Peshat - the plain and simple meaning

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The Central Rabbinical Congress of the U.S.A. and Canada placed a quarter-page ad in today's New York Times, affirming the opposition of hundreds of thousands of Orthodox Jews to Zionism and Jewish rule over the Holy Land during exile, and denouncing religious Zionist groups as falsifiers of the Torah. The ad appeared in the newspaper on page A-20.

The text of the ad was as follows:

A Clarification of Torah Doctrine

Consistently, throughout the peace process in the Middle East, various Jewish religious organizations and parties have raised their voices in opposition to the return of territories to the Arabs, issuing statements that, according to the Torah, Jews are forbidden to give up any land in the Holy Land (especially part of Jerusalem).

	Land sold returns to the original owner on the Year of Return - Jubilee. The timing of the next Jubilee year appears to be debatable. Leviticus Chapter 27 24 In the year of jubilee the field shall return unto him of whom it was bought, even to him to whom the possession of the land belongeth.

Accordingly, it has become a commonplace that religious Jews are supportive of stopping the peace process. In the public mind, the policies of these parties became synonymous with Torah Doctrine. Moreover, they are portrayed in the media as "ultra-nationalists" willing to exchange "peace" for "land".

This impression is utterly false. All forms of Zionism, be they secular or religious, are inherently antithetical to the teaching of our faith! The great sages and saints of our people have always been opposed to the existence of the Zionist State. Indeed, when an obscure Viennese journalist first challenged the Torah approach to exile and redemption, over one hundred years ago, he was immediately attacked by the Torah sages of that time. Those orthodox Jews who support the Israeli state and "Greater Israel" are falsifiers of Torah doctrine. They have abandoned the principles of their predecessors.

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Go here for the Karaite Declaration of Faith: The Karaite "Declaration of Faith"

The Karaite Synagogue is the oldest Synagogue in Jerusalem. It was built between 760-920 A.D. by the Karaite Jews.
VIDEO:

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Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef statements:
Jews of the Amazon By Ariel Segal Freilich
The long standing dispute between Karaites and Orthodox Jews continued until 1973 when the chief rabbi of the Sephardic community of Israel, Ovadia Yosef, recognized Karaites as full-fledged Jews. This proclamation has not altered the agreement that allows the Karaites to conduct their own civil affairs.

JPost.com: Ask the Rabbi: O brother
In the 20th century, the State of Israel recognized the right of Karaites to immigrate under the Law of Return. The rabbinate, however, remains sharply divided over the ability of Karaites and their descendents to marry Jewish Israelis. While prominent Ashkenazi decisors Rabbi Avraham Sherman (Tehumin 19) and Rabbi Eliezer Waldenburg (Tzitz Eliezer 5:16) harshly criticized such marriages, two former Sephardi chief rabbis, Ovadia Yosef (Yabia Omer EH 8:12) and Eliahu Bakshi-Doron (Tehumin 18, 20) adopted more lenient positions, especially in cases when these Karaite descendants had no loyalty toward their ancestor's rituals. While such cases remain rare, they nonetheless represent a fascinating chapter in the ongoing struggles over personal status and marriage in Israel.

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Chief Rabbi David Chayim Chelouche statements:
The Jerusalem Post: Laying down the (Oral) law By JOSHUA FREEMAN
Rabbi David Chayim Chelouche, the chief rabbi of Netanya, agrees. "A Karaite is a Jew," says Chelouche, who has written a great deal about the Karaites. "We accept them as Jews and every one of them who wishes to come back [to mainstream Judaism] we accept back. (There was once a question about whether Karaites needed to undergo a token circumcision in order to switch to rabbinic Judaism, but the rabbinate agrees today that it is not necessary.) He cautions, however, that the acceptance of Karaites as Jews should not be confused with acceptance of their practice of excluding the Oral Law. "A person cannot make his own Torah," he says.

	"A person cannot make his own Torah," -- Funny, Karaites say the same thing...

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Rabbinic Assembly
http://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/sites/default/files/public/halakhah/teshuvot/20012004/49.pdf?phpMyAdmin=G0Is7ZE%2CH7O%2Ct%2CZ1sDHpI8UAVD6

Rabbi David H. Lincoln
This paper was adopted on March 28, 1984 by a vote of 12-1-1. Members voting in favor: Rabbis Kassel Abelson, Isidoro Aizenberg, Salamon Faber, David M Feldman, Morris Feldman, Robert Gordis, David H Lincoln, Mayer E Rabinowitz, Phillip Sigal, Israel N Silverman, Harry Z Sky and Henry A Sosland. Voting in opposition: Rabbi Morris M Shapiro. Abstaining: Rabbi Joel Roth.

CONCLUSION

In answer to Rabbi Skopitz's questions, I would therefore say the following:

(1) Their personal status should not be questioned. I would, with adequate halakhic support, dismiss the question of safek mamzerut.
(2) Yes, they are Jewish in every respect!
(3) I am not certain what is meant by the query regarding the State of Israel. In Israel, they have a separate Beit Din to administer marriage and divorce. Neither the Karaite nor the rabbinic communities have permitted "intermarriages". Rabbi Isaac Klein quotes sources indicating exceptions even in Israel, which he felt may portend a new trend there. Our situation in the Diaspora is very different. It has been the lesson of history that sects (whether Jewish or gentile) who leave their natural surroundings or are separated from the main body of followers, usually assimilate and disappear. This is true of the Druze outside of their Syrian-Lebanese-Israeli villages, or the Donmeh outside of Salonika or Istanbul. Here in the United States, Karaites mostly wish to identify with the rabbanite community -- in Israel they are a more numerous independent group. Should we abandon them, they would probably disappear and more Jews would be lost to us at a period in our history when we can ill afford such a loss.

I therefore recommend that we accept them without reservation.

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