From Yu–suf al-Bas.r to Judah Halevi: The Sadduceean Myth of the Origins of Karaism in Medieval Rabbanite Sources Revisited

Abstract

Two main historiographic motifs invented in the Middle Ages have dominated all later Jewish historical reconstructions of the origins of Karaism. One connects it with the activity of ‘Anan ben David, while the other associates the Karaites with the Sadducees. The aim of the article is to revisit the question of the origins of the Sadduceean motif and Halevi’s role in its creation. Accordingly, its purpose is not to explore the actual relationship between the Karaites and the Sadducees, but the way in which medieval Jews imagined this relationship, especially in terms of the Karaites’ past and the beginnings of their movement. It argues that against his explicit statements to the contrary, Halevi contributed to the establishment of a direct, historical link between the Karaites and the Sadducees. In addition, the article demonstrates that when creating his narrative on the emergence of Karaism, Halevi might have been inspired by Karaite sources such as Yūsuf al-Baṣīr’s Book of Precepts. It offers an analysis of a relevant passage of this legal Code through an attempt to reconstruct a complex process of cross-sectoral interchanges and transfers of ideas behind the creation of the Sadduceean myth of the origins of Karaism.