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How many Karaites are left today? Are they still considered vadai Jews or do we suspect they inter-married over the centuries? Can we accept them as Baalei Teshuva the same way we might a Reform Jew?
What do the meforshim say about the Karaites? Has anything changed in their status between the commentary on them by Rav Saadia Gaon, Rambam, etc. and how they evolved till current times? Perhaps they have a similar status to the Samaritans (as described in the Gemora)?
The Karaites were the post-Temple period reincarnation of the Saduccees. I very much doubt the little remnants of them that still exists today has a kosher lineage.
They are considered Kosher Jews.
There is a Karaite Shul in Los Angeles
Im pretty sure although not certain that there are communities of karaites nowadays in israel.
I believe R’ Ovadia Yosef paskens that it is mutar for a “Rabbinic” Jew to marry a Karaite.
There are still Karaites that “Daven” and have a D’mus Yonah on Har Grizim.
you can check wikipedia for this type of question.
“estimates of the size of the modern Karaite movement put the number at 4,000 Karaites in the United States, about 100 families in Istanbul, and over 40,000 in Israel, the largest communities being in Ramlah, Ashdod and Beer-Sheva.”
Other interesting facts in that article as well.
There’s supposed to be a karaite temple thingy in the old city, with a klala theyd never get a minyan. They have nine men, and whenever they give birth to a boy one of the men dies.
There was a strong Karaite community in Lithuania, and they
were mostly based in a town called Trakai 20 minutes away
from Vilna.
While the Jews were about all killed in the holoacust, the Karaites
were left untouched.
The Karaites have their own cemetery, and are not considered Jewish.
sam2 you are confusing the Karaim with Shomronim the Karaim are a sect within Judaism who do not accept Tora she beal peh and only what is written or is explained by their “rabbies”
Shomronim on the other not Jewish (descendants of those from Yehuda) but are from according to their tradition from those remained from the kingdom of Yirael _northern kingdom they had in ancient times a bet mikdash that might have had an image of a yona
today they do not have either each year according to their calendar they celebrate Korban Pesach they have Kohanim as well they number today only a few hundred.
there were karaite communities in northern Europe, as well all over the middle east.
I think there are plenty of converts from Judaism. Many have very Heimishe names.
Haleivi: What do you mean?
They are a huge michshol to many secular who just love to trash torah she’baal peh because they associate it with the Rabbonus
Sam2
Your thinking of the Shomronim or Samaritans.
They have “Sifrei Torah” that they write in Ksav Ivri that are basically the same as ours except for a few differences, a big one being that there is a commandment in theirs to build a ‘Beis hamikdash” on Har Grizim.
They also do not except what we call the Torah Shbaal Peh because they were separate from Klal Yisrael already in the times of Tanach WAY before the times of the Tannaim and Ammoraim.
The Karaites are similar to what was known in the times of the second beis hamikdash as the “Tzidukim” who were mainly Cohanim and rejected the teachings of Chazal and the notion of Olam Habbah as well. After the Churban the Tzdukim disapeared and did not leave over any known writings as their version of Judaism revolved only around serving in the Beis Hamikdash whereas the Perushim (followrs of Chazal- Pharisees) still believed in learning Torah and an afterlife even after the Churban and still had what to hold on to.
There were other sects of Judaism that disappeared after the churban as well such as the Essenes who wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls.
“They are considered Kosher Jews.”
They are not strict with gittin so there is a problem with mamzeirus.
“There’s supposed to be a karaite temple thingy in the old city, with a klala theyd never get a minyan. They have nine men, and whenever they give birth to a boy one of the men dies.’
Why would they need a minyan?
Secondly, the Karaites petitioned the Nazis to not include them as Jews. They claimed that they were Tatars from Russia and not genetically Jewish. Te Nazis accepted this and there were even Karaite guards in the death camps.
“There’s supposed to be a karaite temple thingy in the old city”
A friend of mine was passing by their house of worship there and some Japanese tourist were there. He heard them misread it as “Karate Jews”, and they were quite happy to hear that Jews had their own sect practicing Japanese martial arts. 🙂
They are not strict with gittin so there is a problem with mamzeirus.
They were not strict with Kiddushin either so this wasnt a problem
Zahavasdad
Who told you they are kosher Jews?
I have a Puerto Rican that works for me, and he and his entire family are Karaites! They never were Jews, they never considered themselves Jews.
He would not cut the grass on my lawn during SHMITTA!
Several years ago, he kept Pesach TWO WEEKS EARLY, because his “Priest” was in EY, and saw green barley blooming on Purim.
(AVIV is when barley blooms. SO Purim to him became Rosh Chodesh Nisan, and they all kept Pesach TWO WEEKS EARLY.
So unless you can provide the names of some Gedolim that say Karaites are Kosher Jews, I would not call them that.
R’ Ovadia Yosef says their muttar to marry in Klal Yisrael even though
They are not strict with gittin so there is a problem with mamzeirus.
because the kiddushun isn’t valid either because they aren’t good eidim
I heard B’sheim R’ Moshe that they’re muttar nowadays
they have “temples” in San Francisco and EY
Also secondly regarding mamzeirus it’s a safeik if there was a divorce (remember they only hold have to be mizaneh b/c no Torah Shebal Peh)
Anyways a mamzer that got mixed in to klal yisrael is a kasher
Thirdly how is Karaites marraiges and divorce any different than Reform?
Im just saying what i heard. i dont know.
Sam2
Your thinking of the Shomronim or Samaritans.
They have “Sifrei Torah” that they write in Ksav Ivri that are basically the same as ours except for a few differences, a big one being that there is a commandment in theirs to build a ‘Beis hamikdash” on Har Grizim.
They also do not except what we call the Torah Shbaal Peh because they were separate from Klal Yisrael already in the times of Tanach WAY before the times of the Tannaim and Ammoraim.
The Karaites are similar to what was known in the times of the second beis hamikdash as the “Tzidukim” who were mainly Cohanim and rejected the teachings of Chazal and the notion of Olam Habbah as well. After the Churban the Tzdukim disapeared and did not leave over any known writings as their version of Judaism revolved only around serving in the Beis Hamikdash whereas the Perushim (followrs of Chazal- Pharisees) still believed in learning Torah and an afterlife even after the Churban and still had what to hold on to.
There were other sects of Judaism that disappeared after the churban as well such as the Essenes who wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls.
They are actually very strict when it comes to kiddushin, hence possible mamzerus when they divorce and remarry.
Karaites branched off from normative Judaism about 1300 years ago, after the Talmud was completed, that’s why they are never mentioned in the Gemara. It seems that Tzedokim disappeared shortly after the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash almost 2000 years ago (except for a few holdouts (see Shabbos 88a). Kussim (Samaritans) were around and are still around after 2600 years.
YehudahTzvi,
that might be true however they are still Passul L’Eidus and aren’t mikadesh K’daas YISRAEL hence their kiddushin isn’t valid
sorry, but the chachamim call the shots
I stand corrected, apparently. Thank you.
Does anyone know the difference between the Tzedukim and the Baysusim? It seems like their idoelogy was similar but they were separate groups.
I always thought that they were the same ideology wise it was that they had a different “rebbe”
HaLeiVi: The Essenes were also a similar ideology. They probably had Halachic differences that made them into different groups. In fact, some literature from that time refers to the Essenes as “students of Tzadok”.
Are Essenes ??????? or ???????
There were a whole bunch of these little splinter groups during the time of the second Beis Hamikdash.
The Essenes were a splinter group that practiced a Spartan lifestyle as well as communal ownership of property. Some were celibate. Their are some historians who equate them with the Dead Sea cult and others who hold that the Notzrim sprang from them.
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