RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Karaites
ical hand-book entitled Kelil Yofi (" Diadem of Beauty") and a book of prayers which enjoyed great popularity among the European Karaites. The second Aaron was Aaron ben Elijah of Nicomedia (b. at Cairo 1300; d. at Constantinople 1369), who wrote Ez ha-Hayyim (" Tree of Life "), in which he developed the doctrinal system of the new faith, showing how the Jew should practise his religion to gain eternal life. He sought to blend the system of the Mutakallamun with the school of Maimonides, and thus produced an eclectic system, although at the same time he defended the kalam, which he followed rather than the Aristotelian method. In his Gan 'Eden (" Paradise ") he recapitulated all his predecessors. This work, which is to the Karaites what the Maimonidean Yad ha-Hazakah is to the rabbinical Jews, is based upon the principle that the belief in the unity and other attributes of God as well as in his government of the world forms the end and aim of the law, while his Keter Torah (" Crown of the Law "), a commentary on the Pentateuch, is intended as an elucidation of his philosophical Ez ha-Hayyim. The latest bloom of Karaite literature in Constantinople is represented by the writings of Elijah Bashyazi (b. at Adrianople c. 1420; d. there 1490), the author of the Aderet Eliyahu (" Mantle of Elijah "), a summary of the works of his predecessors. His pupil and nephew, Caleb Afendopolo (b. 1465), completed the work of his master, in addition to writing independent works on theology, astronomy, and medicine, while his two kinot (" Lamentations ") on the expulsion of the people of God from Spain, Russia, and Lithuania (1493) are historically interesting. A contemporary of Caleb was Judah ben Elijah ha-Gibbor, who enriched the liturgy of the Karaites, while his son Elijah Shusbi wrote a poem on the calendar. Moses Bashyazi, a great-grandson of Elijah Bashyazi, was a distinguished figure of the sixteenth century.
While the literature of the Karaites in the Byzantine countries was mainly doctrinal, their Polish coreligionists, who were the last to produce Karaite literature, were obliged to write controversial books, owing to the inquiries of 6. Poland. Christians. The first Karaites entered Poland at the end of the fourteenth century at the request of the king, coming from the Crimea to Lithuania, where Grand-duke Witold took them under his protection and granted them privileges which were afterward (1446) confirmed by King Casimir Jagellon. The first communities were at Lutsk and Troki, the two principal cities of Lithuania, and in 1581 Stephen Bathori allowed the Karaites to settle also in Volhynia, Podlasie, and Kiev. The first Karaite to make an open attack on Christianity was Isaac ben Abraham Troki (b. 1533), who opposed the Christian faith in the first part of his Hizzuk Emunah (" Confirmation of Faith ") on the ground that the prophecies of the Old Testament can not refer to the founder of Christianity, while in the second part he criticized the contradictions in the Gospels. Mention may also be made of Mordecai ben Nisan, who wrote a treatise in answer to four questions propounded by Jacob Trigland, professor at Leyden, in Apr.,
1698, the first being whether the Karaites were the ancient Sadducees or originated with Anan. Though full of anachronisms this treatise (entitled Dod Mordechai) possesses a certain amount of importance, since it was long the chief source for the history of Karaism. For the king of Sweden Mordecai wrote his Lebush Malkut on the differences between the Karaites and the Rabbanites, and was also the author of a book of grammatical rules (Kelalim). Equally noteworthy was Solomon ben Aaron Troki, the author of Appiryon (c. 1700), containing an account of the distinctive features and the origin of Karaism, together with an outline of its ceremonies, written for the information of the minister of the Swedish government. The second part of another work of the same name contains refutations of Christianity. In 1756 Simhah Isaac Lutski, one of the most revered and learned of the Karaites, wrote his Orah Zaddikim, containing a list of the most celebrated Karaites and their works.
Karaite literature ends with Abraham Firkovich of Lutsk (d. at Chufut-Kale, 1874), whose valuable services to the criticism of the Old Testament are overshadowed by the systematic falsifications of manuscripts and epitaphs by which he sought to prove that the Karaites were the descendants of the Israelites who had been led into the Assyrian captivity and who had settled in the Crimea during the reign of Cambyses. Since 1830 the Crimean Karaites have had a printing-establishment at Eupatoria, where editions of their most important manuscripts have been published. Karaite communities are found not only in the Crimea but also in Jerusalem and Constantinople, as well as throughout Egypt, Galicia, Moldavia, Wallachia, and southern Russia. In 1871 the Karaites numbered about 6,000, but this number has decreased to some 5,500, the majority of whom live in Russia.
The Karaites recognize as binding precepts for religious and moral conduct only those which can be deduced from the Bible by means of an accurate exposition of the literal sense according to usage and context. From this main doctrine, which has been compared with that of Protestantism, other principles are inferred as necessary corollaries. They acknowledge no tra- 7. Doctrine ditional exposition of passages of the
and Law. Bible, but every experienced teacher is permitted to correct or change former interpretations according to the best of his knowledge and belief, provided his views are justified by the text; and such rabbinical laws as are recognized by the Karaites are regarded as valid solely because they are based on the Bible, this category including injunctions concerning slaughtering, fixing of the new moon, circumcision, and marriage. The introduction of new laws and the recognition of those which are non-Biblical are forbidden, and the Karaites, therefore, do not celebrate the Feast of Lights (Hanukkah). This strict adherence to the letter of the law, as based upon textual hermeneutics, has also exerted an influence upon individual rules and regulations. Important divergencies exist between the Karaites and the rabbinical Jews with regard to the Sabbath, phylac-
Karaites Kautz