AFTERUFE and ESCHATOLOGY Medieval Rabbanite Jews Were Accustomed to Apply the Tide "Sad- Ducees" to Their Karaite Riva

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Medieval Rabbanite Jews were accustomed to apply the tide "Sad• ducees" to their Karaite rivals. 1 From the Rabbanite point of view, there was much in common between the two groups. Both rejected the concept of an Oral Torah, and both seemed to claim that only a literal interpretation of the Torah provides its correct understanding. The two groups had certain legal practices in common, such as obser• vance of Shavuot only on a Sunday. It is not surprising, therefore, that for a Rabbanite Jew, Karaism was conceived as a new reincarnation of an ancient heresy. This was not the Karaite perception of things. From their point of view, there was no relation between them and the Sadducees. They considered the Sadducees heretics since they denied reward and punishment in the world to come and resurrection.2 The Karaites claimed that the denial of the world to come and resurrection of the dead was the chief characteristic of the Sadducees, and therefore they were unable to see themselves as the heirs of the Sadducean concept of Judaism.3 Indeed, any investigation of Karaite literature indicates that these beliefs in the afterlife and eschatology are an intrinsic part of Karaite theology. 4

I See, e. g., Maimonides, Commentary on the Mishnah, Avot 1:3, voI4., p. 409; Abraham ibn Ezra, introduction to Commentary on the Torah, The Second Path. 2 This is particularly true of later Karaites; see Elijah Bashyatchi, Adderet Eliyyahu, introduction ("The Division of the Karaites and Rabbanites"), unpaginated; Caleb Afendopolo, Na~al Eshkol, in Judah Hadassi, Eshkol Ha-Ktifer, p. 3d; Mordecai ben Nisan, Dod Mordekhai, pp. 23- 25;Joseph ben Moses Beghi, Iggeret Qjryah Ne 'emanah, in Jacob Mann, Texts and Studies, pp. 302- 307. Contemporary Karaites see themselves as the descendants of a Second Temple group whom they call "Zaddiqim," which includes the Dead Sea community and Philo of Alexandria. See Hayyim Levi, Qja ur H a- 'Adderet, pp. 114- 118; Daniel J. Lasker, "Dead Sea Scrolls." 3 It should be noted that Karaite historiography has undergone major changes throughout the centuries, and in early Karaism there was no such denial of a Saddu• cean connection, at least in legal matters. For possible early Karaite knowledge of, and influence by, Sadduceanism, see Yoram Erder, Karaite Mourners, pp. 116- 144. Changes in Karaite historiography have been investigated by Fred Astren, Karaite Judaism. 4 The following is a brief summary of the highlights of Karaite beliefs in these subjects, not a full evaluation. AFTERLIFE AND ESCHATOLOGY 249

Just as there were disagreements among Rabbanite Jews concerning issues relating to the meaning of the world to come, so too the Karaite sages did not agree about every detail of these beliefs. Nevertheless, it might be said that the majority of Karaites accepted the following principles: (1) reward and punishment after death will be eternal; (2) reward and punishment apply to the body and soul together; (3) there is no reincarnation; and (4) there will be a bodily resurrection. Each principle will be investigated separately.

Eternal Reward and Punishment

In Rabbanite literature there are many opinions as to the length of punishment in the world to come. According to a number of rabbinic statements, certain sinners are judged in Gehinnom (Hell) for "genera• tion upon generation," 5 or, in Maimonides' language, "for ever and ever and ever."6 Yet not all the rabbinic sages accepted the opinion that punishment is eternal. According to one famous midrash, at the end of days God will host a banquet at which Leviathan is served and during which God Himself will teach Torah. Mter the lesson, Zerubavel will recite the "rabbis' kaddish," and when the wicked in Gehinnom answer, ':Arnen," the gates of Hell will open up and the wicked will rise to the garden of Eden.7 In any event, throughout the generations there were intensive debates on this question.8 Karaite discussions on the eternality of reward and punishment seem to have been influenced more by Islamic sources, especially Mu'tazilite ones, than by rabbinic statements. As is well known, according to Islam, reward and punishment after death will be eternal. The Karaites even used Kalam argumentation to prove that the wicked will be punished forever. 9 We find these discussions for the first time in a Jewish book in DawD.d ibn Marwan al-Muqammi~'s 1shriin Maqiila (mid-ninth century).

5 See t. Sanhedrin 13:5; Rosh Ha-Shanah 17a: n"" ""'; see also Baba Mezi 'a 58b. 6 Mishneh Torah, "Laws of Repentance," 3:6: 0'1.)'''3' '1.)'''l''' O'''v'. 7 Yalkut Shimoni, section 429, on Isa 26:2. For rabbinic views of reward and punish• ment in the afterlife, see, e.g. Saul Lieberman, "Some Aspects"; idem, "On Sins." 8 For the background of this debate, see Alexander Altmann, "Eternality of Pun• ishment." 9 For eternal punishment in Islam, see Wensick, Muslim Creed, pp. 129, 131, 184-185. On the kalamic context, see Fakhry, History, pp. 70-71.