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I would like to suggest the addition of a section explaining the leadership aspect within KJ. Many people who have heard of KJ, but don't know much about it, assume that KJ has rabbis like Rabbinic Judaism. However, in KJ, a ḥaḵam fills some of the role in KJ that rabbis fill in RJ (although, how that is executed in each is a little different, which could be explained). Also, the role of the ḥazzan could also be elaborated. Both of these can be explained without too much detail as there are dedicated articles for both ḥaḵamîm and ḥazzanîm which give a wider picture to their roles. At this point, it might be a good place to mention the most significant differences between a rabbinic and a karaite bêt kĕnesset (lack of benches/chairs, who's in charge, et cætera).
On a more global level, there is the Moˁeṣet HaḤaḵamîm ("Council of Sages"), World Karaite Movement, and Karaite Jewish University which have an influence on the global Karaite community. The last of which (KJU), may be the only real inroute for non-Jews to officially convert to KJ outside of Israel (at least, in the eyes of the state of Israel). Who does the global community look to as an authority for the sighting of the New Crescent Moon (for marking the new months and new years) in The Land? Also, it could be explained to readers that there is no Jewish version of the Pope.
It seems there is enough material to fill out a decent section. What prompted me to think about this was the use of the title Ḥaḵam through the article, but (as far as I have noticed) no explanation (nor wikilink) for the lay reader. Placement of the section as early as possible in the article would be helpful (the history section, Russian subsection uses the term "ḥaḵam"), but may not be best placed before the history section (maybe immediately after, just before the beliefs section).
Thoughts, anyone?
— al-Shimoni (talk) 20:23, 13 June 2012 (UTC)
Both of these sections were already template tagged as violating WP guidelines concerning the See Also and External Links sections. The External Links section was particularly bad as it contained many blogs, minor sites in non-English, dead websites, websites not even related to the topic, etc. The See Also section had so many entries that it was subsectioned into various categories (admittedly, I was the one who organized it into sections a long time ago because it was a long mess). Many of the topics see-alsoed were already wikilinked in the body of the article. The only remaining hint of sectioning is three people who are secondary bulleted under the List of Karaite Jews bullet.
Although not perfect, these two sections now better comply to WP's guidelines. — al-Shimoni (talk) 22:07, 27 June 2012 (UTC)
For editors here interested in, and who focus on Karaite history more specifically, an entire revision of it is being undertaken in Wikipedia right now by an avowed priest of a supposed "Islamic Mosaist" sect. For those interested, the hub/nub of this new attemtp to completely rewrite Karaite history from a purely Islamic perspective is here. warshytalk 18:49, 29 August 2012 (UTC)
The section Karaites today" starts with about 100 families in Istanbul and later says "there are about 80 Karaites living in Istanbul". --Richardson mcphillips (talk) 02:47, 17 September 2012 (UTC)
It seems to me that certain users are attempting to evangelise by regurgitating an oft-repeated mistranslation of the Russian word Evrei as Jews (Iudei) rather than Hebrews. Using this mantle, these missionaries are able to insert passages into articles like this one to convince the Karaite Jewish audience that the Karaims of Eastern Europe (Crimea, Russia etc.) were once Karaite Jews, rather than Karai-Tatars (meaning black tatars) Tengri worshippers who were converted to an early form of Unitarianism and who have been confused with Jews ever since. The intention obviously being to encourage Karaites Jews to read the works of Jesus and Muhammad and discover "Messianic Karaite Judaism". Warshy seems particularly interested in hiding the Karai-Tatar truth and pushing the Evrei = Jewish POV. But he is certainly not alone. The truth about the Karaims of Eastern Europe is that there was only a question on their identity after Catherine the Creat partitioned the Polish Lithuanian commonwealth and invaded Crimea. At this point the Karaims first came to the attention of the Russian authorities. While the Karaims had enjoyed officer-rank privileges under the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth, the Russians were not sure at first how to apply the anti-Jewish legislation inherited from the Commonwealth, and the question of whether Karaims were meant to be included under the legislation arose. Within two years, Benjamin Aga had explained the history of the Karaims to Tzarina Catherine the Great, and the Officer-privileges for Karaims were enshrined in Russian law and not long after that the Imperial Russian Orthodox Church granted the Church of the Karaims official status with two diocese putting them on an equal status with Islam in the Empire. However, the Wiki-Missionaries present quite a different POV throughout all the wiki articles, that except for their Tatar identity the views of the Karaims of Eastern Europe may have had a legitimate place amidst the Karaite Jews. They present the Karaims' "Khazar" identity (which has always been well-accepted in Russian academic circles e.g. [1]) as a late 19th century fabrication apparently in the hopes that young Karaite Jews will find the references to "Christ and Muhammad" prior to these dates and consider that there might be some room for the teachings of Jesus within Karaite Judaism from a Unitarian stance.
Thus it seems to me that the Russian and Crimean and Lithuanian sections of the article need to be reduced significantly to reflect the historical facts rather than a mixture of Missionary POV pushing and prejudicial fantasy. It seems it would be sufficient to have a section saying something like:
It does not seem to me that there is a need to go into any more detail than that. Wikipedia should not be used as a podium to evangelise Jews by spreading misinformation from non-peer reviewed sources. Any thoughts from users other than those involved in promoting the confusion? Kaz 08:26, 21 September 2012 (UTC) May I just add that the 16:04, 2 October 2012 edit is my edit, I just forgot to log in. 16:07, 2 October 2012 (UTC)
Here the story is still recorded with all the elements it needs to be judged correctly in an impartial historical perspective. Here you are not going to be allowed to continue this campaign of historical falsifications, lies, and forgeries. You have established somewhere else, for the time being, that your fringe sect does not belong to Karaism. Your concerted campaing of religious lies and falsifications do not belong in Wikipedia at all, and they will be eventually purged. But here you beware. Nothing here is going to be changed without proper discussion first. No one reacted to your previous posts here, but now you have crossed all lines. warshytalk 16:35, 2 October 2012 (UTC)
You are a boldface liar. You are changing stable (not good by any means, but definitely stable and a very good basis for true historical inquiry) content and replacing it with lies and forgeries, without citing any reliable sources. The lies and forgeries that you have so far fed the English WP in the page that refers to your fringe, non-notable religious-ethnic sect, making a big thing out of a couple hundred people allegedly belonging to some kind of invented, impossible, oxymoronic "Islamic Mosaism" are up for exposure. You lie through your teeth saying the complete content change you made twice are a request for sources. And you reverted it twice already saying you are "not" starting an edit war. You have crossed all lines now and I am reporting you to the appropriate forums. warshytalk 18:23, 2 October 2012 (UTC)
We will see who exactly is a bold-faced liar. Wikipedia is not a place to post Unsourced Unreferenced POV Original Research to be as you put it "a very good basis for true historical inquiry". You continue to build your Straw man Ad hominem, but I repeat my questions:
"Tell me which of the requests for citation which you are trying to remove is a forgery of lies? How is my removal of dead links from your self-published website (which you are trying to re-insert) a campaign of historical falsifications? Kaz 18:15, 2 October 2012 (UTC)"
Kaz 19:04, 2 October 2012 (UTC)
Issue of EL has come up again in recent edits. I have reduced the ELs down, again, to make them further in compliance with Wikipedia guidelines on External Links.
In truth, all the current links violate the Wikipedia guidelines, although the Faith Strengthened link is probably to closest to being in full compliance. I have kept that link as well as the organization links even though the organization links fail EL guidelines. There is an exception that could have applied to the organization links which would have made them pass the guidelines (ie, being an official website of the topic), however, this exception is only applicable if it is the official website of the topic mentioned (ie, the website of the one-and-only governing body of the topic, or the person who is the topic). Since Karaite Judaism is not a cult, and does not have an official body dictating what to believe and who is a member (such as the Catholic Church, The Latter-Day Saints church, or the Church of Scientology), Karaite Judaism does not have an "Official Site". The organization EL are the next best thing, but that is not a loophole in the WP guidelines (so, basically, I'm ignoring strict compliance with the guidelines, here). Most of the links that were removed fall into what WP considers the "personal website" category, although they also violated other criteria.
The UKJ website would also be frowned upon by the guidelines because it is primarily (overwhelmingly) in Hebrew. I have added the Hebrew link icon, as guided by the WP guidelines, and changed the link destination to point to the one main page that is in English on the website (it is basically an English homepage for the site, although the rest of the site is in Hebrew). However, if the UKJ website changes its content management system, that link may become a 404, and will need to be updated.
A non-WP comment (although, could be WP-related indirectly) to Melech b.Y, if you are reading this, I would suggest that the WAK buy a domain name — using a Google Sites address does not help the WAK in looking "official" on the web (domains are only 10 $/year from GoDaddy, I would even be willing to host the WAK's site on my servers if Google doesn't provide DNS/domain-pointing to their Sites customers pages). Also, the WAK site may violate bias guidelines for external links (ie, the repeated strongly-worded monologues against UKJ, WKM, and KJU; although, this is an subjective assessment). Also, apologies for cutting your KI site's external link.
— al-Shimoni (talk) 09:03, 19 November 2012 (UTC)
The article mentions that there are about 50 thousand karaites around today but only gives one source. Is this enough for such an important bit of information? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.38.87.230 (talk) 06:17, 29 March 2013 (UTC)
Well actually if you look at this article by the author of a book on the subject http://www.myjewishlearning.com/history/Ancient_and_Medieval_History/632-1650/Islamic_World/Karaites.shtml then it seems that someone with some authority says that there are only around 7 thousand. Also if you look at their own website http://www.karaite-korner.org/fact_sheet.shtml you can see that they say they have 25 thousand in Israel and only another 5 thousand in other countries.--72.38.87.230 (talk) 18:03, 29 March 2013 (UTC)
If nobody has a problem with it I want to change the wording at the end of the 1st section to say that today "estimates are between 25 thousand to as many as 50 thousand" with the sources?--72.38.87.230 (talk) 01:01, 31 March 2013 (UTC)
Will do thanks.--72.38.87.230 (talk) 22:45, 31 March 2013 (UTC)
"...in the view of Karaites, many traditions and customs are kept that are in contradiction with those expressed in the Torah," in reference to the Talmud and the writings of the Rabbis. No citation or example is given. An example would be helpful. --Richardson mcphillips (talk) 21:22, 10 June 2014 (UTC)
Thank you for providing such an interesting and succinct background in this section but what are the reliable sources for this? I have found that the Karaite Jews in Crimea are in close association with the Moetzet Hakhamim of Universal Karaite Judaism under Moshe Firrouz. [2] [3]
My main question is why does the article say:
Because from the links I provided [4] [5] google translate at least seems to indicate that the Yevpatoria community in Crimea are just a localized branch of Karaite Jews struggling to restore themselves following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
I read that it was Mordechai Sultansky not Avraham Firkovich who is first mentioned descent from the 10 tribes. Is it time to revise this section? YuHuw (talk) 10:31, 21 January 2016 (UTC)
I've been concerned recently that there appears to be an attempt in other parts of wikipedia to blur the distinction between clear Karaite Jews and certain other so-called "Karaites" in Eastern Europe who appear to be more Turanist. I have been trying hard to stop sockpuppets of User:Ancientsteppe from blurring this distinction. I think this section if cleaned up properly might help undermine the efforts of such POV warriors. YuHuw (talk) 10:37, 21 January 2016 (UTC)
Also are there any sources detailing a breakdown of the population?
Any idea whether or not these figures include the Karaite Jews of Crimea? And is there any idea anywhere on the precise population and location of those "Karaylar-Karaites" (as Nehemiah Gordon termed them) in Eastern Europe who deny Jewish origins? YuHuw (talk) 10:45, 21 January 2016 (UTC)
Certainly there is a clear difference between these legitimate Karaite Jews (Karaims or Ha-Yehudim Ha-Qara'im) and the ones referenced by Nehemiah Gordon (Karaylar or Qaraylar?) who certainly seem to be much more Christian. [User:YuHuw|YuHuw]] (talk) 10:45, 21 January 2016 (UTC)
This is all typical Christian Missionary tactics to slowly introduce Jesus into Judaism. [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] Anyone who uses a prayer of Jesus is obviously his follower. Isn't that fairly obvious to everyone? Because of that, the so-called Russian "Karaites" who use the prayer of Jesus can not be considered Jews. These "Subbotniks" are not circumcised [17] and they are not Jews. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.71.129.210 (talk) 19:09, 20 March 2016 (UTC)
It is all a big misunderstanding. There are a type of Subbotnik Christian who use the prayer of Jesus alongside the Karaite Jewish Siddur. They have long been called Karaites by missionaries even though they are not Karaites. Seraya Shapshal is responsible for trying to fuse the Subbotnik Christians and the Karaims together and this caused Tuvia Babovich to move to Cairo where he maintained a pure form of Crimean Karaite Judaism which has today grown into Universal Karaite Judaism. Thus the Lithuanian Karaims were clearly very close to this sect in the early 20th century. The Prayer of Jesus found its way into the Siddur of the the modern Crimean Karaites for the same reasons. Thus the so-called "Karaites" of East Europe who are called Karaims and should very clearly be distinguished from other Karaite Jews whose tradition comes from Tuvia Babovich's group of original (now extinct) Crimean Karaite Jews who did not include the prayer of Jesus into their Siddur. The Exodus of Tuvia Babovich to Cairo marks the death of traditional Crimean Karaite Judaism in Eastern Europe and there is no need to mention here in this article anything about the Karaites of Eastern Europe after him who basically became indistinguishable from Subbotniks as a result of Seraya Shapshal's influence. YuHuw (talk) 07:11, 27 March 2016 (UTC)
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I mention this with some trepidation, but István Deák says this in his book "Europe on Trial":
I haven't found a further citation for this, so perhaps he is in error. Thomas Peardew (talk) 16:55, 23 September 2018 (UTC)
This adds a little: https://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?p=324814#p324814 Thomas Peardew (talk) 16:58, 23 September 2018 (UTC)
While citations have been given, for the number of adherents and their locations, I'm not sure that 2 people (or really anything under ~500) counts as a "significant population". In my view, it's an excessive amount of detail. Not only are such small populations not really noteworthy of mention in an encyclopedia, the fact that such specific and small numbers are mentioned leaves the article open for having to be constantly monitored, fact-checked, and edited as individuals move, die, convert, etc. Trumblej1986 (talk) 20:48, 18 June 2019 (UTC)
| region5 = ((flag|Poland)) | pop5 = 346 | ref5 = <ref>((cite web|title=Tabl. 28. ludność według rodzaju i złożoności identyfikacji narodowo- -etnicznych w 2011 roku |url=http://www.stat.gov.pl/cps/rde/xbcr/gus/LUD_ludnosc_stan_str_dem_spo_NSP2011.pdf|work=Glowny Urzad Statysty|page=346|language=Polish|date=4 November 2018))</ref> | region6 = ((flag|Lithuania)) | pop6 = 241–310 | ref6 = <ref name="undata" /><ref>((cite web |title=Religious composition of Lithuania 2011 |url=http://pop-stat.mashke.org/lithuania-religion2011.htm |accessdate=4 November 2018))</ref> | region7 = ((flag|Kazakhstan)) | pop7 = 231 | ref7 =<ref>((cite web |title=Kazakhstan census 2009 ethnicity |url=http://pop-stat.mashke.org/kazakhstan-ethnic2009-census.htm |accessdate=5 November 2018))</ref> | region8 = ((flag|Russia)) | pop8 = 205 | ref8 = <ref name="undata">((cite web |title=Population by national and/or ethnic group, sex and urban/rural residence |url=http://data.un.org/Data.aspx?q=ethnic&d=POP&f=tableCode%3a26 |publisher=United Nations Data |accessdate=4 November 2018))</ref> | region9 = ((flag|Belarus)) | pop9 = 20 | ref9 = <ref>((cite web|script-title=ru:Национальный статистический комитет Республики Беларусь |url=http://belstat.gov.by/homep/ru/perepic/2009/vihod_tables/5.11-0.pdf |work=Национальный статистический комитет Республики Беларусь |publisher=Национальный статистический комитет Республики Беларусь |accessdate=1 August 2012 |language=Russian |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131018221300/http://belstat.gov.by/homep/ru/perepic/2009/vihod_tables/5.11-0.pdf |archivedate=4 November 2018))</ref> | region10 = ((flag|Latvia)) | pop10 = 4 | ref10 = <ref>((cite web|title=Latvijas iedzīvotāju sadalījums pēc nacionālā sastāva un valstiskās piederības (Datums=01.07.2018)|url=http://www.pmlp.gov.lv/lv/assets/documents/statistika/Iedz%C4%ABvot%C4%81ju%20re%C4%A3istrs%20st.%20uz%2001072018/ISVN_Latvija_pec_TTB_VPD.pdf|accessdate=4 November 2018|language=Latvian))</ref> | region11 = ((flag|Tajikistan)) | pop11 = 2 | ref11 = <ref>((cite web|script-title=ru:Национальный состав, владение языками и гражданство населения республики таджикистан|url=http://www.stat.tj/en/img/526b8592e834fcaaccec26a22965ea2b_1355502192.pdf|work=Statistics of Tajikistan|publisher=Statistics of Tajikistan|accessdate=27 January 2013|page=9|language=Russian, Tajik|title=Archived copy|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116004155/http://stat.tj/en/img/526b8592e834fcaaccec26a22965ea2b_1355502192.pdf|archive-date=2013-01-16|dead-url=yes|df=))</ref> -Trumblej1986 (talk) 19:15, 19 June 2019 (UTC)
@Davidbena:,
If that original research anecdote based on a 16th century rabbinical (responsa), not historiographical source, is to stay, I would recommend you look at the following reliable historiographical source, to see if it mentions anything about the Ramba"m's relationship to the Karaites, according to the Radba"z:
Since this seems to be one of your favorite primary sources about ancient and medieval Jewish history, it is time you start getting acquainted with modern reliable historiographical sources, about this particular rabbinical figure. As it stands, that sub-section is just an anecdote based on oirginal research. Thank you, warshy (¥¥) 17:00, 27 September 2019 (UTC)
Let's see. You created a whole new sub-section in the History section called "Karaites in Egypt in the 13th Century" based on a single rabbinic (mind you, this is an article about Karaites, and you are using a source written by an opponent of the 'denomination') responsum from the 16th century. OK. Your sub-section opens as follows:
What is your source for such a statement? If you have any historiographical reliable sources that could support such a statement, please bring them forward. I would be very interested in seeing these sources and what they say. But then you continue:
What date was this "one day"? How is this date ascertained? And all this weird story, not more than a mere anecdote, really, in historical terms, to close with the following quote about the Nagid:
What does this mean? That they did not need to be converted because they were already "orthodox Jews" according to halachah? That because they supposedly circumcised their sons on the eighth day they did not even needed to be immersed in a mikvah in order to be considered "clean" Jews? All these would be interesting facts for a footnote, maybe, in a paragraph about historical periods in which the two 'denominations' may have had friendly and close relations with each other, as opposed to other historical periods when the relations got to be quite hostile. No more than that. But to create a whole historical sub-section between the "Golden Age" (supposedly ending around 1100 CE) and the 19th century in the Russian Empire, which is the subject of the next historical sub-section, based on this single rabbinic responsum from the 16th century? I don't believe such a sub-section is warranted as it stands, and based on the single non-historiographical source it refers to now. Unless you can provide some answers to all the questions above, I intend to remove this rather meager in historical substance sub-section. Thank you, warshy (¥¥) 03:10, 29 September 2019 (UTC)
Karaites in the Russian Empire: "The leaders, hearing that, devised a ruse by which they could be freed of the oppressive laws" The word 'ruse' is not neutral, and does not appear in the linked Jewish Encyclopedia article.--2607:FEA8:D5DF:F945:5C78:5149:5F14:2542 (talk) 14:46, 9 November 2019 (UTC)
While reading this article I noticed that note b, reading "This oral law employs the methods of remez (implication or clue), drash (interpretation, exegesis), and sod (deep, hidden meaning, identified with the Qabbalah)." links to the Hermetic Qabbalah page. Given that this note is in reference to Rabbinic Judaism, I wondered if linking to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabbalah would be more correct? Please disregard if I'm incorrect. I do not know very much about the subject, which is why I was reading this article (to learn) and this note stood out to me as a possible error.
NonyaSerdo (talk) 15:18, 6 August 2020 (UTC)
KaraiteBlessing,
Even if the Torah said what you say it is saying (which I, for one, do not think it says for a moment), it would be just a "primary document" in this case. A statement of opinion like the one you are trying to add would need a secondary, reliable, preferably academic source stating it, or verifying it. But, of course, such a source does not exist, so you wouldn't be able to produce it. I am giving you a chance to produce a source for your statement here, before it is removed once again as a simple, unsourced personal opinion. Thank you, warshy (¥¥)
citation KARAITES AND KARAISM - JewishEncyclopedia.com states: "follow the Bible to the exclusion of rabbinical traditions and laws." This 'BIble' - referring to exclusively the Torah sections or entire Tanakh? The wikipedia says 'Torah'. Unsolicited claim FatalSubjectivities (talk) 14:10, 26 December 2022 (UTC)
Reexamine his claim that Karaites were a significant part of the Jewish population. What numbers does he give? Where did he get them? I think examination will show his source, if any, is as tendentious and self-aggrandizing as the claim without numbers. The very existence of Prophets shows interpretation of Torah, and the article itself shows that Karaites _interpret_ Torah instead of living by its literal meaning. What's more, "literal meaning" is the same false claim as "literal translation". Jacobs has to be very naive not to understand that. 100.15.117.34 (talk) 11:24, 11 July 2023 (UTC)