Who Were the Early Medieval Karaite Jews?

The period of the geonim coincided with the emergence of the most vibrant and enduring nonrabbinic movement within the Jewish world, that of the Karaites. 

Their name, which derives from the Hebrew word for scripture, mikra’, reflects their self-proclaimed scripturalist outlook and their concomitant repudiation of much of what they deemed to be the rabbis’ baseless interpretations of the biblical text. In the words of the tenth-century Karaite Salmon ben Yerūḥīm, the teachings of the rabbis were merely “the words of modern men” and therefore devoid of religious authority. 

Karaite Traditions

As a result, Karaite communities embraced traditions and halakhic practices of their own that diverged in important ways from those of Rabbanites (a term used in this context to identify Jews who adhered to the talmudic legacy). 

In certain cases, Karaite scripturalism could lead to more lenient positions in ritual matters. Karaites rejected, for instance, the rabbinic view according to which the prohibition of cooking a kid in its mother’s milk (Exodus 23:19) extended even to the preparation and consumption together of fowl and dairy products. 

In other cases, as with the rules governing the observance of the Sabbath, Karaites adopted a stricter stance than Rabbanites. Most famously, early Karaites understood the Torah’s prohibition against kindling fire on the Sabbath day (e.g., Exodus 35:3) as applying even to the use of fire that was lit before sundown on Friday evening, contra Rabbanite practice. Accordingly, Karaites celebrated the Sabbath in darkness, a reality that informs the refrain of a Karaite Sabbath hymn: “Though I sit in gloom, the Lord is my light.”1 (Incidentally, it was in response to this Karaite position that the geonim instituted—for the first time—the blessing over the Sabbath lights on Friday nights that now seems so fundamental to Jewish practice.) In the same spirit, many Karaite sages also forbade sexual relations on the Sabbath.

Despite their professed scripturalist orientation, Karaites at times favored interpretations that were more figurative than those of their Rabbanite counterparts. They did not use tefillin (phylacteries) during prayer, for instance, because they held that the relevant biblical verses (e.g., Exodus 13:9, “and this shall serve you as a sign upon your hand and as a reminder on your forehead”) should be understood metaphorically. 

Differences between Karaite and Rabbanite practice extended to a broad range of other realms as well, including the calendar—Karaites rejected the nonbiblical holiday of Hanukkah and took exception to Rabbanite methods of determining the New Year and the dating of Passover—and the liturgy, which for Karaites consisted primarily of passages from the book of Psalms. 

Evidence exists, too, for a uniquely Karaite ritual that involved going out into the fields around Jerusalem to observe the ripeness of the barley crop in the early spring. Based on the findings, a decision would then be made either to proceed with the celebration of Passover or to delay its observance by a month. Among other things, such localized practices seem to imply a remarkable openness to different communities observing the holiday at different times. Given these substantial differences, it makes sense that in many towns Karaites maintained synagogues and communal institutions of their own in which they could practice their distinctive traditions.

Proto-Karaite Movements

Karaism developed in the Islamic East between the eighth and tenth centuries. A later Rabbanite tradition would claim that ‘Anan ben David (fl. mid-eighth century), a scion of the royal Davidic line, founded the sectarian movement in protest against the geonic leaders of his day for refusing to endorse his appointment to the post of exilarch. Yet this is palpably tendentious and a gross oversimplification of a more complicated process. 

In reality, Karaism appears to have evolved out of a coalescing of various groups, all with scripturalist or antirabbinic leanings, among which were followers of ‘Anan. The very centuries during which Karaism appeared also witnessed the emergence of other, shorter-lived sectarian movements, groups like the eighth-century Yudghanites (who considered many of the biblical commandments merely allegorical) and Isawiyya (who recognized Jesus and Muḥammad as prophets). 

The Emergence of Karaism

Various factors seem to have played a role in the emergence of Karaism. On the one hand, the movement likely reflected the perpetuation of long-established nonrabbinic traditions that were prevalent in areas remote from rabbinic control. On the other hand, it appears to have crystallized as a kind of reaction to the efforts of the geonim to impose a single, unified religious tradition on the Jewish communities under their newly expanded authority. Although never embraced by a majority of the Jewish population, Karaism succeeded in establishing footholds in Syria, Egypt, the Byzantine Empire, North Africa, and Spain; at some times in these locales, Karaites were even the majority.

The Karaite Golden Age

The tenth and eleventh centuries are often described as the golden age of Karaite literary activity. These centuries saw a dazzling outpouring of highly original work by Karaite scholars engaged in a range of scholarly fields. Like Rabbanites, Karaites were profoundly influenced by the Islamic milieu. Among the most impressive achievements of this age were exhaustive commentaries on the Bible, legal compendia, philosophical works, polemics, and trailblazing studies of the Hebrew language. A good deal of this was the work of a vibrant community of Karaites known as the Mourners of Zion, who settled in Jerusalem and there undertook an ascetic regimen of observances that they believed would hasten the messianic redemption.

Rabbanite Opposition

Initially, Rabbanite writers evinced little interest in Karaism and exerted only sporadic effort in trying to refute its direct challenge to rabbinic tradition. This mostly benign approach changed, however, in the time of Se‘adya Ga’on. Se‘adya regarded Karaism as a dangerous heresy that threatened to undermine the foundation of rabbinic legislation, and he initiated a vigorous campaign to undercut its impact. 

Karaite writers responded in kind, issuing sharp rejoinders attacking rabbinic tradition. One of the outcomes of this polemical encounter is that it forced Rabbanites to articulate more systematic accounts of the development of the Oral Torah and its transmission, topics that had not demanded careful attention before they became the subject of Karaite scrutiny. Now, Rabbanites found themselves on the defensive, and they began searching for means to legitimize the vast body of rabbinic literature that in so many ways appeared to deviate from the written word of God.

Were Karaites Jewish?

Some readers may find themselves wondering at this point whether the Karaites indeed deserve a place in The Posen Library, which is devoted to the cultural creativity of the Jews. But despite their avowed rejection of rabbinic tradition, medieval Karaites never considered themselves anything but Jewish. What’s more, although they vociferously objected to Karaite positions on many things, Rabbanites generally agreed about this affiliation. Muslim authorities concurred as well, characterizing Karaism and Rabbanism as madhāhib—equally legitimate legal schools within the Jewish community. 

But it is not simply a matter of definition in the abstract; the actions of Karaites and Rabbanites underscore the point as well. The Spanish scholar Abraham Ibn Ezra (d. 1167) railed against Karaism, yet freely cited the interpretations of Karaite exegetes in his own biblical commentaries. In the realm of social contact, the Cairo Geniza has preserved rich documentation demonstrating regular interactions between members of the two groups. 

Despite the fulminations against Karaism written by the likes of Se‘adya Ga’on, other rabbinic leaders, including later geonim, maintained friendships with influential Karaites and turned to them for support in handling affairs of the Jewish community. Ritual boundaries could be porous as well. The Geniza attests to the fact that Karaites and Rabbanites sometimes attended the same synagogue, and the Palestinian gaon Solomon ben Judah (d. 1051) reports in a letter to an associate that he served as the cantor for the Karaite and Rabbanite congregations in Ramla, Palestine, on alternate days.

Karaite-Rabbanite Marriages

Most dramatically, the Geniza makes it clear that Karaites and Rabbanites married one another. Numerous examples of “mixed marriage” ketubot from Egypt have survived that include special clauses designed to navigate the differences in ritual observed by the two parties (these documents shed light as well on women’s lives). According to one ketubah formulary, if a Karaite woman marries a Rabbanite man, he must agree not to bring into the house any foods she considers unkosher, not to light Sabbath candles or, indeed, to have any fire at all in the house on the Sabbath, and not to have sex with her on Sabbaths or festivals. He must also permit her to celebrate the holidays (in particular Passover) according to the Karaite custom and dating. Even the prominent David ben Daniel ha-Nasi, when he married the Karaite Nāshiya bat Moses ha-Kohen in 1082, agreed not to force her to sit with him next to a Sabbath candle, or to eat certain animal fat, or to profane her festivals. Her concession was to agree to observe his festivals with him. Karaism and Karaites were, in other words, integral to the religious, cultural, and social history of medieval Jewry.