that was odd

[cellio]

Several years ago, I wrote an article for an SCA newsletter on how to build a yurt (aka ger), the Mongolian round semi-portable structure. I and some friends built one for camping in at Pennsic, so I wrote down what I did and shared it. Every now and then I get random questions and/or thanks from people who've found the article.

The most recent message is from someone who said he does "Roman and Bible reenactment" and had just built a yurt. (Unknown: what a yurt has to do with either.) Its first use was to be for his sukkah. He closed with "Shalom in Jesus".

Um, ok. A Christian? A "Jew for Jesus"? A re-enactor whose re-enactment extends to holidays?

I wrote back to thank him for the message and answer a question. And just to be helpful, I pointed out a couple halachic issues he might consider in using a yurt for Sukkot. I did not translate the Hebrew for terms that a Jew or a scholar would likely know. I didn't really expect to hear from him again.

He wrote back, citing a tertiary (at best) source for alternate interpretations. He also gave a cite for a round, domed sukkah in Amsterdam in 1722. This doesn't match up with anything either of us is trying to recreate, of course, but it sounds interesting. (Not interesting enough to go out and chase, though. It's a curiosity to me, nothing more.) He didn't say what they used for the roof cover or how it was attached.

He also described himself as Jewish, messianic, and a karaite. I didn't know there were still karaites out there. I'm not certain what the combination of messianic and karaite means, but I'm not going to ask him.

Karaites were a "sect", for lack of a better term, that accepted the written law but none of the oral law. They spent Shabbat in the cold and dark because they interpreted "kindle no fire" as "have no fire" rather than "light it in advance". It sounds like it must have been miserable. I thought they all died out several hundred years ago. Maybe this is a "neo-karaite" in the sense that we have "neo-pagans" who aren't tied to the original pagans?

Comments

[fiannaharpar.livejournal.com]

This is going to be harsh, because I feel very strongly about it and i'm weaning off of caffiene right now-
There is no such thing as a "Messianic Jew". The proper term is "Christian".

This peeves me as much as Christians who seem to think that Jesus was one, too.

[arib.livejournal.com]

Most Karaites these days live in Israel, you'll occasionally see them pop up in the news because they have animal sacrifices before Pesach each year.

To the Googlemobile, Robin...

[tangerinpenguin.livejournal.com]

I found a Jewish Bulletin Online article (http://www.jewishsf.com/bk991210/1ackariate.shtml) on modern Karaites, as well as an encylopaedia-entry looking thing (http://philtar.ucsm.ac.uk/encyclopedia/judaism/kara.html) that mentions that the Israeli population is particularly concentrated around Ramleh. There's also a www.karaites.org that supposedly corresponds to a congregation in Daily City, CA, but its account is currently suspended.

[Of course, I can't speak to the quality of any of those references, but they seemed to be the ones most clearly talking about a modern rather than a historical movement.]

[arib.livejournal.com]

He closed with "Shalom in Jesus".

I'm sorry, the only thing that comes to my mind after reading this is, "Why did Jesus eat my friend Shalom?"

I'm sorry... :-)

Karaites

[estherchaya.livejournal.com]

I had two friends in high school that were karaites (they were cousins). The main things I remember about them was that their kashrus was different (it would have to be since they reject the Talmud), they didn't celebrate Chanukah, and that every summer they went to a "Karaite Camp" which I believe most of the karaite kids throughout the US went to, but I could be wrong. Ostensibly, this was a way to socialize with other young karaites. But really, my friends said, it was a way to find a spouse.

Neither of my friends married karaites, nor did they marry rabbinic Jews, so I suppose their legacy will be erased through time. I imagine if you reject the Talmud, defining "who is a jew" would be dependent on who the father is.

Carrie?

[retrodee.livejournal.com]

Carrie, is this you?

I'm confused

[magid.livejournal.com]

Does this mean that the person is a karaite "J for J"? It sounds like an odd combination to me.
"

[pocketnaomi.livejournal.com]

I'm often considered a neo-Karaite, because I consider Written Torah as the law absolute, and Oral Torah as simply advice written by human beings. Often good advice, occasionally crazy advice, but just advice, and it's up to me to decide what to do with it. The direct, plaintext interpretation of written Torah and the rejection of halakhic process is often tagged 'Karaite' in its modern as well as its medieval forms.

Round Sukkahs...

[goljerp]

I am sure that there's a discussion of round sukkahs in the Mishna, because I studied it once. I seem to recall a fun bit of geometry (including the rabbis defining pi as 3). It was a while ago, though, and I don't have the sources any more.

I'm guessing the issues you mentioned had less to do with the roundness of the structure and more to do with the yurtness...

[figmo.livejournal.com]

Many years ago a group called "Jews for Yeshua" ("we are not 'Jews for Jesus' -- we're different!") went after a few of us. I was invited by my friend Hilary, who at the time was a member, to go to "a gathering of me and a few friends" one Sunday. I had no idea what I was in for till I got there.

I was grateful my friend Bob had also been invited. He and I clung together watching what I can only describe as insanity. Here were people claiming to be Jews who also believed Jesus was the Messiah. It was the standard ploy for nabbing folks into cults, too. They had sweet wine, cakes, cookies, and sugar on top of sugar to eat when you got there. Bob and I grabbed cups and made a beeline to the kitchen faucet for something that wasn't sugared. (The sugar does things to the alpha brainwaves of folks with normal metabolisms that makes them more receptive to input.)

After that they had folks from their organization telling us what they were about and trying to make it sound convincing. Bob and I both saw the folks as people who were in desparate need of being loved. They did a lot of hugging and hugging on top of hugging.

Neither of us got brainwashed, but it was an entertaining day, and eventually Hilary left the cult.