A Reform-Karaite dialogue over buffet lunch

By Donald H. Harrison

SAN DIEGO–For those who stayed for the chicken and vegetables buffet—no dairy—following Saturday morning Shabbat services, Feb. 8, at Temple Emanu-El, there was an interesting discussion led by Rabbi Devorah Marcus and Joseph Bendah, a Karaite Jew, about his small, Jewish sect’s full acceptance of the Torah and its rejection of the Talmud, the latter of which was compiled by rabbis who lived centuries ago.

Bendah told members and visitors to the Reform congregation that Karaites don’t at all agree with the rabbis who say a Jew shouldn’t eat meat and dairy together.  All the Torah tells us, he said, is “do not cook a kid in its mother’s milk.” (Exodus 34:26)  There is nothing about not mixing meat and milk in the Torah.  In fact, he said, it’s just the opposite: when Abraham and Sarah were visited by three angels of the Lord  (Genesis 18:6-8), Sarah prepared cakes,  and a youth at Abraham’s direction served the visitors the meat of a calf with cream and milk.

As nowhere in the Torah is it subsequently stated that Abraham erred in his menu choices, Bendah stated that Karaites believe that the network of kashrut rules built on the concept of keeping meat and milk separate are without merit.

Furthermore, he said, it takes so long for the human body to completely process meat–several days–that it would be impossible not to mix them at some point during digestion, unless God had given us separate stomachs.

Rabbi Marcus explained to the group dining in Temple Emanu-El’s social hall that there is a concept in Judaism known as “building a fence around the Torah” which involves making laws more stringent than those set down in the Torah in order to protect Jews against accidentally breaking God’s commandments.  So as to not  accidentally boil the kid in its mother’s milk, the rabbis decided to prohibit any mixture of meat and milk.  To make sure that someone wouldn’t accidentally mix milk and meat, the rabbis also extended that prohibition to the mixture of milk and poultry

A  “joke” is told to describe how this particular aspect of kashrut came about, said Marcus: “God said to Moses, ‘don’t boil a baby goat in its mother’s milk’ and Moses said, ‘Oh, you don’t want us to eat milk and meat together.’  And God says, ‘Don’t boil a baby goat in its mother’s milk!’  And Moses says ‘Oh, you want us to wait six hours after eating meat before we eat dairy, and three hours after eating dairy before eating meat.’  And God says, ‘Don’t boil the baby goat in its mother’s milk!’  And Moses says, ‘Oh, you want us to have separate sets of dishes for the milk, and separate sets for the meat, and then separate dishes for the pareve.’  And God (Who by this time is exasperated)  says, ‘Fine, do it your way!'”

Karaite Jews (called Kara’im in Hebrew) don’t accept the concept that there was an Oral Law given by God that has the same force as the written Torah, said Bendah, an Egyptian-born Jew who had lived in Israel before immigrating to the United States.  As far as the Karaites are concerned the Talmud is simply the codification of written commentaries on the Torah, which has no more force in Jewish law than a modern-day congregational rabbi’s opinion or yours or mine.

On the other hand, if the law can be found in the Torah, he said, Karaite Jews feel bound to follow that law.  Thus because the Torah commands (Exodus 12:15) that “for a seven-day period shall you eat matzos, but on the previous day you shall nullify the leaven from your homes,” Karaites don’t put the leavened products into a bag and move the bag into the garage, or leave the leaven in place while pretending to “sell” it to a neighbor, they start getting rid of the leaven several days before Passover, so there is none of it left when the holiday begins.

A congregant asked Bendah what Karaites do when they find a contradiction in the Torah, for example Tzipporah being described as a Midianite in the Book of Exodus, but as a Cushite in the Book of Numbers.  Bendah responded that Cushite may simply have been a reference to her skin coloration; in other words that Tzipporah may have been both a Cushite and a Midianite.

In any event, Bendah said, Karaites believe that while the Torah is the literal word of God, it had been lost in its original version and that the Torah we have today is a reconstruction of it from pieces.  So if there are contradictions, it is the fault of men, and not of its Divine Author.

Rabbi Marcus said that there are some similarities in the beliefs of Reform Judaism and Karaite Judaism, at least so far as they both question Halakhah (Jewish Law) as given to us by the ancient rabbis.  She said it is interesting that while some Orthodox Jews believe their branch of Judaism is the “original” branch, Karaite Jews believe that Orthodox, with their reliance on the Talmud, have departed from traditional Jewish ways.  And as the Karaites accept the entire Tanakh, including the Torah, the Writings and the Prophets, they may be considered to have departed from the true path by the Samaritans, who accept only the Five Books of the Torah and the Book of Joshua, but none of the books that appear afterwards in Hebrew Scripture.

Bendah said that there are Karaite congregations in San Francisco and in New York, where the practice is for people to remove their shoes before entering the house of prayer, because the ground on which they meet with God is holy. (like Mount Horeb, where Moses encountered the Burning Bush.)

Having no Karaite congregations here, Bendah said he normally prays at Tifereth Israel Synagogue in San Diego or at Temple Beth Shalom in Chula Vista.  At both congregations, he said, he often is called upon to read aloud the Torah during services.

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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World.  He may be contacted at donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com