24 Friday, July 5, 1985
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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A.
Haifa — The question that has
been raised in some circles with
regard to the Jewishness of the
Ethiopian Jews should remind us
of the existence in our midst of
another sect, the Karaites, which
for some 1,200 years has been the
subject of considerable cone
troversy in rabbinical circles,
Like the Ethiopian Jews, the
Karaite§ do not recognize any of
the Jewish religious develop-
ments of the Talmud, and take lit-
erally only what appear§ in the
Bible, Unlike the Ethiopians,
they have not been a lost tribe,
and have lived among the Jews
since ,their sect was founded by
AnanMen,David in Babylonia in
the Sixth Century,
The Dabbah family serves as
custodians of the ancient Karaite
synagogue in the old Jewish quer-
ter in Jerusalem, opposite the
ruins of the Moan Bak
synagogue, Moshe Dabbah, a
teacher, and his wife, Shoshana,
were born in Egypt, but upon the
outbreak of the war with Egypt in
1968, they joined most of the large
" Let us
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to which
the wise & honest
can repair;
the rest is
in the hands
of God."
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TOSS
Karam,: An Ancient
Sect Takes Bible Literally
BY CARL ALPERT
Special to The Jewish News
353-1424
„W.°.
It's not too late to apply to some programs,
NOTEBOOK
Jewelers
Egyptian Karaite community in
seeking new homes in Israel,
Karaitee may be a small
sect, and they still face many sur-
vival problems, but there are
more of them around than most
The
people realize, The community in
Jerusalem is tiny, only some 20
families, but Dabbah maintains
that there are about 20,000
Karaite families 'mattered
throughout Israel,preserving
their own separate existence, and
still following their unique ways,
The major center is in Ramie, but
there are also communities in
Ashdod, Kiryat Oat and
elsewhere,
The Karaite community in the
U.S. numbers about 10,000
families, with the chief center in
Ban Francisco, Othergroups live
in Boston, Baltimore, Miami and
Los Angeles, There are also
Karaite. in the Soviet Union, but
contact with them has been lost in
recent years,
Unlike the Samaritan, who
are not recognized as Jews, the
Karaites are accepted, and many
rabbis will marry a Karaite with a
mate from mainstream Judaism,
The Karaites, however, do not ac.
opt the Jewish purity of those
who follow the many practices
built up by the rabbis in the past
2,000 years, and anyone who mar.
rtes a 'rabbinic" Jew, as the rest of
us are called, is considered to have
left the Kermit* fold, Ouch inter.
marriage is not considered a
major tragedy,ever,
how and fem•
fly ties are not out,
In Israel, their children go to
the regular schools, but receive
special instruction in Karaite cue•
tom. during special afternoon
classes, Their sons serve in the Is.
real army, They do not don WI•
lin, and their prayer books are
baud largely on the Bible, Their
Passover Haggada has none of the
element,' 19 familiar to us — all
based on rabbinical imams, Yet
they take the Passover very seri.
ouely, and observe it precisely as
the exodus of the Jews from Egypt
is described in the Bible, They ob.
serve kushrut, but do not have
separate utensils for meat and
milk unless the dishes are made of
pottery or other porous materials,
Today's glassware and glazed
chinaware do not absorb foods,
Shoshana Dabbah told us, They
do have separate dishes for
Passover,
They are very strict about the
Rabbet, and will not use electric-
ity, not even an automatic Shah-
bat clock,
Bosh Hashana is observed for
one day, and the shofar is not
sounded, Since Chanukah, Tu
B'Shevat and Lag B'Omer are not
mentioned anywhere in the Bible,
these holidays are not recognized
or observed by the Karaites,
Seven years ago, the Karaites
in Israel demanded official recog-
nition as It religious community,
The Karaites do not
accept • the many
practices built up by
the rabbis in the past
2,000 years,
with the right to their own keli•
pious court., This was not ap•
proved, however, and the Karaite
status remains somewhat .in
limbo,
Because their community is
relatively) small, and intermar-
riage with other Jews is frowned
upon, special effort. are 'made to
introduce their young people to
each other and to encourage mar•
rlage within the fold, Monthly so-
cial gatherings are held, and
when it is Jerusalem's turn to
play host, the Dabbah. have
weekend room for as many as 30
or 40 young people,
Perhaps the best known of the
Karaite. in our time was Dr, Mor•
rig Marzuk, a 28•yea•old physi.
can in Egypt who was ap-
prehended and hanged in 1904 on
charges of espionage for Israel.
Memorial
Presented.
London — A monument in
memory of Czechoslovakian
Holocaust victims and those who
fled fighting Nazism was unveiled
at the Jewish cemetery of
Prague•Otralnice,
The memorial, the first of it*
kind in Bohemia/M
oravia, accord-
ing to the International Council of
Jews from Czechoslovakia, was
created on the initiative of the
Prague Jewish community,
Yiddish
Dictionary
Prague — Aourding to the In-
ternational Council Of Jews From
Czechoslovakia, a /* ➢ IP
Eussian.Yiddish dictionary, eon.
taining 40,000 entries and pubs
liohed in MOSCOW in 1984, is now
on sale in Prague,
,