What is Karaite Judaism?

Answer 1

A follower of the karaite sect begun by Anan Ben David about 1250 years ago, who rejected traditional interpretations of the Hebrew Bible and chose to create a literal reading of the Hebrew Bible. For instance, the Hebrew Bible says an eye shall be compensated for an eye. Rabbinical tradition has always been that it means that if a person hurts somebody else's eye, then that person must pay monetary damages to that person. A Karaite, however, would have literally read that an eye must be taken. The Karaites today are a small group of about 0.3% of world Jewry. One can easily see why, since it is next to impossible to follow the Bible without using common sense to interpret the values it is communicating.

Answer:

I am a Karaite. We interpret the passage referred to above also to require monetary compensation for the injury to the eye. This legal principal included in the oldest legal codes known to have existed (the code of Ur-Nammu and the Code of Hammurabi) is an enactment of equal justice. If a rich man hurts a poor man's eye he must compensate him, if the poor man hurts the rich man's eye he too must compensate. The rich man cannot ignore the legal rights of the poor man by having him killed for injuring an eye, nor can the poor man escape justice for his poverty. The Rabbinical interpretations are from a set of books called the Talmud based on the Oral Law passed down the generations since the time of Moses. These Rabbinic traditions include how to dress, how to use the restroom with decorum, and that one should separate meat and cheese when one eats (eating one or the other in a meal but never both).

Answer:

The Karaites are a small group that reject the Oral Torah and traditions of Judaism. They are thus forced into the conundrum of needing, in any case, to invent their own interpretations of what the brief Bible-verses mean. Example: not working on the Sabbath day (Exodus ch.20). Without a tradition, this could mean almost anything. Normative Judaism understands this command in terms of the tradition (Talmud, Shabbat 73b) which spells out exactly which activities are called "work." The Karaites have to come up with their own ideas concerning this and thousands of other examples.

Answer 2

It is a non-traditional set of practices which accepts the laws of the written Torah but excludes the Talmud and Oral Torah. It began some 1250 years ago, and today it is a very small group comprising fewer than 0.5% of world Jewry.

Answer 3

The Karaites are a small group (about 0.3% of world Jewry), begun about 1250 years ago, that reject the Oral Torah and original (Rabbinic) traditions of Judaism. They are thus forced into the conundrum of needing, in any case, to create their own interpretations of what the brief Torah-verses mean. Example: not working on the Sabbath day (Exodus ch.20). Without a tradition, this could mean almost anything. Rabbinical Judaism understands this command in terms of the ancient tradition recorded in the Talmud (Shabbat 73b), which spells out exactly which activities are called "work." The Karaites have to come up with their own ideas concerning this and thousands of other examples. In doing so, they adopted some non-traditional rules (such as those of Sabbath) from the Samaritans (no lights or heated food), abandoned other observances (they have no Hanukkah, mezuzah, or tefillin), or altered them completely (such as making the festival of Purim into a fast-day). Some things were made more permissive (allowing meat with milk), while others became completely forbidden (no doctors or medicine).While one thousand years ago Karaism became relatively widespread, it gradually diminished, as some Karaites converted to Islam and others assimilated. Many Karaites returned to traditional Judaism, under the influence of such Rabbinical luminaries as Saadia Gaon and Maimonides.

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