DELIBERATELY DIVERSE | by Frances Sorrow
Deliberately Diverse represents the individual thoughts and opinions of a group of Taylor friends who almost never entirely agree on anything but appreciate the opportunity to share opinions and discussions in our beloved community.
Today’s column is by Frances Sorrow, a long time resident of Taylor and an amateur historian. This column does not represent the opinions of the Taylor Press.
Students of the New Testament know of three Jewish sects in the first century C.E.
These were: Pharisees, Saducees and Essenes.
Solomon Schecter found references to 23 first century Jewish sects in manuscripts in the Cairo Genizah, so we know there have been many forms of Judaism.
But with the destruction of the Temple in 70 C.E., only one group survived. This was the rabbinic sect who developed the oral law, the Talmud. They gained prominence by developing prayers and rituals that focused on home and synagogue worship, although many references to the Temple were included. For example, daily prayer times reflect Temple service times. Rabbis replaced priests as leaders, and Torah readings replaced sacrifices. Their followers were, and are, known as Rabbinic or Talmudic Jews.
Although the development of the Talmud started a few generations before the 1st century, and continued for another few centuries, the priestly caste rejected it. They only used the Hebrew Bible. The New Testament called them Saducees which may be the Greek version of the Hebrew Zadokites. They seem to have disappeared with the destruction of the Temple.
But in the 8th century C.E., a challenge to Rabbinic Judaism arose in Babylon. The challengers became known as Karaites. The name is usually translated as “followers of the Bible.”
The Karaites attracted thousands of followers who appreciated the simplicity of the Karaites, who rejected the 6,200 pages of the Talmud.
For the next four hundred years, they were a serious threat to Rabbinic Judaism, especially in the Crimea, the Near East and Egypt. Schecter found marriage contracts between Rabbinic and Karaite Jews, protecting the different practices, so we know there was some interaction between the two.
However, after the 12th century, Karaite numbers declined.
Today, there are less than 75,000 members, largely in Israel and California.
What are a few major differences between Karaite and Rabbinic Judaisms? Karaites reject the following: The oral law, believing all answers are in the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible.
Religious authority.
Each person is to study scriptures for individual insight.
Set calendar. Karaites follow the biblical requirement that several persons to spot the new moon before declaring a new month.
Milk and meat separation. Karaites follow the biblical command to not cook meat and milk products together, but reject having to separate meat and dairy.
Only male leaders have led Karaite services since its start. Only recently have Reform and Conservative congregations allowed women rabbis.
The differences are more extensive, but I hope this brief glimpse of a largely unknown branch of Judaism has been of interest.
