Karaate Jews

The “followers of the scriptures” also known as the Karaite Jews are one of the oldest sects/forms of non-Rabbinic Judaism present in the world today. Karaites are most distinct for their differences between the Rabbinical Jews; the main difference being the belief that all of the commandments handed down to Moses by God were recorded in the written Torah without any extra input like the “Oral Law” or extra commentaries and interpretations. Karaite Jews do not believe the written collections of the oral tradition in the Midrash or Talmud is divinely authoritative. The Hebrew word “אקר” or “qara” out of the name “Karaites” means “read” which follows their idea of reading the bible instead of just following traditions (Lichaa). The origin of

The two forms of Judaism both share the same sacred scriptures and writings but greatly differ in their own way of interpreting and understanding the Torah. For example, in Exodus Chapter 23, the second half of verse 19 reads “Thou shalt not seethe a kid in its mother's milk.” The verse is interpreted “literally” by the Karaite Jews with the use of the surrounding context and grammar. Rabbinical Jews would interpret the passage as; people can have no meat with milk, no chicken with milk and there must be a waiting period between eating meats with milk (peshat). Differences are not bad though, The Karaites believe that for a person to understand God's perfect word we must thoroughly study the Hebrew Scriptures. Karaites have in place the mentality that every human being has an obligation to discover true meaning of the Almighty's commandments based on their own reasoning and understanding through their studies of the ancient writings. They believe that they stay true to Gods “original” message delivered to man through Moses; “Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall you diminish anything from it, that you may keep the commandments of YHWH your God" (Deuteronomy 4:2). They argue that the word “Torah” in the sense of an instruction from God is used in a singular way. The Mishnah (oral Torah) is saying that there are two Torahs, which is argued against because an existing two Torahs were never mentioned (Karaites.org). Since understanding comes at an individual level, differences in the Karaites are acceptable and believed to be imminent. In terms of rituals, the Karaites and the Rabbinites both believe in prayer as spoken of in the Torah but have their different methods of praying which still exist today. In Karaite Judaism people usually stand while praying; although they sometimes get on their knees, they do not prostrate like the Rabbinical Jews