The History of the Karaites—the Millennium-Old Jewish Sect Who Rejected the Rabbis and the Talmud

In the time of the Second Temple, a number of rival sects vied for the support the Jewish people. But in the centuries that followed its destruction, the sects died out and the rabbis managed to secure the faith of the Jewish masses in their canons of interpretation and claims to be bearers of a sacred tradition going back to Moses, codified in the Talmud. Only in the 8th century CE did a countervailing movement emerge. Its members, the Karaites, set their faith in a more literal understanding of Scripture, and in Egypt and Babylon came to pose a serious threat to rabbinic dominance. In modern times, there were significant Karaite communities in Lithuania and Crimea, and a few small communities persist today. Daniel Lasker, one of the foremost scholars of Karaism, discusses their history with Nachi Weinstein. (Audio, 51 minutes.)