of communities.

Egypt

Egyptian Karaite community practice was only installed in Cairo (at least in modern times, that is to say from the ^nineteenth century ), with the exception of a small group set up in 1860 in Alexandria , which had 243 members in 1947 . The Egyptian community was poor and very conservative, with a small elite of merchants and craftsmen a little easier. Never redefine non-Jewish identity there has been attempted, and the community has remained very penetrated its Jewish character .

Modern History

Once important in the Middle Ages, The Egyptian population had become modest, hardly more than a thousand people in 1834, but subsequently experienced a relatively high population growth (more than 5000 people a century later), both because of organic growth as the emigration of Syrian Karaites in the mid- ^nineteenth century , then Russian Karaites from the late ^nineteenth century.

The community was organized along the lines of Millet Ottoman (self-organized religious community with an official status). "The Hatti Humayoun, promulgated in Istanbul by Sultan Abdel Magid in 1856, and two High Flyers 3 February and 1 ^st April 1891 regulated the religious courts, and the competence of .

The traditional relations with Rabbinites were distant without confrontation or reconciliation, at least until the secularization of partial ^twentieth century , and relations became warmer between certain segments of both communities. Mixed marriages were very few. The last Hakham al-Akbar (1934-1956) of the community of Cairo, Tuvia Levi Babovich Egyptian Russian-born (b. 1879), was considered a ground for exclusion from the community , but Karaite intellectuals like Murad Farag (1866-1956) defended them ^, .

Une amorce d'occidentalisation d'une lite karate s'amorce avec l'ouverture en 1897 d'une cole de l' alliance isralite universelle. Elle tait destine aux Juifs de toutes obd iences, and thus also opens the Karaites, with even a place in education for the Karaite history . He also notes that the newspapers' modern Karaite community (like those of Rabbinites) insisted much, until emigration, on the Egyptian character and patriotic community, and that articles appeared in character nationalists regularly, the Karaites are often presented as being "ABNA 'al-balad (son of the country) .

The desire to "modernize" Jewish elites, or Karaite Rabbanite, resulted in some approximation, supplemented by common usage the two communities that make the Jewish Hospital, led by Rabbinites, but which are the Karaites donations, and some work or, as Dr. Moshe Marzouk, also active Zionist and Israeli agent in the 1950s .

The minority affected by the modernization brought by the Alliance Israelite Universelle , also attracted by the low Zionism "had ceased to be part of a francophone community that Cairo, under the action of the Alliance Israelite Universelle , turned increasingly abroad. .

Under the influence of this "modernization" Western, the community is not strictly religious institutions. Thus, in 1930 "the youth organization of Cairo Karaite, al Gama'iya al Chobban al Israliyin Karaiyn Be Misr al
In the 1920s, this emigration has accelerated, resulting unrest have emerged from the Bolshevik revolution.

"In 1927, there were in 1848 Karaite community foreign, especially Russian and Syrian . No resumption of ideas (fairly recent) Szapszal of the Christ or Mohammed as prophets seems to have been attempted, or at least successful.

Emigration

Karaite population in Egypt exceeded 5000 persons in 1937 , perhaps reminiscent of the attitude of anti-Jewish Karaite Western, on the other hand it is not replaced after his death, accelerating the destruction of Institutional frameworks of community . The newspaper al-Kalim Karaite also closes its doors after the 1956 war .

"Between October 1956 and March 1957, approximately 40% of the Karaites left Egypt, most of the time for Israel. Approximately 2,000 Karaites remained in Cairo in 1959 .

The departure ends in the late 1960s, after the Six Day War of 1967 which finally degrade the Arab-Jewish relations in Egypt. In 1966 he left 1,000 Karaites, and 200 in 1970 .

The facility will mainly around Ramle , near Tel Aviv , where the Egyptian Karaites will be joined by members of the Karaite community in last Arab country, that of Hitt in Iraq (about 200 people). "The Central Synagogue community, is now the "World Karaite Center, opened danc this city in 1961 . Israel will also create two moshav (cooperative villages) for new immigrants: Matzliah and Ranen, established in 1950 and 1951 .

The people then dispersed to other cities, especially Ashdod , Beer Sheva and Ofaqim.
The Karaite Western, far fewer, "Crimean, Poles and Turks, .

Memories of old conflicts between Rabbinites and Karaites, the Chief Rabbinate of Israel opposed the arrival of the Karaites in the late 1940s, but without success given the secular and nationalist vision of the Israeli government. It refused to enter into religious controversies, and instead encouraged the emigration of Karaites, recognized by the state as Jews without difficulties. There will however be a short crisis in 1949-1950, when under pressure from the party Mizrachi (Religious Zionists), the Jewish Agency will seek the arrest of Karaite immigration, demand quickly quashed the protests of the Zionist movement Egyptian . It has also been noted that after the execution of Dr. Moshe Marzouk by Egyptian authorities following the Operation Susannah , the Israeli official documents presented him as an Egyptian Jew, and never as a Karaite Jews of Egypt, which had been resented by the time the community who felt a desire to hide its existence.

Israel

The Karaites have a long history in what they call Eretz Israel. "Indeed, the Karaite doctrine strongly emphasizes the obligation of Jews to live in Eretz Israel . Their large community of Jerusalem (greater than Rabbinites ) was destroyed during the First Crusade in 1099. There will be other attempts to install smaller, the last in 1744 , which lasted until the late nineteenth ^century or early ^twentieth century . On the eve of World War II , it disappeared, and the Jewish Agency only 18 Karaites (probably Egypt) in 1939, dropped to one in 1948 . The great temple in Jerusalem (destroyed shortly after during the war of 1947-1949 ) was under the protection of the community in Cairo .

It will settle in Israel between 1947 and 1968 which is at the beginning of XXI ^century the largest Karaite community organized in the world.

Demographics

In 1970 , the number of Karaites in Israel was estimated by Leon Nemoy in 7000 and in 1985 , by E. Trevisan-Semi 10 000; in the early 1990s it approached 15 000. The Karaites in Israel would be 2005 between 20 000 and 25 000.

The numerical growth above is essentially a growth: tanks Karaite population of Arab countries are emptied since the late 1960s, and the Karaites in Eastern Europe, whose relationship to Judaism is ambiguous and assimilation generally very advanced , do not migrate (or almost not). The birth rate is very high, in line with the socio-professional population, generally quite low.

Even today, the vast majority of Israeli Karaites are of Egyptian origin, and to a lesser extent Russian, Syrian or Turkish.

Religious Organization

From a religious standpoint, the Karaite community in Israel is called HaYahadut HaQara'it Ha'Olamit, or Universal Karaite Judaism (Judaism Karaite Universal), directed by a board of hakhamim himself chaired by the general Hakham. Here is a list of great hakhamim of Israel:

• Josef ben Moshe Marzuk of Dimona (until 1968)
• Emmanuel Mas'ud, of Moshav Matzliah (1968-1972)
• Solomon Shabbetai Nono, of Ramla (1972-1976)
• David Jerushalmi of Ramla
• Haim Levi, of Ashdod
• Elijah ben Izhak Marzuk of Ofakim (1991 -???)
• Eliyahu Marzouq.

Social and economic

Initially poor, often employed in construction, the Karaite population is experiencing a certain phenomenon of upward mobility, and a middle class emerges in the early twenty-first ^century.

The State of Israel recognizes the Karaites as Jews, but not the Chief Rabbinate of Israel. It prefers to consider the Karaites as non-Jews rather heterodox . Indeed, divorce Karaites worthless in the eyes of the rabbinate, the Karaites, they were known Jews, should be regarded broadly mamzers (bastard) believed, could not marry into the congregation of Israel for ten generations ( Shulchan Aruch, Even ha-Ezer, 4.37), whereas if they were not, they could, by converting, to be admitted.

The negative attitude of Israeli Orthodox rabbinate posed two problems to Karaites.

The first is the prohibition of mixed marriages, because of the exclusivity of the existing religious marriage in Israel. Only an Orthodox rabbi has the right to marry a Jewish or Rabbanite and marriages with Karaites are denied. This situation also existed in Egypt (and was defended by the Karaites themselves), but do not question posed in traditional Egyptian society, highly endogamous. She asks more in Israeli society, much more secular. The state recognizes the marriages, however, spent abroad, thereby circumventing the ban.

The second problem is posed in terms of identity. If recognition of the Jewishness of Karaites does not matter to the state, it is denied in whole or in part by the rabbinate, which affects a large part of the religious public in Israel. In his doctoral thesis, Sumi Colligan says "Egypt, the Karaites were identified as Jewish minority . The Jerusalem Post of May 22, 2007 also confirms "many people today seem to think that the term" Karaite "and" Jew "are mutually exclusive." The article also indicates that if the Hakham Nehemia Gordon is interviewed "seems eager to clarify misconceptions, it's probably because he is constantly asked to do so . This permanent doubt on the Jewishness of the Karaites in turn leads to very strong affirmation of their Jewishness by the Israeli Karaites.

Although fully integrated into Israeli culture, many, especially older ones "preserve important elements of Egyptian culture - language, food, music, religious rituals . Some are also trying to preserve their particular pronunciation of Hebrew, but it regresses under the influence of modern Hebrew .

The ultra-Orthodox ( Haredi ) Israelis are sometimes very hostile, accusing the Karaites to be heretics, half-Muslim and even allies of the enemies of Israel .

More flexible than the Orthodox Rabbinate of Israel, an order was issued by the Orthodox Rabbinate U.S. recognizes Karaites greater affinity with Orthodox Jews as they did with the Jews, Protestants and even Jews "conservatives". Under it, conversions to Orthodoxy (for those who want it) should be easier.

Relations with the rest of the Jewish population in Israel are normal, no particular tensions, but some Karaites, however, have a sense of injustice associated with the non-recognition of their religious institutions by the state (because of opposition from the Orthodox ).
Joel Beinin reports two speeches on opposite point in the early 1990s. On the one hand, the former grand Hakham Israel, Haim Levy, insisted "there was no significant difference between the Karaites and Rabbinites, Egypt and Israel, Karaites and the n 'were subjected to significant discrimination in Israel . On the other, the new assistant general Chacham, "Rabbi Gabr . Beilin also notes that the testimony of Haim Levy in the early 1990s by the Karaite religious leadership came from an attitude considered too accommodative, and "diluting the distinct identity and traditions of the community," proof that the vision Rabbi Gabr is not isolated .

The United States

American Karaite community is fairly recent. Although there was an immigration of Karaite Eastern Europe to the United States , they have never been numerous enough to create an organized community.

Most of the current community is comprised of Egyptian immigrants, which were added a few converts.

Beginning in the 1960s, when the emigration of Egyptian Karaites is still primarily to Israel, "between 1964 and 1970, a substantial segment of the community settled in the Bay Area of San Francisco , mainly members of the class Average Cairo .

In the 1960s and 1970s, the community has almost no organized structure or religious practice other than sporadic. It is right in the 1970s a small association in Chicago , organized by Jacques Mangubi, former president of the community of Cairo. There is also no Hakam until the 1980s regularly ordered U.S. .

In the early 1980s is established the San Francisco Bay Area Karaites, Karaite community of San Francisco. Two options then compete in the community. The traditionalists want a strictly Karaite religious community, when more assimilated "in favor of an educational center that would preserve and transmit the historical legacy of Karaite culture, but would not obstruct the integration of the Karaites in the community American Jewish (mainly Protestants , who do not reject the Karaites). In this context, "in May 1983, Fred Lichaa (born 1947), who arrived in the United States in 1968 .

Also in 1983, in July, the official creation of the Karaite Jews of America (Karaite Jews of America), a nonprofit association. In 1989, the association began publishing the KJA Bulletin, published twice a year. Meetings and summer camps for youth are organized to allow U.S. Karaites maintain a dispersed community ties and to encourage marriages within the community .

From 1991, the KJA has bought a house in San Francisco, to serve as a community center and synagogue (the preferred term seems to kenessa, probably will to a better integration in American Judaism). The services were delivered by Joseph Pessah, a layman, in the absence of hakham. The number of practitioners, however, remained limited (30 or 40), travel to get to the synagogue to be important enough for a population scattered, without specific neighborhood . In 1994 the congregation moved to larger premises, located in the suburb of San Francisco, Daly City. The building was sold cheaply by the Reformed Congregation B'nai Israel, proof of good relations between Karaites and American Protestants, far from the tense relations between Orthodox and Karaite .

In 1995, further evidence of the increasing integration of the Karaite Jewish American landscape, "Jewish Bulletin of Northern California began to include in his weekly list KJA .

In an attempt to resist assimilation, the community developed the religious studies, for example by creating the Karaite Jewish University of California.

The American community is still quite connected to the Karaite community in Israel. The Karaite Jewish University of California has in its leaders and in 2007 a fair number of Israeli hakamim and recognizes the religious authority of the Israeli Karaite leadership.

The community has made some effort aimed at converting Jews Rabbinites (the Hakham Nehemia Gordon, a member of the 2007 Israeli Karaite leadership is an outdated Rabbanite), reviving the attitude of early Karaite. Some Christians have also been converted .

Conversely, the community has a problem of double assimilation within the American melting pot, with mixed marriages (there is a high level of intermarriage with Jews Rabbinites or non-Jewish ), but also entrance within the Reformed Jewish communities.
These communities do indeed have a fairly open attitude vis--vis the Karaites, away from the hostility of the orthodox, and have a detached attitude vis--vis the Talmud (without reject), which is more consistent with the Karaite attitude. Some Karaites show themselves tempted by a rally in these groups, many more influential and prestigious.

The Karaites are American in 2007 about 2000 in the United States, their main focus is always San Francisco.

Conclusion

In the early twenty-first ^century , it is estimated that there are roughly between 30,000 and 50,000 Karaites in the world, mainly in eastern Europe , the Turkey , Israel and Russia.

The Karaites in Israel (between 20 000 and 25 000 to about 2005) are mainly from the Egyptian community who emigrated with all the Jews from Egypt to Israel after the creation of the state. They see themselves as Jews, and are considered by Israel (but not by the Orthodox rabbinate).

The Karaites of Eastern Europe seem to becoming assimilated. They do not usually like Jews, but there is a tendency to try to reconnect with the Jewish roots of Karaism. Some renvendiquent today as Jews. According to some, they would be more than 2000 around 2005. But given the high degree of assimilation of the community (and hence the lack of religious practice and visibility), this figure is based on others too underestimated.

Notes

Bibliography

• Szyszman Simon Le Karaism, edition L'Age d'homme , 1980.
• Simon Szyszman the Karaites in Europe, Uppsala University, 1989.
• Emanuela Trevisan-Semi , The Karaites, another Jewish, Albin Michel , 1992.
• Frederic Abecassis and Jean-Francois Fau , "The Karaites, a community of Cairo at the time the nation-state, Egypt - Arab World (CEDEJ), ^No. 11, p. 47-58, 1992. See also

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  External Links

  • (In) and Karaites Karaism the Jewish Encyclopedia
  • (En) "The empire of the Khazars - The Thirteenth Tribe of Israel? " , article published on 26/02/2002, Regards, journal Lay Jewish Community Center of Belgium.
  • (En) "Testimony of Hakham Yakubowski, Karaism new representative of France" , article in the 02/11/2006, on Judocit.
  • (En) Jean-Francois Fau and Frederic Abecassis, "The Karaites, a community Cairo at the time of the nation state" , Centre for French Studies, Cairo.
  • (In) Carames Crimea and Eastern Europe. Compilation of articles from various sources.
  • (En) The Jewish faith: the basics.
  • (In) Nathan Schur, " Karaims of Crimea (Ukraine) , "The Karaite Encyclopedia, Frankfurt, 1995.
  • (In) Dr. Yaakov Geller, " Parashat Emor 5760/2000 "From the Day after the Sabbath You Shall Count ..." (Lev. 23:15) The Karaites, Calendar and Their Customs ", Center for Studies in Basic Judaism, Bar-Ilan University's Parashat HaShavua Study Center, 2000.
  • (In) Karaite Jewish University.
  • (In) Karaite Jewish Congregation Orah Saddiqim (website unavailable on Friday and Saturday to meet the different possible dates of Shabbat on the planet)

  References

  1. Qaraylar Karaites or written with a capital letter, as usual for the names of people. The word "Karaite" taken in its original religious did not capitalize, as always in French for the names of religions.
  2. According Hakham Mordecai ben Nissan ( XVII ^century - XVIII ^century ) a Karaite congregation separated, do not differ externally from other congregations, already existed at the time of the Second Temple of Jerusalem in the days of Shimon ben Sheta'h - Dod Mordecai, chapter "answer to question ^1, Vienna 1830, see Mordecai ben Nissan ha-Zaken , Jewish Encyclopedia, 1901-1906.
  3. Salo Baron wittmayer
  4. (en) Joshua Freeman, Laying down the (Oral) law , The Jerusalem Post.
  5. The existence of one of these currents at the time of Rebbe Hillel is mentioned in the Talmud (BT Shabbat 31a) and was highlighted by Martin S. Jaffee - http://www.maqom.com/journal/paper19.pdf
  6. Greilsammer Ilan, Israel, men in black, p.187.
  7. Israel, men in black, p. 189.
  8. ^{a , b , c , d , e , f , g , h , i , j , k , l , m , n , o , p and q} Jean-Francois Fau and Frederic Abecassis, "The Karaites, a community in Cairo At the nation-state " , Centre of French Studies, Cairo.
  9. Mordecai ben Nissan considers the Masoretic text of the Bible as transmitted to Moses on Mount Sinai , which is consistent with the commentary of Rabbi Ovadia of Bertinoro on Pirke Avot 3:17
  10. Daniel ben Moses al-Qumisi, Iggeret Latefoutzot
  11. ^{a and b} "When Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went to his house, where windows of the upper chamber were open in the direction of Jerusalem, and three times a day he knelt, prayed, and he praised his God, as he did before "- Daniel 6:10 , King James Version (1910).
  12. ^{a , b , c , d , e and f} Joel Beinin, The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry - Culture, Politics, And The Formation Of A Modern Diaspora, 1998, University of California Press , The San Francisco chapter and Daly City Synagogues. See a href = "http://content.cdlib.org/xtf/view?docId=ft2290045n&chunk.id=fmsec1&toc.depth=1&toc.id=&brand=eschol" class = "external text" rel = "nofollow"> full text the book without the original pagination.
  13. Daniel 12:2 , Ezekiel 37 , Isaiah 66:14.
  14. But not all. The author Simon modern Karaites Szyszman defends an original Essene religious doctrine in the Karaite Karaism, pages 23-29.
  15. ^{a , b , c and d} Karaite Separatism in 19th Century Russia, Philip Miller, HUC Press, 1993, page 5.
  16. Do Karaites Believe in Resurrection? on the site of the Karaite Congregation Beth EdatYah. Accessed July 31, 2007.
  17. ^{a , b , c and d} Revel, Bernard , The Karaite halakah and Its relationship to sadducean, samaritan and philonian Halakah , 1911.
  18. * "irisani, Abu Yusuf al-Ya'kub" , Jewish Encyclopedia. Funk and Wagnalls, 1901-1906.
  19. Mourad El-Kodsi, The Karaite Jews of Egypt 1882-1986, Lyons, NY: Wilprint, 1987, p. 2, also cited by the community site Orah Saddiqim and Yoseif Yaron.
  20. which could have inspired originally attributed by Judah Halevi in the Karaite Kuzari based on Kiddushin 66b - Important Individuals in Karaim history.
  21. Mordecai ben Nissan, Dod Mordecai, answering the first question - Singer, Isidore and Isaac Broyd. "Mordecai ben Nissan ha-Zaken." , Jewish Encyclopedia , Funk and Wagnalls, 1901-1906.
  22. The Name Karaite
  23. ^{a , b and c} " The National Karaite Movement - Firkovich Abraham "site of the Karaite Jewish Congregation Orah Saddiqim. Article accessed August 15, 2007.
  24. Article "Benjamin ben Moses Nahawendi" on the Jewish Encyclopedia, 1901-1906.
  25. The Karaism Simon Szyszman, Editions L'Age d'Homme , Lausanne , 1980, pages 23-25
  26. Talmud, Baba Batra 60b: "When the temple was destroyed for the second time, many in Israel became ascetics, binding themselves to themselves not to eat meat or drink wine. Rabbi Yehoshua entered the conversation with them [...] do not impose on the community of the difficulties that the majority can not bear. "
  27. Kahn, Elijah, The little blonde with black shoes and other new Talmudic editions Lichma, 2007.
  28. ^{a , b , c , d , e , f , g , h , i , j , k , l and m} "The division of the Karaites," Universal History of the Jews, Hachette , Paris, 1992, pages 88-89.
  29. ^{a and b} The Karaism Simon Szyszman, Editions L'Age d'Homme , Lausanne , 1980, page 17.
  30. Kaufmann Kohler article AARON OF JERUSALEM , the Jewish Encyclopedia, 1901-1906.
  31. according to the Jewish Encyclopedia
  32. ^{a , b and c} Isidore Singer Joseph Jacobs and Isaac Broyd " Troki " Jewish Encyclopedia , 1901-1906.
  33. See the article by Isidore Singer and Isaac Broyd, Mordecai ben Nissan ha-Zaken , Jewish Encyclopedia, 1901-1906.
  34. The Karaism Simon Szyszman, Editions L'Age d'Homme , Lausanne , 1980, pages 110 et seq.
  35. M. Saradj, " Anan ben David Teaching In The 8th. Century Widely Applied In The 20th. Century ", the site-Turkish Karaites Karaites HOME PAGE
  36. ^{a , b , c , d , e , f , g , h , i , j and k} POLKANOV Yuri, Member of the Academy of Technical Sciences of Ukraine, "Crimean Karaites, a small indigenous people of Ukraine" , 2002.
  37. According to the presentation that made the site Karaite Jewish Orah Saddiqim Szapszalism , accessed August 16, 2007.
  38. ^{a and b} A. Moreau, "In Poland Troki In the work of Hachan Karaims," Revue Bleue, June 6, 1936, p.392, quoted by Warren Paul Green, "The Karaite Passage in A. Anatoli's Babi Yar, "East European Quarterly 12.3 (1978) pp.283-287. See also " Karaites in the Holocaust? A Case of Mistaken Identity , "Nehemia Gordon, on the site Karaite Karaite-korner.org , accessed 17/08/2007.
  39. ^{a and b} Incorporated by S. Firkowicz in Die Karaimen in Polen, Berlin, 1941, p. 2, quoted by Warren Paul Green, "The Karaite Passage in A. Anatoli's Babi Yar, "East European Quarterly 12.3 (1978) pp.283-287. See also " Karaites in the Holocaust? A Case of Mistaken Identity , "Nehemia Gordon, on the site Karaite Karaite-korner.org , accessed 17/08/2007.
  40. Isaac Troki, the strengthening of faith, Chapter 1 , 1593.
  41. Isaac Troki, the strengthening of faith, Chapter 5 , 1593.
  42. ^{a , b and c} Karaite Separatism in 19th Century Russia, Philip Miller, HUC Press, 1993, page 6.
  43. " Karaites in the Holocaust? A Case of Mistaken Identity , "Nehemia Gordon, on the site Karaite Karaite-korner.org , accessed 17/08/2007.
  44. ^{a and b} Josy Eisenberg , A History of the Jews, p. 222.
  45. Wilhelm Bacher, " SAADIA BEN JOSEPH ", Jewish Encyclopedia , 1901-1906.
  46. See especially Mishneh Torah (Hilkhot Mamrim 3:3-4), Maurice-Ruben Hayoun, either Maimonides Moses, 1138-1204, Paris, Editions Jean-Claude Lattes , 1994 ( ISBN 2266139452 ).
  47. comparison between Judaism and the Rabbinical Karaism (see the attitude of Posqim towards the Karaites).
  48. "The division of the Karaites," Universal History of the Jews, Hachette , Paris, 1992, pages 88-89 and 118-119; The Karaism Simon Szyszman, Editions L'Age d'Homme , Lausanne, 1980, pages 57 to 98.
  49. ^{a , b , c , d and e} -Plasseraud Pourchier Suzanne, " The Karaite in Lithuania ", article in the journal Diaspora No. 24, December 2002, and reproduced on GDM, the website of the group for the rights of minorities.
  50. Sometimes translated as "The Strengthening of Faith", as in the book Anti-Semitism: Its History and Causes of Bernard Lazare. For an English translation of the book of Isaac Troki , see here.
  51. Silvia Berti (University of Rome La Sapienza ), Erudition and Religion in the Judeo-Christian Encounter: The Significance Of The Karaite Myth in Seventeenth-Century Europe , English article originally written in French for a paper presented at the College de France in the conference of 3 to 5 December 2001 on "The first centuries of the European Republic of Letters, 1368-1638."
  52. Letter to Hiob Ludolf, and was published by Wilhelm E. Tentzel in its periodic Monatliche Unterredungen Einig Guten Freunde in July 1691.
  53. Gustav Pering, Epistola Karait Lithuaniae, 1690, excerpt reprinted in Erudition and Religion in the Judeo-Christian Encounter: The Significance Of The Karaite Myth in Seventeenth-Century Europe , by Silvia Berti (University of Rome La Sapienza ).
  54. ^{a , b , c and d} Karaite Separatism in 19th Century Russia, Philip Miller, HUC Press, 1993, page 4.
  55. ^{a , b , c and d} Karaite Separatism in 19th Century Russia, Philip Miller, HUC Press, 1993, page 14.
  56. Raul Hilberg, The Destruction of European Jewry, pxx.
  57. "The empire of the Khazars - The Thirteenth Tribe of Israel , article published on 26/02/2002, Regards, journal Lay Jewish Community Center of Belgium.
  58. Preface to The Strengthening of the Faith, Isaac Troki , 1593.
  59. ^{a , b and c} Karaite Separatism in 19th Century Russia, Philip Miller, HUC Press, 1993, page 51.
  60. ^{a , b , c , d , e and f} Nathan Schur, " Karaims of Crimea (Ukraine) , "The Karaite Encyclopedia, Frankfurt, 1995
  61. idea expressed in his book Dod Mordecai, chapter "answer to question ^1, Vienna 1830 - See article by Isidore Singer and Isaac Broyd, Mordecai ben Nissan ha-Zaken , Jewish Encyclopedia, 1901-1906.
  62. Kaufmann Kohler and M. Seligsohn, Hadassah, ELIJAH JUDAH BEN HAABEL , Jewish Encyclopedia, 1901-1906.
  63. Karaite Separatism in 19th Century Russia, Philip Miller, HUC Press, 1993, page 11.
  64. Karaite Separatism in 19th Century Russia, Philip Miller, HUC Press, 1993, page 21.
  65. ^{a and b} Prologue to the Epistle to the deliverance of Israel, reproduced in Annex Karaite Separatism in 19th Century Russia, Philip Miller, HUC Press, 1993, page 70.
  66. ^{a , b and c} "Events - A Brief History of the Karaites in Eastern Europe" , by Hakham Avraham Ben-Rahamil Qana, article on the website of the Karaite Jewish Congregation Orah saddiqim , accessed August 15, 2007.
  67. The Karaism Simon Szyszman, Editions L'Age d'Homme , Lausanne , 1980, p. 180.
  68. The Karaism Simon Szyszman, Editions L'Age d'Homme , Lausanne , 1980, p. 134.
  69. The Karaism Simon Szyszman, Editions L'Age d'Homme , Lausanne , 1980, p. 144.
  70. ^{a , b and c} The Karaism Simon Szyszman, Editions L'Age d'Homme , Lausanne , 1980, p. 128.
  71. There were only 14,000 on the eve of the First World War by Yuri POLKANOV, Member of the Academy of Technical Sciences of Ukraine: "Crimean Karaites, a small indigenous people of Ukraine" , 2002.
  72. The Karaism Simon Szyszman, Editions L'Age d'Homme , Lausanne , 1980, p. 110.
  73. ^{a and b} According to the website Karaite Jewish Orah Saddiqim , in his article on Szapszal.
  74. ^{a and b} The Karaism Simon Szyszman, Editions L'Age d'Homme , Lausanne , 1980, p. 120.
  75. Quoted by Warren Paul Green, "Nazi Racial Policy Towards the Karaites," Soviet Jewish Affairs, 1978, pp.36-44.
  76. ^{a , b , c and d} "The Karaims in the Holocaust" , article on the website of the Karaite Jewish Congregation Orah saddiqim , accessed August 15, 2007.
  77. Aleksandr Fuki, a Soviet writer, wrote a book about the military heroes of Russian history Karaite: Karaimy: synov'ia dochteri i Rossia (Karaite: son and daughters of Russia.
  78. Karaim HOME PAGE.
  79. ^{a and b} Joel Beinin, The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry - Culture, Politics, And The Formation Of A Modern Diaspora, 1998, University of California Press , page 3. Available on googlebooks account with Google. See also a full version without the original pagination.
  80. In Egypt, only religious marriage existed. To circumvent the prohibition of mixed marriages and the Karaites Rabbinites authorities, some will even convert to Islam as a militant communist Karaite Yusuf Darwish to marry Iqbal's wife, a Rabbanite. Conversion purely "administrative" after Joel Beinin, The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry - Culture, Politics, And The Formation Of A Modern Diaspora, 1998, University of California Press , Chapter Of The Karaites The San Francisco Bay Area. Available on googlebooks an account with Google. See also a full version without the original pagination.
  81. ^{a and b} Joel Beinin, The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry - Culture, Politics, And The Formation Of A Modern Diaspora, 1998, University of California Press , chapter Ha-shomer Ha-tza'ir Egyptian and Zionism. See a full version of the book , but the original pagination.
  82. Joel Beinin, The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry - Culture, Politics, And The Formation Of A Modern Diaspora, 1998, University of California Press , page 4. Available on googlebooks account with Google. See also a full version without the original pagination.
  83. ^{a , b , c , d , e , f , g , h , i , j and k} Joel Beinin, The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry - Culture, Politics, And The Formation Of A Modern Diaspora, 1998, University of California Press , The chapter Karaite Emigration From Egypt. See a full version of the book , but the original pagination.
  84. "Testimony of Hakham Yakubowski, Karaism new representative of France" , article in the 02/11/2006, on Judocit.
  85. Miller indicates page 51 of Karaite Separatism in 19th Century Russia that funds were sent by the European Karaite community of Jerusalem in the second half of the ^nineteenth century , and Simon says Szyszman page 123 of The Karaism there had no community to Jerusalem on the eve of the Second World War.
  86. The Karaism Simon Szyszman, Editions L'Age d'Homme , Lausanne, 1980, p. 126.
  87. But no heretics. The list of articles of faith drawn up by Judah Hadassi is substantially similar to that of Moses Maimonides , while the first was a hakham Karaite while the second was a fierce opponent of the Karaites.
  88. Sumi Colligan, Religion, Nationalism and Ethnicity in Israel: The Case Of The Karaite Jews, Ph.D. thesis, Princeton University , 1980, pages 296-97.
  89. JOSHUA FREEMAN, May 22, 2007, " Laying down the (Oral) law , " Jerusalem Post.
  90. "Myths about Karaism: Lies and Misconceptions" by the Hakham Avraham Ben-Rahamil Qana, article on the website of the Karaite Jewish Congregation Orah saddiqim.
  91. ^{a , b and c} Joel Beinin, The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry - Culture, Politics, And The Formation Of A Modern Diaspora, 1998, University of California Press , chapter On the Perils of Ethnography. See a full version of the book , but the original pagination.
  92. ^{a , b , c , d and e} Joel Beinin, The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry - Culture, Politics, And The Formation Of A Modern Diaspora, 1998, University of California Press , Chapter Organizing The Karaite Jews of America. See a full version of the book , but the original pagination.
  93. In 2007, the office has thus three Israelis (Hakham Meir Yosef Rekhavi, Hakham Nehemia Gordon and Moshe Yosef Firrouz) of 7 members.
  94. See the testimonies of two Christian converts (as) Claude A. Biggs, Why I Gave Up Jesus and (in) Marc Di Leone, Why I quit Christianity.

  
  

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