II
Part
The Golden Age - The Center in Jerusalem,
Tenth and Eleventh Centuries
"Mourners a/Zion" and the "Congregation a/the Roses"
One of the strands leading to Karaism were apparently the Jerusalem "Avelei
Zion" (Mourners of Zion)!. Jews devoted to mourning the destruction of the
Temple and praying for the redemption of Zion are mentioned already in late
Roman times2• They appear again after the Arab conquest and are mentioned
there throughout most of the "Umayyad period (660-750). The term "Avelei
Zion" is mentioned fIrst in_the fIrst half of the ninth century3. ~
Their customs, such as a life of strict~poverty, abstaining-from the
consumption of meat and wine, and of fasting, were influenced by customs
which some of the early_Karaites--imported from Persia. The Karaite
settleiiient in ~s~tarted
in the ninth century (A. Paul believes that
around 85()4). Do we h,ave to regard all Avelei Zion after that date as
Karaites, or did Rabbanite Mourners exist in Jerusalem side by side with the
Karaite ones? Scholars are divided on this questions. But in due time
"mourning" became synonymous with Karaite allegiances. Increasin~ly the
appelation of Mourners dis3ppp.Med however, t<!l he rep13ced hy "AdM
n •..•
f t1l~ :R\?fJ8fJ"), '.'.'hkb "',,,, <>pplif'cI to
Hashushanim" (the "Conwgllti •..•
Karaites only6 LS~H On
Their settlement in Jerusalem was facilitated by political developments.
Cracks appeared in the monolithic structure of the Khalifate. Egypt broke
away, under the Tulunids, and captured Palestine in 878. Thus Jerusalem
became dependant on nearby Fustat (next to present day Cairo), instead of
far away Baghdad. Some of the Karaites enjoyed considerable influence at
the court of Fustat and later of Cairo, and were thus able to be of very real
help to their brethren in Jerusalem, especially in their conflicts with the
Rabbanites. The Gaon Ben Meir complained in a letter written in 321, about \A.l~
how the Rabbanites of Jerusalem had been persecuted by the local Karaites. ti.o.*L
••......
-
29
Thus quite an exceptional situation came to be, with the Karaites as the
stronger and more aggressive side7.
Some of the Karaites sent letters to members of the sect living in the
Diaspora,inviting them to come to Jerusalem and join them there in a life of
poverty and prayer.Thus, they hoped, to accelerate the coming of the
Messiah. Belief in the imminent advent of the Messiah was widespread, as
shown by various Karaite texts. In some cases specific years or months were
mentioned as the time in which his coming could be expected. When nothing
happened at the stipulated date, various excuses and explanations were put
forward, but the basic belief endured8.
The holiness of Jerusalem was accepted by all branches of Judaism, but
the active propagation of settling there became a specifically Karaite trait.
Several well known Karaite scholars, such as Daniul nl-Kumisi and saW ben
Mazliah toured the neighbouring countries and wrote letters in order to
promote the settlement of Jerusalem.
The quarter settled by the Karaites in JCIIINUlulTI
was outside the city wall,
on the (eastern) hill, where the original city of the Jebusites and King David
had stood. It was called Haret al-Mu::;hul'ukah(the quarter of the easterners)
because the Karaites who settled there Cllu10 from such eastern countries as
Persia. They themselves called it "~~Iu Eloph", alter Joshua 18:289. Their
Rabbanite opponents called them accordingly "The sect of the Zelah"" or,
from the same Hebrew root, "The IlllllO Noet"10. No archeological remains
have been found of thjs period in l'hi~ mllt·h "'Y"~"M"r1 part of Jerusalem, but
we have to imagine the Ka:raitc Q)IHl'ltW III IHlvehe~n a poor locality of narrow
•••..
alleys because of the Bfo-stylc of its lllhlll)l!'nnts..
Still, the existance of un hnportllllt Yl.lNhivah(academy) is reported from
this quarter. It was located in diU "coul'tyurd" (meaning the group of houses
surrounding a courtyard) of Joseph ben Bakhtawi, one of the richest and
most influential members of the Karalte comnunity, around 1000, and was
therefore named the Bakhtawi Academy. Tho Bakhtawi "courtyard" seems to
have served also as the Karaite communal center ("maglis") of JerusalemJl•
Students were sent even from abroad to study there. In the 1030's studied
there, for instance, Tobias ben Moses, from Byzantium. Some of the students
decided to settle in Jerusalem for good, but Tobias was, in the end, disgusted
with the discipline imposed by the Karaite Nasi, and by his mishandling of
funds - and returned home. Another such student, about a generation later,
was Jacob ben Simon, who translated into Hebrew one of his mentor's,
Jeshua ben Judah's, Arabic-language treatises on the law of incest. He, too,
returned to Byzantium. The academy declined after one of the nesiim had left
30
around 1060 for Fustat, and might have closed down round completely after
the Seljuk conquest of 107112•
It seems probable that there were at least as many Rabbanites as Karaites
in Jerusalem, as the city served in the tenth and eleventh centuries as the seat
of the important Rabbanite academy called "Yeshivat Bretz-Israel" (which ~
previously had been located for several centuries in Tiberias, and later was to
move to Tyre). saW ben Mazliah mentions in the tenth century sixty Karaite
sages in Jerusalem. This might refer to the number of active male Karaites in
the city, which would indicate a total Karaite population there of some 250
soulsl3. The Karaites stressed that they were in Jerusalem poorer than the
Rabbanites, and had fewer childrenl4. Yet a document from the Genizah
from 1040 shows Tobias ben Moses, when living in Jerusalem, to have been
a wealthy man, who was in charge of the Fatimid landed estates in all of
Palestinel5. Even more surprising: the Karaite Abu Sa'ad Itzhak: ben Aaron
ben Ali (or, in Arabic, Ishak: ben Kalafben 'Alun) served in 1060 as governor
of Jerusalem - a nearly unprecedented honour for a non-Moslem. He was
however unlucky: during his term of office the lightening installation of the
Dome of the Rock collapsed. This was regarded as a very bad omen and he
was speedily removed. Later he lived in Ramlel6.
The organization of the Karaite community is hinted at by Levi ben
Japheth Abu Sa'id, who mentions the following appellations of its leaders:
"Nasi':, "Adon" and "Melamed". The latter which means "teacher", was
subdivided into an instructor who taught "Tora and matters of the next
,world" and one who imparts "matters of this world" and handicraft. Another
Karaite scholar, Abraham ibn David, mentions also a further appellation,
"Sheikh". This Arabic term means much the same as the Hebrew "Adon" - a
communal leader. "Nasi" was reserved for the head of the community, a
descendant of Anan.
Anan is supposed to have built the old Karaite synagogue in Jerusalem.
This is clearly incorrect, not only because there is no corrobative evidence
for Anan's ever having visited Jerusalem, but because the architectural style
of the building indicates, according to J. Pinkerfeld, rather the eleventh or
twelfth than the eighth centuries. Ben Shamai suggests that it might have
been set up by Anan II ben David, one of the Ananite leaders, who had
become a Karaite in Jerusalem in the eleventh centuryl7. Its present state is
the result of two rebuildings in the nineteenth century. The original prayer
room was somewhat largerl8. M. Gil does not believe that the synagogue was
built before the crusadesl9, but that would leave us with a thorny question:
when was it built? Still, Gil is backed up by the fact that it stands in the
31
Jewish
quarter
on the
chapter
Quarter of the Old City (within the city walls), while the Karaite
of the tenth and eleventh centuries was located outside the city walls,
"Eastern Hill". We shall come back to this problem in the second
of Part N.
The various Karaite sources show that most of the members of the sect in
Jerusalem had initially come there from Persia. A later French document tells
about a ~banite
couple w:ho~ved
in J~sale~
frofu Spainfand
decided there to become Karaites and to settle in the Karaite quarter. But
when, after two years, they decided to return to the Rabbanite fold, they~re
accepted only after great difficulties20. Other sources mention repeatedly
some~mixed marriages between
Karaites and Rabbanites21.•.
...........--.
The Karaites in Jerusalem were dependant for some pwposes on the
Rabbanites and had, apparently, to pay their taxes to the Moslem authorities
by means of the Rabbanites as intermediaries. To thank them for their help
they had to close their shops not only on their own festivals, but also on the
Rabbanite ones. Quite some bad blood was caused by the different customs
of both sects. The Karaites were allowed, for instance, to eat meat and milk
products at the same meal, which has always been very strictly forbidden to
the Rabbanites. The latter used therefore each year on the day of Hoshana
Rabba (the seventh day of the Feast of Tabernacles), to have a ceremonial
gathering on the Mount of Olives, and to read then out a ban against the
Karaites, mainly because of their dietary laws.
the ear 1024 the Karaites succeeded, with the help of their influential
di ionists in Fustat to 0 tam l'om t 1e al1llU Khalif a _ r ,.; , ...
~s ban and also 0 the Rabbanite visits to any Karaite places of worshi~ and
of the Rabbanite polemics against them. Not all the Rabbanites were
prepared to accept this ruling, and two sons of a previous Gaon (head of the
Jerusalem Academy) read out the bim, in spite of the prohibition. The
authorities had them arrested and they were deported to Damascus (1030).
However they were later released and it is not clear whether the ban was or
was not read out in later years22.
In the second quarter of the eleventh century the relations between
Karaites and Rabbanites in Jerusalem improved markedly. When Ramie was
badly damaged in a Beduin raid in 1025, the Fatimid authorities levied a
special tax of 6000 dinars on the Jews of Jerusalem, in order to help the
victims, half of it was contributed by the Rabbanite community and half by
the Karaites. This shows, first of all, a new spirit of cooperation and further it
can be taken, perhaps, as an indication that both communities were of about
equal size at that time23.
-
32
----
A further indication of cooperation can be seen in the fact that in 1028 the
h~n JehuWlb ~erved in ~
~ Sl)aliah T_~ibur(leader in
"prayer) both of the Rabbanites and thy l>araite~ ll~ hp. rp.l'mmt" h;~~lf y:ilik
(,5omehumour24.
The period of the main flowering of the Jerusalem Center was in the tenth
and eleventh centuries. Some of the most important Karaite scholars were
active there, writiI;g mostly in Arabic (but usually with Hebrew letters) and
only rarely in Hebrew. H.H. Ben Sasson characterizes them as individualists
of a rationalistic turn of mind, who were united by their similar attitude to the
Scriptures, to Karaite history and to direct communion with God27. Further
they had in conmon that tilev did not believe that recompense for good deeds ~
i!1 this world should be looked for in the next world. They did believe that the
Torah indicates clearly that reward and punishment are only possible as long
as humans are still alive, and body and soul are conjoined, as this is the way
God creates them; while in the next world the soul survives without the
body28.
They believed that a catastrophic cataclysm had occured in history: the
destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. Before this catastrophy the
recompense in this world was commensurate with the good deeds performed
by man. But afterwards this was no longer so, as God ceased to be in direct
contact with His creation. Therefore they had chosen poverty as their way of
life, as no other reward could any longer be looked for. Still, they call all
believers to come to Jerusalem, as only there is any hope of reestablishing
contact with God and of overcoming His anger towards His creation29.
With the capture of Jerusalem by the Seljuks in 1071 the real flowering of
the Karaite "Congregation of Roses" seems to have come to its end. But the
final stroke was delivered by the crusaders in 1099, as we shall show in the
last chapter of Part II.
.G~\WL.sW,Q.mo.U
The Karaite Social Fabric
Karaite ideology stressed in these centuries the importance of poverty. There
can be but little doubt that in their quarter outside of the city walls, with its
narrow alleys and small houses, the general standard of living was a low one.
But the picture painted by the Marxist historian R. Mahler of "downtrodden
Jewish masses" for whom Karaism was a movement of messianic and social
liberation1, is surely an overstatement. His modern terminology tends to
confuse a medieval situation to which it does not apply.
33
)
ll.ll. Ben Sasson has criticized Mahler's concept on several accounts2
* The severe legal code, especially of Benjamin Nahawendi, reflects
a
very different society from that imagined by Mahler. It shows an appreciation of property and the men of property can expect full legal backing and
protection.
* l(araite societr inclllned al~o ~eat ml"rrh<ant" :InrI l"ven cle1l1en::in Sl~ya....
(such as the Tustar clan of Egypt. f?r instance). beside artisans. peddlers and
the poor.
*~i1e
MaJ11prp;n0ri7.~d the hil!h taxes collected bv the sendlinJ:!jSof the
titb~s
»abYlonian exilarch, Ben Sasson pOints to the relativelv hi~htaXjs
.coll\'(Cteq late{ yi~orQUIlJv - even frQrn womvn - bv QJ~ Kar~i: le.l!ders~ •
* The lender of money is given precedence before orphans by Karaite law,
indicating a society with a highly developed sense of the value of property.
Borrowers who cannot pay may even be sold as slaves.
M. Gil has pointed out that some of the teachings of al-Kumisi and his
pupils, such as the ideal of poverty or asceticism and self-mortification,
do
indeed give the impression of a new social code. He stresses however that it
was held, at best, by a small group, nearly all of whom lived in Jerusalem.
Sahl ben Mazliah reports that some of the newcomers to Jerusalem lived
;9.
under difficult economic conditions. Still, it appears that he is speaking
mainly of previous members of the wealthy merchant class3.
Even in Jerusalem dwelled the wealthy Bakhtawi family, and a member of
the rich Tustar family was an active scholar there late in the eleventh century.
Goitein points out that the Genizah documents indicate that the Karaites
were generally richer than the Rabbanites, especially in Egypt. Two marriage
contracts from Jerusalem show that the newlyweds came from rich families.
In the previous chapter we have had occasion to mention Karaites who
occupied high office in Jerusalem. But other Karaites mentioned in this
period were sellers of cheese, or weavers, or lived from alms received from
their previous home towns4.
Daniel hen Moses al-Kumisi
He was the earliest of the important Persian Karaites in Jerusalem.Al-Kumisi
was born in Damghan, in the province of Kumis, in northern Persia.
Ben Shamai believes that actually he should be classifIed as an Ananite in
his early life, and only after arriving in Jerusalem he became a Karaite. The
Arab 1l1athematician al-Birulli (975-1048) reports that the members of one of
34
the Jewish sects are called the Ananites. He claims that the split occured a
hundred years before his time, which would place it arround the year 900 the time when al-Kumisi was active in Jerusalem. Ben Shamai regards this as
an epochal event in Karaite history, as from al-Kumisi onward the Karaite
ideology became dominant in the general Jewish sectarian religious ferment
of that periodl.
M. Gil sugges~ that al-Kumisi has to be understood against the background of the rising Isma'ili movement in his native Persia. Its preachers
were called duai, which can be translated into Hebrew as "hakore", "the
caller", and hence, perhaps, the source of the term "Karaite". Daniel alKumisi was such a preacher, or "caller". Some of his commentary to Leviticus shows Isma'ili influence, mirroring its teachings about the "dahir" and
the "batin" - the revealed and the concealed - in the Koran2.
AI-Kumisi mentions Persian political events, which took place in the third
quarter of the ninth century. He seems to have moved to Jerusalem around
8803•
He is the main follower of al-Nahawendi in the integration and unification
of the Karaite movement. He had, at least in his later life, few illusions about
Anan's actual importance in the formation of Karaism, dissented from some
of his halakhic principles, and after calling him "first among the sages" called
him later, after his conversion to Karaism, "fIrst among the fools". Probably
as a result, his name was excluded from the later Karaite memorial prayer, as
Anan had been accepted by then as the sect's founder.
Nor was he any less critical about Nahawendi.
He opposed his
11lh"IJ)fotal'ionof the law, and taught a much stricter version. He believed that
tho IIIWHof the Torah should be followed as originally formulated. He opptlNlld Nflhnwondi's method of Biblical exegesis and called for strict
IIdlu.)I'ulI(;i)to tho literal sense of Scripture. He did not accept Nahawendi's
lukqlJ'ctatioll that I'malakhim" are angels and preferred to regard them as
1111
LlI I'll I fOfCOHumployed by God.
's wide ran e of disa reement between
thu l'lJfl;UlTlONtimportant founders of Karaism shows from how . erent
Nognlcllt'~llOVl.lmcnt
was originallx fused together, and on how wide a
I'!'O III ngfcblllClllN hlld 1'0 he hammered out.
Kir:ki/'lUul fOllllll'kod about al-Kumisi's ways of thought and work: "He
would aCCl.lpllillY l.:ouc1usion arrived at by reasoning ... and would acknowh'd~() dUII1/J,l'HW1WIlUVUf
they occured in regard to opinions he had expressed
II hiN WllllllI'.M". Al-Kumlili himself stated "Those who come later will find
Ihfl 1I11I'h",Nhowlllg 1\ ¥(.)ry modem, empirical attitude towards the nature of
llllowh·dgo.
Y01 hll oppOIlt;d the study of philosophy among Karaites.
35
In his biblical exegesis al-Kumisi tries to keep to the simple meaning of
the text, in a rationalistic manner. His most complete surviving works are
commentaries on the Minor Prophets and on Daniel.
His most bitter criticizm was reserved for his Rabbanite adversaries,
whom he blamed for the prolongation of the Diaspora, because of their
arrogance, pursuit of worldly pleasures and wealth, their exploitation of the
masses of the people and, mainly, their erronous reliance on Oral Law.
AI-Kumisi seems to have been the real originator of the new Jerusalemcentric orientation of Karaism, which he might have regarded as a
counterbalance to the previously dominant Rabbanite center of Babylonia.
He appears to have been the real founder of the "Congregation of the
Roses" and was apparently the author of the official program of the
"Mourners of Zion". He initiated the energetic Karaite propaganda for
settling in Jerusalem and demanded, from Karaites living elsewhere, to
supply the funds needed to enable their coreligionists in Jerusalem to
dedicate their lives to prayer, to active mourning and to supplication for
redemption. Some of the epistles from Jerusalem called from now on for
speedy immigration to the Holy Land, while the "Rich of the Diaspora" were
bitterly denounced for hanging back4•
His appellation for the rabbis and hakhamim of the Karaite community in
Jerusalem seems to have been "Maskil", as used in his commentary on
Daniel. J. Mann has translated it as "wise man"5, 1. Nemoy as 'Jnan of
1!!lderstanding"6, N. Wieder as "those who make wise", meaning teachers,
guides or enlighteners7 and A. Paul as "sage"8.
M. Gil regards al-Kumisi as the real founder (or unifier) of Karaism, who
bestowed on it its three main characteristics
* Comolete dissociation from Rabbinic teachin~s
* Return to the Land of Israel
* The use of self mortification and self torture and also the active habits of
mourning9•
The Karaite scholars of Jerusalem
This is the Golden Age of Karaism. Even in Rabbinic circles respect was
expressed for the quality of learning to be found among the Karaite
"Teachers of Jerusalem" and "Exegetes of Jerusalem"!.
* 0bu Suri Sahl ben Mazliah ha Kohen lived in the tenth century. He
wrote a commentary on the Bible called "Mishneh Torah" and an Arabic
36
language Book of Precepts, but with a Hebrew language introduction, which
includes interesting material on the Karaite cornnunity of Jerusalem. Further
he wrote a book of Hebrew grarnmer and a Hebrew tract, named "Reproach
from the Diaspora", addressed to one of Saadia Gaon's pupils.
He was an energetic Karaite missionary, who travelled to Egypt and Iraq.
He and his fellow propagandists were so successful that he boasted of the
fact that several Rabbanites in Jerusalem and RamIe had adopted major
Karaite practices: "There are many of them who eat no meat of sheep and
cattle in Jerusalem and keep their mouths clean of every unclean food ... And
they do not touch the dead and do not become defiled by any of the
impurities ... They also refrain from marrying a daughter of one's mother and
a daughter of one's sister and a daughter of the wife of one's father and they
refrain from all the prohibited incestuous unions which the Karaite scholars
.., have proclaimed as forbidden ... They celebrate the festivals for two days
... There are some among them whose eyes God has ultimately enlightened
so that they have forsaken the calculation of leap-years"2.
He was no less vigorous in his propaganda for the return to Zion, and
reports at some length about the struggles between the Karaite leadership of
Jerusalem and the Rabbanite leadership of the "Land of Shine'ar "
(Babylonia)3. He stressed that in coming to Jerusalem the newcomers were
fulfilling a Divine command. Quoting Jeremiah 3:14 he calls for "One from a
£ity and two from a family, old' and young" to ioin the ranks of the
'.:Mourners of Zion"4.
The modern Karaite settlement _Mazlial1_in Israel (founded in 1950) is
named after him5.
*"Salmon ben Jeroham, in the tenth century, was one of the main Karaite
polemicists against Saadia Gaon. His "Milhamot Adonai" (Book of the Wars
Qf the Lord), written in Hebrew, is a rhymed attack on Saadia and on
Rabbanites in general. Ankori calls him an "ascetic zealot" 6. Abusive
language was the norm of the age, but Salmon outdid in this field all his
contemporaries. He wrote also some cornnentaries on the Scriptures. In his
view s,ecular studies were to be avoided, as ungodly. He also opposed the
study of philosophy.
He had decided political opinions. Living in the time of the progressive
disintegration of the Abbasid Caliphate, he had few illusions as to the real
nature of Islamic rule. He called it "son of a slave girl" and "man of deceit"7.
Yet he regarded the possibility that Christendom would reconquer Palestine
as an even worse alternative.
37
He seems well acquainted in his writings with the topography of Jerusalem
and the Dead Sea, yet his last years he seems to have spent in Aleppo and his
grave there was still venerated in the fifteenth century8.
* David ben Boaz (Abu Sa'id) was a descendant of Anan and lived in the
tenth century. He was the titular head (Nasi) of the Karaites in Jerusalem. Yet
he had some ties to Saadia Gaon, which is perhaps not swprising in a man
with Ananite roots. He wrote in Arabic. From his translation of the
Pentateuch some portions on Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy have
survived as MSS in Leningrad and in the British Museum. He added to his
translations also a commentary and prepared another one on Ecclesiastes. In
these commentaries David opposed in a restrained manner some of Saadia's
opinions, using in his arguments sometimes quotations from the Talmud.
Further, he added grammatical glosses. His comnentary on Leviticus was
later used by Tobias ben Moses as an essential component of his "Otzar
Nehmad". But otherwise David's Arabic work was not translated into
Hebrew and, as a result, did not exert much influence on the later, nonArabic speaking, scholars of the Byzantine Period.
* Japheth ben AU ha-Levi (Abu AU aI-Hassan ibn Ali), was born in Basra
(hence his Arabic appellation "al-Basri"), in the middle of the tenth century
and was still alive in 985. In his youth he came to Jerusalem and in his
writings shows some knowledge of the topography of the city and of the
Holy Land.
He prepared a monumental literal translation of the Bible into Arabic and
wrote, also in Arabic, biblical commentaries, which won him considerable
renown. L. Nemoy has called him "the foremost Karaite commentator on the
Bible during the golden age of Karaite literature"9. Parts of the commentaries
were later translated into Hebrew and were used in later centuries by the
Karaites of Byzantium. Included therein can be found sharp polemics against
Rabbanites in general and Saadia Gaon specifically, but also against
Christianity and Islam. He is also critical of Anan and Nahawendi. His Book
of Precepts has not survived.
He admired the resurgent power of Byzantium under the Macedonian
dynasty and wrote about it "The iron represents the Romans and the clay the
Arabs ... But the kingdom of the Romans remained, as is witnessed in our
own day. Now, the kingdom of the Arabs is compared to clay, because they
have neither power nor force like the Romans"10.
He attacked the creed of Tiflisism, saying in conclusion "God shall cancel
these creeds and bring shame on (their adherents)"11,partly, perhaps, because
38
they appeared not to believe in resurrection, while he was convinced of the
imminence of the coming of the Messiah.
He called on the Karaites of the Diaspora, to come and settle in Jerusalem:
"Ye Mourners of Zion, remember your Mother from afar; sit not in gladness
in the company of the playful: Your Holy House is in the hands of strangers,
yet you are far away. The enemies of God are within it, yet you are
unmindful. Strive ye to appear before Him!"12
He is a typical representative of the intelligent, politically aware, critically
inclined Karaite scholar of that age.
* His son Abu Sa'id Levi ben Japheth lived in the time of the widespread
Carmathian uprisings in Palestine, to which he aludes in his "A commentary
on the Book of Daniel"13. He wrote in 1006/7 in Arabic a book on religious
law "Sefer Mitsvoth", later translated into Hebrew. His rulings are very strict.
He is an important source for the controversies between Karaites and
Rabbanites, and those between the scholars of Jerusalem and of Iraq. His
main importance was in his influence on the early Karaite halakha. He
stressed that Karaite legislation can only be derived "from Scripture, and
from deduction by analogy and from seeking for the truth"14.
As against the uncompromising stand of al-Kurnisi and other early
Karaites on the necessity to settle in the Land of Israel, Levi's positiom was
more ·fleXible. The Karaites living there could indeed follow the growth of
the new crop, in order to fix the New Year accurately, but it was admitted
now that most Karaites had to stay in the Diaspora and had to resign
themselves to logical deduction ("hakrabah" or "hagbarah").
This must not be allowed to affect, however, their basically Jerusalemcentric orientation. While this softening of their stand came too late to
remedy the rift with the Karaites of Babylonia, as shown by Levi's
disputations with their scholars, it did come in time to ensure better relations
with other Karaite centers, and especially the rising center of Byzantium.
Hence, perhaps, the later popularity of Levi's writings there15.
* Joseph ben Noah founded, around the turn of the rnillenium, the Karaite
Bakhtawi Academy, of seventy scholars in Jerusalem (possibly to conform
with the number of members of the Sanhedrion). His disciples, such as
Joseph ben Abraham ha-Roeh and Abu al-Faraj Harun, have carved out for
this academy a permanent place in Karaite cultural history. He was reported
to have rejected deduction by analogy, one of the basic tenets of Karaite
doctrine, put none of hi!'; worh have survived-.iwhich reportedly included
both a grammar and a commentary on the Pentateuch). He is regarded by Z.
Ankori as a worthy representative of what he calls the "Later Golden Age",
,
39
which is more mature in its literaty output than its predececessor and
"constitutes a lasting and positive contribution to Jewish learning of all
times"16.
I
I
,
* Abu al-Faraj Harun, in the :f1rsthalf of the eleventh century (he was still
alive in 1048), was a biblical exegete, lexicographer and, especially, a well
known grammarian (he was called 'the Grammarian of Jerusalem'). He was
the fIrst to study the Aramaic language of the Scriptures and its grammar,
and to compare it to Hebrew. He wrote several books, which have survived
mostly only as manuscripts - some of them in Leningrad. His major work
was "al-Mustamil ali al-Ussul wa-al-Fussul fi al-lughah al-'Ubraniah" (The
encompassing book of roots and derivatives in the Hebrew language), which
he completed in 1026. He was a friend of Joseph al-Basir, and among his
pupils were, apparently, Tobias ben Moses and Jeshua ben Judah. His work
was well known among the Jewish scholars of Spain: Abraham Ibn Ezra,
unaware of his sectarian identity, placed him second only to Saadia Gaon17.
* Jeshua ben Judah (Abu Furkan ben Assad al-Faraj) was active in
Jerusalem around 1050 (but lived still in 1065). He was one of the leaders of
the community and is regarded as the last important Karaite scholar of
Jerusalem of the Golden Age. He is the first Karaite.man of letters who had
the full text of Anan's "Book of Precepts" in its original, Aramaic, version to
work with. It seems to have been brought then to Jerusalem by Ananites from
Spain. He wrote two commentaries of the Pentateuch, which are called "the
longer" and "the shorter" one. This is, however very relative:. the "short" one
numbers 270 manuscript pages for Exodus XV - XXV alone! Of the longer
one less has survived, mainly on Leviticus.
He was influenced by the rationalistic theology developed by the
Mu'tazilites in Islam. He held that knowledge of the cre~tion cannot be
derived from Scripture alone, but is subject also to rational speculation. He
tried to define God and held that He, too, is bound by good and evil. Jeshua
tried to explain why God does good, though able to do evil, and what was
His purpose in creating the world. His line of thought is interesting and often
s,urprisingly modem ..
He and al-Basir broke with the tradition of their predecessors and
introduced the teaching of philosophy into the Karaite curriculum. This was
combined with the writing of philosophy in Jerusalem, of which he himself
was the outstanding practitioner.
In another field he tackled the difficult question of whom a Karaite can
marry without committing incest. Up to his time rules had been very strict, as
also the wife's family was held to be ineligible, and this because of the so40
called "rikkuv" theory, that man and wife form a unity of flesh (based on
Genesis 2:24). Thus also quite distant relatives of the other partner in the
matrimony became ineligible, as they were included in the biblical term
"'she'er". As the number of Karaites was never very large, this could have
had a negative influence on the sect's ability to survive. Thus a more lenient
ruling (which still was stricter than the Rabbanite one, and even more so than
the Samaritan one), was put forward, fIrst by Joseph ben Abraham ha-Kohen
ha-Roeh al-Basir, and under his influence, also by his pupil Jeshua ben
Judah. Blood relatives were thus reduced to parents, brothers and sisters and
their children. This was one of the most influential reforms to be introduced
to Karaite jurisprudence, and has been followed by most scholars - in spite
of their initial resistance - ever since18.
Joshua's influence was widely felt, among other reasons, because many of
his pupils settled in Byzantium. Such contemporaries of his as Tobias ben
Moses ha-Avel, and pupils of his, such as Jacob ben Reuben, laid the
cornerstone of the Karaite Center of Byzantium, which was to become
dominant in the Karaite world from the end of the eleventh century onward.
Jeshua was very influential also in Spain where Ibn al Tairas and his wife
were his pupils and friends19..
***
A few epigones were active in Jerusalem late in the eleventh century. Abu
el Hassan Ali ben Suleiman arranged and adapted earlier works by David ben
Abraham Alfasi from Morocco, by Aby al Taib from Tinnis in Egypt, by
Josef ibn Noah, by David ben Boaz and by others.
A member of the Tustar clan, saW ibn Fadl, or Jashar ben Hesed,
composed a comnentary on the Pentateuch and also treatises in the fields of
philosophy and Halakha. The following of his writings have survived: "AlTalwih 'ala al-Tawhid wa-al-'Adl" on philosophy, a treatise on incest and
another on Aristotle's Metaphysics. He lived in Jerusalem in the 1090's and
attacked fierc1y Jeshua ben Judah's conduct as a leader of the community.
His son is mentioned among the Karaite captives taken by the crusaders after
the 1099 capture of Jerusalem20•
Scholars of the Golden Age in places other than Jerusalem
Karaism was the product of an Islamic environment and till the twelfth
century flourished mainly in Arabic speaking countries. The Karaites were
41
1
using Arabic both as their spoken language and as their main literary
language. Jerusalem was the most important center of Karaite learning, but
not the only one. Their scholars were active also elsewhere in the Holy Land
and also in Egypt, Iraq, Persia and Morocco. Some of them travelled
extensively and it is difficult to know if they were active most of the time in
Jerusalem or elsewhere.
* Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Kirkisani, in the first half of the tenth century
hailed from upper Iraq and did not share al-Kumisi's attitude regarding the
central importance of settling in Jerusalem. His opinions are in many areas
very different from those of the scholars of the Holy Land and were
influenced to a great extent by the symbiotic cultural climate of Upper
Mesopotamia!. His principal work is a book of Karaite law, the "book of
Lights and Watch Towers"2. It is divided into 13 chapters and discusses such
legal subjects as the interpretation of the Law, the Conmandments, dietary
law, inheritance and legal aspects of incest (his strict views on this subject
were among those overturned a century later by Yusuf al-Basir and Jeshua
ben Judah). But other parts of his work range far and wide, from the
importance of rational investigations into theology to Jewish history. In a
separate part3 he discusses biblical exegesis. His many references to Anan,
Nahawendi and others make him the most important surviving source on
early Karaite history. Thus he speaks in his "Kitab al Anwar wal-Maraqib"
about "people of Anan", Karaites and "Benjaminites" as of three separate
sects.
His interests were catholic and ranged from the Koran and Arab
philosop~cal and scientific literature to the Talmud, Rabbinic liturgy, and
the New Testament. L. Nemoy has called him "the greatest Karaite mind in
the first half of the tenth century "4. Among his persoanal friends were
Rabbanites, Moslems and Christians.
He was opposed to the opinion of his contemporaries in the Holy Land in
that he believed in the importance of the study of philosophy. But large as he
looms in modern historical research, he had little influence on the
philosophic outlook of later Karaites. In his writings he relied on logic and
avoided the vituperations typical of some of his contemporaries. He believed
the study of the Talmud to be important, in order to fmd suitable material for
use in the polemics with the Rabbanites. As a result he was able to compile a
list of the differences in law and ritual between the Rabbanites of Babylonia
and those of Palestine. His moderation and common sense made him even
more effective as a propagandist of Karaism.
* Yaakub Yusuf al Basir, or Joseph ben Abraham ha-Kohen ha-Ro'eh,in
the first half of the eleventh century, lived in Persia or Iraq, but worked for
many years in Jerusalem. He was reported to have been blind and hence his
nickname "ha-Ro'eh", "the Seer". In spite of this affliction he travelled
widely.
In his "Kitab al-Tumayiz" and in his main work "al-Muhtawi" (The
Comprehensive) he tries to fmd the common denominator between Karaism
and Mu'tazilite rationalism. He stresses the rational character of ethics and
shows the priority of reason over revelation and study over tradition. He tries
to show that man enjoys free will, but God knows beforehand what his
choice will be. AI-Basir gives in his philosophy pride of place to the nature
of good and evil and to the question of God's justice. The Commandments
are His means of guiding man and those who follow them will be rewarded
in the Next World. He believed in accepting philosophy as a legitimate
subject matter in the Karaite program of instruction.
In his works he polemizes against various sects and religions, from
Epicureans to Christians and, of course, against Saadia Gaon. His opinions
and innovations on incest and the "Rikkuv" theory have been discussed in the
previous chapter, under Jeshua ben Judah. AI-Basir influenced decisively the
later Karaite philosophy and much of its cohesion is due to him. He died in
10405•
* Nissi ben Noah, lived in Persia, in the eleventh century. (Z. Ankori dates
him around 120(6). The "Sefer 'Asaret ha-Devarim", a philosophical
commentary, on the Ten Commandments (in the Firkovich collection in
Leningrad), has been attributed to him. Somewhat surprisingly he stressed
the importance of Karaites studying the Talmud and also other Rabbinic
literature. Another work by him, "Bitan ha-Maskilim" has been lost.
* David ben Abraham Alfasi came from Fez in Morocco, but spent some
years in Palestine. He was active in the second half of the tenth century. He
composed a Hebrew-Arabic lexicon of the Bible ("Kitab Jami al-Alfaz"),
which is one of the earliest and most salient works of this type, and most
important for the understanding of the development of Hebrew philology.
Modern philologists have accepted many of the parallels pointed out by him,
between biblical and mishnaic Hebrew, Aramaic and Arabic. He classified
the roots of verbs according to the number of their letters and explained
many of them by metathesis, meaning the permutation of letters. Yet in his
own days his work exerted a limited influence only, and was soon
superseded by later compositions. His biblical commentaries have not
survived7•
43
42
•••
-
- -
~(r
ffI
._--
* Were the eminent masoretes, Moses Ben Asher and his even more
famous son Aaron, resident in Tiberias, in the ninth and tenth centuries,
really Karttites? Opinion among scholars is divided, with the majority now
negating this once widely held opinion8• The Ben Ashers worked out the
main elements of the system of Hebrew vocalization, which is still used
-., today. Aaron's "Sefer Dikdukei ha- Te'amim" is regarded as the foundation of
Hebrew grammar9.
-ilJ
fA.,1AiJ:ti
***
To summarize: The Karaite scholars of the Golden Age, both in Jerusalem
and in the Diaspora, are distinguished by the variety of their specializations
and opinions. Many of them were very outspoken, - not only when they
attacked Saadia Gaon. But they were mostly original thinkers, holding often
very different opinions. The wide field of subjects covered by them, from
philosophy to exegesis, law and grammar, is very impressive. They were not
overawed by the prestige of their own leaders, and were often prepared to
contest Anan's or Nahawendi's opinions, They were contemptuous of any
evidence of irrational thinking. In their view, ever since the catastrophy of
the destruction of the Temple, the contact with Divine Justice has been cut
off, and now each individual is on his own, and has to try as hard as he can to
reestablish contact. Rational thinking was regarded as his best tool in this
quest10•
The geographical spread of Karaism
Jerusalem was not the only Karaite center in the Holy Land. In nearby Ramie
a sizeable and important community is reported in the tenth and eleventh
centuries. Ramie had been founded by the Umayyads in the early eighth
century, and had served since as the regional capital of southern Palestine
(the province called Falastin). Jews settled there soon after and their presence
is reported by Arab geographers since the ninth centuryl. A local Jewish sect
is reported by Kirkisani, Hadassi and Makrizi, from the ninth century, named
"AI-Malkiah"
or "Al-RamIiyah".
They were supposed to have been
connected with the pre-Karaite Tiflisi sect. Their founder was usually called
"Malik a-RamIi"2.
Karaites are :f1rst mentioned in Ramie in the tenth century. Sahl ben
Mazliah speaks about their close relations with the local Rabbanites, and
their influence on them: - "Now should someone say "Behold our brethren,
the disciples of the Rabbanites on the Holy Mount (Jerusalem) and in
44
\
111....l._"
~
Ramlah are far removed from such deeds", then you must really know that
they walk the path of the (Karaite) students of Torah and do as the Karaites
do; indeed, they have learned it from the latter". He enumerates several
Karaite customs which they follow3•
Later on the Karaite community grew in size and frictions were reported
with the Rabbanites. The Karaites had at least two synagogues in Ramle, one
called "The Middle one", the other named after the Prophet Samuel. The
latter is mentioned in the colophone to a Karaite Torah scroll from 1013. A
Karaite document of divorce has survived in the Cairo Genizah, which was
prepared in Ramle in 1036. It is now at Oxford. The Karaites of Ramle are
mentioned also in other Genizah documents4•
The names of some of the central figures of the community have been
preserved. Thus Ali ben Abraham, called a-Tawil ("the tall one") wrote at the
end of the eleventh century a commentary on Scripture, called "Yerahmehu
ha-El yit'aleh". Israel Haramli is mentioned in a book of polemics against the
Karaites, dating from 1112. As by that time Ramie was in crusader hands, his
name indicates only that he hailed originally from that city. Jacob ben
Reuben seems to have lived for some time in Ramle, as he mentions in his
"Sefer ha'Osher" repeatedly features of that city. One of the copies of Japhet
ben Ali's commentaries
to Ruth and Canticles dated from 1084, was
especially copied in Ramle for the library of "the respected elder Abu alFaraj Ya'akub" (now in the British Museum)5.
On the advent of the crusaders in 1099 Ramie was left by its inhabitants,
including the remnants of the Karaite community. Nearly 900 years later it
was to become, in our days the seat of the Karaite World Center.
It is possible that there was a Karaite community in Hebron, south of
Jerusalem, and there still exist there remains of a Karaite cemetery6. Late
traditions of such a community were mentioned in 1786 by the Karaite
traveller Benjamin ben Elijah, from the Crimea7• However there seems to be
no trace of such a congregation after the end of the crusades8•
A Genizah document from 1052 mentions Karaites in Ghaza, who helped
in the fixing of the calendar for that year by reporting on the state of the
barley harvest in the vicinity9.
Another document, from 1050, mentions Karaites in Sebaste (the ancient
town of Samaria)lO.
The presence of Karaites in tenth century Tiberias (the capital of northern
palestine, called Urdun - Jordan) depends on the thorny question if the Ben
Asher family was indeed Karaite, on which we have touched in the previous
45
,
__
>---
~-
_
-~
J.
I
chapter. Otherwise there are at present no signe of a Karaite community
therell.
One of the Genizah documents was written by a Karaite refugee from
Acre, after the city had fallen to the crusaders, showing that at least a few
Karaites must have lived there before its capture in 110412. In another
document, this one from 1051, (a marriage contract) Karaites are mentioned
in Tyre13.
Kirkisani mentions early in the tenth century Isawites in Damascus, who
might later have merged with the Karaite movement. In the eleventh century
the Karaites of Damascus sided in the struggle for the Gaonate of Jerusalem
with the usurper, Nathan ben Abraham, against the Gaon Salomon ben
Jehudah. This is what Nathan himself reports. It has to be taken as an
indication that the Karaite commnunity of Damascus was quite sizeable. In
the eleventh or twelfth century a branch of the House of Anan established
there a seat of the Nesiut (Patriarchate), which continued to exist for over
five centuries. Around 1040 a Genizah document was written by a Karaite
weaver living in Damascus14. After 1099 some of the survivors of the
massacre in Jerusalem by the crusaders, appear to have moved to
Damascus15.
Another community existed already in the tenth century in Aleppo, and the
polemicist Salmon be Jeroham spent his last years there. His grave was still
venerated in the fifteenth century. The local community adhered to the
Jerusalem type of calendar.
It is possible that Karaites lived also in Armenia, in addition to the local
Tiflisite sectarians, who are mentioned there in the ninth to the twelfth
centuries.
An important Karaite community is reported from the tenth century
onward in Fustat, and later from nearby Cairo, the capitals of Egypt under
the Tulunids (868-905), Fatimids (969-1171), Ayyubids (1171-1250) and
Mamluks (1250-1517). Some of its members were influential enough to have
a Rabbanite synagogue closed in Fustat (1039)16 and to have been able to
help the Karaite community of Jerusalem1? One of its leaders was in the mid
tenth cennuy the above mentioned Salmon ben Jeroham.
In the synagogue in Fustat named after Ezra the Scribe, which appears to
have been originally in Karaite hands, the famous Genizah was discovered at
the end of the nineteenth century. Among its hundreds of thousands of
documents and fragments there are therefore many which mention the names
and occupations of contemporary Karaites, from the tenth and eleventh
centuries onward. A typical Karaite occupation was for instance that of
46
moneychanger and moneylender, who had their stands in the market of the
goldsmiths18.
Another of their synagogues was destroyed by the fanatic Fatimid khalif
al-Hakim (996-1021), who persecuted Christians, Rabbanites, Samaritans
and Karaites indiscriminately19.
The Fatimids founded Cairo immediately north of Fustat soon after their
conquest of Egypt. The Karaites settled eventually in its eastern quarter,
Zuwayla, where also most of the Rabbanites were concentrated. Fustat was
destroyed by fire in 1168, set by the Egyptians themselves, during their wars
with the crusaders. It was never fully restored. The Karaite community of
Cairo continued to exist till nearly the end of the twentieth century, often as
one of the main Karaite centers20.
Other Karaite communities of Egypt are mentioned in a document from
1028, in Damietta (the harbour on the main eastern branch of the Nile),
Tinnis (further east, on an island in Lake Tannis) and Sahragt. Tinnis was the
stronghold of the Tustar clan, who wielded great influence at the court in
Fustat.
Further Karaite communities existed in some of the cities of the Mughreb.
The above mentioned David ben Abraham Alfasi hailed, for instance, from
Fez in Morocco. A Genizah document from the middle of the eleventh
century is addressed to a Karaite in Tripoli21, and one from 1030 mentions
Karaites in Caiman in Tunisia and in the oasis of Quargla in Algiers22.
Some members of Anan's family are reporrted to have settled in Spain and
to have still been there in the eleventh century. Till about 1100 the Spanish
Karaites appear to have followed the Palestinian practice of computing the
'alendar, but afterwards they changed over to the Rabbanite practice23.
The first report of Karaites in Constantinople is dated from 102824.Further
information about the early Karaite settlement in Byzantium can be found at
fhe beginning of Part III.
Most Karaites lived apparently at the beginning of this period still in Iraq
IIld Persia as indicated by the backgrounds of some of the outstanding
Hcholars. Thus Japhet ben Ali Halevi came from Basra, Kirkisani from Iraq,
Yw;uf al Basir lived in Persia, saW ibn Fadl might have come from Shustar
II P0fsia, Nissi ben Noah lived in Persia, etc. Kirkisani mentioned early in
tlill jonth century Karaite comnunities in Baghdad, Basra, Fars (in southern
1'(111'111), Khorasan (south-east of the Caspian Sea) and Tustar (north-east of
IIlIMlI)7A , Bull'here certainly took place a slow movement of Karaites westwilid.
47
The Karaite Nesiim (Patriarchs)
The backbone of the Ananite sect were the descendants of Anan. Mter both
sects had amalgamated, Anan's descendants were accorded for many
generations by all Karaites the title of "Nasi" (which has been translated as
"Patriarch", but their function was more that of secular leaders, than this term
would lead one to believe).
Later sources mention already Anan's son Saul and grandsons Josiah and
Daniel as Nesiim. But in reality the fIrst generations of his descendants
appear to been Rabbanites in good standing. His great grandsons, Josaphat
and Tsemah even have headed in the ninth century the Rabbanite "Academy
of the Land of Israel" in Tiberias, holding the title of Gaon1• Tsemah's sons
Asa and Jefet were not allowed to continue as Gaonirn, apparently because
they were regarded already as sectarians, showing that by the middle of the
ninth century the break was already complete.
Somewhat earlier, in the fIrst half of the ninth century, a grandson of
Anan, Daniel (the brother of Josiah, the father of Josaphat and Tsemah)
competed still for the title of Exilarch, but was defeated, as mentioned both
by Natronai Gaon and Michael the Syrian. The latter calls him already an
"Ananite". Natronai claims that he spoke up against the Mishnah and
Talmud, and in favour of the "Talmud" written by his grandfather Anan2• His
son Anan the second lived in Jerusalem.
Josaphat's son Bo'az is mentioned in the Genizah documents about
Bustenai. The names of two of his sons have been reported, David (Abu
Sa'id) and Josiah (named after his great-grandfather). They are mentioned,
somewhat surprisingly, as belonging to the camp of Saadia Gaon, by the
Gaon of the Babylonian Pumbedita Academy. This places them early in the
tenth century and shows that even by then the lines between Karaites and
Rabbanites were not drawn as clearly as one would have expected (but this
applies perhaps more to Ananites and especially to Anan's descendants, than
to others). Another source mentions David still in 993, by which time he
must have been a very old man. We have mentioned him also in our list of
Karaite scholars living in Jerusalem. His relations with the Gaon of the
Jerusalem Academy were strained and this might have caused his
rapprochement with Saadia Gaon, though he disagreed with him on several
points, as shown in his commentary on the Pentateuch3.
Also David's son Solomon lived in Jerusalem, as mentioned in a document
from the Firkowich collection, which places him there in 1016 and mentions
also his two sons Josiah and Hezekiah. These two seem to have lived,
however, most of their lives in Fustat, but had strong ties to the Jerusalem
community. The title of Nasi was held in Fustat, initially by the descendants
of Tsemah, Asa and Jephet. Only after the death of Asa's son Tsemah and
grandson David, did Hezekiah inherit the title of Nasi in Fustat. The later
Nesiim there were all his descendants4•
Yet in the colophon of the Aleppo "Keter" both brothers, Hezekiah and
Josiah, are mentioned as Nesiim. A letter of the Gaon of Jerusalem, Salomon
ben Judah, to Hezekiah has survived, dating from about 1026, in which he
invites him to come to Jerusalem, in order to help him in his struggles against
his adversaries there, illustrating the close relations which existed at that time
between the Rabbanite and Karaite leaders. In this and another letter there
are hints that the Karaite Nesiim of Fustat had at their disposal considerable
sums of money, some of which they spent on their co-religionists in
J erusalem5 •
The Nesiim were in Fustat in close contact with the powerful Karaite
Tustar clan, and one of the Tustars married the daughter of Hezekiah or
Josiah (the marriage contract has survived in the Genizah, with the name of
her grandfather, Salomon, but not of her father)6.
The following is a partial family tree of the Nesiim
Anan
I
Saul
I
I
I
Josiah
I
I
Josaphat
I
Asa
I
I
David(Abu Said)
I
Josiah
1
Anan
Jefet
"
Josiah Tsemah
I
Salomon
I
I
I
Tsemah
~I~I_~I
Boaz
I
Daniel
David
I
Hezekiah
In later poriods the title used in Fustat was "Nasi of Israel and Judah". Also
the title Exilnrch was used by some of Anan's later decendant's in Egyptdown to the Novcntcenthcentury7.
1\9
48
Problems of the Karaite Calendar
One of the areas of greatest discrepancy and friction between Karaites and
Rabbanites Was that of the calendar, and that for obvious reasons: the
adherence to a specific calendar was the real criterion of one's
denominational identity. Kirkisani reports, for instance, that Rabbanites in
Damascus were prepared to intermarry with Isunian sectarians, who regarded
both Jesus and Muhammad as prophets, but did not differ from the Rabbanite
calendar, while they were not prepared to do so with Karaites, who did differ
in ,!be timjng~oftheir days of festivall.
The Rabbanite'ealendar was b;ythat time-precalcUlated and only rareIyhad
to be tinkered with. KaraiSill'represented in this, like in many other fi~lds;--a
conscious a.ttempt to return to~asimpler, earlier Judaism. The ripening of the
ears of barley_in the Holy Land wls regarded as the sign for the advent of
spring ("abib") and thus of a new calendar year. If there was any delay,
intercalation became necessary and religious festivals took place on quite
different days from those of the Rabbanites. Each party was thus forced to
desecrate the days held to be holy by the other.
This was made even more problematic by the Karaite insistence to base
the beginnings of each month ("Rosh Hodesh") on actual lunar sightings.
Its different calendar, more than any of its other outward features, gave
Karaism its mark of institutional separatism, resented by the Rabbanites.
Adherence to it was regarded as so important, as to be included even in
Karaite marriage contracts, examples of which have survived both from
Jerusalem and from RamIe. From Egypt the text of an interdenominational
"Ketubah" has come down to us, showing that in the case of a marriage
between a Rabbanite man and a Karaite woman, her rights in this respect
were insisted upon2• Incidently, the Karaites demanded that the text of a
Ketubah had to be in Hebrew, which the Rabbanitelidid not.
The Karaite system necessitated the presence of Karaites in the Holy Land
in order to carry out the necessary observations. The "Mourners of Zion"
thus appealed for settling there, as a prerequisite for full redemption, partly
because of the requirements of the calendar. AI-Kumisi claimed that a return
to Zion would enable the pious to observe properly the ripening of barley and
would thus eliminate a source of sin that delays Divine reconciliation with
Israel.
It was further necessary that the observations should be transmitted to the
Diaspora immediately, - which was not always easy, because of the insecure
\III
and turbulant state of Palestine during much of the tenth and eleventh
centuries.
Thus in Iraq Karaites often computed the calendar on similar lines to the
Rabbanites, instead of making use of the sightings of "abib" in the Holy Land
- a practice condemned by such Karaite scholars as Levi ben Japheth, who
was, however prepared to soften somewhat the rigid position of earlier
Karaites such as al-Kumisi.
Another difficulty was, that the Karaites of the Golden Age in Palestine
were no longer agriculturists, but rather city dwellers. As wars and revolts
engulfed Fatimid Jerusalem, it was difficult to find nearby barley fields to
watch. Hence the complaint by Levi ben Japheth "Now those who preceded
us (followed the abib) on the basis of their own actual acquaintance with, and
knowledge of the seeds, since they themselves cultivated and inherited the
soil. Thus, they used to inform each other (of the state of the crops) and (their
prognosis) would be unquestionably correct. (Nowadays) all these things
have become difficult for us, since all the land is not ours and most of us are
incapable of recognising the seed "3.
As the position in~Palestine became even more difficult, after the Seljuk
capture of most of the country in 1071, Karaite scholars in the Diaspora
found it increasingly difficult to await instructions, as shown by the letters of
Tobias ben Moses from Byzantium. The answer he recerved from Jerusalem
(perhaps by Jeshua ben Jehudah) was to follow in the meantime the
Rabbanite way of calendation, but after the receipt of instructions from the
Land of Israel, to follow them as well, even if that meant to observe a festival
twice .
. Mter the disappearance of the Karaite community of Jerusalem in 1099,
the situation became even more problematic. The Karaite principle was not
given up, but in the twelfth century the tendency in the new center of
Byzantium was to follow the Greek Orthodox computation, in order not to
have Passover precede Easter, which would have incurred a prohibition
(dating from the time of Justinian) of its public celebration.
The Karaites of Egypt, Syria and Palestine continued to follow their old
system, but those of Byzantium accepted during the following centuries the
Rabbanite computation on a de facto basis, till a difference of a complete
month had opened up by 1336. The fifteenth century leaders of the Karaites
of Turkey, of the Bashyazi family, accepted the Rabbanite 19-year cycle
officially, though upholding for appaerances' sake the fiction that this was an
ancient Karaite legacy4.
50
51
This solution was later copied in the Crimea by Simha ben Solomon
Babovich (1790-1855).
Karaite customs
On dietary laws the differences with the Rabbanites in tenth and eleventh
century Jerusalem was even more marked than they are today. Now they
differ on the detailed regulations of ritual slaughter and the Karaites regard as
a result the meat of animals slaughtered by Rabbanites as prohibited. But alKumisi regarded all consumption of meat as sinful, as long as there were no
sacrifices. He prohibited even the consumption of fown. Kirkisani stressed
that these prohibitions applied only to Jerusalem, but that properly
slaughtered meat could be consumed elsewhere2• An anonymous Karaite
Genizah document, published by Schechter, prohibits both the consumption
of meat and the drinking of wine3• saW ben Mazliah quoted several instances
of Rabbanite laxity and demanded, too, that no meat should be consumed
while Israel is in the Diaspora4• To him and his contemporaries thelDiaspora
was not a geographical term, but a definition of the situation of all Jews since
the destruction of the Temple, wherever they might be, - even in Jerusalem.
Friedlander believed that these strictures have their roots in Manichean
influences5•
The Karaites were less strict than the Rabbanites on the Biblical
prohibition of "boiling a kid in its mother's milk" (Ex 23: 19; 34:26; Deut.
14:21). Solomon ben Jehuda reported in the eleventh century that Karaites do
eat meat with milk. Further he related details of a dispute between
Rabbanites and Karaites in Ramie on this subject, as the Karaites refused to
accept Rabbanite supervision6• But in Jerusalem disputes on this subject
seem unlikely, as the consumption of meat was prohibited anyway. In later
periods however, there is more evidence of this Karaite custom7• Mter the
rapprochement with the Rabbanites in Byzantium, Karaites, too, were
prohibited to consume meat of cattle with milk or butter, - but not that of
fowl.
The customs of ritual impurity were far stricter among the Karaites than
among the Rabbanites, but there was (and is) quite a bit of similarity to those
of the Samritans. The impurity of the menstruation period necessitates the
segregation of the woman concerned in a corner of the house.
Karaite circumision (like Samaritan circumcision) is less far reaching than
the Rabbanite custom. Peri'ah and mezizah are rejected by the Karaites,
resulting in an incomplete removal of the foreskin.
Karaite prayers consisted originally mainly of the Ma'amadot (prayers
referring to the Temple sacrifices). Later the custom of two prayer services a
day (morning and evening) was generally accepted (Rabbanites observe
three). Only on the Sabbath and on certain festivals is the Musaf prayer
added. Prayers must consist of seven parts: shevahim, hoda'ah, viddui,
hakkashah, tehinnah, ze'akah and keri'ah, and in addition the confession of
faith. Most of the prayers consist of passages from the Psalms, or from other
parts of the Bible. But also prayer-poems are included, which are unknown to
the Rabbinic rite. The Shemonah-esreh prayer is not used by the Karaites, but
the Shema is included in their rite.
Karaite liturgy consisted originally only of biblical psalmody, and is quite
unlike its Rabbanite counterpart. The haftarot selection of the Karaites, too,
differs widely from the Rabbanite one.
During public prayer Karaites do wear a fringed garment, the zizit of
which includes a blue threat. They do not use tefillin and affix the mezuzah
only to the gate of a synagogue, but not to that of a private dwelling. Inside
the mezuzah they have the ten commandments.
In matters of inheritance the Karaites diverge too from the Rabbanites.
According to al-Kumisi, daughters are entitled to inherit a third of the
inheritage, and are not discriminated against relative to sons9• Kirkisani
claimed that this precept goes back to the Ananites, but personally opposed
it10• There were other Karaites as well who opposed it, as shown in a Cairo
court case of the tenth centuryll. Karaite marriage contracts differed from
Rabbanite ones at that time. If a woman died childless all of her dowry was
to be returned to her father's household, while Rabbanites stipulated that only
half of it was to be returned12•
Another Karaite stricture was the baking of Matzot from barley instead of
from wheat, as customary among Rabbanites8•
The customs of marriage and the problems of the theory of incest and of
"rikkuv"
dation. have been described already, and so have the practices of calen-
The polemic against Saadia Gaon
Rabbanite Judaism was influenced by much the same ideas as were the
Karaites of Jerusalem and Iraq. Thus Saadia (882-942), too, can be said to
52
3
Ul,
I/!
have belonged to the rationalistic school of the Mu'tazilites and was
influenced by Aristotelian philosophy. He, too, attempted. to reconcile
Scriptue and philosophy, reason and revelation. If so, why was the
disputation between him and the Karaites so bitter?
The reason has to be looked for in the very similarity of their assumptions,
while they were separated by their different attitude to Oral Law. Saadia
believed that human rationality is reinforced in its attempts to understand the
Divine will, by both Written and Oral Law!. The latter was, of course,
completely unacceptable to the Karaites. They regarded him as especially
dangerous because otherwise their views were so similar.
III
I
I
The fIrst shot in the polemic was fIred by Saadia, when only 23 years of
age, by issuing a responsum to Anan. This caused most Karaite thinkers to
concentrate their fIre on him, - none more so than Salmon ben Jeroham. In
his "Milhamot Adonai" Salmon crystallised the Karaite case against Saadia
in fIfteen main points, every single one of which turning on the question of
Oral Tradition. Just as a sample, number nine: in the Mishna we fInd that the
schools of Hilel and Shamai disagree, - if so, whose opinion are we to
accept?
number
if the Mishna stands in need of further commentary,
how
can Or
it be
God's ten:
teachings?
In other parts of his work Salmon attacks some of the customs of the
Rabbanites (such as having two day festivals in the Diaspora) and holds up to
ridicule
the Agadot (legends), which were of course, also a part of the text of
the Talmud2.
In previous chapters we have mentioned other Karaite scholars, nearly all
of whom attacked Saadia in one way or another, though usually in a more
restrained tone, than Salmon ben Jeroham. Nearly all of their arguments, too,
did not concern Saadia's basic philosophy, which was similar to their own,
and turned instead on the use of Oral Law. Saadia's commentary on Leviticus
is the Rabbinic text most vigorously attacked by Karaite polemicists. In
Leviticus are concentrated most of the laws, such as the code of purity, the
calendar of feasts, laws on incest and dietary prohibitions, over which
Karaites and Rabbanites disagreed.
Later Karaite scholars, less creative than those of the Golden Age, did not
have the wide philosophical scope of their predecessors (or of Saadia) and
usually only repeated the main arguments used already in the tenth and
eleventh centutries. The question of the Oral Law continued as the be all and
end all of these polemics throughout the ages.
What was the real importance of Saadia's role in this struggle? It has been
differently 'interpreted by different scholars. "While some would credit him
with warding off the danger of "Karaization" of all Jewry, others would
consider precisely his attack the decisive factor in uniting and consolidating
the otherwise weak and scattered sectarian forces"3. Z. Ankori has suggested
that he has to be regarded as the most important representative of Babylonian
supremacy in its struggle with the danger of "the equation of Karaite counterinstitutionalism with the cause of Palestine in her contest with Babylonia"4.
It seems however clear enough that Saadia did alert Rabbanite Judaism to
the danger of Karaite encroachment. He and his successors did succeed to
limit the sectarian ferment and to prevent it from endangering all of Judaism.
Eventually they confined Karaism to the role of a relatively small minoritysect.
From the tenth century onward the Karaites regarded themselves as "the
righteous few struggling in a commnunity of sinners", thus expressing the
Karaite "minority complex" which prevades much of their later work. They
admitted thus, inadvertently, the failure of their attempt to take over Judaism,
and their basic awareness that their sect was doomed to remain only a small
segment of the Jewish people. This basic fact has not materially changed in
the long period since5.
1099 - the Advent of the Crusaders
The Golden Age did not end, like so many others, in slow decline, but by one
act of war, the capture of Jerusalem by the crusaders. On June 3rd, 1099, the
crusader host reached Ramle and found it empty. Together with the
Moslems, also her Karaite inhabitants must have left, and, as we shall see
luter, seem to have made their way to Ascalon, which remained in Fatimid
llllnds for more than half a century.
The crusaders continued to Jerusalem, which they reached June 7th and
(lllptured July 15th. Most of the Moslem and Jewish inhabitants were
IIIllssacred, but the Fatimid governor and the garrison were allowed to
wll'hdraw. The Karaites seem to have been relatively lucky. Their quarter
Wllll outside of the city walls, and thus many must have fled on arrival of the
I 11iNaders,and_thus saved their lives.
A detailed letter~'apparently from Alexa'ndria, has survived! which shows
t the number of Karaite survivors was sizeable. It was written about aye!!!:
the capture of Jerusalem and by that time most of the Karaites were in
lion, Jiving under very strained conilitions. A few were still held for
!ll~~()mby the crusaders (apparently by Godfroy of Bo~lon's LOtharingians,
54
55
~
as the ...--letter speaks abou~damned Germans"). A few,
~ who had fled into the
cIty of Jerusalem onarrival of the crusaders, had been abl~to come out with
the garrison~None of the Karaite-women had been raped by the GermanJ.
Quite a few of the Karaites had fall~n-into the hands of the crusaders and
were held for ransom. Some had died already, others were said to have been
kil~pUFpose.
Luckily the crusaders were not aware of the going rate for
Jewish prisoners (three for a hundred dinars) and asked for much less. Thus
the limited resources of the Karaites were still sufficient to release some
ru.rtlier ~s, but not all. The Karaites handled this problem alone, without
cooperation with the Rabbanites. The center of the relief action was
app$..e~tly.in Alexallilria, but the money came mostly frOI!!.the large Fustat
community.
Most of~those who had been released died of exposure and an unidentified
epidemic. Others perished during the sea voyage (presumably from Ascalon
to Alexandria). No Karaite physicians seem to have been available in
Ascalon, as expenses for medical services are mentioned. Mainly the poor
prisoners were initially released and had to be supplied with food and
clothing, while the crusaders still kept the more valuable, rich ones. Among
them was a boy, whom they tried to convert to Cluistianity, but at the time of
writing he was still holding out, exclaiming "how can a Cohen become a
Christian?"
Many of the religious books had been bought back from the crusaders, 230 bibles, 100 codexes and 28 Torah scrolls. The total expense for prisoners
and books had been, at the time of writing, 700 dinars. The author of the
letter demanded urgently more money, in order to continue with his activity2.
In another letter from the Genizah3 a Karaite refugee writes in 1115 from
Fustat. He had come from the port of Acre, had fled to Alexandria, and
complains about the community there. He writes to an acquaintance and
requests his help. This letter shows that even several years after the advent of
the crusaders, the Karaite survivors found their new lives fraught with
difficulties. Acre had fallen to the crusaders five years after Jerusalem and
was destined to become under their rule the biggest and richest town of their
kingdom. In the thirteenth century a sizeable Jewish community grew up
there, but so far there are no signs that any Karaites lived there4•
In the end most of the surviving Karaites from Palestine ended up in
Egypt, but a few reached Damascus5• During the 200 years of Christian rule
in Palestine or parts of it, there was no real chance to renew the Karaite
community of Jerusalem, and even when it was renewed, in the late
thirteenth century, it continued to be a small congregation of little
importance, with no pretension of renewing its dominant position of the
Golden Age.
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56