Saturday 24 August 2019

How to be an Orthodox Karaite

Rabbinic orthodoxy and Karaite Judaism are in many ways mutually exclusive, since they deny each other's view on the Oral law and the Written law.

However, within the Oral Law/halachic system there is a method which does allow one to be a practicing Karaite.

This method or mechanism is the distinction that rabbinic halacha makes between Torah Law (D'oraita in Aramaic) and rabbinic law (D'rabbanan in Aramaic). When there is a conflict between rabbinic law and Torah law,  the mechanism allows the individual, or compels him, to  violate the rabbinic law and uphold the Torah law.  For example, embarrassing a person is a violation of Torah law, and hence a rabbinic law which will cause embarrasment can be discarded, so as not to embarass someone else (or even oneself). Another example is honoring one's parents. If a rabbinic law will violate this torah commandment, then the rabbinic law should be discarded.

Now, the Karaite can learn to play this system (if necessary). There is a Torah commandment of Lo Tosifu - do not add!   Rabbinic laws , by definition, will violate this Torah law.  It is not only the Karaite's  duty to discard rabbinic laws,  it is also that of rabbinic Orthodoxy.  Thus, even if a jew, whether orthododox or otherwise, consideres the possibilty of there being such a thing as "oral law" the oral law itself has a mechanism to reject the rabbinic law if it conflicts with the Torah.