Israeli Karaites against the backdrop of renewed interest in alternative forms of Judaism

An ancient Jewish movement rejects the authority of rabbis, instead relying on the Jewish Bible as religious law.

Avi Yefet was rolling brown dough on a small table, preparing it for baking in the Old City of Jerusalem, writes The Media Line.

The unleavened bread, made from flour, coriander seeds, canola oil, and salt, is a Karaite delicacy known as “massah,” which is prepared every year for the Passover holiday. It tastes completely different from the traditional matzah that most Jews eat during the festival.

For this tiny Jewish community, Passover and the story of the ancient Israelites’ liberation from Egyptian slavery is different from all others.

The Karaites are an ancient Jewish stream whose roots go back to the revelation at Mount Sinai, when it is said the Israelites received the Torah, or the Jewish Bible.

“The Karaites continue their path from the revelation at Mount Sinai when the Torah was given to the children of Israel,” Yefet, a community member, told The Media Line. “We have not changed since then. Rabbinic Jews or Pharisees are the ones who changed and added religious laws.”

Unlike mainstream Jews, Karaites reject the authority of rabbis and recognize the sanctity of only the 24 books of the sacred scriptures that make up the Jewish Bible.

They do not believe that Moses also received the Oral Law and consider the Talmud or Mishnah, the first major written collection of Jewish oral law, as cultural heritage rather than authoritative religious texts.

The Karaites have no rabbis, only sages, according to Oshra Gezer, deputy chair of the organization “Universal Karaite Judaism,” and they follow a different religious calendar than traditional Jews.

“The biggest difference between Karaites and rabbinic Jews is that Karaite Jews place the individual in authority; in other words, each person must know the Bible, read it, study it, and interpret it according to their understanding,” Gezer told The Media Line during a recent visit to the group’s heritage center in the Old City of Jerusalem.

“Whatever a person understands is what they must do, and they cannot rely on someone else,” like a rabbi, added Gezer. “There is personal responsibility.”

At the Karaite Heritage Center in Jerusalem, leading community members strive to introduce the wider Israeli public to their unique way of life.

One of the center’s attractions is a 13th-century synagogue — one of the oldest of its kind in the Old City — which requires visitors to shower on the same day before entering. Women during menstruation are prohibited from entering based on the biblical concept of niddah, or ritual impurity.

The modest space is carpeted, and prayers are conducted mostly without seating, as in mosques.

“The synagogue is a temple, and the Karaites guard its sanctity and purity,” explains Yefet, the synagogue’s caretaker. “Visitors must be clean and enter without shoes.”

During the Passover holiday, Jews gather to tell and retell the story of Passover to countless generations by reading the Haggadah, a text recounting the Exodus from Egypt.

As in many other instances, the Karaite Haggadah is different.

“The Passover Seder [or ritual feast] for Karaites is conducted differently, from the text we read to how it is conducted,” Gezer explained. “We are obligated to sit at the table and tell our children the story of the Exodus from Egypt. We tell it to our children as it is said in the Book of Exodus. It is much shorter than the traditional Haggadah. We also have it written in Hebrew, not Aramaic.”

For millennia, the Karaites have adhered to their belief in the sanctity of the written word as expressed in the Jewish Bible.

Currently, there are 50,000 Karaites worldwide, the vast majority of whom reside in Israel. Although the community is small, Gezer says, interest in its customs and beliefs has grown in recent years due to its egalitarian approach to women and rejection of rabbinic oversight.

A poster at the Karaite Heritage Center in Jerusalem demonstrates how congregants pray.

For example, Karaites are the only stream of Judaism in Israel that can legally marry outside the rabbinate. They also conduct their own divorces, circumcisions, and burials.

“Karaite Jews are the only Jewish group that has received legal permission to autonomously practice their customs,” Gezer said. “I am not sure if the numbers are growing; however, there has been renewed interest in Karaites recently due to the [political] situation we are currently in the country.”

“Karaites advocate for gender equality and believe in it,” she continued. “Karaite women have equal rights and can perform any religious role that Karaite men can: she can be a cantor, a mohel, a kosher butcher, or lead a community.”

Israeli Karaites celebrate Passover amid renewed interest in alternative forms of Judaism