New Learning: Karaite Declaration of Faith

During the height of the pandemic, James Walker and I did a learning on the Karaite Declaration of Faith – the Tuv Ta’am. The Tuv Ta’am is recited during the Torah-mandated holidays. I re-recorded the learning for you to help you prepare for the upcoming holidays. I hope you enjoy. And yes, I am going to start blogging again. (More on that later.)

You can watch the video here.

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Filed under Tuv Ta'am, videos

Moadim Lesimcha: 5 New Books at The Karaite Press

Get these 5 books for $74 at TheKaraitePress.com

Hello! It has been too long. I actually completely lost my blogging voice. I am not sure whether it is going to come back and if so, in what fashion it will take. But I have not lost my love to preserve and bring to light Karaite literature. Today, I am going to provide a quick overview of five new books available at TheKaraitePress.com. You can buy all five new books for $74.00 at TheKaraitePress.com (just click on any of these titles and add the bundle to your cart).

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Filed under The Karaite Press

How Kelil Yofi Became My Favorite Poem

I walked into the synagogue a bit late yesterday morning. After saying Shabbat Shalom to my parents, the first thing I did was find my Uncle Joe Pessah – the former acting rabbi of the Karaite Jews of America. I said, “Are we reading Kelil Yofi today?” He said, “You’re favorite! Yes it is coming soon.” I then made my way over to the bima to get the hazzan’s attention to let him know that I’d read Kelil Yofi. It never really occurred to me that Kelil Yofi was my favorite piyyut (liturgical poem), but I think it undoubtedly is.

In reflecting on *why* it is my favorite piyyut, I realized something important about Jewish learning.

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Filed under Caleb Afendopolo, Kelil Yofi, Rotem Cohen

Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz has a Fundamental Problem

I know. I know. You’re worried, “Here we go again. This is gonna be another variation of the Thinker post. And Shawn is going to make his name taking down those who speak ill of Karaites.” Don’t worry – it’s not and I won’t.

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Filed under Abib, ibn Ezra, Israel Maghribi, Karaite Fact Cards, Mikveh, Milk and Meat, New Moon, Royal Attire, Shabbat Candles, Tefillin, Yisrael HaMa'aravi

Lessons from a Seven Year Old (and Forgiveness for the Thinker)

Non-Karaites examining a fruit

This past week, my seven-year-old son saw my Twitter feed and read the words “A Blue Thread.” I then, for the first time, told him I had a blog in which I write about Karaite Judaism. I showed him my recent post on Yah Zimrati. His eyes lit up.

And his response reminded me why I started this blog. And it has nothing to do with take-downs of anti-Karaite “thinkers” (no matter how popular those posts are).

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Filed under Tobias Funke

Alex Sinclair Is Using Karaites to Manipulate You

Alex Sinclair is a thinker. Just ask him. He’ll tell you. Unfortunately for him – and for his readers – his thought process short-circuited about 1000 years ago, during a time when polemics were commonplace and marginalization was fully accepted.

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Filed under Alex Sinclair

$1000 Bounty: Prove who wrote Yah Zimrati

Where I first Learned Yah Zimrati

I hated Yah Zimrati the first time I tried to learn the melody. I really did. It was about a 8 years ago, and the Karaite Jews of America was hosting a Shabbaton. If I recall correctly, it was the same weekend we announced to everyone that we’d be remodeling our synagogue. We had about 20 people in from out of town and we were extremely blessed to have Gal Shemuel visit us from Southern California. We were blessed until he tried to teach us the melody for Yah Zimrati.

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Filed under Uncategorized, Yehudah Gibbor, Yovel Musa