Last night, April 17, 2013, the Board of Directors of the Karaite Jews of America reaffirmed the KJA’s commitment to hosting a conference on Karaite Judaism in 2014.
This is spectacular news. And for about seven years now, I’ve been dreaming about such a conference. I’ve always thought that a conference of this sort would be the first of its kind.
I am pleasantly surprised to be wrong.
Filed under Karaite Conferences, Karaite Jews of America
Let’s face it: it’s April 11, 2013, and the only viable Jewish movements are Rabbanite ones. Even secular Jews operate completely within the Rabbinic framework.
This lack of religious diversity doesn’t bode well for historically non-Rabbinic movements such as Karaites. At some level, non-Rabbinic movements can only survive if (religious) Jews are open to adopting interpretations that, while differing from mainstream views, are consistent with the Tanakh.
But, fundamentally, it takes much more than “open-mindedness” on behalf of the Jewish community. It takes clear resolve and dedication on behalf of minority Jewish movements.
Filed under Books, Breslov, Karaite Jews of America, Ruth Tsoffar, The Stains of Culture
The last K.J.A. Bulletin?
This April 2007 issue ran a story on the Aviv.
As I mentioned on my Facebook profile, I was pleasantly surprised by how many people actually visited A Blue Thread to learn about the Aviv and its relation to the Jewish years.
Today, with permission from the Karaite Jews of America, I am posting images of a story that ran in the April 2007 issue of the K.J.A. Bulletin. The story is about the 2006 Aviv search.
If I recall correctly, this was the last K.J.A. Bulletin that was published. As an aside, some of my most vivid childhood memories are of watching my father stapling, folding and mailing the K.J.A Bulletins from our dining room in the 1980s.
I know that the internet has made most small-time publications difficult to justify, but one of my professed goals is to see a widely accepted Karaite print publication. A man can dream, can’t he?
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Source: Magnes Museum; The Karaite Jews- Karaite Service, Foster City, CA by Ira Nowinski (Egypt, Israel, and USA, 1984)
Among the most common requests I receive is to provide readers with the means to learn a traditional Karaite prayer. Indeed, the Karaite community (in addition to having a rich interpretive history) has a rich liturgy. Thus far, I have resisted these requests, because it really isn’t the focus of the blog.
Recently, though, there was a discussion on Mi Yodeya asking how Karaites pray. And after Monday’s post on keeping it real, I thought it was time to do at least one post related to Karaite prayer. It didn’t take me long to determine where to begin: the Haqdamah.
Filed under Crimea, Karaite Jews of America, Karaite Prayers & Melody, Prayer
[I dedicate today’s post to the loving memory of Rose El-Kodsi Z”L, who passed away last weekend in San Francisco, California. Rose was the wife of Mourad El-Kodsi Z”L, author of the Karaite Jews of Egypt: 1882-1986. When Rose moved to the San Francisco Bay Area a few years ago, she became a regular at my family’s Shabbat dinners. I last saw her this past Friday night, just a few hours before she passed away.]
Last week, the Karaite Jews of America launched a project to film the histories and memories of the Karaite Jews who left Egypt and relocated to the United States. According to a January 15, 2013 email from the community’s president, the Karaite Jews of America hopes that its endeavor will continue the work pioneered by Mourad El-Kodsi in his book The Karaite Jews of Egypt.
Not many are familiar with Karaite Judaism, let alone what happened to the Egyptian Karaite Jews (and other Jews throughout the Middle East and North Africa) during the various wars between Israel and her Arab neighbors. A few years ago, The David Project brought these issues to light in its documentary The Forgotten Refugees. My father’s cousin was featured in the documentary and also hopes to participate in the Karaite Jews of America’s initiative.
For a just a small taste of the many types of accounts that the Karaite Jews of America intends to record, I have reproduced for you, with permission of the author, an article originally appearing in the Jerusalem Post Magazine on May 31, 2007 and reprinted elsewhere on the web:
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Filed under Karaite Film Project, Karaite Jews of America
As discussed yesterday, one implication of the different perspectives of Karaites and Rabbanites is that Karaites never understood God to have commanded the separation of milk and meat as practiced by most observant Jews today. This topic is addressed in the below Karaite fact card, which derives its name from the famous Jimmy Buffett song, Cheeseburgers in Paradise.
One of my professed goals for starting A Blue Thread is to promote the study of Karaite Judaism at secular and religious institutions. This is the first in a series of posts related to a workshop, entitled Karaite Studies: The State of Field, that was held in Israel from February 27, 2012 – March 1, 2012.*
For today, I’ve created cliff notes and commentary (not to be confused with an oral law) for the first half of a question-and-answer session between Rabbi Moshe Firrouz, the Chief Rabbi of the Karaite Council of Sages (Hebrew: Moetzet HaHachamim), and various researchers and academics in attendance at the workshop. The topics covered in this post range from women in Karaite Judaism; Karaite Torah scrolls; rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem; and efforts of the Karaite community to maintain its halakha (religious interpretations), culture and traditions.
