large Karaite Jewish populations down to the present

yofie

Banned
These days, OTL, there are small Karaite (=following the Bible and not also the Talmud) Jewish communities in places like Israel, Turkey, Crimea, and the San Francisco Bay area - with the total worldwide Karaite population being only 30-40 thousand. Is there a POD or two to make Karaite populations in the present day and in the last few centuries as large and self-sustaining as (or at least approaching) the regular Jewish populations? In other words, how can we have Crimean/Eastern European Karaites (speaking Karaim, a Turkic equivalent of Yiddish) rival Ashkenazi Jews of Eastern/Central Europe, how can we have Middle Eastern/Turkish Karaites rival the Sephardi/Mizrahi Jews of the Mediterranean Basin and the Middle East, etc.?

And did the Karaites become much smaller demographically OTL partly because Karaism attracted a relatively smaller portion of adherents as compared to, say, Hasidism or Reform Judaism?
 
These days, OTL, there are small Karaite (=following the Bible and not also the Talmud) Jewish communities in places like Israel, Turkey, Crimea, and the San Francisco Bay area - with the total worldwide Karaite population being only 30-40 thousand. Is there a POD or two to make Karaite populations in the present day and in the last few centuries as large and self-sustaining as (or at least approaching) the regular Jewish populations? In other words, how can we have Crimean/Eastern European Karaites (speaking Karaim, a Turkic equivalent of Yiddish) rival Ashkenazi Jews of Eastern/Central Europe, how can we have Middle Eastern/Turkish Karaites rival the Sephardi/Mizrahi Jews of the Mediterranean Basin and the Middle East, etc.?

And did the Karaites become much smaller demographically OTL partly because Karaism attracted a relatively smaller portion of adherents as compared to, say, Hasidism or Reform Judaism?

Not being familiar with fine details, being a goy and all, could you explain a bit more.

These are people who accept the entire tanach, yes? Unlike samaritans. Do they accept ANY of the talmud, or any tradition of pepul? Iirc the talmud is in two parts, mishna and something else, do they accept the first bit.

Can they eat cheeseburgers, since the milchisch,fleischisch distinction is essentially rabbinical? Beseri,chalavi if you prefer.

If a lot of the jewish ,,kosher,, rules are relax, it might be easier to get converts...
 
Not being familiar with fine details, being a goy and all, could you explain a bit more.

These are people who accept the entire tanach, yes? Unlike samaritans. Do they accept ANY of the talmud, or any tradition of pepul? Iirc the talmud is in two parts, mishna and something else, do they accept the first bit.

Can they eat cheeseburgers, since the milchisch,fleischisch distinction is essentially rabbinical? Beseri,chalavi if you prefer.

If a lot of the jewish ,,kosher,, rules are relax, it might be easier to get converts...

You basically nailed it. They recognize only the Tanakh as the supreme authority, and that all divine commandments needed no more oral law or interpretation. They basically believe every Jew must study the Torah and interpret it in his own way, so the decisions of ancient rabbis and judges are non-binding, according to them.

Still, I don't think you'll get a lot of converts. First off, Karaite Judaism is in some ways more strict that traditional Judaism. Also, Jews were oppressed and massacred for centuries, and were hated and feared by much of the world. Today, you may get some more converts than currently, but not a lot more, since conversion to Judaism is still a rigorous process and would involve quite a commitment anyway.
 
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yofie

Banned
What I'm trying to get at here is, what would it have taken for Karaites to form as large communities (or almost as large) as regular Jewish communities in Eastern/Central Europe, the Mediterranean Basin and the Middle East, etc. - so that you have the equivalent of Ashkenazim in terms of critical mass for Crimea and Eastern Europe, for example? Can it be a POD other than making Karaism less ascetic than OTL and its debate with (and separation from) regular Judaism less intellectual - the latter thereby enabling more accessibility to the Jewish average Joe?
 
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