The Great Karaite Debate: Part 5

In Acts of Faith, Dan Ross spends a significant amount of his chapter on discussing the "atrocitites" of Karaites during World War II. Six pages in fact pointing out how we gained from a propaganda offensive that convinced the Nazis and their allies that we were not of the same stock as the Ashkenazi Jews they encountered. As he describes it, As a result, the Karaites were allowed to live under the same conditions as the rest of the non-Jewish population; subjected to some hardships but nothing remotely like those of other Jews. Karaite communal lands were confiscated and the government salaries which had been paid to their religious leaders were discontinued. But most continued to work at their pre-war occupations. Some actively collaborated with the Germas." How interesting that the foresight to find a means to survive is being used as a condemnation. How many Rabbanties had falsified passports, medical letters explaining their circumcisions as medical emergencies, anything they could produce to proclaim themselves as non-Jews. And how many of them participated in the burning of the ghettos, the 'ratting out' of their fellow Jews, not to mention the Kapos who actively performed the punishments, imprisonment, killing and deportation of their own people while still wearing the yellow badge of their Jewishness. I am not saying that there weren't Karaites that aided the Nazis. There are always collaborators, but to point out one segment of Judaism as committing this offense while at the same time ignoring the large number of Rabbanites that equally did so is offensive to all those that gave up their lives saving their fellow Jews.

Ross reports that Karaite offenses were a major topic of discussion in post-WWII Israel. As he points out, when the State said it would recognize and welcome Karaites to Israel, one Holocaust survivor wrote a letter in to the Jerusalem Post asying that they had survived for four years in the vicinity of Troki, Lithuania, disgusted by the unworthy behaviour of the Karaites that hounded their Jewish neighbours often collaborating with the Nazis. They wouldn't even associate with the persecuted Jews. They then go on to say that they know of Poles that rescued Jewish children but not a single Karaite that did so. Ross then reports that five to six hundred Karaites are said to have served in various units of the occupying Germans. Some even worked as interpreters. Others he said were accused of beating Jewish women and children in Lutsk and assisting with the liquidation of the ghetto. If this was the National Enquirer, then I would say this article deserves to be placed where it is but to make statments of "he said or she said" with no facts, not names, no reputable eye-witnesses, that is a crime committed by any legitimate historian. Did they serve as interpreters, most likely. After all, they were given equal status with the rest of the non-German Europeans. If the Germans asked them to interpret, I can't see them running the risk of saying, "Sorry, but I won't do that." Who in their right mind would have under those conditions. To make the accusation that they assisted in the slaughter of the Lutsk Ghetto, then that is a very serious accusation and deserving of facts if one is going to make such a statement. Even the person that wrote in the letter to the Jersulem Post only seems to be suffering from the envy that the Karaites escaped persecution. Distraught by the fact that they could move about freely while Rabbanites didn't have that luxury. When did that become a crime? When is survival a crime?

To Ross's credit, after he paints this very unsupported picture of Karaite atrocities, he talks about the Karaites of Vilna who not only aided their Rabbanite brethren by providing them with forged Karaite identification papers and often took them in, pretending that they were members of their families. But even after providing this clear evidence that Karaites did aid their fellow Jews during the war, Ross concludes the episode by describing the Karaite attitude towards the Holocaust as best being "apathetic." Tell that to Rikhail Iosefova Goldenthal who willingly gave up her life to aid her fellow Jews as described in a previous hub.

At this stage I conclude debating the statements made by Dan Ross regarding Karaites. There is nothing really much more to say. When a people are actually condemend for using their wiles in order to survive then that is a clear statement that we are still labelled by the accustion of being 'Mamzerim'. Reconciliation is nothing more than a remote dream because prejudices cannot be wiped clean that easily. But then again, the only reconciliation I believe possible is for the Rabbanites to make a dramatic shift away from the Talmud and embrace the Torah as it was intended to be the only law to govern us.

The Great Karaite Debate: Part 4

For the purpose of this part of the debate we will shift our focus to Russia. Only because Dan Ross spends a lot of time in Acts of Faith, discussing the Russian influence on Karaism. And since my family was Galicz or residing in Galicia, that means that the Russian sphere directly affected us. Ross provides a brief history of the Russian experience, beginning with Catherine the Great,whom as he mentions was quite tolerant of the Jews within her Empire, though she did confine them to the Pale Settlement and made Jewish merchants pay a double taxation. So I guess it's how you define tolerance and Dan Ross's definition might be slightly different than mine. I would think of her more as a lesser evil. Then surprisingly in 1795 she exempted the Karaties whom lived predominantly around the Black Sea, permitting them to have ownership of their own land and not requiring them to pay the double tax. Her justification was that the Karaites around the Black Sea didn't resemble the Jews of the motherland. They were taller, resembled the Tartars and many even spoke a Tartar dialect. This exemption proved to be one of the major sore points between the Rabbanites and Karaites in Russia. The Rabbanites resented the relaxed proscriptions against the Karaites and in their own minds convinced themselves that this unexpected leniency extended to the Karaites was an act of betrayal by the Karaites towards their fellow Jews. Like two brothers, where one enjoys good fortune and the other is in a meaningless, exhausting job in a constant downard spiral, the level of resentment and jealousy by the one brother whom considers himself disadvantaged knows no bounds and even though illogical, the one holds the other responsible for all the hardships he's encountered. Though Ross never directly places the blame for the rift on the Rabbanites, the fact is that his description of the events of the time period he certainly points in that direction. In 1827 and 1828, all the Karaites in the Empire were exempted from the draft. It was the start of many privileges to follow such as free land, independent religion status, the right to hold government positions, and equal status to the Russian Muslims. It was too much for the Rabbanites to bear and it was all the Karaite's fault!



The Year was 1839
Ross identifies 1839 as the year when the rift became irreparable. He blames it all on one man, Abraham Firkovitch. True, Firkovitch was a bit radical in his approach, and even as a Karaite I will say that he was mistaken in a lot of his assumptions, but right or wrong Abraham Firkovitch brought Karaism back into the limelight and gave new life to a religious body that was in desperate need of resuccitation. But 1839 was a strange year for all concerned. And it was the result of several men, not just Firkovitch.

According to Ross, Firkovitch was described as a scholar, archeologist and forger. The latter because of documents that Rabbanite scholars refused to accept as genuine. But recently, it has been shown that some of these documents they doubted are the genuine article. A Polish Jew from Lutsk, Firkovitch was hired by the Russian government to take a teaching job in Odessa's Jewish Community. One might think it strange that a Karaite was hired to teach in the Rabbanite School system but it must be remembered the only Jews that could hold government appointed positions at the time were Karaite Jews. A policy that would directly involve my third great grandfather Jakob Goldenthal as I will later explain. While in Odessa, Firkovitch became involved with the Odessa Historical Society and asked to assemble a dossier on Karaite history. He quickly obtained all the necessary passports and authorizations to travel through Russia and the Middle East, gatthering Karaite books and tombstone rubbings, most of which is now located in the Russian National Museum in Leningrad (St. Petersburg). Firkovitch was obsessed with proving that the Karaites were descendants of the Khazars (http://hubpages.com/hub/Khazar) and as mistaken as this belief was, since Karaites predated the Khazars, though as my hub suggests may have had a direct influence on these Tartar warriors, he tampered with dates and names on the documents he found in order to support his claims. His adaptations did warrant the accusation of tampering but forgery would imply the entire document was a fabrication and they were not; these were genuine documents and therefore their remaining content should be appreciated as such. And of course, as my hubs on the Khazars suggest, Firkovitch didn't have to commit forgery, had he done his investigations deeper he would have seen that there was existing material to sugget that the Khazars were indoctrincated by Karaites originally and only after their dispersal several hundred years later became part of Rabbanite Judaism, along with Christianity, Islam and Crimean Karaites. Ross makes a statement that the Khazars must have been Rabbanites in origin since a document was uncovered in the Cairo Geniza that is in both Hebrew and Khazar ruins and since the synagogue was Rabbanite, therefore the document must be so as well. Had Ross given the full story, he would have revealed that a wealth of not only Karaite documents but early Judeo-Christian document copies were uncovered in the Genizah. I presume he had a reason for not revealing this well known fact.

But 1839 had more significance than just the advent of Firkovtch. Russia had instituted a policy of 'Russianizing' all its Jews, attempting to make the Rabbanites more like their Karaite brethren and therefore valued citizens of the motherland. Czar Nicholas I considered that it was the system of education of Jewish children with its distinct religious and quasi-national (Jewish nation) programmes which discouraged intimate relations between Jews and Christians and kept the Jews both separate and feared by most Russians. Czar Nicholas felt that in exchange for 'Russianizing' his Jewish citizens he would improve their social condition. He therefore consented to the initiation of school reforms to achieve this goal, but his changes were seen by the Rabbaniet Jews as an attempt by the Czar to converst of them to Christianity. This is in spite of the fact that they merely had to look at their Karaite brethren whom had benefitted greatly from this give-and-take relationship with the Russian authorities and were not pressured at all to covert to Christianity. So instead of embracing this opportunity the Rabbanites begrudgingly had the school reform forced upon them with the view that it was anti-Jewish reformation. Nicholas still tried to obtain the cooperation of the Rabbanites, appointing Count Uvarov to head the process, knowing that the Count was seen as a true friend of the Jews. The Czar did have one stipulatin though and that was that the Jews be taught agricultural pursuits so that they could become farmers as well as tradesmen and intellectuals. There is no doubt that this would have been a wise undertaking as farmers were granted numerous privileges in the payment of taxes, and they and their descendants were freed from military service for a period of fifty years. Unfortunately, what should have been a good thing was perceived by the Rabbis as another attempt to eliminate the Jew from society. Farming was a seven day a week profession, requiring constant attention and therefore the new generation would not have time to perform their Talmudic studies nor sit for one day a week in the synagogue where the rabbis felt they belonged. And besides, the Jews were forbidden to hire Christians to work for them and this was an obvious attempt by the government to force them onto the land on the Sabbath and prevent them from attending the synagogue. As far as the rabbis were concerned this was an obvious trap and they were determined to resist it.

Count Uvarov's first success was in Odessa which was already established and recognised as a liberal Jewish community a fact that might have been influenced by its substantial Karaite population. In fact, even before Uvarov's reformist changes, there already existed a modern Jewish school established in 1826. It originally contained four classes; Jewish subjects, mathematics, calligraphy, Russian and German. And even though the school was under the management of a director and school board whose appointment had to be sanctioned by the governor-general of Russia it was not seen as a government attempt to convert the Jews of Odessa. With only one exception the instructors were all Jews, either Austrian or German, and the text-books used were all German. The expenses of the school were provided for by an initial appropriation of 9,000 rubles and an annual appropriation of 7,600 rubles for maintenance. It was considered a huge success and the model that Uvarov would use to convince the Jews of other cities to attend. There were still problems, even in Odessa, with its enlightened Jewish community, as the Orthodox Rabbanites declared it a menace to Orthodox Judaism and tried to have it shut down, petitioning the governor Count Pahlen that it was an unnecessary institution and that their self-run Hebrew schools were sufficient for Jewish subjects, and that German and Russian could be acquired elsewhere. Count Pahlen, who's only goal was to help the community grew tired of the rabbis' constant attempt to undermine the process and threatened them to desist or bear the consequences. They did, having no other choice and the school proved a great success. A decade later, following the example of Odessa the Jewish community of Kishinev established a school, which it placed under the direction of Dr. JakobGoldenthal. And in 1838 a similar school was founded in Riga under the direction of Dr. Max Lilienthal. The curriculum of the Riga school as outlined by its founders included, among other subjects, reading, penmanship, grammar, and history (Russian). The principal, according to the program, was to be an alien of Jewish faith, "educated in the spirit of true learning." According to an official report of July 18, 1840, the school had prospered. And thus, 1839 became the great turning point not only because of Firkovtich but with the arrival of Goldenthal and Lilienthal as well.


Goldenthal and Lilienthal
Two more dissimilar men you couldn't find to be principals of Government operated Jewish schools. In fact, though well acquainted with one another, neither would ever talk about the other, having possibly viewed one another as adversaires rather than colleagues. It is never commented upon but how two individuals of such prominence could work practically side by side and never make a single reference to the other for the remainder of their lives is a testimony to their mutual resentment. Goldenthal, as one would assume, shared many of the beliefs I currently hold. After all, the apple doesn't fall very far from the tree. Lilienthal, on the other hand, was a reformer, but still Talmudic in his training. There was a calculated logic to Count Uvarov's selection event though at first it would appear entirely illogical. As recorded, Lilienthal was considered an alien of the Jewish faith, committed to the true spirit of learning, wheras Goldenthal was considered to be a true citizen of mother Russia, though Brody was an independent city that did not belong to Russia at the time. But more importantly, unlike the spirit of true learning of his counterpart, he was considered the pragmatist and most of all a hybrid of the Karaite and Rabbanite worlds.

Max Lilienthal was a German Jew; a rabbinically trained German Jew at that. Jakob Goldenthal was a classically trained Galicz Jew, the son of a line of prominent rabbis, who took the public purse designated to send him to rabbinical school in Leipzig and instead enrolled himself in the secular University of Leipzig where he studied Oriental and Romance languages and literature. The price on his head for absconding with the public coffers from the Brody Jewish community meant that he could never go back and to Lilienthal he would have viewed him as a traitor to his people. It is of interest that there is some confusion with the dates concerning the school in Kishinev. Whereas the accounts by Uvarov say the school was established around 1839, most archival records on Goldenthal say that he was still in Leipzig that year and didn't go to Kishenev unti 1843, long after Lilienthal was principal in Riga. There are some problems with this chronology. Firstly, if the archival records on Goldenthal were correct it would have meant that he spent eight years in Leipzig, which would be an excessively long time in the first half of the 19th century for someone to obtain their doctorate. But the archival record is based on his publishing record and just because he published articles and books through his Leipzig editor during that period did not necessarily mean he lived there. Because as we also know he had books published in Paris, France those same years and he certainly did not live in France. Further indications that Goldenthal preceded Lilienthal was the policies in place in Kishenev that Lilienthal insisted had to be abolished if he was to take the Principal position in Riga.

Under Goldenthal, instruction in the Talmud was not part of the school curriculum in Kishinev. The argument being that the Talmud fostered numerous evils and anti-Christian sentiment, to which Goldenthal with his Karaite origins would have entirely been in agreement with. Lilienthal objected to this policy due to his Rabbanite training and he managed to get a conciliation from Uvarov that Talmudic teaching would be included, but it was to be nominal only, and it would be ultimately discontinued if during the Government audits it was found that anti-Christian polemics in the Talmud were still being taught. Uvarov also conceded to Lilienthatl that two rabbincial schools, one in Wilna and another in Jitomir for the training of rabbis wouldestablished but the schools would be operated by Christian principals. Though Uvarov hoped his policies with the Rabbanite communities would achive the same success that had been achieved within the Karaite communities he was confronted by a solid wall of distrust and anxiety in the minds of the rabbinical Jews, who always suspected that there were ulterior motives and that they were not being told the true government's intentions. Uvarov was actually dismayed. Though Goldenthal was a logical choice having governmental approval due to his Karaite standing, and his modernistic approach to life, he knew that he would be resented by the Rabbanites and for that reason Lilienthal was hired in order to be a counterbalance. Progressive, reform and therefore modern in his thinking, Uvarov saw the German Jew as the perfect foil for Goldenthal and as a Rabbanite, someone that would be readily accepted by the Jewish community. Moreover, certain laws were enacted simultaneously with the opening of the schools, and also later, that likewise awakened fear among the Jews. Furthermore, he failed to understand that the forbidding of certain observances that were nothing more than habits and customs made sacred only by traditions that had no religous ordination and therefore were unimportant in themselves would cause the rabbis to practically rebel in their refusal to abandon their instruction. Most of these had to do with clothes and attire that Goldenthal expressed were not dictated at any time in the Torah and were merely the imposed habits of these rabbis over time. To Uvarov none of this made sense as he felt blending in would have been a major advancement to reducing anti-Jewish sentiment and because it had no religious basis to appear different, he had assumed the Jews would welcome the opportunity. Matters did not improve between the Russian government and the Jewish populations when in 1843 the Jews were ordered removed from living on the borders with Prussia and Austria, two countries that had become openly hostile to the Russian Empire. The justification was that the Jewish communities in these areas were supplying both enemy countries with food and materials an accusation that most likelyh was true since Jews in these areas favoured unification with the German empires over that of Russia. Furthermore, many of those Jews that were removed suffered economic ruin which also suggested that much of their trade was being engaged with the Germans rather than with Russian clientelle. .

What both Goldenthal and Lilienthal found they had to deal with was the dilemma of the Jewish population of the Northwestern provinces insisting on strict interpretation of the Talmud and close adherence to religious dogma, while the Jews in the South-western provinces leaned toward a liberal interpretation of the religious laws. Then there were those small parties of Jews of which Goldenthal was a leading voice that advocated European education. Those within the Rabbanite community that were eager to receive this European education found it necessary to hide their inclinations, perusing non-Jewish books in cellars or attics to escape detection by their families and friends.

Examined outside this prejudicial atmosphere, Count Uvarov's intentions were admirable and in his report to the Czar he expressed his view that "radical reforms are imperative for the education of the growing generation of Russian Jews." He complained that repressive measures against the Jews had failed to achieve any beneficial results, and then pointed out the excellent effects humanitarian measures such as those extended to the Karaites and other minorities had achieved. The suggestions in the report were all approved whole heartedly by Nicholas, who wrote on the margin of the report, "These deductions are correct." Czar Nicholas went as far as requesting that his ministers all acquaint themselves with the condition of the Jews in order to make possible the enactment of proper laws. Having concerns that the reaction to Dr. Goldenthal amongst the Rabbanite communites might be hostile, Uvarov commissioned Dr. Lilienthal to visit the various centers of Jewish settlement in the Pale in order to determine their attitude toward the proposed measures, and allay existing suspicion as to the intentions of the government. From the circular letter issued by Count Uvarov it was already evident that the Jewish rabbis and their congregations regarded with animosity the establishment of the Jewish schools in Odessa, Kishinev, and Riga, and believed that the principals of these schools, such as Goldenthal, intended to lead the Jewish youth away from Judaism. It only reaffirmed Uvarov's choice to send Lilienthal to the communities as offical government representative, a move which would have likely been met with some resentment by Goldenthal and further fostering the animosity between the two primary personalities responsible for carrying out Uvarov's plan.

Exactly what Count Uvarov's plan entailed was as follows: The schools would be divided into two classes—higherand lower. The higher classes would be established in the cities and would contain the equivalent of the first four or five grades of a classical gymnasium. The lower schools would be established in district towns and would ultimately replace the Jewish private schools. Uvarov proposed a committee of rabbis and scholars to preside over these schools and they were to be known as the "Commission for the Education of the Jews of Russia." Czar Nicholas approved of the plan but added in his own handwriting, "I approve of it on condition that the commission shall consist of no more than four rabbis, one from each of the provinces in which Jews are permitted to reside." Though a Rabbanite himself, Lilienthal found that Goldenthal was not without his reason for trying to limit Talmudic education in the government schools. When visiting Wilna, Lilienthal found that the Jews of that city were "familiar with Talmudic and rabbinical lore, but very ignorant of other learning and without much knowledge of the modern branches of science; full of prejudice and narrow-mindedness, and steeped in wild, absurd Ḥasidism which passes all understanding" which he recorded for posterity. With much effort he was able to convince the leaders of the community that the school would not be a menace to their religion and that when they agreed there would be an annual stipend of 5,100 rubles paid by the government toward the support of the institution. Lilienthal then traveled to Minsk where he was met by a very determined opposition by the Rabbis. Lilienthal then returned to Wilna but found in his absence that the opposition there had gained strength and the community withdrew its promise and expressed that they would do whatever it took to discredit Lilienthal's efforts elsewhere. The minority in favor of modern education made matters worse by its belligerent attitude. Lilienthal left Wilna and was sent by Uvarov to the Baltic where his efforts were more successful but most likely due to the strong presence of Karaites there which would have served as an example to their Rabbanite neighbours.
By now the reader should realize that the schools established according to Uvarov's plans did not meet with the intended success. Lilienthal blamed it all on the scarcity of competent instructors and insisted that it was the fault of foreign Jews, meaning Germans like himself, not being appointed as instructors. This was likely a direct slap at Goldenthal whom by now he considered an obstacle to the process. Lilienthal actively engaged about 200 foreign Jewish teachers but he did this without the authority or approval of the governemtn. Whether the result of Jakob Goldenthal insisting that qualified Jewish teachers could be found in Russia itself, or Goldenthal's fear that any foreign teachers would definitely be rabbinic and therefore fully immersed in the Talmud, the government authorities demanded that Lilienthal only employ Russian natives, parroting Goldenthal that enough Jewish instructors could be found in Russia itself. Beside these obvious differnces of opinion amongst the designated leaders of the Jewish schools, there also was the issue of a growing animosity of the Jewish population, which regarded the Principals and their instructors as traitors to their religion, and, fearing them as representatives of the government. The fact that Goldenthal still had an outstanding warrant from the city of Brody for his absconding with the community purse did not help the matter and the rabbis were always ready to express their enmity towards him. The jewish community also resented the fact that the Principals and teachers along with their children were not subject to military service. The situation grew worse when the Jews began accusing the Principals of extending their privilege to more distant family members and demanding that they be charged with obstruction of the conscription process. The situation was only to grow worse.

The Escape Clause
As the situation worsened, both between the government and the Jewish communities as well as between the two Principals, Goldenthal and Lilienthal, it became apparent that something had to change. Which would break first became the issue between these two stalwarts of Jewish education? It turned out that Lilienthal was first to throw in the towel. When the opportunity became available for a new rabbi to lead the congregation in Odessa, Max Lilienthal saw this as an opportunity to return to his rabbinical roots. Having seen Odessa as progressive and modernistic, embracing the new educational system unlike the other communities, he thought his appointment would be without incident. But what he found instead was his association with Uvarov and Goldenthal had left him tainted. It was one thing to be a government official promoting educational reform but to try and be the head rabbi of an established congregation was completely another matter all together. How could someone that was a government stooge be relgious enough to be the community's rabbi. Openly venting their hostility, Lilienthal resigned in the face of growing resentment from the congregation and shortly after arrived in America where he became a reform Rabbi at two separate New York temples.

The records go fairly quiet on Dr. Jakob Goldenthal. There is the official statement that in 1843 he became the Principal for all the Jewish Districts of the Ukraine Pale, which would have been expected following the resignation of Lilienthal, but unlike Lilienthal's travel records and biographical notes, there are none detailing what Goldenthal did for the next three years. It can be assumed that he pushed hard towards having Count Uvarov's initial plan imposed which meant that Talmudic learning was being removed from any formal programs, as well as the introduction of Russian Christian teachers for the non-religious subjects, as both of these are registered as complaints during the time period by leaders of the Jewish communities. But even more so, there was growing evidence that the entire plan of Jewish government shools was meeting with failure. The situation only grew worse when Goldenthal, seeing himself faced with the near impossibility of rectifying the situation applied and obtained the postion of professor at the University of Vienna in 1846. Count Uvarov and his plan would have to carry on without him.

So of the three major personalities affecting the Jews of Russia during this five year period, only one remained, that being Abraham Firkovitch. So contrary to Dan Ross's assertion that the entire schism between these two religious sects was the result of alienation of the Karaites under the instruction of Firkovitch and the extension of special privileges to the Karaites by the government that were not similarly extended to the Rabbanites the truth of the matter is that one sect seized the opportunity when it was presented to them and the other did nothing but place obstacles in the way of those that were specifically trying to help them. Though the accusation was made that Goldenthal was not representing their interests and that Lilienthal was nothing more than a traitor to his rabbinical roots, the fact remained that had the communities attempted to cooperate, their impoverished and 'alien' situation would have in most likelihood improved dramatically and the history following that point would have been very different indeed!

The Great Karaite Debate: Part 3

In many ways I am fortunate that Rabbanites are so scripturally minded. In that essence, they produce a perfundity of written documentation and they cannot resist writing about Karaism, simply because we are the proverbial thorn in their side that will not go away. For years they have proclaime we were non existent, a sect that had gone the way of the dinosaurs, and in that regard they made no mention of us to their congregations. The old 'out of sight, out of mind' philosophy. If rabbinical Jews had no knowledge of the alternatives available to them, they would not be able to question their allegiance to anything other than rabbinical Judaism. To turn their backs on the Talmud meant leaving Judaism in its entirety since Karaism was an unknown to them. And now they are faced with what I believe is a coming resurgence of Karaite followers; those of us whom are the descendants of Karaites and those that are recent converts having seen the light. Growth is a geometric phenomena. It begins with one, then two, who in turn become four and then sixteen. It was the way it was from the ninth to the thirteenth centuries when Karaites were free to speak out and challenge the established systems that had been essentially hi-jacked from the original intent of Judaism. We grew exponentially until we numbered in the hundreds of thousands. Of course in those days, threats were often dealt with via excommunication, expulsion and eventually violence. It was enough to forces us into exile, silence our most brilliant minds, and have us virtually disappear from the pages of Eastern and European history. But those days are now long behind us. The stupour which silenced our voice for 800 years has been lifted and this modern world with its electronic communication permits us to shout from one corner of the globe and within the blink of an eye be heard across the world. These articles concerning my debating the points raised by Dan Ross in his book Acts of Faith are now being read world-wide. What could not be achieved by my ancestors can now be performed with the mere pressing of a button. Keep in mind that as I challenge the issues raised in his book it is not for the purpose of argument sake, it is for survival!


The Infamous Sa'adiah Gaon Sa'adiah Gaon


Ross's version of history as I mentioned previously is prejudically distorted. He implies that Orthodox Jewry was under attack from the Karaites, rocking on its heals as it prepared for the knock out blow by the followers of Anan ben David. From the sand of Egypt a saviour arrives in the form of Sa'adiah early in the tenth century and he leads the counterattack, first by declaring Karaites as heretics and then enforcing laws that ostracized Karaite Jews from "good" Jews. Having stemmed the tide and exposed the villainy of these Karaites, the leaders of Karaism had to search for new fertile soil to plant their seeds of dissent, looking towards Syria, Palestine, Egypt and as far away as Spain. Karaite centres of prominence began to spring up like weeds; Jerusalem, Cairo, Constantinople, the Crimea and Lithuania. But no matter how far they spread, they could not win over the hearts and minds of 'believing' Jews becaus e of the bans Sa'adiah had instituted against them. Ross then sums up his version of Karaite history by questioning why so few Karaites remained in Iraq and Iran after the 10th century, the only surviving community into modern times in the town of Hit on the shores of the Euphrates. The sixty-seven Iraqi Karaites in Hit that survived the 1948 riot by their fellow Iraqis have since moved to Israel and settled in Beesheba.

The actual details concerning Sa'adiah are well documented. Karaism already existed in those areas mentioned by Ross long before the rise of Sa'adiah. In fact, this hero of rabbinical Judaism actually describes his disgust with the surging tide of Karaism in Egypt and Palestine which he encountered constantly in his travels in those lands. In fact his hatred for Karaites was bred in Egypt and was one of his main reasons for wishing to come to Mesopotamia where he would have the authority to actually pass oppressive edicts against this people whom he despised. The opportunity arose when several leading Jews in Babylonia had to lend money to the Exilarch David Zakkai and he became heavily indebted to them. Since their own enterprises were being challenged by competitors whom happened to be Karaites, when the position of Gaon as head of the religious academy became vacant, they insisted that it be filled by this Egyptian Jew, Sa'adiah. Using their ability to call in their loans, they forced the Exilarch to appoint their candidate, the first time an outsider or non-Babylonian had become Gaon. As for the disappearance of Karaites from Iraq and Iran in the tenth century, let's not plead ignorance Dan Ross. Though hard to find any documentation that refers to the physical persecution of the Mesopotamian Karaites led by Sa'adiah due to a purge of anything that refers to it in recent times, the fact is his good squads even resorted to the slaughter of innocent Karaites, exhonerated for their crimes by Sa'adiah's infamous statement that to kill a Karaite is no different than to kill a dog. His crimes were not overlooked as the extent of them came to the attention of the Exilarch and a warrant for Sa'adiah's arrest was registered. The Gaon ran for his life and fortunately for the Karaites, this manifestation of evil was dead by the year 942.

Karaites in Jerusalem

Continuing his mistaken and misleading representation of Karaite history, Ross still insists that the appearance of Karaism in Jersualem didn't occur until the late ninth century and was the result of Iraqi and Iranian pilgrims. Yes, there was an influx during this time as a result of the aforemention persecution by Sa'adiah but they were only fleeing to an established community where they would find sanctuary. Since it is well documented that Anan established his synagogue personally in Jerusalem in the eigth century, one can only assume that Ross intentionally overlooked this historical event to remove legitamacy from Anan ben David. The minimalistic references by Ross to Anan cannot be attributed to a lack of knowledge. Ross comments that by the end of the ninth century the Karaites represented the majority of the Jewish population in Jerusalem. This ascension of Karism did not happen overnight as he implied. The popularity of Karaism was evident and it was a contributing factor to Sa'adiah's hatred towards the community. After all, if Karaism was to become the predominant sect, people like Sa'adiah would be out of a job, unable to live longer on the community purse. On July 15, 1099 the Karaite community came to an end under the Crusader conquest led by Godfrey of Bouillon. As he entered the city on that day he herded all the Karaites into their synagogue and set it on fire. No one survived.

In 1967, following the six day war, the Israeli army liberated the ancient synagogue of Anan ben David which was located in the Arab section of the city and lay in ruins. It was handed back to the Karaite community and after eleven years of rebuilding and restoration it was finally rededicated in 1978. What should have been a great celebration of an ancient faith was marred by the hordes of Rabbanites that decended upon the synagogue. Throughout the rededication these Rabbanites jeered and shouted, the ceremony eventually reduced to a fistfight between the two sects. Over one thousand years later and the specter of Sa'adiah Gaon, with his vile hatred of Karaites and his resorting to physical persecution and violence has not abated one iota amongst his followers. Dan Ross, the Sa'adiahs of your own time are alive and well and still fill me with revulsion.

The Great Karaite Debate Part 2

Welcome back. The debate continues. From part one we have seen that no matter how much time has passed, we as Karaites will always be viewed as the 'Fringe', those that somehow just don't belong. It is nothing new, this label of heretic, outsider, mamzer (bastard). It has been shouted by the Rabbanites for a thousand years. What is sad is that in the 21st century none of this has actually changed. We have not grown as a people; we have not become wiser; Judaism is still fragmented by its own prejudices and vices. Now some might voice their opinion that by continuing this ages long debate I am only exacerbating the division further and stirring the discontent beyond reproach. Actually, I view it differently, almost historically in that regard. A thousand years ago when these debates were common place, Karaites and Rabbanites had never been closer. The discussions were healthy, cleansing, even healing. Rabbinical students would study under Karaite teachers and Karaites would attend classes in Sura and Pumbedita. Because at the time, the debates created an appreciation for the views of the other side, if not acceptance. And discussions bred tolerance as a consequence. It was only after the arrival of Saadiah Gaon, with his virulent hatred of all things Karaite that the schism became irreparable. One small man with a huge ego and a passion for violence. If one man can destroy what we once had, then the opposite is also true. One man can restore it as well.


Rejection of the Talmud
Dan Ross attributes all of the Karaite's 'fringe' beliefs to one fallacy on our part. That being the rejection of the Talmud. He goes on to say that although we believe in the same Bible as other Jews, we interpret it differently, further adding that Orthodox Jews rely on formal interpretations as set forth in the Talmud as well as other Rabbinical scriptures, whereas we Karaites accept no other post-biblical writings other than our own. He makes a mocking comment that we prefer the literal Torah, or at least convince ourselves in theory that is what we believe. This is a very myopic view of the schism and also one that could only be voiced by a Rabbanite. To say that we reject the Talmud would imply that at some point we actually accepted it. The premise of Karaism is and always has been that the Talmud was a misinterpretation of Torah and the result of man's desire to alter the unalterable word of God. But this slight of hand propaganda statement that implies that we rejected something that was essentially good is a clever device to implant the concept in people's minds that somehow we did something wrong long ago. Furthermore, the implication that we are the ones interpreting the Bible differently, even though as Karaites we take the words of the Torah and practice them far more literally would be a statement that we are not the ones doing the interpreting. More clever words when he states that the Orthodox Rabbanites rely on formal interpretations. What is a formal interpretation? An opinion that is somehow better or more sacred than someone else's opinion. No matter how you try to enshroud it with pretty words an opinion is still nothing more than a 'personal' interpretation until such time that it can be enforced upon other people. Once it is elevated to that status it becomes a statute, designed and created by men, with no other purpose than to impose the will of one person over many others, and that does not in any way imply that it was correct in the first place. Smuggly suggesting that we only practice the laws of the Torah in theory is another way of saying that we don't and in his opinion only following the Talmud allows a person to practice Torahitic law. If that was actually true, then it would mean for the fifteen hundred years of Judaism prior to the writing of the Talmud that all those Jewish predecessors were only practicing their faith in 'theory'. I would think our ancestors would object vehemently to that inference.

Historical Inaccuracies
Ross as I mentioned has a quaint way of disguising his condemnation of all things Karaite. In a comment regarding Reform Judaism which is still Rabbanite Judaism no matter how you slice it, he says that they are often referred to as 'modern Karaites.' Considering that more orthodox Rabbanites use that comment as an insult of their reform brothers, then it is Ross's way of passing on the insult as well. He qualifies it further by saying that Karaism suvives from more rigid times, the remnant of a heresy which today would be mere dissent. There's that heresy word again.

He attributes the first dissenter to actually put in place an organised religious base as being an ascetic Iraqi named Anan ben David. Further commenting that he only managed a handful of followers in his lifetime because his interpretations made his teachings even more burdensome than Rabbanite Judaism. But because he laid the groundwork he is still considered the father of Karaism. He taught his followers to distrust all authority, even his own teachings, saying, "Search thoroughly in the Torah and do not rely on my own opinion." And that he says was the downfall of Karaism since everyone had their own opinion and no two were in agreement. Only by adopting the doctrine that no single interpretation was correct could they reconcile on any matters. Okay Dan Ross, enough is enough with distortions of this nature. The history is established. Anan ben David was not just some Iraqi nobody. He was the rightful exilarch, a scion of David, the chosen of God because of his royal descent. How you can manage to dismiss his birthright and position in Jewish society amazes me. As an exilarch, even a deposed one, his followers were quite numerous. All those years in prison, placed there by the Rabbis that deposed him because he would not agree with their teachings does not make him an ascetic. He would have been denied worldly pleasures in prison because he wouldn't have enjoyed the freedoms others had on the outside. And if during that time of incarceration he felt that certain pleasures the Rabbi's ensured they enjoyed were a distraction from following the true path of God, who could deny him those sentiments. After all, the indulgement of those pleasures of power by those self proclaimed rabbinic paragons of virtue was what resulted in his illegal imprisonment in the first place. Yes, his immediate followers known as Ananites practiced what was a more burdensome form of Judaism. But then, his other followers, being the Zadokites and the Boethians had been long established prior to his spiritual awakening and they had less strenuous practices that were still by definition Karaite. And let's not misinterpret his teaching which was accompanied by his other comment, "Read the book and if what you read seems good to you, then it is right." Together they outline what he was trying to teach his followers, that only the word of God is righteous. You have your own mind and your own free will to practice the will of God. And no man should let another dictate how that word is to be interpreted because a righteous man with a good heart would understand exactly what was meant and intended. Acceptance of that principle is agreement in itself and is not a contentious issue but a uniting issue when a man comes to understand the will of God. And I guess you forgot the part where Anan migrated to Jerusalem with his followers and established his own synagogue which was a centralized drawing point to all that followed him. So nice try Dan in trying to erase one of the most major events and personalities of Karaite Judaism. You can fool some of the people some of the time but certainly not all the people all the time. And that is the truth.

The Telugu Jews

The following article was sent to me by a member of the Telugu Jewish community as a plea for help, a plea for survival. They made the mistake of looking to the Rabbanite community for aid, thinking that the bonds in Judaism are strong and no Jew would turn his back on another Jew. They have since learned their first lesson regarding the infighting in Judaism. The same infighting that caused the rift between Karaites and Rabbanites centuries ago. Rabbanites are exclusive; their attitude being that in some way they own God. That His love and mercy was only intended for those that listen to the rabbis whom have declared themselves the official spokespersons for heaven. It's an old argument and one that has led to many persecutions because of the failure of Rabbanites to perform as God had instructed them; To deliver His light to the world. God wished that we would be the example to the world that would unite them and bring them all into His fold. Exclusivity obviously is in defiance to God's instruction. This community has been visited several times by Rabbinical scholars and each time turned down from aid in the form of educational tools and Hebrew language aids because to the Rabbis they weren't Jewish enough. As a Karaite I gauge their Jewishness differently. Have they suffered enough; Yes. Have they experienced the prejudice directed against Jews; Yes. Have they persevered in spite of the pressures of conversion and rejection of their society; Yes. Do they celebrate the words of the Tanach to the exclusivity of all other religions; Yes. Well in that case they are Jewish and more so they are Karaite. Help me, help them. I am not looking at adopting them into Karaism but welcoming them back into the Karaite fold. We have left them out in the cold for too long.
Avrom Aryeh-Zuk Kahana

Meet the Telugu Jews of India

Jason L. Francisco, 1995 http://www.kulanu.org/india/telugu_jews.php
(Editor's note: The author, a documentary photographer, is currently living in Detroit and working on a project covering the American “Rust Belt.”)

When I arrived in the villages of rural Andhra Pradesh, in southeastern India, in the summer of 1994 to begin a year of photographing and researching the lives of working families, most people assumed I was an itinerant Christian priest.
Approximately 70 percent of the untouchable communities in coastal Andhra district is Christian, which is to say 30 percent of the entire population. Although the Bible is widely taught, it took me some time to discover the Telugu word for Jews, yudulu, which was not a commonly used word anyway. Most people, including the Christians I came to know, had never heard of Judaism, and seemed to think it was a Christian sect. I figured I was probably the only Jew in the state.
When a friend informed me after several months that a Jewish family was living nearby, I attributed it to communication difficulties. I was shocked when I was greeted with a hearty “shalom” and found a mezuzah on the door of the family’s house. I was introduced to the world of a tiny Jewish community which makes up in effort and desire what it lacks in certainty about its destiny.
Shmuel Yakobi, currently living in the city of Vijayawada, is one of six children of an “untouchable” family. His father was able to enlist himself in the Indian Army during the Second World War, to acquire an education and after the war to find work as a schoolteacher. For generations his family, like virtually all untouchables, worked as farm laborers, sometimes as bonded laborers.
The family had practiced Christianity for several generations, and when Shmuel Yakobi, the oldest, received an education, he decided to become a Christian preacher, which afforded training in English (the language of the Indian ruling classes), as well as a good salary. As his career progressed, he felt a growing disaffection socially and spiritually with his Christian world. In the early 1980s, while still a preacher, he made a trip to Jerusalem, where he encountered Judaism for the first time. He recognized the Jewish people intuitively as his own, and returned to India intent on leaving Christianity and living as a Jew.
Shmuel Yakobi in time convinced his siblings and approximately 30 families in his home village of Kottareddipalem, near Chebrolu, Guntur District, to join him in living as Jews. His two brothers, Sadok and Aaron, became leaders with him in the community. The brothers studied and taught Torah, and began to teach themselves Hebrew with materials Shmuel Yakobi brought from Israel. In two subsequent trips to Israel, Yakobi acquired a beginning knowledge of Jewish customs and prayer.
For economic reasons Yakobi’s formal break with Christianity was long. His financial connections were critical to the building of the community’s synagogue in Kottareddipalem, The House of the Children of Yakob, which opened in 1992. He also founded an independent open university offering correspondence courses in Torah and Hebraic Studies. Calling the community the Council of Eastern Jewry, Yakobi slowly began to navigate what he calls the lost history of Jews in south India.
He believes that Jews migrated from northern India, perhaps Afghanistan or the North-East Frontier region (Manipur, Mizoram) sometime during the 9th or 10th centuries C.E., and settled around the area of Nandial in what were at that time nascent Telugu-speaking areas. He claims currently to be writing a comparative philological study of Hebrew and Telugu, which argues that Hebrew is the unrecognized source of many words in proto-Telugu, the still-unreconstructed Dravidian language that anteceded Sanskritic influences. Yakobi also claims that Telugu Jews for centuries formed a distinct kulam (birth-marriage-occupation group, or as it is often poorly termed, caste). They maintained, he says, distinct customs, eating habits, occupations, and literacy in Hebrew. In my discussions with him, I must say he was cagey and not forthcoming with evidence for these claims. In fact, he provided me no evidence. He is currently unsuccessfully appealing to the Archeological Survey of India to fund investigation.
To the rest of Hindu society, the Telugu Jews, if they did exist historically, were grouped with outcasts, and associated particularly with the Madiga community of untouchables. Thus the community was assimilated into Christianity when colonial missionaries reached the Telugu areas during the British period. Why the community might have been assimilated precisely then, after so many centuries, remains an important question. One provisional answer might be as follows (according to my own reasoning): Scholars of South Asia have drawn a reasonably clear picture of the intensification of economic pressure on the peasantry during the colonial period, which was often extremely severe and widely produced a feudalization of agrarian relations. Such pressure has in many respects not subsided, and it is clear today that poor rural Indians need material and financial relief wherever they can get it. Well-funded and eager Christian missionary groups happily service desperation across India, building homes and schools in exchange for a pledge of loyalty. It seems possible that sheer economic need broke apart a 19th century Telugu Jewish community, driving many of its members to embrace Christianity, along with millions of other poor Indians. However, this remains to be determined.
Is the community actually the progeny of the Lost Tribe of Ephraim, as Shmuel Yakobi believes? I was shown no Hebrew Torah or distinctively Jewish ritual objects, and am under the impression that these have not survived. Neither was I shown genealogies. Most of the artifactual evidence of the community’s history seems to be in the form of folklore, sometimes scraps of folklore, and perhaps linguistic analysis.
My own opinion is that the importance of the community for world Jewry lies not in its history, which cannot be documented. Rather, its importance lies in the spiritual and ethical practice it has developed, which is, to me, within Jewish tradition. Moreover, by being Jews this community challenges other Jews to honor their own Jewish commitments.
Telugu Jews are unquestionably among the poorest Jews in the world. Like other rural Indian untouchables who depend on farm labor for a living, most of the families survive on less than $300 per year, lack access to the most rudimentary health care, lack housing adequate to the seasons, lack balanced nutrition, are easily driven into debt at interest rates as high as 120 percent, from which they never emerge, and become subject to the harassment of thugs and collectors.
I believe that their spiritual efforts, given these pressures, prove central to their lives. Their Judaism is virtually devoid of Talmudic and rabbinic influences. Rather, it focuses on God's sheer power and commitment to His people, and on the ethical imperatives of the Prophets. The community cherishes the Biblical account of the Exodus, and identifies deeply, I would say ardently, with its promise of liberation. This promise forms the backbone of the community’s spiritual life; in group and individual prayer these Jews plead to God for it, demand their right to it, thank God for it, and struggle to be patient for it. For them, the living God delivers signs and responses to their prayers daily, in small ways. Sadok Yakobi, the resident leader of the community, whom the community supports with weekly donations, spends his days moving from hut to hut leading prayer and giving support. Though neither a preacher nor a healer, he tells many stories of having witnessed miraculous healing, as well as small, inexplicable changes of fortune, which he and the community attribute to God’s direct intervention. Sadok is convinced that the power of the community’s prayer and the faithfulness of the God committed to them are responsible for their survival under otherwise insufferable conditions.
The community distinguishes itself from its Christian neighbors by keeping the Sabbath and major Jewish holidays, and following Jewish dietary laws. (Keeping the Sabbath is no mean feat: landlords and factory owners continuously threaten to fire Jewish workers for not working a seven-day week). The more learned members of the community are engaged in ongoing, intensive discussions with one another and with their neighbors about why Jesus is not the Messiah, about the meaning of redemption, and about direct communication with God. These discussions appear to have been vital to the community’s development. They continue as lively spiritual investigations.
I spent three Sabbaths with the community. I studied Torah with Sadok and a group of men in sessions lasting all day. Our sessions were provocative and beneficial to all. Abraham and Reuben Koshi, elders of the community, are dedicated students of Hebrew. Sadok’s son, Yakob, knows rudimentary Hebrew well.
The Sabbath services are original, beautiful and moving, much of them dedicated to song. The congregation poignantly and powerfully sings the Hebrew of the Psalms to Telugu folk melodies. The synagogue itself is a spare structure of bricks, a large room with a high ceiling and a single table on which stands a perpetually burning flame. It is the only brick building belonging to the community (all families live in mud and thatch huts), and people are exceedingly proud. Next door to the synagogue lives a Hindu family which donates its electrical connection to the synagogue on the Sabbath, providing everyone with the pleasure of electricity once a week (an irony much appreciated when I explained that many Jews will not turn on an electric switch on the Sabbath).
Most of the members of the community in Kottareddipalem, as well as a small number of related families living near Ongole in Prakasham District, are eager to integrate into world Jewry.
The community faces religious intolerance, particularly from the local Christian clergy, which uses the emergence of the Jewish congregation to tighten Christian solidarity through anti-Semitism, something they are remarkably quick to learn despite their admitted ignorance of Judaism.
Slowly the community's existence is being recognized by other Jews. In early 1994 three Israeli rabbis visited the synagogue for a day, and this year a group of Israeli tourists visited. Shmuel Yakobi's son has emigrated to Israel and obtained Israeli citizenship. These positive developments were offset, however, by a series of articles from Israeli sources appearing in Indian newspapers in 1994, claiming that the Council of Eastern Jewry considered all Indian untouchables to be lost Jews, and proposed a mass exodus of millions of untouchables to Israel. Yakobi denies these claims, but such rumors are apparently strong enough in Israel to block even tourist visas to Indians.

I was altogether impressed by this isolated community’s Jewish commitment, sincerity and generosity. My respect and admiration for their effort and initiative increased as I came to know the members personally. Whether they are the Lost Tribe of Ephraim or not, they are a young community of devoted Jews, suffering, surviving, practicing what is perhaps a kind of Jewish liberation theology.

When The Truth is A Lie

The following article has just been published by Reb Gutman Locks on the blog pages at http://mysticalpaths.blogspot.com. Just calling it mystical paths should set up alarm bells right from the onset. Mysticism and Judaism as I have commented regarding the Kabbalah are diametrically opposed. And as to be expected, when a Karaite challenges a Rabbanite, presents facts, presents strict Torah interpretation, the Rabbi has no other recourse but to proclaim that all Karaites are hysterical in our proclamation that Rabbinates are liars. And as hysterics, his implication is that the converse is true and in fact all Rabbanites must be speaking the truth. A very old rabbincal trick practiced by the tannim and one which the Aher exposed long ago. My responses are in CAPITAL LETTERS, and though I doubt any Rabbanites will bother to read this blog, at least those that are open minded, true followers of the correct path (not mystical) will see the fallacy of Reb Gutman's argument.

It's a Lie Wednesday, December 02, 2009
by Reb Gutman Locks at Mystical Paths

“It’s a lie!” he shouted. “How can you say those blessings? G-d didn’t command you to do those mitzvahs, the rabbis did!” THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN A YES/NO ANSWER BUT AS EXPECTED, SUCH AN EASY RESPONSE WILL NEVER BE FORTHCOMING FROM A RABBI.

He was referring to the blessing we say when we do one of the seven rabbinic mitzvahs. We say a blessing when we do a mitzvah, even if that mitzvah has been given to us by the rabbis. Beside the 613 commandments that are found in the Torah, there are also seven commandments that come from the rabbis. A ROUNDABOUT WAY OF SAYING 'YES' YOU ARE CORRECT. REB GUTMAN DOES STATE THAT THE MITZVAH HAS BEEN GIVEN TO THEM BY THE RABBIS AND NOT BY GOD.

They are:

To light lights for Shabbos,
To light the Hanukkah lights,
To read the Scroll of Esther on Purim,
To recite the prayers of Hallel on holidays,
To recite a blessing for certain types of enjoyment,
To wash hands in a prescribed manner before eating bread,
To construct an eruv to permit carrying to and within public areas on Shabbos,

He explained that he does not have a problem doing those rabbinical commandments, actually he enjoys them. His has a problem with saying the blessing that we say when we do them. I HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH RABBANITE JEWS PRACTICING TRADITIONS EITHER. BUT AS THE BLESSING IS RECITED, THE PART THAT GOES 'BLESSED ARE YOU GOD THAT HAS ORDAINED US TO DO....' IS NOT CORRECT. IN FACT RABBI GUTMAN HAS ADMITTED EARLIER THAT IT WAS THE RABBIS THAT ORDAINED IT, NOT GOD. SO IN ESSENCE, ATTRIBUTING SOMETHING TO GOD WHICH IS NOT CORRECT IS USING GOD'S NAME IN VAIN BECAUSE IT IS A FALSEHOOD. AND USING GOD'S NAME IN VAIN IS BREAKING OF ONE OF THE SUPREME COMMANDMENTS.

“I do the commandments, but I refuse to lie and say that G-d has commanded me to do them.” IN THIS INSTANCE, THE STANCE TAKEN BY THE KARAITE IS THE ONLY ACCEPTABLE ONE.

The blessing for these rabbinic mitzvahs is the same blessing that we say when we do one of the Torah’s 613 commandments. “Blessed are You, O L-rd our G-d, King of the universe, Who has commanded us…” And then we mention the particular mitzvah that we are doing. ACTUALLY RABBI GUTMAN, IS ARGUING THAT SOMEHOW BY REPLACING THE LATTER PART OF THE ACTUAL COMMANDMENTS BECAUSE HE CONTINUES TO USE THE FIRST PART BLESSING GOD THAT SOMEHOW THIS NEW SENTENCE BECOMES A SANCTIONED COMMANDMENT BY GOD. THE ARGUMENT THEREFORE WOULD ALSO APPLY BY THIS LOGIC TO SOMETHING AS RIDICULOUS AS,"BLESSED ARE THOU, OUR LORD OUR GOD, KING OF THE UNIVERSE, WHO HAS COMMANDED US TO DRIVE AT RECKLESS SPEEDS THUS ENDANGERING THE HAPLESS PEDESTRIANS." JUST BECAUSE THE FIRST HALF OF THE BLESSING IS USED DOES NOT GIVE ANY CREDIBILITY TO THE LATTER PART. WHAT'S TRUE IN ONE CASE IS TRUE IN ALL CASES AND THEREFORE RABBINICAL BLESSINGS CANNOT BE ATTRIBUTED TO GOD. AS WE ARE ALL AWARE, MAN IS INHERENTLY WRONG IN MANY OF HIS JUDGMENTS. SO AS NOT TO APPEAR WRONG, THE RABBIS HAVE USED GOD'S NAME TO SANCTIFY THEIR OWN EDICTS. THAT IS AN ARROGANCE THAT GOD WILL NOT CONDONE.

“G-d didn’t command me to do those seven things. The rabbis did!” He got louder each time he repeated himself. MOST LIKELY BECAUSE THE RABBIS ARE DEAF TO HIS ARGUMENT.

I gave him the standard answers, but he would not budge. STANDARD ANSWERS? IS THERE A BOOK OF STANDARD ANSWERS THAT RABBIS USE IN ORDER TO JUSTIFY THEIR OWN PERSONAL OPINIONS? WHAT ABOUT GOD'S ANSWER? SHOULDN'T THAT BE WHAT IS IMPORTANT?

“The Torah specifically tells us to listen to the ‘judges in those days’ (our days) and to do what they tell us to do.[i] It even mentions a grave punishment for anyone who deviates from their instructions.” SINCE THE TORAH PREDATED THE JUDGES IN MOST CASES EXCEPT FOR JOSHUA, THIS ANSWER IS NOT FULLY CORRECT. YES, THE JUDGES ARE PART OF THE TANACH BUT THAT IS NOT WHAT IT SAYS EXACTLY AS I EXPLAIN AT THE END OF THIS ARTICLE. THERE WAS AN IMPLICATION OF COMMON SENSE THAT WAS A REQUIREMENT BY THE TORAH. WHEN GIDEON SACRIFICED HIS DAUGHTER, DOES THAT MEAN ALL MEN SHOULD DO LIKEWISE. OR WHEN ABIMELECH SLEW HIS BRETHREN SHOULD WE DO LIKEWISE. BETTER YET, WE SHOULD ALL LIVE A LIFE OF DEBAUCHERY LIKE SAMSON. NO, GOD DID NOT TELL US TO DO EXACTLY AS THE JUDGES ORDAINED. IN FACT THE LORD WANTED US TO REMEMBER THAT EVEN HIS APPOINTED JUDGES WERE PRONE TO FALSE PRIDE, ARROGANCE AND HUMAN ERROR. SO IF RABBI GUTMAN HAS THE AUDACITY TO EVEN THINK OF HIMSELF AS A JUDGE WITH HIS 'OUR DAYS' COMMENT, HOW VAINGLORIOUS OF HIM.

He argued, “That line in the Torah is talking about when the Temple was standing. It even says that ‘you shall go to that place.’ These rabbinical commandments came way after the Temple was destroyed. It is a lie to say that G-d commands them.” ACTUALLY THE TEMPLE WASN'T BUILT IN THE TIME OF THE JUDGES. AND THIS ARGUMENT DOESN'T APPEAR TO BE RELATED AT ALL TO RABBI'S COMMENT ON THE JUDGES. ANOTHER LITTLE TRICK THAT RABBIS OFTEN USE, BRINGING IN UNRELATED INFORMATION TO CONFUSE THE ARGUMENT.

I tried to explain, “The Torah tells us more than once to listen to our elders, and our elders told us to say these blessings.” It didn’t help. His mind was made up. THE TORAH TOLD THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL TO HONOUR THE PRIESTS AND THE MEMBERS OF THE BETH DIN. THOSE APPOINTED BY GOD AND THROUGH HIS SERVANT MOSES. RABBIS DIDN'T EXIST UNTIL THE POST TEMPLE DAYS,(JUST TO USE GUTMAN'S PREVIOUS STATEMENT) AND CERTAINLY THERE IS NO REFERENCE TO THESE SELF PROCLAIMED TEACHERS AS BEING GOD'S APPOINTED ELDERS.

“You are not using your head,” he insisted. “You are just following blindly without thinking. Those commandments were given by man, not by G-d. You are lying if you say those blessings.” He was getter louder as his frustration with me was getting the best of him. “Nothing you can say will get me to believe that G-d told me to say those blessing.” ONE DOES USUALLY BECOME FRUSTRATED WHEN TALKING TO A WALL. A WALL HAS NO EARS, IT HAS NO THINKING PROCESSESS, AND IT CERTAINLY DOESN'T HAVE THE ABILITY TO PROVIDE A REASONED ANSWER. THAT'S ALL HE WANTED AND HIS FAILING WAS IN NOT WALKING AWAY WHEN HE REALISED THE ABILITY TO REASON WAS NOT THERE.

I knew that he would not listen, but I tried anyway, “The Torah tells us to ask our elders, ‘generation after generation,’ not just while the Temple was standing.[ii] If we were to listen to the elders only while the Temple was standing, why would Moshe have also said ‘generation after generation’? LET'S NOT CONFUSE THE ELDERS OF THE BETH DIN WITH THE RABBIS OF TODAY. HOW MANY OF THEM ARE NOW ON TRIAL IN NEW YORK FOR THEIR SCAMMING OF FUNDS. HOW MANY 'SO-CALLED' ELDERS WERE CAUGHT IN THAT BODY PARTS SCANDAL? THESE ARE NOT ELDERS. THESE ARE NOTHING MORE THAN PEOPLE WITH INFLATED EGOS AND THINKING THEMSELVES ABOVE THE LAW. MOSES WOULD BE ASHAMED OF THEM.

“You would not cut down a food-tree because you know that the Torah forbids it. But the command not to cut down such a tree is referring to the time when we are besieging a city.”[iii] Still, you would not cut one down at any time. AS I MENTIONED, IT IS AN OLD RABBINICAL PLOY TO THROW EVERYTHING INTO AN ARGUMENT EVEN IF IT DOES NOT RELATE TO THE SPECIFIC QUESTION. RED HERRINGS AS WE KNOW THEM. A PLOY BY DESPERATE PEOPLE IS HOW I REFER TO THEM. I DISCUSS THIS FURTHER AT THE END OF THIS ARTICLE.

“You do many things that come from the rabbis. For instance, the Torah tells us to thank G-d after eating, but the rabbis taught us which words to say when we thank Him. You say those words.” THANKING GOD IS A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MAN AND GOD. ONE DOES NOT REQUIRE FORMAL WORDS TO RECITE. THAT MAN THAT IS MUTE CAN STILL THANK GOD WITHOUT UTTERING A SINGLE WORD. IS RABBI GUTMAN IMPLYING THAT ONLY BY RECITING THE RABBINICAL BLESSINGS CAN A MAN BE HEARD BY GOD? DOES HE NOT REALISE THAT IT IS THE HEART WHICH SPEAKS VOLUMES?

He admitted that he is picking and choosing which things he wants to do. THIS WAS NOT THE ORIGINAL ARGUMENT. RABBI GUTMAN HAS TRIED TO REVERSE THE ARGUMENT AND IMPLY THAT THE QUESTIONER IS SOMEHOW THE ONE REWRITING THE TORAH.

I went on, “But, if you want real proof that G-d agrees with those rabbinical blessings, look at the holiness that we experience when we do those mitzvahs. You do not deny that lighting Shabbos candles and doing these other mitzvahs brings holiness. A TRADITION IS NOT THE SAME AS HOLINESS. WHEN THE RABBIS IN WORLD WAR TWO ADVISED THEIR CONGREGATIONS TO NOT RESIST THE NAZIS, TO DO NOTHING TO SAVE OUR OWN LIVES, BECAUSE GOD WILL SEE OUR PLIGHT AND BY HIS OWN HAND SAVE US, WAS THERE HOLINESS IN OBEYING THOSE RABBINICAL INSTRUCTIONS. WAS THERE A MITZVAH BY NOT RAISING A HAND IN VIOLENCE TOWARDS ANOTHER MAN. LET US NOT MISTAKE THE INSTRUCTIONS OF RABBIS FOR MITZVAHS. A TRADITION OF NON-VIOLENCE LED TO SIX MILLION DEATHS. LIGHTING OF CANDLES AT SABBATH IS NOTHING MORE THAN THE LIGHTING OF CANDLES. YOU DO IT AS A TRADITION, WHETHER RIGHT OR WRONG. DOES IT BRING HOLINESS? ASK THOSE OF ALL THAT LIT THEIR CANDLES AND PERISHED NONETHELESS. THERE IS NO MITZVAH.

“Well, only G-d can ordain holiness. The holiness that we experience when we do those rabbinical mitzvahs is absolute proof that G-d approves of them, and that He approves of the blessings that we say when we do them.” FINALLY AN ACCURATE STATEMENT FROM RABBI GUTMAN. 'ONLY GOD CAN ORDAIN HOLINESS.' THEN HE TRIES TO PULL A FAST ONE SAYING THAT SINCE HE EXPERIENCES HOLINESS FROM DOING RABBINICAL MITZVAHS THEN GOD MUST APPROVE. OF COURSE, THAT'S LIKE A CRIMINAL SAYING HE GET'S GREAT SATISFACTION FROM THE CRIMES HE COMMITS. THEREFORE WHAT HE DOES MUST BE APPROVED BY THE LAW. THE FACT IS THAT IT ISN'T. AND THAT'S THE TRUTH!

[i] Deuteronomy 17:8-12 ACTUALLY RABBI GUTMAN, THIS READS TO HEARKEN TO THE PRIEST, THE LEVITE OR THE JUDGE, I DON'T SEE WHERE IT MENTIONS YOU OR YOUR COLLEAGUES. AS KOHEN, I WOULD THEREFORE SUGGEST MY RESPONSES SUPERCEDE YOURS.
[ii] Deuteronomy 32:7 A VERSE THAT APPLIES TO THE DAYS OF OLD. ASK THE ELDERS AND THEY WILL TELL YOU OF THE OLDEN DAYS; OF HOW THINGS WERE BACK THEN. NOT OF HOW THINGS HAVE BEEN CHANGED TODAY. A VERSE THAT IN APPLICATION IS FAR MORE KARAITE THAN RABBANITE. THANK YOU RABBI GUTMAN FOR BRINGING IT TO MY ATTENTION.
[iii] Deuteronomy 20:19 AS I MENTIONED A VERSE THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE ORIGINAL ARGUMENT. NEXT TIME I LAY SIEGE TO A CITY I WILL REMIND MY WARRIORS NOT TO CHOP DOWN ANY TREES. BUT FOR NOW, WHEN I LAY SIEGE TO THE FORTRESS OF RABBINICAL WISDOM I WILL REMIND MY FOLLOWERS THEY MUST NOT ABANDON OR CHOP DOWN THE TORAH (THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE) WHEN MAKING OUR ARGUMENTS AGAINST THOSE THAT HAVE LONG FORGOTTEN THE TASTE OF THE ORIGINAL FRUIT.

The Great Karaite Debate Part 1

In the old days it was not unusual for a Karaite scholar to sit across from a Rabbanite clergy and debate the essential differences between our two sects. Those days are sadly gone becuase with our dwinding population, there is no longer a concern that as Karaites we will persuade the mass of Jews to switch their theological allegiance to our view. As Yakov Kahana and Judah Loew continue the ancient debate in Shadows of Trinity (http://www.eloquentbooks.com/ShadowsOfTrinity.html) it is obvious that the Rabbanites have dismissed any concerns regarding Karaites. That being the case, the Rabbis are no longer worried that we represent a threat to their coveted authority and therefore they no longer believe there's a need for direct debate. Essentially its a form of contempt but that is nothing knew from those that have always held us in low regard. But that's fine since there are enough recent literary discussions regarding their views of Karaism that I can take my proper place in my third great grandfather's shoes and challenge them through the utilisation of their own media releases. Dan Ross's Acts of Faith which is subtitled "A Journey To the Fringes of Jewish Identity" provides you with the author's attitude before opening the book cover. Already labelled as a fringe of Jewish identity, the implication is already implanted in the reader's mind. What else do we associate with 'the Fringe?' There's lunatic fringe, societal fringe, the paranormal Fringe television series, outsider's fringe, religious fringe, being on the fringe, in fact almost all have negative connotations except for one which is fringe benefits. But even then it is an implication that the benefits are outside the so-called norm.


The True Heretics
Ross begins his chapter with the comment that Karaites benefitted in World War II from the Nazi obsession of who was a Jew and who wasn't. The implication is that somehow all Karaites escaped the death camp because the Nazis were confused by our origins. Yes, there were many that survived the persecution because the Nazi Home Office was persuaded that Karaites were all of Tartar origins and therefore did not meet their definition of who was a Jew. But at the same time, many of the death squads never bothered to try and sift through the Jews in the communities they were assigned to cleanse. It was too much of a bureaucratic nightmare and when it became time to round the people up and shift them out it was done with big nets that didn't descriminate. Those in my family taken from their homes in Vienna and sent to die at Thereisenstadt certainly didn't have an identity card that said "we are Karaite." It didn't matter. And when Dr. Rikhail Iosefova Goldenthal refused to leave off her medical administrations to the Jews in Odesssa being abused by the Nazi occupiers, it was far more expedient to kill her than keep sending her warnings to stop. So yes, there were some stories of leniency in Romania, the Ukraine, etc. that meant that even the Final Solution would never have been final since there would have been survival of some Karaites but to suggest that somehow in general we were left completely untouched by the Nazi oppression and death camps is a complete falsehood.

Ross makes it clear that he sees the Karaites as something outside Judaism, not part of it. He says we practice a truncated form of Judaism, rejecting the Talmud and other rabbinical writings. That we all claimed to be from Tartar tribes who adopted a Jewish like religion and we all spoke a Tartar dialect. Yes, the genes for blonde hair and blue eyes run in my family. Three of my four children have blonde hair and blue eyes, but that does not make myself or them any less descendants of Semitic stock than any other Jew. Tartar dialect, no, but Arabic spoken in the family, yes but not since the passing of Jakob Goldenthal in 1867. What would have been more accurate was to suggest that Karaites were probably more likely to adopt the dialect of the land in which they lived and use it more commonly than Yiddush or Hebrew in every day life. And not only did we adopt the local language but often the local dress code as well, appearing more like the general population than the Ashkenazi Jews that surrounded us. Did that make us Tartar? No, that made us in many ways more progressive even though the accusation was that our practices were archaic and that we as a people were trapped in a time warp. To infer that our Judaism was truncated also suggests that in some way it is incomplete. And rejected the Talmud and rabbinical writings implies that somehow we turned away from something that is right or unquestionable. How about expressing it more correctly in that we only follow what was given to us by God and we are unwilling to accept the writings of men that have often twisted or corrupted the original words. What we have been accused of rejecting is nothing more than a commentary and implying that by doing so we have rejected part of the religion is not only false and misleading but displays an arrogance that is the hallmark of Rabbanite Judaism.

Ross qualifies his non-Jew statement by saying that this was the claim made by the Karaites themselves but most non-Karaite scholars knew they were Jews but just happened to be heretics. Once again we are being labelled with the term 'heretic'. How is it that disagreeing with Rabbanite interpretations makes us heretics? Logic would say that those that have insisted there is a need to interpret and twist the words of the Torah to suit their own end would be the heretics. A heretic is one that rejects the original word and sees a need to interpret it in a different way. That being the case, then the Rabbanites are actually the heretics. Rather than having endured this accusation for a thousand years, my Karaite brethren and ancestors failed to reverse the accusation and call a spade a spade. We were the orthodoxy, they were the heretics and we permitted them to brand us incorrectly.

The Census
At the time Ross wrote his Chapter he siad there were about ten thousand Karaites living in Israel. He could not give exact numbers because Karaite Law forbids their being counted in a census. Funny that, I thought that was Tanach Law. That God instructed his prophets to condemn any King in Israel that tried to take a census. That he forbade Jews from doing so as no man was to know the actual count of the Children of Israel. They were to be like the stars in the heavens; innumerable. Thus, an ordination from God is now being accused of being a Karaite Law as if we were in the wrong. Very peculiar.

Ross then states that Karaite status under Israeli law is ambiguous. That they are considered Jews but have their own rabbis, chief rabbinate, national council, kosher slaughterers, mohels, and religious courts. And then makes the statement that they are not legally permitted to marry other Jews. I fail to see the ambiguous part. Having our own religious structures and religious services should not implay in any way that our status as Jews is doubtful. The Rabbanite orthodoxy, conservative and reform movements all have their own councils, teachers and practices and no one is accusing any of them of being of an ambiguous status. And as far as I understand it, the illegality of Karaites marrying a Rabbanite Jew is imposed by the Rabbanite orthodox courts insisting that a Karaite must abandon his/her centuries old faith and become a Rabbanite in order to marry. Ambiguous? Sounds prejudicial and smacking of religious intolerance. There is nothing ambiguous about it. In fact it is all very obvious.

The ground work is now laid for this debate. Over the next few articles I will challenge statements made by Dan Ross in his book. Hopefully it wil invite comments from both sides. The hiatus is over. It is time for Karaites to rechallenge the old accusations and let the world know that we are a presence and we do not intend to fade away.