The Curious Karaites

Although ethnically Turkic, the Crimean Karaites are not Muslims. Instead, they practice an atypical form of Judaism. And their language is an ancient prototype of Turkish.

The Karaites have been in Crimea for centuries, but they also have communities elsewhere. The largest is in the Lithuanian town of Trakai. In 1397, Vytautas the Great brought Karaite prisoners back to his realm, where they and their descendants served as royal guards. Trakai’s community boasts a museum, a cemetery, houses built in the Karaite style, and a kenessa, or house of worship (above). The main kenessa of the Crimean Karaites is in Yevpatoria.

Their divergence from standard Judaism has spared them from some major tribulations. They persuaded the tsars to exempt them from the Pale of Settlement by arguing that their forebears could not have taken part in Jesus’ crucifixion and that their sect should therefore be regarded by Christians as blameless. In return for the favor shown to them, the Karaites became loyal subjects of Russia.

In World War II, the Nazis asked three prominent Judaic experts whether the Karaites were Jewish. In a reversal of their consistently held positions, all three said no. Not only were the Crimean Karaites thus saved from the Holocaust, but the Nazis also rescinded the Soviet closure of their kenessa.

Over several decades in the twentieth century, the spiritual leader Seraya Shapshal recast numerous Karaite doctrines, further distinguishing the faith from Judaism. The worship of sacred oak groves and the adoption of an ancient Turkic deity called Tengri headlined the alterations. Shapshal also ordered the removal of the Star of David from the Trakai kenessa. His relocation to present-day Lithuania put him far from Karaites who immigrated westward, like Solomon Krym.