Karaism and its Effects on Rabbinic Judaism

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Out of the age of the destruction of the Second Temple rose numerous schismatic groups, and present-day religious historians regard Karaism as one of these many factions that existed in opposite to Rabbinic Judaism (Zawanowska). Karaism is a sect of Judaism that denies the authority of Rabbinic laws and interpretations, meaning they dismiss the legal weight of the Talmud, the Midrash, the Mishnah, and other non-Torah texts. Benei Miqra' in Hebrew, the name Karaite means "Children/Disciples of the Scripture" (Introduction). Historically, the Karaites and Rabbinic Jews have engaged in scholarly disputes and have faced discrimination and conversion attempts by the other. In combating conversion efforts, dispelling Karaite propaganda, criticizing mixed Karaite-Rabbinic Jew marriages, and having to necessarily examine their own principles, though, the Rabbinic Jews fortified their study of both the Torah and the history of the Talmud. Managing such discord early in their development ultimately bolstered the Rabbinic Jews’ doctrines and lead to a more unwavering form of their dogma.
After of the Second Diaspora, Jews found themselves living in Jewish communities within various Muslim states. Consequently, the Mishn¬¬ah and Talmud underwent reinterpretation to accommodate the new Jewish reality of living outside Jerusalem (Introduction). Oppression from the Muslim states and the shift in rituals and practices drove many Jews to the outskirts of the religion, effectively weakening traditional Judaism. Of the multiple theories of the Karaites’ origin, the most frequently recounted is that of the Karaites as a deviation of the Ananites. According to this theory, "disgruntled office seeker" Anan ben David founded this sect of Judaism in the ...

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