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Chapter 17 - Karaism

from Part III - Spiritual and Intellectual History

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 August 2021

By
Haggai Ben-Shammai
Edited by
Phillip I. Lieberman
Phillip I. Lieberman
Affiliation:
Vanderbilt University, Tennessee
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Summary

Karaism is the Europeanized name given to a Jewish movement whose members identified themselves by the Hebrew name qaraʾim, a term widely understood to mean “those who are dedicated or devoted to the study of the Law [Torah],” “those who observe the Torah strictly according to the plain meaning of its text,” or “those who consider the text of the Torah to be the sole source of legislation.” Put otherwise, the Karaites are those Jews who reject the authority of the rabbinic tradition (or Oral Law, Torah she-be-ʿal peh) as the definitive interpretation of the Hebrew Bible.

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The Cambridge History of Judaism , pp. 571 - 605
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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References

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Mann, Jacob. Texts and Studies in Jewish History and Literature, 2 vols. (Cincinnati, 1935).Google Scholar
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Rustow, Marina. Heresy and the Politics of Community: The Jews of the Fatimid Caliphate (Ithaca, 2008).Google Scholar
Vajda, Georges, ed. and trans. Al-Kitāb al-Muḥtawī de Yūsuf al-Baṣīr, ed. Blumenthal, David R. (Leiden, 1985).Google Scholar
Zawanowska, Marzena. “Review of Scholarly Research on Yefet Ben ʿEli and His Work,” Revue des Études Juives 173 (2014), 97–138.Google Scholar

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