DESCRIPTION:
The Karaites emerged as a school of thought within Middle Eastern Judaism in the 8th century. The Karaites were a “reading community” whose intellectual activity and daily lives were based around the divine scriptures. Over time Karaism became one of the two main competing schools of Judaism in the medieval Arab-Islamic world, notably across Iran, Iraq, the Levant and Egypt. Whilst Rabbinate Judaism emphasised the oral law of the Talmud/Midrash, Karaite Judaism focused on the written law.

Much of Karaite classical scholarship remains inaccessible because it is still in manuscript form and because it has been and still is considered peripheral and sectarian. This volume presents a critical edition of an anonymous Karaite commentary on the Book of Jeremiah presented in both the original Arabic and in English translation. The volume uses this text to examine the commonalities and differences between the Rabbinate and the Karaite reception and interpretation of the Hebrew Bible.