After the fall of Jerusalem to the crusaders, the Karalms left thiU; city and spread themselves over Egypt and the Byzantine empire, some going even into Barbary and thence into Spain. Cairo, however, became for many years the seat of the head of the sect, who bore the title of Nosy, ' prince,' changed afterwards to that of Gakan, 'spiritual chief,' the last being Joshua-ben- Barouh in the seventeenth century. The Karalms are now scattered about the south of Russia, where they speak the Tatar; such of them as are in Turkey, and there are many at Constantinople, hold intercourse in Greek, and in Egypt their language is the Arabic
The Karalms esteem the high moral teaching of Jesus Christ, in whose crucifixion they took no part, for they were not at Jerusalem at the time of the great sacrifice, and they speak with contempt of the Jews, and more especially of the Pharisees, who they accuse of having shed innocent blood. The Karatms are consequently better disposed towards Christians than are the Talmudists, whose tenets, as accepting traditions, they reject
VOL. 11. O
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194 THE CRIMEA AND' TRANSCAUCASIA.
In allusion to the Karaims, R. Ghedalin the Talmudist 5a>'s in his book ' Shalshelen Gakabala ': ' These heretics have never been of profit to the race of Israel. They have never produced a single work in confirmation of the law, or upon any scientific subject They are all mute dogs, who know not even how to bark.' Another rabbi thus addresses his co-religionists: ' An Israelite should not attend a Karalm in illness, nor may he dr^ him out of a pit if he happens to fall into one, nor is he to deliver him out of the hands of a murderer. The evidence of a KaraTm is not to be considered valid under any circumstances, nor are animals lulled by KaraTms to be eaten.' The Talmudists are further instructed that, ' they who violate the precepts of the Scribes should be punished more severely than they who violate the law of Moses; infraction of the law of Moses may be pardoned, but the violation of the precepts of the Rabbins should be punished with death.'
The statement made by Ghedalin is, however, incorrect, for there have been several writers of distinction among the Karaims,' whose works, chiefly in the Arabic tongue, are directed principally
' Esiai hist, el crii. sur It! Juifi. Lyons, 1 771, iii. p. 197. * Among the Kara'im wrilers are the following;
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2. Vehond Haabel, the author of JisikMol-Gaiapher, an exposition in verse of ihe doctrines of the Karaims;he livedat Constonlinople, temp, the second cnisidt
3. Aaron -ben -Joseph, who wrote Namoubhar, 150 years aller Yehoiid Haabd.
4. Aaron-ben -Eli as, the author at C:uro, in 1350, of a philosophical commentai;
on the Holy Scriptures, entitled Keler-Tara, and of ■ work on Kuaim festiTals, entitled Han-Eden.
5. Eliw Beshydze, at Constantinople, 1480.
6. Khalob Aba, seTcnleenth cenluty.
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8. Symha Isaac, author of Custimis o/Vie Karaims; close of seiventeenth anJ
beginning of eighteenth century.
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entitled Dad-Mordeati.
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DOCTRINES OF THE KARA/MS. 195
against the senseless teaching of the Rabbinists, for the foundation of their own doctrines is a strict adherence, with perfect freedom of investigation, to the text of the Holy Scriptures and the institutions established in the Old Testament, and the complete rejection of all oral traditions and Rabbinical writings. Hence their name of Karalm, ' readers,' the plural of kara, ' reader," as nas/tym, ' wives,' is the plural oK ysha ' wife '; banym, ' sons,' the plural of ben, ' son '; sep/tarytn, ' books,' the plural of seplter, ' book," eta The prayers of the Karalms are said in Hebrew, ' reverently, as they should be in the presence of- a King '; but there is no trace of Hebrew in the tongue spoken by them in the Crimea, which is the Tatar, the language they also correspond in, employing, however, Hebrew characters. The Karalms, who keep themselves quite apart from the Talmudists, to whom they are so odious, adhere to the Pentateuch, the text of which somewhat differs from that of the latter people.