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The origin of the (European) Karaites in the books and texts of Karaite hakhams

All Rabbanites and Karaites who live in European countries are the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Yaakov, peace be upon them, from the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and the semi-tribe of Manasseh.

The rest of the Jews, the nine tribes and semi-tribe of Ephraim, who were expelled by the kings of Ashur, separated from the kingdom of Judah and resettled into various countries, all confess the same religion and faith as the Karaites.

The book Zekher Tzadikim - Chapter 3 - hakham Mordechai ben Josef Sultanski

Muslims believe that if they call us Çufut (Jew), they humiliate us, but it is not offensive to us. To the contrary, we are proud of this name, because it means that we belong to the house of Judah, which is very honoured by us.

The book Zekher Tzadikim  - Chapter 31 - hakham Mordechai ben Josef Sultanski

Karaite scholars are the best representatives of the people that have lost all political independence, live on someone else's territory and have even stopped speaking the language of their own forefathers (Hebrew).

It is considered a scientifically baseless statement that the Karaites are a residue of the Khazars, who settled in the fifth century near the Caspian Sea and the lower reaches of Volga and who ruled over Crimea, which was in a certain time called a Khazar name.

The proponents of this hypothesis strive to prove that (European) Karaites have not Semitic, but Turkic origin. This is how they explain the difference in appearance of the Karaites that do not match with the appearance of the Jews (rabbanites).

There is fact that supports the Semetic origin of the Karaites. It is still possible these days to find Levites and Kohens, the descendants of Aaron among the Karaites and they can only be found among people who are the descendants of the ancient Israelites.

The absence of any legend or oral tradition about the Khazars among the Karaites also serves as strong evidence that the Karaites are not descended from the Khazars.

It is impossible to believe that the whole nation has forgotten their own ancestors, even if the ancestors were so powerful that they were respected by the Byzantine emperors; it is not possible that the whole nation has forgotten that his ancestors owned the land where they live.

The Identification of the ((Crimean) Karaites) as the descendants of the Khazars is a very eccentric hypothesis.

Sixty or seventy years ago, the appearance of the (Crimean) Karaites only differed slightly from the appearance of the Tatars, only their racial phenotype, which was significantly different from the Mongolian phenotype of Tatars, revealed their other ethnicity.

In the present days the Crimean Karaites have replaced the language of the Tatars with the Russian language and young people, especially from the areas out of Crimea, do not understand the language of Tatars; even in the Crimea this language is only used by the poor and uncivilized families.

General notes about the Karaites - ribbi Eliyahu ben Eliyahu Kazas (Ilya Ilyich Kazas)

Ribbi Eliyahu ben Eliyahu Kazas was a famous Karaite populariser, propagator, teacher and poet.
Kazas was very well educated person, who knew 11 languages including 4 of ancient languages.
He graduated the Karaite religious school under the supervision of Yashar Lucki.
He graduated the faculty of oriental languages at the University of St. Petersburg and received the title Candidate of Sciences.
He was the first Karaite with an academic education.

 

We would like to inform you that our people, whose origin is from the nation of Israel, call themselves Kara, Karai, Bene Mikra, Karaim or Karaites.

We have lived 20 centuries in a country that is a part of the Great Russian Empire.

The letter from the Karaites of St. Petersburg to the Falashim

Signed:

gabay of community Nissan ben David Kokizov 

David ben Berakha Mangoubi 

Yakov ben Benyamin Duban

Sabatai ben Berakha Mangoubi

Samuil ben Moshe Szapszal

Moshe ben Berakha Mangoubi

Yosif ben Yitzhaq Eraqa

 

Karaites are the direct descendants of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Yaakov.

The book The Brief catechism - The instructions for basic education of Karaite children in the Law of God and the brief history of Karaism - Yaakov Borisovich Shamash
 
Let it be known to you, that we the residents of Crimea, belong to the tribes of Benjamin, Levi, and Judah, the expatriates from Jerusalem, who abandoned their towns to help their brothers in the war of Shomron, as it is written in the notes that were found in the town of Derbent and village of Madzhalis.

The letter by Abraham Firkovich to the Karaite community of Khamadan - 1851


We Karaites, the descendants of the Patriarch Abraham and the people of Israel, profess the Law of Moses.

The book Catechism - The base of Karaite faith - Yakov Duwan

 

Question: Where do you come from and what is your language?
Answer: I come from Jews; I am a descendant of Yakov, son of Isaac, who is son of Avraham. They call my motherland Israel. My language is Leshon ha-Kodesh.

Tuv Ta’am - Mordecai Kazas