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QARAITES, or KARAITES

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Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 706 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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QARAITES, or KARAITES , a Jewish See also:sect of the See also:middle ages, claiming to be distinguished by adherence to Scripture as contrasted with oral tradition, whence the name (from H1 qara, to read, as if " readers," scripturarii; sometimes also NIP!? '4 " See also:children of the See also:Text " as read). They have frequently been identified with the See also:Sadducees or with the See also:Samaritans, with neither of whom have they any See also:historical connexion or much spiritual See also:affinity. The See also:schism arose at See also:Bagdad about the middle of the 8th See also:century, when the hereditary claims of Anan, a learned Talmudist, to the See also:office of Resh Galutha were set aside by the Gaonim (heads of rabbinical See also:schools) at Sura and Pumbeditha, because he was believed to undervalue the authority of the See also:Talmud. Anan, nevertheless, allowed himself to be proclaimed See also:Exilarch by his followers, a step construed into See also:treason by the See also:Mahommedan See also:government. He was sentenced to See also:death, but his See also:life was saved by his See also:fellow prisoner, See also:Abu Hanifa., the founder of the See also:great school of Moslem See also:theology and See also:jurisprudence. Ultimately he and his followers were permitted to migrate to See also:Palestine. They ereCtxd a See also:synagogue in See also:Jerusalem Anan, who is said to have died in A.D. 765, was the author of a commentary on the See also:Pentateuch and other See also:works in Talmudic See also:Hebrew and Arabic. Most of these are lost, and we are thus See also:left chiefly dependent on the hostile indications of opponents. His See also:code was recovered in See also:Egypt by the Qaraite See also:Moses b. See also:Elijah Bashyazi (1544-172).

Fragments were published by Harkavy (Voskhod 1897-1898). It is clear that Anan, although theoretically antagonistic to rabbinic methods, was in the end compelled to incline towards them. Considerable See also:

influence, too, was exercised on his theology by Abu Hanifa. In See also:general we know that he showed great bitterness against the Talmud and its upholders (the "Rabbanites ") for their modification of the written See also:law by arbitrary additions and subtractions, but there is nothing to indicate that he himself had the insight or the fervour by which he could have become the See also:pioneer of a really great See also:reformation. The questions appear to have turned entirely on points of See also:minute detail. Several of them related to the regulation of the See also:calendar, the new See also:moon, for example, being fixed by the Qaraites by See also:direct observation, not by astronomical calculation, and the See also:intercalary See also:year also being determined empirically; _ others related to See also:paschal and pentecostal See also:ritual, such as the precise See also:hour for killing the See also:lamb or for burning its remains. The See also:differences which affected social life most deeply were those See also:relating to See also:Sabbath observance and the forbidden degrees of See also:marriage, the Qaraites not recognizing any distinction between relationships of See also:consanguinity and those of affinity, while in their zeal to avoid all See also:risk of infringement of the sacredness of the See also:day of See also:rest they prohibited the burning of any See also:light at all in their houses from sunset to sunset. Of See also:late years much Qaraite literature has been published. The most valuable contribution to learning made by it is in the direction of Hebrew See also:philology and the natural exegesis of the scriptural text. Little See also:information as to the Qaraites can be derived from their liturgies; they differ fundamentally from those used by Rabbanites in being composed almost entirely of scriptural versicles and in containing practically no Piyyutim (liturgical poems). The controversies as to the See also:rule of faith which so deeply divided the See also:Christian See also:Church in the 16th century gave to this obscure sect an illusory and passing importance, the Catholics frequently hurling the epithet Karaei, in token of contempt, at the Protestants, who in their turn willingly accepted it as sufficiently descriptive of their attitude towards Scripture. The Qaraites never have been numerous; in 1904 their See also:total number was estimated at 12,000, 10,000 being found in See also:Russia: the See also:present community in Jerusalem See also:numbers only a few families.

They occur in See also:

Constantinople and else-where in See also:Turkey, and in Egypt, but are chiefly met with in See also:southern Russia, and especially in the See also:Crimean districts of See also:Eupatoria, See also:Theodosia and See also:Sevastopol. Here their historical See also:capital and See also:chief synagogue was formerly the " See also:Jews' See also:Castle " (Tshuful-Kale), near Bakh-chisarai. The See also:place is now deserted; its See also:cemetery was the seat of Firkowitsch's notorious forgeries (See also:inscriptions of 1st century), by which he sought to establish a fabulous antiquity for his sect. According to Strack (A. Firkowitsch u. See also:seine Entdeckungen, 1876) the See also:oldest tombstones do not go back beyond the 14th century. The See also:modern Qaraites are generally, well spoken of for their honesty, perseverance and See also:simple habits of life; they are gradually approximating to the Rabbanites, with whom, in some places, they are on terms of social intimacy. The See also:Russian government exempts the Qaraites from the restrictions to which the rest of the Jews are subject; this circumstance is probably due to the insignificance of the Qaraites numerically. Among the older authorities may be mentioned Morinus, Exercit. Bibl. See also:lib. ii. ex. 7 (166g) ; and Triglandius, Diatribe de Secta Karaeorutn II (17o3). See Gratz, Gesch. der Juden, especially in vol. v. (i8o6), with the additions and corrections of Harkavy in the Hebrew See also:translation; and See also:Furst, Gesch. See also:des Karaerthums (1865); S.

Pinsker, Ligqu(e Qadmoniyyot: articles by A. Harkavy and by S. Poznanski in the Jewish Quarterly See also:

Review (e.g. x. 238–276, and vols. xviii.–xx.). See also Jewish Encyclopedia, s.v. " Anan," Karaites," &c. (I.

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