Karaimism
(NB NOT Karaite Judaism)
Karaimite Sabbatarianism or Karaimism, (also spelled Karaimism, Qaraimizm, Karaimizm, Caraimizm or Caraimism) is the correct translation of Караимство a Russian religion which literally means Karaim-ization. It refers to the adoption of certain ways of the OldJudeans (староиудеями) like Lithuanian Karaites and Crimean Karaites as either circumcised Karaims (Караимы) or uncircumcised Karaimites (Караимиты) -a missionary term[1]- without actually becoming either. People who practice Karaimism are not called Karaims but called Karaimites or Karaitizers (Караимствующие)[2]. Under the Russian authorities, Karaimizers who fully Karaimized were called Russian Karaims (Русские Караимы) but may more accurately be called Sabbatarian-Karaims (Субботников-Караимов) if circumcised or Sabbatarian-Karaimites (Субботники-Караимиты) if not.
They are normally described as a modern sect of Judaizers distinguished by their interest in Karaimism (Караимство the ways of the Qara'im) and the Pentateuch studying the Old Jewish religion, like Karaite Jews, through a plain reading of the Bible rather than just trusting Talmudic Judaism blindly. It is important to note that although interested in the methods of the Qara'im they did not actually adopt Karaite Judaism (Караизм not Караимство). Unlike Karaite Jews, common Karaimites are not circumcised and otherwise resemble other Sabbatarian Judaizers.[3] Nevertheless, the term Karaimites was applied to them by Jewish missionaries.[4]
Karaimizers are usually Christians but may be of any religious origin even Jewish and always retain aspects of their original religion. They were also called Bezshapochniki (Бесшапочники) being one of the three sects of Molokan-Sabbatarians/Subbotniks (Молокане-Субботники) they derived from (Молокане-субботники) -who recognize the gospel while also striving to fulfill all the rules and precepts of the Old Testament including Talmudist-Subbotniks (Субботники-Талмудисты also called Gers Геры) and other Sabbatarians which comprised the so-called "Judaizers" (Жидовствующие) among Tambov Oblast's Spiritual Christians (Духовные Христиане). [5] The Subbotniks of Tambov were also called Karaimite-Sabbatarians as well as Bezshapochniks and "Old Judaists" (староиудеи).[6] [7]
Most famous of the Christian Karaimizers were the Volga Tatar language-speaking Russian Karaits (Русские Караиты) who claimed descent from the Khazars some of whom settled parts of Crimea.
Contents
Distribution
Besides Tambov they also lived in Saratov Oblast, Astrakhan Oblast, Volgograd Oblast, Stavropol Krai, Samara Oblast, Khakassia, Irkutsk Oblast along the Molochna River in New Russia, in Krasnodar Krai, Armenia and Azerbaijan and along the Russian Empire's borders with Persia. While not all statistics for all provinces are readily available, there are more than 2500 in Privolnoye, Azerbaijan alone.[8][9]
History
The history of the Karaimites is an interesting testimony to how araimizm rather than Western Protestantism influenced the development of low-Church Christianity in Russia. The Judaizers entered Russia from Lithuania in the XV century as a mixture of Judaism and Christianity.[10] This gives Karaimites a very distinct origin from other "Qaraite" groups also called Karaims (Караимы) and Staroiudeyami (староиудеями) which could include the Lithuanian Karaites and Crimean Karaites. Under Russian authority these three groups could be treated together with the names Karaims (Караимы), Russian Karaims (Русские Караимы) and possibly also Russian Karaites (Русские Караиты) sometimes making it difficult to distinguish exactly which group is intended without careful examination of the context.
Characteristics
From 1870 they began to use the "Everyday Prayers for Karaims" by Avraham Firkovich (Vilna 1870) for their liturgy, which in 1882 they were allowed to publish in Russian as "Порядок молитв для караимов".[11] It was based on the Siddur tefillot ke-minhag ha-Karaim by Isaak ben Solomon Ickowicz. In 1935, Simon Firkovich introduced The Lord's Prayer into the Karaite Siddur under such inflluence.[12] Unlike Crimean Karaites the Russian Karaites used the term karaimskii iazyk (Karaim language) to designate Hebrew and not the Turkic Karaim language.[13] which is significant because unlike the Judaized Turkic of the Karaims, the Tatar language among Russian Karaites of the Volga had not the slightest trace of Hebrew loan words.[14] Ironically it was the Crimean Karaites not the Karaimized Sabbatarian Christians who escaped the Holocaust. At Babi Yar it was reported that they were singing "Let us face death bravely as Christ did" on their way to extermination.[15] This may be because the Karaimites while not denying their Russian origins, do regard themselves as Israelites albeit only in the Spiritual sense unlike modern Crimean and Lithuanian Karaites, though this was not always the case. The Karaimites' contacts with the Crimean and Lithuanian Karaites, who, to a degree, exemplified for them “a Jewish model to be imitated”, "were occasional and never formally arranged since, in particular, normative Karaism denied the acceptance of proselytes and regarded the very existence of a community of Karaites of non-Jewish origin senseless."[16]
Organization
A "Central Spiritual Board" for the Russian Qaraim Abroad is mentioned in 2010 and again in 2011 [17][18]
References
- ↑ "Overview of Russian sects and persuasions" by T.J. Boutkevitch pages 382-384
- ↑ [hca.ge/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/bulletin5_ru.pdf РУССКИЙ КЛЮЧ (Русский мессианизм: истоки, смысл, перспективы) Юрий СИЛАЕВ]
- ↑ S.V. Bulgakov "Handbook of heresies, sects and schisms" under Karaimites
- ↑ Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary Жидовствующие: * Субботники (в миссионерской литературе — субботники-караимиты)(Karaimites is a missionaries' name for Subbotniks); в Тамбовской губ. их называют староиудеями или бесшапочными. Бесшапочные не признают Талмуда, а считают единственным источником веры Ветхий Завет.
- ↑ "Overview of Russian sects and persuasions" by T.J. Boutkevitch pages 382-384
- ↑ Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary
Жидовствующие:
- Субботники (в миссионерской литературе — субботники-караимиты)(Karaimites is Missioner name for Subbotniks); в Тамбовской губ. их называют староиудеями или бесшапочными. Бесшапочные не признают Талмуда, а считают единственным источником веры Ветхий Завет.
- ↑ S.V. Bulgakov "Handbook of heresies, sects and schisms" under Karaimiti
- ↑ Valvl Chernin "The Subbotniks"
- ↑ Velvl Chernin, "Subbotnik Jews as a sub-ethnic group"
- ↑ S.V. Bulgakov "Handbook of heresies, sects and schisms" under Judaizers
- ↑ Alexander Lvov, "Plough and Pentateuch: Russian Judaizers as Textual Community" excerpts available online 1, 2, 3
- ↑ Mikhail Kizilov "Karaites in North-Eastern Europe: The Karaite Community of Troki between the Two World Wars"
- ↑ Mikhail Kizilov "The Sons of Scripture: The Karaites in Poland and Lithuania in the Twentieth Century" page 91
- ↑ Grigoriev V, Jewish sects in Russia . // Журнал Министерства внутренних дел. — ., 1846.P. 15. — p. 11-49 «…Заметим только, что наречие татарского языка , которым говорят Русские Караиты, не заключает в себе ни малейшей примеси еврейских слов… » («…We note only that the Tatar language, spoken by Russian Karaites, does not contain even the slightest impurity of Hebrew words…»)
- ↑ Babi Yar: A Document in the Form of a Novel by Anatoly Kuznetsov translated by David Floyd (London: 1. Cape, 1970), p. 95
- ↑ Velvl Chernin, "Subbotnik Jews as a sub-ethnic group"
- ↑ Hannelore Müller "Religionswissenschaftliche Minoritätenforschung. Zur religionshistorischen Dynamik der Karäer im Osten Europas" page 74
- ↑ Barry Dov Walfish "Библиография Караитика: Аннотированная Библиография Караимов И Караимизма" pages xxi and 764
Further reading
- А. Львов (2002). Геры и субботники - «талмудисты и караимы», Материалы Девятой ежегодной международной междисциплинарной конференции по иудаике. [Gers and Subbotniks: "Talmudists and Karaites". In: Papers of the Ninth Annual International Interdisciplinary Conference on Jewish Studies.]. Part 1 pp. 301–312. Moscow.
- А. Львов (2003). Субботники и евреи. Предисловие к публикации очерка Моисея Кузьмина «Из быта субботников» [Subbotniks and Jews. Foreword to the reedition of the essay by Moisei Kuzmin Life of Subbotniks] (in Russian). In: literary magazine Параллели ##2 and 3.
- А. Л. Львов, А. А. Панченко, С. А. Штырков. (February 2001). Полевые исследования культуры сектантов-субботников: экспедиция «Петербургской иудаики» в Ставропольский край
