More and more Gentiles are showing interest in Torah law and what they can do to be observant,yet lean toward the Karaite sect of Judaism's views on what is commonly referred to as "rabbinic" by those that know nothing about it.This is highly prevalent among the Ephraimite movement.The Ephramite Movement are Gentiles claiming to be the remains of the Northern Kingdom of Ephraim or Israel based on they feel it is so.No proof of linages, no ancient traditions such as you find among the people in Syria and other countries that still have these traditional legends and stories dating back thousands of years.The “Ephramites” base their beliefs almost completely along the lines of British Israelism, keeping their Christian beliefs in Jesus, denigration of Judaism,and thinking all Jews are Judah.
Even some of the biggest Jewish supporters of the idea that prophesy about the reunion of Judah and Ephraim are showing disappointment.To quote Yair Davidy of Brit AM,
“First of all what really are the so-called Ephraimites? Recent developments have suggested that they may not be so interested in spreading knowledge of physical origin from Israel especially when the ancestry of concrete groups is specified.
If such is the case they are in effect Christian enthusiasts who at best have replaced Replacement Theology with fraternalism. Unlike advocates of Replacement Theory they may not say they are the True Israel who have replaced the Jews as the Chosen People. They rather claim to be brothers of the Jews by virtue of religious inspiration. Some of them are very pro-Jewish but others are not and seem anti-Jewish and wallowing in Pseudo-Karaite notions and sinister Conspiracy Theories as well as in some cases having fanatical missionary convictions."
Who are the Karaites and what is their history?The History of Karaites and Karaism Islam; The founder of Islam and author of the Muslim Kara-n (Koran/ Quran) was Muhammad ibn Abdullah. The original Karaites (Qaraims) were Muslim and used the Karan (Koran), Injil/ Tehudah (The original New Testaments), Torwah (Post Temple verbiage). For the last 22 years of Muhammad’s life, beginning at age 40 in 610 CE, Muhammad started receiving revelations that he believed to be from God. The content of these revelations, known as the Karan (Qur'an), was memorized and recorded by his companions. The formal beginning of the Muslim era was chosen to be the Hijra in 622 CE, which was an important turning point in Muhammad's fortunes. The assignment of this year as the year 1 AH (Anno Hegirae) in the Islamic calendar was reportedly made by Caliph Umar. It is a lunar calendar with days lasting from sunset to sunset. Islamic holy days fall on fixed dates of the lunar calendar, which means that they occur in different seasons in different years in the Gregorian Calendar. The most important Islamic festivals are Eid al Fitr on the 1st of Shawwal, marking the end of the fasting month Ramadan, and Sid al Adha on the 10th of Dhu al Haijah, coinciding with the pilgrimage to Mecca. Golden Age of Islam and Karaism (750–1258) The Great Mosque of Kairouan, established in 670 in Kairouan, Tunisia, represents one of the best architectural examples of Islamic civilization. Under the Abbasids, Islamic civilization flourished in the " Islamic Golden Age", with its capital at the cosmopolitan city of Baghdad. Islamic Minor denominations; The original Karaites (Quranists) were Muslims who generally reject the Hadith and/or the Sunnah. The Berghouata were a late first millennium Berber sect who followed a syncretic religion inspired by Islam (perhaps influenced by Judaism with elements of Sunni, Shia and Khariihe Islam, mixed with astrological and heathen traditions. It is believed that Salih Ibn Tarif was a Jew born in the Iberian Peninsula. Jewish Karaites Annan ben David’s and Salih Ibn Tarif’s karans were the foundation of the Jewish Karaite movement. Jewishness of “Karaites”; Jewish Karaites are a splinter sect that branched from out of Islam. 1) “Karaite” or “Qaraim” is not in the Tanakh. 2) Karaites are not a tribal group of the sons of Abraham, Isaac or Israel. 3) Karaites are a post Tanakh, and a post Temple movement. “Jewish” Karaites originated in Iraq, in the 9th century CE, as a Muslim splinter movement from out of Islam, and their karans, and siddurs are not historically documented as a Jewish movement until the 9th century. Which later branched out to Egypt, Europe, Africa and Russia. And because of geographical, kingdoms and language barriers, Jewish Karaites karans, traditions and customs varied greatly. Thus the study of modern 9th and 10th century Karaites and Karaism can be very conflicting and confusing. Thought there are some recent new claims that “Karaite” or “Karaism” existed as a Jewish movement prior to the 9th century, there are no historical documents that support Karaite or Karaism as a Jewish movement in the 1st to 8th century. These supposed Jewish Karaites tend to attach themselves to any Jew who observed the Torah as the Masoretes, who were not Karaites (the Karaite sect did not exist in the second century), the Masoretes was a Rabbinical movement, similar to the Masorti/ Conservative Jews of Russia. Want to get into their recent history? Try http://www.karaite-korner.org/holocaust.htm where they claim ,"One of the most common misconceptions about Karaite Jews is that they had a questionable role in the holocaust. It is commonly reported that the Nazis did not consider Karaite Jews to be Jewish and that some Karaite Jews even collaborated with the Nazis. These accusations are completely false. In fact, there were not even any Karaite Jews in Europe at the time of the holocaust, so they could hardly have collaborated with the Nazis! " That's really funny because Nazi records show they served in the Waffen SS. Their status under Russian imperial rule bore beneficial fruits for the Karaims decades later. In 1934, the heads of the Karaims community in Berlin asked the Nazi authorities to exempt them from the regulations; on the basis of their legal status in Russia. The Reich Agency for the Investigation of Families determined that from the standpoint of German law, the Karaites were not to be considered Jews. The letter from the Reichsstelle fur Sippenforschung gave the official ruling in a letter which stated: The Karaite sect should not be considered a Jewish religious community within the meaning of paragraph 2, point 2 of the First Regulation to the Reich Citizenship Law. However, it cannot be established that Karaites in their entirety are of blood-related stock, for the racial categorization of an individual cannot be determined without ... his personal ancestry and racial biological characteristics.This ruling set the tone for how the Nazis dealt with the Karaite community in Eastern Europe. 500-600 Crimean Karaite jews voluntarily enlisted into the SS to help fight the USSR. This caused some tension as some German soldiers were disturbed by their praying and overtly jewish behavior, however were forced to accept them with open arms due to the German high command making it strictly clear that they were to be treated with all respect. The Jewish religion of the Karaites annoyed the SS circles, and it was therefore recommended not to publicize Karaite activity in the army. On December 7, 1944, Himmler approved these conclusions and recommendations, and the Karaites continued to serve in the German army until its surrender in early May 1945." (Shmuel Spector, "Karaites" in Encyclopedia of the Holocaust, Vol.2, NY: Macmillan, 1990, pp. 785-787). Gee, I guess the German's lied in their records,right? After all,the Karaites deny they were in the German army.
Let's not forget what the Karaites did in Russia to avoid being counted as Jews that "killed Jesus".Abraham Firkovich was the central figure of the Karaite National Movement in nineteenth century Russia and the most important collector of Karaite manuscripts. He was born in Lutsk, Poland, but was active mainly in the Crimea. Such local leaders sponsored him as Simha Babovich, who took him in 1830 on a visit to the Holy Land. Firkovich collected in Jerusalem, Hebron and Cairo numerous old manuscripts. In the years 1831 1832 he transferred his collecting activity to Istanbul, and 1839 1840 to the Crimea (especially ChufutKale, which was being left by its Karaite inhabitants). Further he copied old Karaite tombstone inscriptions in the Crimea and Caucasus, many of which he published in his "Avnei Zikkaron" (1872). In 1863 - 15 he returned to Palestine and Egypt and obtained, now that he was old, experienced and wealthy, perhaps the most important part of his vast collection of over 15,000 manuscripts. His discoveries stimulated wide interest. S. Pinsker based his "Likkutei Kadmoniyot" mainly on material supplied by him. H.Graetz and J. First, too, used it uncritically. Firkovich's thesis was that the forefathers of the Karaites had come to the Crimea in the seventh century BCE and thus could not have been involved in the crucifixion of Jesus. Nor had they any connection with the preparation of the Talmud. He believed the Khazars to have been Karaites. His views were obviously politically motivated and were intended to give a "scientific" underpinning to the Karaite National Movement. When in 1839 the governor general of the Crimea, Voronzow, addressed six basic questions on the origins of the Karaites to Babovich, Firkovich was commissioned to answer them. The Karaite leadership used his opinions and writings also otherwise in its endeavors to distance itself from Judaism and receive full civil rights for all Karaites from the Russian authorities. Firkovich often came into direct confrontation with the Rabbanites. In 1825 he submitted a memorandum to the Russian authorities, suggesting that the Jews should be removed from the border areas in Russia's west, in order to prevent them from smuggling. His suggestion was, that they should engage in agriculture instead. The memorandum had no effect, but its sentiments did not endear Firkovich to his Rabbanite contemporaries. A Hassidic teacher, who accused him of being an ignoramus and heretic, thus accosted him once, publicly, in Berdichev. In reply Firkovich composed his biting "Masa Merivah". In another polemic book, "Sela haMahloket" (1834), he turns, in rhymes, against the Hassidim. Most later scholars did however not hold these attacks against him. What they would not forgive, were the numerous changes and outright falsifications, especially of dates, in colophons, or on tombstones, included in his scientific work and in the publications of the Gozlow press when he was in charge of it, in order to make the Karaite community of the Crimea appear much older than it was. Such scholars as H. Strack, A. Harkavy and P.F. Frankl demonstrated soon after his death, that his publications abounded in such forgeries. Yeah,and there were capos in the camps too. My relatives that lived told us about those that tried to save their own hide. "In other words, many Jews took on the identity of Karaylar-Karaites in order to save themselves from the Nazis. This was very widespread and was even used by Jewish leaders. Green explains:" and then says: " As a result of this acquiescence to political expediency, an estimated 70,000 such persons were theoretically exempted from extermination." (Green 1978b pp.43-44)" 70,000 out of the over 6 million butchered.Yeah,that sounds like "This was very widespread ".
Further on Karaites in Russia.During the late 19th century, Russian Karaites began to be differentiated from Rabbanite Jews, which freed them from various anti-Semitic laws that affected Jews. The Tsarist governor of the Crimea told the Karaite leaders that, even though the Tsarist government liked the idea that the Karaites did not accept the Talmud (which the church taught was the reason the Jews did not accept Jesus), they were still Jews and responsible for the death of Jesus and subject to the new antisemitic laws. The leaders, hearing that, devised a ruse by which they could be freed of the oppressive laws and told him that the Karaites were already settled in the Crimea before the death of Jesus. The Tsarist government then said that, if they could prove it, they would be free of the oppressive laws. Avraham Firkovich was charged by the community leaders to gather anything that could help "prove" that they were not in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus and, thus, not responsible for his death. Through his work he helped establish the idea amongst the Tsarist authorities that the Karaites were descendants of the exiled northern kingdom of Israel and therefore were already in exile for centuries before the death of Jesus and were thus not responsible for it. Through referring to the tombstones in Crimea (and altering the dates) and the gathering of thousands of Karaite, Rabbanite, and Samaritan manuscripts, including one Rabbanite document from the southern Caucasus that claims that the Jews there were descendants of the exiles from the northern Kingdom of Israel. These actions convinced the Russian Czar that Karaite ancestors could not have killed Jesus; that thus their descendants were free of familial guilt (which was an underlying reason or pretext given at that time for anti-Semitic laws). All this was for external consumption. Within the community Ḥakhamim still taught that the Karaites were and have always been a part of the Jewish people, prayer was in Hebrew, the lineage of Kohanim, Levites, and families of Davidic descent were meticulously preserved, books printed in Hebrew adamantly stated that the Karaites were Jews. In 1897, the Russian census counted 12,894 Karaims in the Russian Empire. By the early 20th century, most European Karaites were no longer very knowledgeable about the religion and Seraya Szapszal, a Karaite soldier of fortune who had been the tutor of the last Qajar Shah of Persia Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar and a Russian spy, managed to get himself elected Chief Ḥakham of the Karaites in the Russian Empire (by that time, due to Russian regulations, the position was more of a political one than a spiritual one), and influenced by the Pan-Turkic movement in Turkey (see Dan Shapira's work on the subject), made his position into that of an Emperor-priest, changing the title Ḥakham to Ḥakhan (being a cross between the Turkic titles Khaqan and Khan), forbade the use of Hebrew, introduced pagan elements (such as the worship of sacred oaks trees in the cemetery), and claimed that both Jesus and Muhammad were prophets (thus appeasing both the Russian Orthodox Tsarist government and the Muslim Turkic peoples). After the Bolshevik Revolution, atheism became official state policy and Karaite religious schools and places of worship were the very first religious institutions closed by the Soviet government. After that the only information about the Karaites that was allowed to be taught were the Szapszalian doctrines, and the official definition according to Russian law (carried over from Tsarist law) was the erroneous one that the Karaimi were the Turkic descendants of the Khazars and not Jews. Not all European Karaites accepted the Szapszalian doctrines. Some Hakhamim and a small part of the general Karaite population still preserved their Jewish heritage, but most dared not oppose Szapszal openly due to his official standing vis-à-vis the Soviet government.Paradoxically, it would appear that the National Socialist German Government accepted the Bolshevik definition of the origin of the Karaites.
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