239) MAIMONIDES - A ‘SECRET KARAITE’?

RAMBAM THROUGH THE EYES OF THE KARAITES:

Writings of Aharon ben Eliyahu, a 14th century Karaite who produced a Karaite version of Maimonides' Guide of the Perplexed. He was known as the 'Karaite Rambam'. 

INTRODUCTION: 

Maimonides is known as one of the fathers of Jewish law and rationalist philosophy, yet he is also variously depicted as a secret mystic; a convert to Islam [See Could Rambam Have Been Forced to Convert to Islam?];  the Lubavitcher Rebbe referred to himself as a follower of Rambam[1]; the Wissenschaft des Judentums of the Enlightenment Movement held Rambam up as their shining light; and even the Karaites claimed him as one of their own!

In this article, which I have based on the research of Professor Daniel J. Lasker[2], we will explore the Karaite claim that Rambam was a secret Karaite.

THE KARAITES:

The Karaite movement was started in the 8^th century in present-day Iraq. Its followers accepted the idea that the Torah was given to Moses at Sinai, but they completely rejected the notion of the Oral Tradition as it manifested through rabbinic Judaism. The Karaites (or Kara’im in Hebrew – from the word kara or mikra meaning ‘Scripture’) based their teachings exclusively on the Written Torah. 

There still are a substantial number of Karaite Jews today, and it appears that at one point in our history, they may have even formed the majority of our nation.

The Karaites often conflicted with the Rabbinites, although in Rambam’s 12^th century Egypt, the two communities had close connections.

[For more on the Karaites see here.]

ELIYAHU BASHYATCHI:

Although the Karaites relied mostly on the literal Torah text, they also had their version of an oral tradition and also had chachamim, halachists and decisors.  One such decisor during the 1400s was Eliyahu Bashyatchi[3] (1420-1490).

Bashyatchi was well-schooled in rabbinic and Talmudic Judaism. His Rabbinite teacher was the Rishon, R. Mordechai Comtino who was also the teacher of the Re’em (R. Eliyahu Mizrachi author of Sefer haMizrachi, a supercommentary on Rashi to the Torah). 

The Re’em became the Chacham Bashi or Chief Rabbi of the Ottoman Empire, and both he and his teacher were known for their tolerant attitudes towards Karaites. Such was the unprejudiced milieu in which Bashyatchi found himself.

RAMBAM AND IBN EZRA – ‘SECRET KARAITES’?

Bashyatchi wrote that both Rambam as well as Avraham Ibn Ezra (who, in his commentary, openly referenced Karaite sources hundreds of times, see here) were:

“...among the great men of Israel...

Their occasional attacks on the Karaites were for external consumption only, but God knows what was in their hearts.

They revealed their secrets to special individuals, since it is improper to say the truth to everyone, but they told the truth to those to whom it was proper.” [4]

According to Bashyatchi, both Rambam and Ibn Ezra were ‘secret Karaites’!

RAMBAM’S ALLEGED ‘DISSILLUSIONMENT’ WITH RABBINIC JUDAISM:

Bashyatchi goes on to bring what he considers to be proof of Rambam’s general ‘disillusionment’ with the mainstream Rabbinite worldview:

“And thus said the sage Rabbi Moses the son of Rabbi Maimon...in the Guide [of the Perplexed]...concerning one of the dicta [statements] of the Rabbinites [irrelevant to our discussion but relating to brevity in prayer]:

‘Would that all [their] dicta were like it!’

It appears from this that he did not consider every dicta of the Rabbinites to be proper, as this one was.”

This quotation from Rambam, praising one particular Talmudic statement, seemed to indicate to Bashyatchi that Rambam openly preferred this Talmudic statement over most of the others, therefore - despite some negative references by Rambam about the Karaites - Rambam was an anti-Rabbinite and a secret Karaite!

Rambam’s actual words in his Guide of the Perplexed are as follows:

“You also know their famous dictum – would that all [their other][5] dicta were like it.”[6]

One can understand how Bashyatchi was happy to be drawn by Rambam’s reference to one Rabbinite statement (about brevity in prayer) as ‘their famous dictum’ – as if Rambam was distancing himself from ‘them’, the Rabbinites.

RABBINITE ‘INTIMIDATION’:

According to Bashyatchi, Rambam was too afraid of his coreligionists to openly admit the truth of Karaism - as were the Ashkenazim of Bashyatchi’s own day in the 1400s too afraid to admit to the truth of Karaism either. This was because, in Bashyatchi’s time, the Rabbinite masses were intimidated by the fact that their leaders would:

 “...eat garlic sauce, make lots of noise about wearing the tallit and tefillin, and wear long coats and decorated Russian hats.”[7]

Bashyatchi seems to imply that the Rabbinite leadership created a societal sub-culture which intimidated their followers into some form of cohesion if not submission.

Accordingly, he alleges that a type of ‘deep state’ existed among the Rabbinite leadership, which prevented the people from recognizing the truth of Karaism.

RAMBAM’S ANTI-KARAITE RHETORIC:

Daniel Lasker writes that the allegation by Bashyatchi that Rambam was a ‘secret Karaite’, is astonishing, considering that Rambam was known to have made some very strong anti-Karaite statements in his Letter to Yemen (although it is possible that Bashyatchi was unaware of the letter).

Rambam wrote:

“[B]e very careful and keep your eyes open lest any of the heretics [namely, the Karaites], may they be speedily destroyed, catch any of you, since that would be worse for you than apostasy...and know that it is permitted to slay them [the Karaites] in our opinion...”[8]

Evidently, Rambam was actually in favour of the death sentence for Karaites!

It even appears, from Rambam’s Commentary on the Mishna, that death sentences were actually carried out on some of the Karaites in Spain.[9]

WAS RAMBAM PRO OR ANTI-KARAITE?

Taking into consideration Bashyatchi’s claim, based on the Guide, that Rambam was a ‘secret Karaite’, and the above two Maimonidean sources depicting strong anti-Karaite rhetoric - was Rambam, in the words of Daniel Lasker a critic or a cultural hero of the Karaites?

THE DATING OF THE RAMBAM’S WRITING:

To answer this question we need to remember that Rambam’s anti-Karaite writings took place relatively early in his career. Rambam was born in 1135. His Letter to Yemen was written around 1172, and his Mishna Commentary was from around 1168. This placed Rambam in his early thirties when these anti-Karaite statements were made.

It does seem, however, that as he got older, he softened his stance against the Karaites.

RAMBAM’S LATER AND MORE TOLERANT WRITINGS:

In Rambam’s Mishneh Torah, written around 1180, he seems to regard Karaites (according to the printed texts) and heretics as victims of circumstances beyond their control, as if they were children taken captive by non-Jews and raised without any knowledge of their own heritage.[10]

Similarly, in one of Rambam’s responsa, he writes that as long as Karaites are respectful towards the tradition of Rabbinite sages, we too should be respectful towards them - and we may visit them in their homes, enjoy their wine, bury their dead and perform circumcision on their children even on Shabbat. 

Rabbi Kapach points out in his edition of the Rambam’s Commentary on the Mishna, that in Rambam’s own handwritten correctional notes in the margin, he himself had omitted the earlier reference to the death penalty for Karaites.

Besides Rambam changing his stance against Karaites as he got older, it is also possible that he became more tolerant of them after he had moved to Egypt around 1168 when he completed his Commentary on the Mishna, and saw just how integrated the Karaites were within the Egyptian Jewish community.

[For fragment evidence of interaction and even intermarriage[11] between Rabbinites and Karaites, see The Cairo Geniza.]

DID RAMBAM HAVE FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE OF KARAITES BEFORE MOVING TO EGYPT?

According to Daniel Lasker, it is possible that Rambam had never met Karaites before moving to Egypt - and his reference to executing Karaites in Spain (in his Mishna Commentary) may have been because the Spanish Karaite community, although quite vocally anti-Rabbinite, was very small and he may not have had first-hand association with them.[12] 

It is also unclear whether there even were Karaites living in Yemen at all, around the time Rambam sent his famous letter there.

KARAITES BEGIN ADOPTING RAMBAM AS THEIR ‘CULTURAL HERO’:

After Rambam had softened towards the Karaites, they correspondingly began to adopt more and more of his teachings into their literature.

13^th CENTURY:

AHARON BEN YOSEF HAROFEH:

The 13^th century Karaite halachic author, Aharon ben Yosef haRofeh, began to incorporate Maimonidean thought into Karaite texts.

14^th CENTURY:

AHARON BEN ELIYAHU:

The next authoritative Karaite who continued to incorporate Maimonides into his teachings, was Aharon ben Eliyahu (who was differentiated from his predecessor Aharon the Elder, by the title Aharon the Younger). He flourished in the 14^th century, and was so influenced by Maimonides that he was referred to as the ‘Karaite Maimonides’!

Aharon the Younger composed a work called Eitz Chaim which was a Karaite version of the Guide of the Perplexed.

He, for example, did not ascribe individual Divine Providence to animals but only to humans. This was in keeping with Rambam’s belief that G-d takes care of the various species or groups of animals, vegetation and inanimate matter as a whole but not of the individual within the cluster.

Thus hashgacha peratit (individual Divine Providence) applies only to humans - while hashagcha kelalit (general Divine Providence) would apply to all other creatures and also to inanimate objects.

[For more on this matter see ‘A Leaf Falls from a Tree’ – Accident or Providence?]

15^th CENTURY:

ELIYAHU BASHYATCHI:

The next major Karaite halachic decisor was the 15^th century Eliyahu Bashyatchi from whom we quoted at the beginning of the article, who claimed Rambam as one of their own and as a ‘secret Karaite’.

Daniel Lasker writes:

 “Taking things one step further, and turning Maimonides into a secret Karaite, was not such a large leap of faith for the Karaites who, in any event, were turning to the ‘Guide [of the Perplexed]’ for both religious and philosophical guidance.”

But amazingly, it was not only to the Guide of the Perplexed that the Karaites were turning, but even to Rambam’s halachic writings like the Mishneh Torah:

CALEV AFENDOPOLO:

Bashyatchi’s influential brother-in-law, Calev Afendopolo adopted the Rabbinite cycle of reading the Torah from Tishrei to Tishrei – thus changing the traditional Karaite custom which used to be from Nisan to Nisan.

In his Patshegen Ketav haDaat, he unexpectedly copies sections of Rambam’s Mishneh Torah verbatim.

Furthermore, Afendopolo’s treatment of the messianic era is also a copy of Rambam’s discussion of this matter in his various works.

The Karaites are now truly beginning to adopt Maimonidean texts.

18^th CENTURY:

SIMCHA YITZCHAK LUTSKI:

The Karaite leaders in the centuries that followed continued to heap praises on Rambam, and the 18^th century Simcha Yitzchak Lutski wrote:

“All the Torah laws which are written...are all collected by Maimonides...and he explained them at length in his great composition, called Yad haChazakah [or Mishneh Torah][13]. He who wishes to know them should look there.”

Referring to Simcha Yitzchak Lutski, Daniel Lasker makes the point that:

“He often made reference to Maimonides as an authoritative source of knowledge, blurring thereby the boundaries between Karaism and Rabbinism...

No preference is given to the Karaite worthies over the Rabbanite ones...

Lutski’s frequent explicit and implicit citations of Maimonides’ works throughout his own compositions indicate the central role Maimonides played in his thought.” 

THE KARAITE KABBALIST:

Fascinatingly, Simcha Yitzchak Lutski, who died in 1760 – the same year as the Baal Shem Tov passed away – also introduced mysticism and Kabbalah to the Karaites, making him an unusual Karaite Kabbalist.[14]

THE KARAITE SHIFT FROM RAMBAM TOWARDS KABBALAH:

During the early modern period, there appears to have been a shift away from the somewhat central role Rambam played in earlier Karaite thought. The reason given by Daniel Lasker is astonishing:

“If Maimonideanism was challenged by Karaites in the early modern period, it was because of the growing acceptance of the Kabbalah as an authoritative part of the Jewish tradition, even for Karaites.”

Thus we see that even Karaism was affected by a strong mystical influence in more recent times, to the detriment of the powerful Maimonidean rational, philosophical and even somewhat halachic influence of earlier times.

RAMBAM BECOMES A ‘SECRET KARAITE’ AND A ‘SECRET MYSTIC’:

In an astounding Karaite defence of Kabbalah over Rambam’s ‘rational anti-mysticism’, Simcha Yitzchak Lutski wrote:

“There is no doubt that had Maimonides...seen the Zohar which is the true wisdom of the Torah, received from the early sages of Israel...[who received it] from the prophets...he [Maimonides][15] would certainly have followed it...

\

Nevertheless, since [the Zohar] had not yet been revealed in his days, and he never saw it...he wrote that which he wrote.”

The Zohar was published about fifty years after Rambam’s passing. [See Mysteries behind the Origins of the Zohar.]

Most ironically, Simcha Yitzchak Lutski, the Karaite, agreed with some Rabbinite scholars who alleged that later in life, Rambam denounced his rationalism in favour of mysticism and became a mystic. [See Mysterious ‘Secret Document’ Attesting that Rambam was a Mystic.]

FROM PURITAN LITERALISTS TO SEMI-RAMBAMISTS TO MYSTICS:

Simcha Yitzchak Lutski also presented a most derisive denunciation of Maimonidean rationalism in favour of mysticism - unexpected from a Karaite - by his negative reference to Rambam as one who initially went outside of Judaism and “turned to the uncircumcised Greek philosophers...” instead of looking within.

This way the allure of the mystical tradition eventually even made inroads into the Karaite community.

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[1] See https://youtu.be/GzXjCOnXczo

[2] Maimonides and the Karaites: From Critic to Cultural Hero, by Daniel J. Lasker.

[3] Also known as Bashyazi.

[4] Adderet Eliyahu, p. 6a (Odessa 1870).

[5] The translation is by Pines, parenthesis mine.

[6] Guide of the Perplexed 1:59, Pines edition Chicago 1963, p. 140. The nature of the actual Talmudic statement will be dealt with in detail in the next article.

[7] Adderet Eliyahu, p. 3b.

[8] Rambam’s Epistle to Yemen,

[9] Rambam, Commentary on Mishna, Chulin 1:2

[10] MT Hilchot Mamrim, 3:1-3.

[11] Rambam did not, however, encourage intermarriage with Karaites, because while he recognized their marriages, he was suspicious of the legality of their divorces. This created the possibility that a second marriage might create illegitimate children as the new mother may still have been legally married to her first husband.

[12] See Karaism in Twelfth-Century Spain, by Daniel J. Lasker, p. 179-195.

[13] Parenthesis mine.

[14] See Simhah Isaac Lutski, an Eighteenth-Century Karaite Kabbalist, by Daniel J. Lasker.

[15] Parenthesis mine.