Brit-Am Foreword.
by Yair Davidiy.
A new so-called Karaite Movement has received a degree of
support from certain Ephraimites.
Brit-Am gets asked questions about this all the time. It irritates us since we
doubt its veracity and do not like anti-Jewish movements.
We have evidence that it is a cloak for the propagation of anti-Jewish sentiements and doctrine. Type who seem to have anti-Jewish inclinations are attracted to it.
The Brit-Am Movement of the Ten Tribes is concerned with Researching who the Ten Tribes are; Revealing the Information to as many as possible especially those to whom it pertains;
Working for the Reconciliation of Joseph with Judah.
These are the Three Rs of Brit-Am:
Research.
Revelation (i.e. striving for Recognition of the truths Revealed).
Reconciliation.
We generally avoid Religious matters and inter-faith discussions. Our subscribers and supporters belong to many religions.
The Brit-Am policy is not to get involved in specific
religious considerations. We do however advocate Bible Learning and ourselves teach Scripture. We also urge a return to Biblical Values.
The new pseudo-Karaites (as presented by a group of American enthusiasts) are a new religion in the guise of an old faith.
For some reason they seem to be concentrating much of their propagation efforts on members of the Ephraimite Movement
or else "Ephraimites" feel an affinity with them and are adopting their doctrines. Normally this would not concern us.
Brit-Am however recognizes that the Ten Tribes are now to be found amongst western peoples. The Ephraimite Movement in its own way does the same
and many Ephraimites do take an interest in Brit-Am. A certain degree of mutual involvement has therefore resulted.
We may not like the Karaite doctrines but normally would not say anything about them. By analogy, I do not indulge in smoking tobacco.
At one stage I was a heavy smoker but stopped some decades ago. I am against cigarette smoking but am not about to actively campaign against it.
The same applies to hashish. I hate all drug-consumption including hashish. In the past however I inadvertently did become associated with people
who had other views on the subject and we saw from up front its negative effects.
To my mind the Karaites should be in a similar category i.e. something we personally detest and would avoid involvement with
but when it is shoved in our faces will react against.
Against our will this Karaite matter is being pushed onto us.
We have written about this elsewhere.
See:
King David and the Oral Law.
Loyalty to David is Required: Ruth and the Oral Tradition.
Karaites:
In Defence of the Oral Tradition..
Touche!
The Karaite Allies Threat to Brit-Am and the Brit-Am Answer.
The Karaites historically were a sect that broke away from Judaism. They denied the Oral Law and invented their own rules. A few thousand of their descendants
now live in the State of Israel. They do not however really practise their religion, do not accept converts from outside,
and generally keep to themselves.
Recently an American Jew set up with a few of his friends a new Karaite religion.
They are not really Karaites but rather pseudo-Karaites but they are the ones we are dealing with.
They are also anti-Jewish.
In addition to being against the Jews they are also antagonist to the belief that the Ten Tribes are now to be found amongst Western Peoples.
Mark Robinson, an Ephraimite supporter of the Pseudo-Karaites sent us a letter saying that the Rabbinical ancestors
[i.e. the German Jews or the Irish Ones?] of Yair crucified the Christian Messiah!
See:
NJF-20. New Joseph Forum.
#1. Letter no.1. Et tu Brutus?
How the Rabbinical Ancestors of Yair Davidiy Crucified the Karaite Messiah of Gentile Peoples
by Mark A. Robinson.
#2. Letter no.2. Why Yair Davidiy Should Not Be Offended by Letter no.1!
by Mark A. Robinson.
#3. Rabbi Avraham Feld on the Karaites.
http://britam.org/NJF/NJF20.html
Our friend Mark also informed us that the Christian Messiah was really killed for not washing his hands before meals!
Apparently the Pharisee-Rabbis were quite irate at this lack of basic hygiene!
We all know about how strict Jewish doctors and dentists may be about their professional ablutions (and are pleased that such is the case)
but stringing someone up on a tree for lack of compliance with cleaning regulations seems a bit too much!
Jesus is being presented as a kind of Karaite who was killed by the Rabbis!
Apparently the Pseudo-K-Guru has a teaching along those lines?
Similar tales about the Ks have reached us from elsewhere and we have even seen an article confirming the existence of this tendency.
Will wonders never cease!
When will the film come out?
Ironically, it may be that the particular "Sanhedrin"-court that acording to the NT put JC to death
historically was dominated at the time by Sadducees who were the idelogical precursors (or one of them) of the Karaite Movement!
But who cares?
The Pseudo-Ks certainly do not!
Just for the record however,
In the NT,
The Christian Messiah and his followers is presented as not getting on with the Jewish establishment in general.
They seem to have had a love/hate relationship with the Pharisees who parallel the Rabbis and Orthodox Sages of our own time.
If anything they were however closer to the Pharisees than to anyone else.
Whatever the case, we are not about to get involved in a discussion of such matters.
See:
Touche!
The Karaite Allies Threat to Brit-Am and the Brit-Am Answer.
Rabbi Avraham Feld agrees with Brit-Am concerning the Karaites.
The Karaites are a menace or at least a pest.
Rabbi Feld has personal acquaintance with the pseudo-Karaite buddies.
In the article below Rabbi Feld gives us some background concerning the Karaites in History.
Based on the evidence of Rabbi Feld and our own impressions we understand that these new American-Jewish
afficianados of Karaism do not know what they are doing and do not practice Karaism.
They live secular life-styles.
The day may come when some (at least) of them may regret their Karaite associations
so we have refrained (at least for the time being) from discussing their personae.
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The
Karaite
Blight!
by Rabbi
Avraham
Feld.
Contents:
Brit-Am Foreword by Yair Davidiy.
The Need for Oral Law.
Jealousy.
The Karaite History of False Posturing and Baiting the Jews.
The Karaites Invent Their Own Oral law by imitating the Rabbis and Copying from the Talmud!
Karaite Religious Characteristics.
The Oral Tradition is Necessary to Understand the Written Law and Everything Else.
The Need for Oral Law.
Ever since the action (and what it symbolised) of the Nachash (Serpent) there
has been a spirit of rebellion against what is obviously HaShem's words, and the
pious representatives of his unbroken transmission of those words. Numerous
times the Torah says to the Rabbinic leadership [Moses, Aaron, the Elders,
Jehoshua, Kelev, Itamar, the Judges, the Prophets etc. ] to keep and guard
that very selfsame Torah [i.e. Ex. 22:2, Lev. 19:3, Deut. 5:8 ].
Now you know that Hebrew, like ancient Egyptian and Chinese, is pictorial. The
holy letters have a graphic dimension. This is in addition to the sounds,
vowels, numerical value and consonants. The sounds and pictures described by our
holy letters go together like,
'Love and marriage go together like a horse
and carriage and I'm telling you brother you can't have one without the other'.
Now the very pictorial representation of the Biblical word Guard is a picture
of a simple handmade corral or fence. A field fence made of inter connected
branches, sticks and thorns and thistles. Our Torah leadership are comparable
to Shepherds who need to fence their beloved sheep in, 'from fear in the [
dangerous ] night' [Song of Songs 3:7 -8 ] .
Thus the very concrete, physical black ink of the shape of the letters cry out
for our leadership to protect and tangibly guard the Torah. That's not adding,
that's just protecting. No Rabbi anywhere calls a protective measure a Torah
law. They are merely placing a hedge of roses around to save the Torah laws
from being carelessly trampled. It is a Biblical directive to make fences. The
Torah commands us in no uncertain terms to keep whatever protective degrees
those in authority deem necessary. The fence made by the Shepherd is man made
for a specific purpose, utilizing the Shepherds intelligence, creativity and
wisdom. Now you can see, touch, feel and hear the deep Biblical basis for the
following Mishna; Moses received the Torah from Sinai and transmitted it to
Joshua; Joshua to the Elders; the elders to the Prophets: and the Prophets
transmitted it to the Men of the Great Assembly [through analysis we learn that
they learned the Torah many times]. They said three [ main guiding principles
] things ;
Be exact [deliberate] in judgment [ fair, honest, careful and just ], build
up many students, [develop to an independent level ], and make a fence for the
Torah.' Enact provisions and cautionary rules to safeguard against
transgression' [ArtScroll Siddur pg. 545 ].
You know, Dearest Reader and Friend
that a Torah Scroll or book is called a Safer in Hebrew.
So to answer the
question Why did the Rabbis make a fence around the Torah?
The answer is: To
make a 'Safer Torah'!
Texts for your consideration:
Gen. 49:10: 'The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor
a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto ...'
'that the L-ord's law may be in your mouth' [ Exodus 13;9 ]: This is literally
the Oral Torah.
'These are the statutes and judgements and Torahs [ the Hebrew says Torahs ,
in the plural , one oral and one written ] Lev, 26;46
Deuteronomy 17;8 -12 and unto the judge that shall be in those days, [ we only
have the Sages of our present days or times ]
If the prophet calls Judah the bow and Ephraim the arrow (Zechariah 9:13), it
means that Judah by necessity needs to be intuitive, creative and active in
explaining the Torah just as an archer must be.
In Exodus 20;22 it says 'G-d spoke from heaven' and Deut. 4;36 'out of heaven HE
made thee to hear ...'
These are but a few simple examples of how G-d
communicated his Torah orally!
The written torah is similar to the magnificent
skeleton of the human body. The Oral Torah fills in and out the body, giving
skin, eyes, body systems, hair-coloring, personality etc. Together they make
the Hebrew people with the Bible the longest living faith.
Jealousy.
Remember in the Book of Numbers, Korach and disgruntled company attacked the
authority of Moses, Aaron and the Elders. Well Dear, that was not the last attack
but merely one of the first attacks upon the Biblically mandated spiritual
leadership of the covenantal faith community.
The Karaite schism likewise has character traits of that same old rebellious
serpent and Korach and company. Korach was brooding, filled with jealousy and
hate for not getting a promotion in the priesthood. His supporters, Dothan and
Aviran had similar complaints. They were the first-born but had been skipped
over for promotion.
Because of the sin of the Golden Calf fiasco [ only the Tribe of Levi was
completely clean of it ] Dothan and Aviran had gone down many levels. Still they felt they deserved an upgrade and hated,
despised and nursed envy and jealousy against the Torah leadership of that time.
The Karaite History of False Posturing and Baiting the Jews.
Likewise the essential founder of the Karaite movement, Anan (ca. 750 CE) had lost the position of Exilarch [leader of nthe Jews
in Iraq etc] to his younger brother Hananiah. This petty envy and jealousy led
to open confrontation, instead of accepting the majority decision of the Geonin
[the undisputed spiritual leadership of the nation ]. Anan and company opposed
the decision and fomented rebellion.
[They founded the Karaite Religion in opposition to that of the Jews.]
Ten Tribers and Hebrew roots folk should know that the Karaites immediately
declared themselves a new religion and were so recognized by the Muslim Shiite
Caliph as a new separate religious faith and people. Many of them are actually
non-Jews and are proud of it.
They were defined by Saadiah Goan as total apostates and heretics and not as
another misguided sect. They agreed that they were different and often sought
from Gentile powers recognition as a new \old religion completely distinct from
Torah Judaism, with many elements of Replacement Theology! For a few examples
we have the following:
In 1795 they convinced the anti-Jewish Empress [of
Russia] Catherine II to drop the double tax that Jews had to pay and were
allowed to buy land. Because they were not really Jewish, even though they have
the real 'Jewish' tradition , the Jews were likened to imposters.
In 1827, they
[ in Crimea ] were exempted from army service by the sick Jew-hating Czar
Nicholas I and then exempted in Lithuania. At the same time Jewish kids even
as young as eight, nine, ten were forcibly inducted for periods of 20 and 25
years. Unbelievable horrors were being suffered by the Jewish Kehillah. All the
while the Karaites bad mouthed us and so proved their hatred towards the
nation of Israel, that these murderous despots felt so comfortable with them
thus granting them favors. They claimed to have great qualities while the
general Jews were full of the worst character deficiencies.
They were successful on even causing the forced exile of a holy, good and
ancient Jewish community of Troki and gaining sole rights of living there.
By
1840 they were officially called "Russian -Karaites" with no reference to their
former status as ' Jewish- Karaites '. These kind of antics helped them
become landowners and wealthy while the Jews were only allowed to be artisans
and peddlers.
In 1840 the Karaites became equal to Muslims in the law of the
land. Also independent Church status was accorded them. The Karaites always did
things to promote estrangement from the Jewish nation and prove to Gentile
powers how non-Jewish they really were.
During WWII their attitudes 'vacillated between indifference to the Jewish
cause and in some cases of actual collaboration with the Germans[ Nazis ] (ibid
Encyclopedia Judaica pg. 776). The Einsatzgruppen [German Killing Squads sent to
exterminate Jews] gave them positions of trust, authority and favor. The Nazi
Ministry of Interior said that the Karaites were not Jewish but had a different
racial psychology [ "The Phases of Jewish History", Devorah Pub. 2005 , pg.
148]. The point is they always had the wrong spirit and the enemies of our
people were quick to spot it and therefore felt and treated them as allies
against Eternal Israel, the Jewish people. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend",
the Arabic saying goes. Amongst the Gentiles, the very worst enemies of Torah and those charged with
keeping and transmitting it, saw in the Karaites, friends in
their wars against Am Yisroel [the Jewish people].
[Sources: The Ben Zvi Institute of the Former President of Israel was very
helpful with a wealth of documents as was Hebrew U's Givat Ram Campus Library.]
The Karaite take on history has largely been recognized as 'unhistorical,
fanciful, [and based on] biased Karaite sources'.
[Encyclopedia Judaica Jerusalem ,vol.10pg. 766, The Rise of the Karaite Sect ,
Barron, and many other sources ].
Karaite Religious Characteristics.
Karaism was also influenced by Islam i.e. Abu-Hanifah, the founder
of the Muslim school of Hanafite jurisprudence.
The same Encyclopedia Judaica article [ pg 763 ] and many other sources point out:
The sect was the result of a combination of factors; the amalgamation of various
heterodox trends in Babylonian-Persian Jewry; the tremendous religious,
political, and economic fermentations in the entire East, resulting from the
Arab conquests and collision of Islam with world religions; social and economic
grievances of the poorer classes of Jewry, particularly those who had migrated to the
sparsely settled frontier provinces of the Caliphate [who were] thereby rural and out of
touch with the centers of Torah learning and authority.
The Karaite sect
aborbed such Jewish sects as the Isawites [adherents of Abu Isa-al Isfahani]
and Yudghanites, who were influenced by East- Islamic tendencies and small
remnants of Boethusians.
'Innumerable groups' were formed amongst the Karaites. It became
impossible to find two Karaites who held the same opinion on all religious
issues' as explained by Al Kirkisani [founder of a Karaite sect ]. Ishmael of
the Ukbarte sect was violently against Anan and his followers and denounced him
as "a fool and ass" ibid. pg,766 . You have Karaite leaders at one point calling
Anan the first wise man then later in their careers (I guess after feeling
rebellious, even against their own leadership), calling him the first of fools,
i.e. Daniel b. Moses al-Qumisi first Karaite scholar to live in Jerusalem! ibib
pg.768 .
The Karaites Invent Their Own Oral Law by Copying from the Talmud!
As usual despite their claim to reject Oral Torah they needed to invent their
own whenever they wished to implement anything on a practical action-doing
level. Without a central recognized leadership it all became a do your own thing
game in line with the rebellious attitudes of its founders. Without the Sages
their observance led to anti-Biblical, absurd restrictions, anarchy. Karaism
became a stepping stone for Jews to completely leave the faith and fold,
assimilation, intermarriage and finally extinction [The Phases of Jewish History
ibib. Pg. 146 ].
Here dear reader for your interest are some offbeat non-biblical positions the
Karaite take:
They only have 8 accents of musical notation on the haftorah readings, they
disregard the other markings [ accents, cantillation notes ]. They just
swallow, gobble up or draw the rest of the text in an un-natural way into the 8
motives. By the way there existed no way to transmit sounds, pronunciations,
vowels and melodies without an advanced Oral Torah transmission system!!!!
[ Dr. S. Hoffman, in: Leshonnenu 22 [1948] pages 264 to 265 ]
In attempts to
create uniformity of observance they based themselves on exegetical methods they
had previously bitterly condemned!
[The Phases of Jewish History, the Karaite Schism].
A very crucial Karaite
wise-guy, Judah HaDassi, used 80 hermeneutical rules, the best ones coming
right out of the Talmud [ Eshkol hakofer . nos. 114, 168-73 ]. Anan and
company wrongly translated a term in Leviticus 11:19 as chicken and thereby
listed it with impure, non-kosher birds. Their further twisting and perversion
of texts leading to forbidding marriage between even the most distance
relatives, complicated circumcision, while forgetting some of its crucial
aspects, made ritual purity between husband and wife much more rigid and
severe, prohibited kindling light even before Sabbath and yet insisted on even
extinguishing it on the Sabbath. This is nuts at best, rebellious,
psychologically dysfunctional, hateful of self and family ties at worst.
Regarding Sabbath they even have themselves divided up between opposing camps of
good\light verses evil\darkness! [Z. Cahan, the Halakah of the Karaites , 1936]
As mentioned earlier they could not function without any Oral Torah, so like
the Catholic Church fathers and the Protestant church Elders they needed to
invent oral explanations. Their own collection of traditions is called in a
kind of negative way a yoke of inheritance, full of things not found in the
TaNach ! The book of Precepts is an outstanding example of their own mishmash of
self produced oral interpretations.
Very important to keep in mind is an inescapable fact: Namely many of their
greatest leaders and founders, in their moments of truth, were forced to
conclude how together, organized and reliable the Talmud is in general !!!!
They, for example conceded that the prohibition not to "boil a kid in its
mother's milk" should be understood as relating to forbidding any meat cooked
with milk [in accordance with regular Jewish Law].
The Mishawayh al-Ukbari sect of Karaites, although gone has left its impact,
held simply put that in all debates, disputes and uncertainties they were to
always follow the Jewish Rabbis. In other words they agreed on the logic and
correctness of keeping the festivals in harmony with the rest of historic Jews
and Judaism! Now get this, this principle included, as just stated, their
confused New Year and Calendar issues! If in doubt, go to the Sages [Judges]
who will be in your days Deut. 17 !!!
Benjamin b. Moses Nahawendi of Persia is likened to the fathers of
the movement; Anan , Josiah, and Saul. Benjamin created a doctrine that has
been in use for all sects right up to present times. the point is he told his
students to rely upon the Rabbis in every case that the Bible is unclear to
them !!! [ L. Nemoy, Karaite Anthology, 1952 ]. Along these lines, one of the
greatest Karaite wisemen and guides of all time Elijah Bashyazi took a kinder,
more respectful legal attitude towards the Sages then these new guys, Johnny-come-lately, self proclaimed recent
Karaites. To para-phrase the Chacam Bashyazi: The overwhelming majority of
Mishnah and Talmud is true and faithfully gives over the words, utterances
and sayings of our Biblical fathers, "our people" must study it. It is an
obligation and we need to study it with respect.
Moving along in this study, the [Pseudo-Karaites] write off many
open practical commandments, even those very well documented by history and
archeology, as merely symbolic ideas i.e. Tzizit and Tefillin.
Hebrew roots people will with a little fast facts recognize the familiar
spirit of rebellion in this sect with its nasty gossip and slander of historic Am
Yisroel (the Jewish People). Even a glance at the NT will yield boatloads of
Oral Torah totally accepted by the main players. [The NT criticizes those who
flaunt the wearing of tsitsot and tefillin [phylacteries] but does not say that
the wearing of them is wrong in itself.]
The ethical call not to wear Tsitsot and Teffilin in a show-off way
is very normal. It is a Rabbinical kind of censure. The Sages were always
pushing and pulling the nation on to higher levels. Greater humility and service is what it is all about. No mention is made, at
all in the NT, that these ritual holy objects were inventions of the Rabbis of
that time [as the Karaites now claim]. All the ritual objects were assumed by
the NT to be from the time of the Revelation at Sinai etc. No one ever yelled
at the Apostles, their Teacher, or friends for keeping the wrong dates of
Festivals! [They kept the accepted Pharisee-Rabbinical dates.] Nor did they
attack any regular Jewish Pharisees for corrupting festival times or for plain
making up things. Nor did the very critical Church Fathers attack the Jews for
making up a non-Biblical Calendar. Just the opposite, they were instructed in
the NT not to change anything of the Sages, they are the living olive tree, just
let it be a Tree.
What does "..not a dot or tittle" mean? They are all little lines,
notes, decorations etc, written in the Written Torah, completely 100%
according to the ancient Oral Torah's directives!!! Whatever the heck the NT is
saying, only makes sense with an Oral Torah explanation and understanding.
Besides after trying to trick the Nazarene, the Sadducees, who rejected Oral
Law, helped Nazi-like Rome. They were the members of the puppet anti-Rabbinic
court that sentenced the Nazarene illegally. Later they were basically wiped
out by loyal Jews in the Revolt against Rome. They [the Sadducees] were told in
the NT that they are ignorant (being assimilated pro-Roman), and that they do not know
the power of Hashem!!!!
In brief this article is presented as a public service to the many up and coming 10
Israel, as well as Hebrew Restoration folk, forwarned is forearmed.
The Oral Tradition is Necessary to Understand the Written Law and Everything Else.
Once, a non-Jew asked the great and saintly Shamai: "How many Torahs do you
have'" "Two" he answered. "One Oral and one Written, as it says, # These are the
statutes and judgments and laws [Hebrew: "Torot" or "Toros" i.e. the plural of
Torah], which the Lord made between him and the children of Israel in mount
Sinai by the hand of Moses # [Leviticus 26:46]. The non-Jewish fellow said, "I
believe you concerning the Written but not in regards to the Oral Law. Convert
me on condition that you teach me only the Written Law. Shamai became indignant
and sent him away. The man then went to the equally great and saintly Hillel
who accepted him for the conversion program. On the first day Hillel taught the
person the alphabet: Aleph, beth, gimmel, dalet, etc. On the second day Hillel
reversed the letters. The prospective convert disagreed and said: "Yesterday you
taught me a DIFFERENT sequence." Hillel answered, "My son, you are relying on
me anyway so rely on me concerning the Oral Torah too."
In other words we would not know how to pronounce the Hebrew Alphabet if not for
the Oral Torah. Similarly, in order to understand the Written Torah we have to
rely on Oral Torah. Without such a practice, even the Written Torah would not be
understandable. Check this out,
'You shall keep that which I have entrusted you to guard' Leviticus 18:30.
THE Sages are the management of HaShem's system. Take a look at Daniel 1;3 -16
WHERE MIRACLES WERE PERFORMED FOR HIM AND HIS FRIENDS ON THE MERIT OF KEEPING
RABBINIC PROTECTIVE DEGREES .
We the manna eaters, the children of our great ancestors, have never lost
contact with HaShem, His Torah or our spiritual leadership. They, likened to
angels, who so lovingly have passed it on in each generation. From Sinai to
desert drama and trauma on through all our trials and tribulations, through the
blood, sweat and tears, glory and joys we have always had a living, dynamic
relationship with our righteous remnant the giants of mind and spirit, our
Sages .
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