The Karaites had• come into Egypt not long after the foundation of their sect. That they had made considerable progress there is seen from the fact that Saadia commenced his po lemical writings in Fostat before 928, and that he had a number of direct opponents in •the city. It was here, too, that lived the only important poet produced by the Karaites— Moses Dar'i who wrote in the style of the Judets-Arabian poets of Spain. In Cairo, the Karaites, as else where, kept themselves apart from the rest of the Jews. They had their own organization, at the head of which was a Nagid, who, how ever, was under the generaljurisdiction of the Rabbinite Nagid. They had their own syna gogues, first in Fostat and then in Cairo itself. They acquired a considerable amount of wealth there, being largely engaged. in the goldsmith trade, while a number occupied positions of eminence chiefly as physicians. In the year 1313, when Abraham Maimonides was chief of the Egyptian Jews, a number of Karaites were converted to Rabbinism. At the present day about 400 families live in Cairo mostly in a separate street back of the old Jewish quarter, In Russia.— Under the Tartar rulers of southern Russia Karaite Jews had emigrated during the 12th century into the Crimea and into Lithuania. From here they eye,n pene trated into Galicia, and a Karaite community exists to-day there in the city of, Halitsch. A portion of the city of Troki was given over to them; and here Isaac ben Abraham Troki composed, in 1593, his polemic, Hizzuk Emunah, directed against the Christian interpretation of Old Testament Messianic passages. It was especially in the that they flourished and evidenced some attempt at a revival of their literature; Simhah Isaac Lutski (1750) wrote a bibliography of Karaite writers, while Isaac ben Solomon, at the beginning of the 19th century, composed a work upon the doc trines of his sect. Their chief settlements here were in Chufut-Kale, Goslov (Eupatoria), Kaffa (Theodosia), Yenikele and Sulchat. In contradistinction to the other Jews in the Rus sian Empire they have always been treated well by the government. In 1796 Catherine II re lieved them of one-half of the poll tax, and from 1827 to 1874 they were entirely freed from service in the army. As late as 1905 the Kara ites in Moscow were permitted to keep their synagogue open, a privilege not granted to other Jews. In the Russian Empire there were in 1914 43 Karaite communities, all under the leadership of an energetic Haham Pam puloff. They are, however, yearly decreasing in number; as they have until recently refused to intermarry with other JewS. The attempt was recently made to have the government grant complete civil rights to all Rabbinite Jews who married Karaite girls upon condition that they formally renounce the Talmud. It was in the Crimea also that a Karaite archaeologist, Abraham Firkovich, made his celebrated collec tion of Karaite antiquities and manuscripts, af ter having traveled over a areat portion of the Hither East for that especial purpose. Un fortunately, despite the excellency of this col lection which is now deposited in the Imperial Library at Saint Petersburg, he forged, the dates on gravestones and upon manuscripts in order to prove the great antiquity of Karaite settlements in the Crimea and the disassocia tion of the ancestors of the present Karaites from the events that preceded the death of Jesus. At times, the Karaites in Russia have
not scrupled at aiding the Russian government against the other Jews of the empire. Before the war of 1914 there were about 10,000 Kara ites in Russia, about 2,000 in Cairo, 20 or 25 in Jerusalem, and another thousand scattered in -various places.
,, Dogmas and Customs.— The religious dog mas of later Karaism have been formulated by Judah Hadassi as follows: 1. Crea1io ex otihilo 2. The existence of a Creator; 3. God is an absolute unity and incorporeal; 4. Moses and the other prophets were sent by God; 5. God has given to us the Torah, which is true and complete in every respect and not wanting the addition of the oral law; 6. The Torah must be studied by every Jew in the original language; 7. The Holy 'Temple was a place erected by God for his manifestation; 8. Resurrection of the dead; 9. Reward and punishment after death; la The coming of the Messiah, the Son of David. In other ob servances the Karaites differ in several par ticulars from the Rabbinites. Their syna gogues are more thoroughly Oriental and have the appearance of Mohammedan mosques. ,Their prayers are largely made up of selections from the Bible, and of hymns composed by 'Aaron ben Elijah. Before entering the syna gogue they remove their shoes. They do not wear phylacteries nor celebrate the festival of Hanukkah. They observe the Sabbath rest with great strictness; though in some places fire and light are now permitted on that day. Pentecost is celebrated on the day after the Sabbath; and the 10th of Ab is observed as the anni yersaryof the destruction of the Temple. The 'prohibitive degrees of marriage have been greatly extended.
It should also be said that during its early development Karaism reacted favorably upon Jewish learning in the East. The Rabbinite Jews were forced to meet their opponents upon their own ground. Karaite exegesis led the Rabbinite Jews to a deeper study of the Bible and of the Hebrew language. The philosophic presentinent of their theology necessitated an equally philosophic presentment on the part of the Rabbinites, and the rivalry they engendered was useful in turning the other Jews to a closer and more scientific examination of their own position.
Bibliography.— S. Pinsker, Kad moniyyot, Zur Geschichte des Karaismus' (Vienna 1860); A. Harkavy, 'Liklcute Kad moniot IP (Saint Petersburg 1903) ; P. Frank! in Ersch and Gruber, Encyclo pedie) (Sec. ii, p. 33) ; J. Furst, des Karfierthums' (Leipzig 1862-69); S. Poz nanski, 'Anan et les Ecrits) (in 'Revue des Etudes Juives,> Vol. XLIV, p. 161 et seq.); id., 'Anti-Karaite Writings of Saadiah Gaon' (in Jewish Quarterly Review, Vol. X, p. 238) ; Karaite Literary Opponents of Saadiah Gaon" (ib., Vol. XVIII, p. 209). On the Kara ites in Chufut-Kaleh, consult (Vol. LXXXIV, p. 7 et seq.); on the Karaites of Cairo, R. Gottheil in The Jewish Comment' (Baltimore 1905). A bibliography of Karaite books is given by E. N. Adler in Jewish Quar terly Review, XII, p. 674), and G. Margoliouth has published al-Hiti's Chronicle of Karaite Doctors' (ib., VoL IX, p. 429).