The Karaite Cholent – an Oxymoron?

I had never heard of cholent until I got involved with Ultra Orthodox, and when I tasted it, it was somewhat off-putting. However, what has one particular dish have to do with the great divide between the Karaites and The Rabbanites?

The ReMa (Moshe Isserles) who was the Ashkenazi Sulchan Aruch's composer, said that those who do not eat Cholent are to be suspected of heresy (against the Talmudic rabbis!).

This might well be an honour, but it could also be simply a matter of taste.It goes back to the interpretation of the verse:

You shall not kindle any fire throughout your habitations upon the Shabbat day. (Exodus 35:3).

 לֹא-תְבַעֲרוּ אֵשׁ, בְּכֹל מֹשְׁבֹתֵיכֶם, בְּיוֹם, הַשַּׁבָּת

The Rabbis consider this to refer to lighting an actual fire on Shabbat, whereas Karaites, and perhaps even the Sadducees claimed that a fire burning on shabbat, even if it was ignited beforehand, is still forbidden.

Here is one of the few cases (I conservatively estimate an 80:20 rule, in favour of Karaism) where I tend to side with the Rabbinic interpretation. This might well be bias on my part, since I am used to the comforts of central heating on shabbat. However, I am also unconvinced that the Hebrew phrase

לֹא-תְבַעֲרוּ אֵשׁ

 actually means “do not allow a flame to burn”.   There are other cases where something is not allowed, e.g. chometz, and the language there is quite clear. There is also the mix of a transitive verb with intransitive, in order for this to be understood the Karaite way. The verb has a direct object, which is the fire.  That makes it a transitive verb. The karaites want to have their cholent, and eat it, so to speak,  by claiming the verb is intransitive, and hence the fire should not burn itself.

There is also another problem, in that more or less all the information we have about the Sadducees is either from the Talmud or from Josephus. If we believe all of the Talmudic polemics against the Sadducees, then Karaites should wear tefillin with the Totafot between their eyes, as the Sadducees are accused of having done.

This opinion of mine might lead to me earning the honour of being a double-heretic, both Karaite and Rabbanite. However, it is not offset by the benefits of eating cholent, since I do not like it, and it does not agree with me.