Karaite Judaism

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Karaite Judaism or Karaism is a Jewish sect characterized by the recognition of the written Tanakh alone as its supreme authority in halakha (religious law) and theology, and rejection of Rabbinic authority or traditions. Karaites believe that all of the divine commandments which were handed down to Moses by God were recorded in the written Torah without any additional Oral Torah or explanation. Unlike mainstream Rabbinic Judaism, which regards the Oral Torah, codified in the Talmud and subsequent works, as authoritative interpretations of the Torah, Karaite Jews do not treat the written collections of the oral tradition in the Midrash or the Talmud as binding. Karaite interpretation of the Torah strives to adhere to the plain or most obvious meaning (peshat) of the text—not necessarily the literal meaning of the text, but the meaning that would have been naturally understood by the ancient Hebrews when the books of the Torah were first written—without the use of the Oral Torah. By contrast...

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