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Historical Consciousness, Haskalah, and Nationalism among the Karaites of Eastern Europe
Karaite Texts and Studies, Volume 10
Series: - Karaite Texts and Studies, Volume: 73
- Ãtudes sur le judaïsme médiéval, Volume: 73
Author:
Translator:
The present study is the first of its kind to deal with Eastern European Karaite historical thought. It focuses on the social functions of Karaite historical narratives concerning the rise of Karaism from the Middle Ages to the nineteenth century. The book also deals with the image of Karaism created by Protestants, and with the perception of Karaism by some leaders of the Haskalah movement, especially the scholars of Hokhmat Israel. In both cases, Karaism was seen as an orientalistic phenomenon whereby the âenlightenedâ European scholars romanticized the âindigenousâ people, while the Karaites (themselves), adopted this romantic images, incorporating it into their own national discourse. Finally, the book sheds new light on several conventional notions that shaped the study of Karaism from the nineteenth century.
Golda Akhiezer, PhD (2008) in Jewish history, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, is a senior lecturer in the Israel Heritage Department at Ariel University. She has published extensively on the history and culture of Eastern European Jewry with main emphases on Karaism; Jewish-Christian and Karaite-Rabbanite polemics; modernization, Haskalah, and Jewish studies in the Russian Empire. She has recently published the book The Conquest of the Crimea by the Russian Empire through the Eyes of Karaite Chroniclers (Jerusalem ⢠Moscow: Gesharim 2015).
Acknowledgements11
List of Abbreviations
Abstract
General Introduction
â1 Research Methods and Their Ramifications
â2 Reconstructing Historical Thought
â3 Types of Sources
â4 Pseudo-Scholarship, Forged Documents, and Their Significance for the Research
Introduction to Terminology
â1 Historical Consciousness and Traditional Writing
â2 History versus Historical Narrative
â3 Identity
â4 Sect
â5 Authorsâ Identity: Elites versus Everyman
1 The Study of Karaism and Its Paradoxes
â1.1 The Research of Ḥokhmat Yisrael and Protestant Scholarship
â1.2 The Ideology of Ḥokhmat Yisrael Scholars and the Study of Karaism
â1.3 The Karaite Paradigm: Authentic or Imagined Karaism?
2 History or Historical Narratives? Formative Traditions in Karaite Literature and Their Social Function
â2.1 Karaite Historical Narratives as Reflections on the Schism
â2.2 The Karaite âChain of Traditionâ and the Schism in Rabbanite Sources
â2.3 Historicization of Rabbanite SourcesâKaraite Historical Writing in the Early Modern Period
3 Karaite Intellectual Life in the Fifteenth- to Seventeenth-Century Poland-Lithuania
â3.1 Early Karaite Settlement in Eastern Europe: Historical Background
â3.2 Halakhah, Polemics, and Libraries as Influences on Karaite Identity in Fifteenth-Century Poland-Lithuania
â3.3 The Polemics of Yitzhak ben Avraham of Troki, His Cultural Milieu, and the Question of Karaite Identity
â3.4 The Intellectual Profile and Identity of the Seventeenth-Century Karaite Scholar
4 The Interaction between the Karaites and the Protestant Hebraists in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
5 The Karaite âChain of Traditionâ in Eastern Europe and the Resurgence of Schism Literature
â5.1 The Historiographical Writing of Mordecai ben Nisan
â5.2 Solomon ben Aaron and His View of History
â5.3 Simḥah Isaac Lutski: The Schism and the History of Kabbalistic Tradition
6 Karaite Chronography in the Crimea and Eastern Europe
â6.1 Cultural and Historical Features of the Crimean Karaite Communities
â6.2 The Chronographic Texts and the Method of Their Analysis
â6.3 Features of Chronographic Writing in Poland-Lithuania
7 Karaites and Their Neighbors in the Nineteenth Century: The Attempt to Construct a Karaite History
â7.1 The Polish-Lithuanian National Narratives and Karaite Historical Writing
â7.2 âModern-Traditionalâ Historical Writing
8 The Haskalah, Hokhmat Israel, and the Evolution of Karaite Identity in the Russian Empire
â8.1 The Advent of Modernity
â8.2 The Historical Theories of Abraham Firkovich
â8.3 Historical Writing in Russian Society and Firkovichâs Ideas
Conclusion
Appendix A: Sources in the Polemical Writings of Isaac ben Abraham of Troki
Appendix B: List of Books from the Register (PinqÄs) of the Karasubazar Rabbanite Community (1717â33)
Appendix C: List of Disciples and Books Studied in the Chufut-Kaleh Study Hall, 1751â53
Appendix D: Fragment of a Chronicle by Abraham Leonowicz
Appendix E: Abraham Firkovich, Remarks on the Sadducees and on the Origins of the Karaites of Eastern Europe
Bibliography
Index of Names
List of Abbreviations
Abstract
General Introduction
â1 Research Methods and Their Ramifications
â2 Reconstructing Historical Thought
â3 Types of Sources
â4 Pseudo-Scholarship, Forged Documents, and Their Significance for the Research
Introduction to Terminology
â1 Historical Consciousness and Traditional Writing
â2 History versus Historical Narrative
â3 Identity
â4 Sect
â5 Authorsâ Identity: Elites versus Everyman
1 The Study of Karaism and Its Paradoxes
â1.1 The Research of Ḥokhmat Yisrael and Protestant Scholarship
â1.2 The Ideology of Ḥokhmat Yisrael Scholars and the Study of Karaism
â1.3 The Karaite Paradigm: Authentic or Imagined Karaism?
2 History or Historical Narratives? Formative Traditions in Karaite Literature and Their Social Function
â2.1 Karaite Historical Narratives as Reflections on the Schism
â2.2 The Karaite âChain of Traditionâ and the Schism in Rabbanite Sources
â2.3 Historicization of Rabbanite SourcesâKaraite Historical Writing in the Early Modern Period
3 Karaite Intellectual Life in the Fifteenth- to Seventeenth-Century Poland-Lithuania
â3.1 Early Karaite Settlement in Eastern Europe: Historical Background
â3.2 Halakhah, Polemics, and Libraries as Influences on Karaite Identity in Fifteenth-Century Poland-Lithuania
â3.3 The Polemics of Yitzhak ben Avraham of Troki, His Cultural Milieu, and the Question of Karaite Identity
â3.4 The Intellectual Profile and Identity of the Seventeenth-Century Karaite Scholar
4 The Interaction between the Karaites and the Protestant Hebraists in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
5 The Karaite âChain of Traditionâ in Eastern Europe and the Resurgence of Schism Literature
â5.1 The Historiographical Writing of Mordecai ben Nisan
â5.2 Solomon ben Aaron and His View of History
â5.3 Simḥah Isaac Lutski: The Schism and the History of Kabbalistic Tradition
6 Karaite Chronography in the Crimea and Eastern Europe
â6.1 Cultural and Historical Features of the Crimean Karaite Communities
â6.2 The Chronographic Texts and the Method of Their Analysis
â6.3 Features of Chronographic Writing in Poland-Lithuania
7 Karaites and Their Neighbors in the Nineteenth Century: The Attempt to Construct a Karaite History
â7.1 The Polish-Lithuanian National Narratives and Karaite Historical Writing
â7.2 âModern-Traditionalâ Historical Writing
8 The Haskalah, Hokhmat Israel, and the Evolution of Karaite Identity in the Russian Empire
â8.1 The Advent of Modernity
â8.2 The Historical Theories of Abraham Firkovich
â8.3 Historical Writing in Russian Society and Firkovichâs Ideas
Conclusion
Appendix A: Sources in the Polemical Writings of Isaac ben Abraham of Troki
Appendix B: List of Books from the Register (PinqÄs) of the Karasubazar Rabbanite Community (1717â33)
Appendix C: List of Disciples and Books Studied in the Chufut-Kaleh Study Hall, 1751â53
Appendix D: Fragment of a Chronicle by Abraham Leonowicz
Appendix E: Abraham Firkovich, Remarks on the Sadducees and on the Origins of the Karaites of Eastern Europe
Bibliography
Index of Names
Readers interested in the intellectual history of the East European Karaites, in Christian Hebraism, the Haskalah movement, the emergence of modern nationalism, and the construction of national narratives.