Controversy between the Karaites and the Rabbanites

Elijah ben Abraham

12th Century

Anan had a younger brother named Hananiah. Although Anan exceeded this brother in both learning and age, the contemporary Rabbanite scholars refused to appoint him exilarch, because of his great lawlessness and lack of piety. They therefore turned to his brother Hananiah, for the sake of the latter’s great modesty, retiring disposition, and fear of…

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Controversy between the Karaites and the Rabbanites (Ḥilluk ha-Kara’im ve-ha-Rabbanim) purports to explain internal divisions within the Jewish world, tracing the history of various leaders and schisms. Elijah approves of the Karaite narrative, claiming that this tradition represents the authentic teaching of Moses and that Rabbanite heresy traces to the evil biblical king Jeroboam. Like many other leading Karaites, Elijah had close knowledge of rabbinic teachings. In this excerpt, Elijah reproduces a legend about the renaissance of Karaism and the supposed influence of Islam on ‘Anan ben David. Scholars think that, ironically, this story originated in anti-Karaite propaganda, perhaps written by Se‘adya Ga’on. ‘Anan is now understood to be the founder of only one nonrabbinic movement, not of Karaism in general.

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Early Medieval History and Travel Writing

8th to 12th Century
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Who Were the Early Medieval Karaite Jews?

7th to 12th Century

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Elijah ben Abraham

12th Century

Little is known about the Karaite Elijah ben Abraham, who may have lived in Palestine. Elijah’s only surviving literary work, a booklet, is titled Controversy between the Karaites and the Rabbanites (Ḥilluk ha-Kara’im ve-ha-Rabbanim), but it is not clear whether the title is original or a later addition. He wrote it for an otherwise unknown Judah ben Shabbetai. It surveys the history of Jewish sectarianism, listing some fourteen groups, of which only four had survived to Elijah’s day: Rabbanites, Karaites, Tiflisites, and the followers of an obscure ninth-century figure, Mīshawayh al-‘Ukbarī. Clearly a Karaite partisan, Elijah was well informed about his opponents and his ancestors.

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