WELCOME TO KARAITE KONNECTION !

Navigating this site

This is a different format of website. The navigation, registration and tabs are at the bottom of the site rather than along the top or side.

• The button at the top right in the title header, allows you to view the page in 3 sizes from narrow to wide.
• The blue button on the bottom left brings a pop-up window for wider functionality.  It allows you to register on this site for the Konnection page or register to be able to reply to posts on the Blog page or both!
• You are also able to change the background of this website to better suit your taste on this same small pop-up window under "Change Theme".  There are 7 backgrounds to choose from!

Karaite Konnection has been created to fill a need, a gap that has developed; the need for people to connect with others of the same belief.  This is an unprecedented situation we find ourselves in!  It is further unprecedented that for the first time in history, it is now possible to connect folks all over the planet through modern technology!

KONNECT NOW with other Karaite Jews who register on this site and hook up with them in your own community!!  Every resource you need is here to come together with others of your core belief…..Hebrew Bible Scripturalists.  Start a study group, write new music together, create dance and art, start home school groups!   Go to KONNECTION page and register NOW!

While Karaite Jews remain an extreme minority within a minority at this time, we are growing! And though scattered all over the world, we need to develop the collective strength that coming together as much as possible provides.  

This site will feature the Karaite Locator page as its core focus but there will be Torah studies available, a Blog page, great Links, an on-line store, and so much more!

The Karaite Locator page is provided for you to meet people in your area that you may not even know are there.  You won’t know unless you register!  This registration is for Karaite/Hebrew Scripture (only) believers all over the world!!

The Torah Studies page will be available to help with studies of the entire Tanakh.  You are able to submit studies that you have written for consideration for posting in this area.  We apologize up front that not all submissions maybe posted due to site space and other considerations.  Please submit them in a Word .doc format or a PDF format for publishing purposes to Konnector@karaitekonnection.com

There will be a Blog page for opinion pieces.  As Karaites, it is well known and accepted that there will be differences of opinion on Scripture, traditions, etc.  We have no final authority until our Kingdom is established.  What we ask is a spirit of learning, understanding and cohesion that comes from mutual respect and positive language on this blog site.

 The Links page is one of the most important pages to get you connected with the best of available Karaite material on the web, forums, books, and other info.

Karaite Jews enjoy a rich and colorful history and a growing and exciting future!  It is hoped that you will enjoy, learn, participate and grow from this site and ……konnect!

Our deepest appreciation to Hakham Nehemia Gordon for permission to reprint:

Karaite Principles of Faith

by Nehemia Gordon

The 10 Principles of Faith

In the 15th century the Karaite sage Elijah Baschyatchi published a list of 10 principles which he said every Karaite had to accept in order to be a true Karaite.  Baschyatchi’s versions of the “10 Principles of Faith” are a variation on an earlier list published by the Karaite sage Judah Hadasi in the 12th century. The following is a summary of the “10 Principles of Faith” according to Elijah Baschyatchi’s list:

Elijah Baschyatchi

[Aderet Eliyahu pp.161–177] (15th Century)

1) Everything in the Universe was created.

2) All things in the Universe were created by a creator. The creator is not created nor did He create Himself.

3) God is one and has no physical form or body.

4) God sent Moses His servant.

5) God sent “His perfect Torah” through Moses. This principle is directed against the Rabbinate belief that the Torah is inherently deficient and therefore had to be supplemented by a second "Oral" Torah. Karaites believe the Torah is perfect and does not require a supplement.

6) A person must know the language of the Hebrew Bible and its interpretation.

7) God also prophesied to the other true prophets in the Hebrew Bible (i.e. besides Moses). Karaites only accept the prophets and prophecies recorded in the Tanach.

8 ) God will resurrect human beings on the Day of Judgment.

9) God requites a person for his actions, punishing sinfulness and rewarding righteousness.

10) God did not forget the people of the Exile. We will eventually be redeemed and we must await the Messiah who will be a descendant of King David.

Other Versions of the Karaite "Principles of Faith"

The “10 Principles of Faith” were a late development in Karaite Judaism and do not represent the full range of Karaite thought. For example, the 8th Principle of Faith, according to both Hadassi and Baschyatchi, is the belief in the Resurrection of the Dead on the Day of Judgment. However, the 10th century Karaite sage Jacob Kirkisani tells us that some Karaites of his day did not believe in the Resurrection of the Dead.  It is hard to understand how a Karaite group could deny the ultimate Resurrection of the Dead when this event is clearly foretold in Dan 12:2, “And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to reproaches and everlasting abhorrence” (OLD JPS Translation). Perhaps those Karaites who denied the Resurrection did not understand this verse or perhaps they interpreted it metaphorically. This also seems to have been the interpretation of some of the Sadducees. Either way, these people were still Karaites in the full sense of the word and were recognized as such by their contemporaries. Similarly, the 10^th Principle of Faith according to Baschyatchi declares that a Messiah from the House of David will come at the time of the Redemption. According to Kirkisani, some Karaites of his day believed that all the Messianic and eschatological prophecies were fulfilled in the early Second Temple Period at the time of Zerubabel (but compare Haggai 2:23). It becomes clear that Baschyatchi’s 10 Principles of Faith represent the view of one stream within Karaism, but not Karaism as a whole. Indeed, Hadassi and Baschyatchi were not the only Karaite sages to set out Principles of Faith. For example, Kirkisani tells us that some of the Karaites of Persia maintained that anyone who does not pronounce the name YHWH as it is written is a non-believer!

What are the fundamental beliefs common to all true Karaites?

1) Belief in the one true eternal and omnipotent God (YHWH) to the exclusion of all others.

2) Belief in the holiness and authority of the writings given by God as embodied in the Tanach (Hebrew Bible), to the exclusion of all other sources, books, traditions, “prophets” and teachers. The only exceptions to this rule are things that by their nature can only be known through the principle of "Universal Consensus", such as the current day of the week which is only known because of a living tradition which is so widespread it is unlikely to have been tampered with.

3) Belief in the responsibility of every individual to study and interpret the Tanach for themselves according to its peshat (“plain meaning”). The definition of peshat is an interpretation based on the language and context using reason. The peshat would have been the obvious meaning of the biblical text as understood by the ancient Israelites when the Torah was first given.

All other beliefs and practices must be derived from the above 3 rules in order to be valid.

Acknowledgments:  Without these, there would be no Karaite Konnection!

Thanks to the Creator for waking us up Isaiah 44:1-4

Many thanks to Beth for the kick in the pants I needed.  What a great sister.  Are there Karaites in Indiana?  Let’s find out!!

Thanks to Nehemia, always and forever.

Thanks to my sidekick Rinah, what a talent and best sister!

Thanks to Warren Smith, webmaster par excellence!