The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 2

IV. Scriptarian Karaites Reject Rabbinical Traditions

Early in the eighth century a strong protest arose among the Jews in the region of Babylonia, over the throttling grip of traditionalism. This crystallized into the sect called the Karaites (or Caraites), ⁴³ so called because they insisted upon following the wording of the Scripture text. They were also called Scriptarians and literalists, likewise “People of the Holy Writ,” and “Followers of the Bible.” The Karaites have been referred to as the “Protestants of Judaism.” ⁴⁴ Rejecting the Talmud, the oral law, and the traditions of the Rabbinites, they acknowledged only the authority of Scripture, and were determined to abide by the literal sense. ⁴⁵ The impact of Islam upon Jewry undoubtedly had a stimulating influence. ⁴⁶ PFF2 196.3

1. ANAN’S REVOLT EXPANDS TO EMBRACE A THIRD OF JEWRY

ANAN BEN DAVID (c. 760), the founder of Karaism, ⁴⁷ having attacked the oral law, and being excluded from the exilarchate of the Jewish community in Babylonia, went to Jerusalem to develop his own system undisturbed. His followers were at first called Ananites. Gathering strength and popularity, Karaism clashed seriously with the parent faith, shook off the yoke of traditionalism, proclaimed the right of private judgment, and maintained that the original Scripture is a full and sufficient guide. Anan gave up the system of rabbinical calendation, and made the intercalation of a leap month dependent upon the ripened barley, ⁴⁸ according to Moses. By the ninth century, with its center in Jerusalem, it carried forward a strong missionary propaganda in other countries. ⁴⁹ Its period of ascendancy, especially in Palestine and Egypt, was from the ninth to the twelfth centuries, with the flood tide in the tenth and eleventh. PFF2 197.1

By the time of the Middle Ages, Karaism had become a powerful factor in Jewry, possessing many able scholars. In fact, it comprised about forty per cent of Jewry, ⁵⁰ and effectively laid hold of printing, when it came into vogue. Caleb Afendopolo, a fifteenth-century Karaite leader, summarized the points wherein the Karaites differed from the Talmudists, or Rabbinites, thus: (1) In rejecting the oral law; (2) in rejecting traditional exegesis, while maintaining the “perspicuity” of Scripture; and (3) in denying all right to add to or diminish from the law. ⁵¹ They claimed, furthermore, the right of constant progress without justifiable charge of unfaithfulness to their earlier leaders. PFF2 197.2

2. REJECT RABBINICAL CALENDAR; REINSTATE MOSAIC RECKONING

A fundamental part of Anan’s reform was the abandonment of the fixed rabbinical calendar as contrary to the Mosaic regulations, together with reinstatement of the original form of luni-solar calendation. With the Karaites, the new year could fall on any day of the week, the Passover and the Day of Atonement frequently differing from those of the Rabbinites. This rabbinical revision or change of Jewish time (the Karaites called it a definite perversion) began under Hillel II, back in the fourth century, ⁵² which departure resulted in a fixed, artificial calendar tied to the vernal equinox, and thus the Rabbinites disregarded the Mosaic regulations and threw the appointed Jewish feasts usually one moon (month) too early. In the tenth century the conflict became intense, as the Palestinian school sought to break down the authority of the Babylonian school as regards the calendar. The leaders in this controversy were Ben Meir, head of the Karaite school in Palestine, and Saadia Gaon, head of the Babylonian rabbinical school. ⁵³ PFF2 197.3

3. BEN MEIR SEEKS TO WREST CALENDAR CONTROL FROM BABYLONIA

AARON BEN MEIR (9th-10th centuries) had denied the authority of the Babylonian academies to fix the festivals, and had won the confidence of many. He disputed the Babylonian method of calculation, but he “never ventured to propose a return to the method of lunar observation,” as did “the Karaites, who had reverted in all respects to the ancient practice of determining the time of the new moon by observation, and the intercalation of the thirteenth month when required by the state of the crops.” ⁵⁴ He sought, in fact, to transfer the authority from rabbinical Babylonia back to Palestine, and to wrest the control of calendar calculation from the Rabbinites. Saadia ben Joseph, then in Babylonia, had far earlier defended the rabbinical calendation. His opinion came to be accepted, ending in a setback for Ben Meir, who was excommunicated by the exilic David ben Zakkai and the academies of Babylonia, with notification sent out over the world. Saadia was rewarded by being made Gaon of the Sura academy, notwithstanding the contrary advice of Nahawendi. ⁵⁵ PFF2 198.1

The controversy continued, but in the end the Karaite protest lost its momentum, and the Babylonian system of regulation of the Jewish festival year became authority, before which the Holy Land had to bow. This setting and circumstance will assume major importance when we come later to study the prophetic exposition of 1843 and 1844. ⁵⁶ PFF2 199.1