A Shofar-less Rosh Hashanah: A Karaite’s Experience of Yom Teru’ah

להיות שיש ברוב המועדים טעם על חיובם, והטעם לזכר נס מה או פעולה מה שתביא לזכר אחד מה, ובזה היום שהוא יום תרועה לא ידענו בו ממאמרי הכתוב טעם על חיובו.            

Adderet Eliyahu, or the Mantle of Eliyahu, is a Hebrew–language halachic work composed by the 15^th Century Karaite Sage, Eliyahu Bashyatchi.  He is respected in traditional Karaite circles as the last codifier of our halacha, and Adderet Eliyahu expounds upon halachic issues from a Karaite perspective.  Bashyatchi is also known for attempting to reform certain aspects of the Karaite halacha to bring it in line with the Rabbinic halacha.  Adderet Eliyahu has never been translated into English; the Karaite Jews of America is currently creating an English-language abridgment of the work.  Several sections are online in the Karaite Jews of America’s virtual reading room.  http://www.karaites.org/reading-room.html

I note that Yom Teru’ah falls on the first day of the Seventh Month of the Biblical Calendar.  For this reason, I am hesitant to refer to this day as “Rosh Hashanah.”  The Torah refers to Hag HaSukkot, which also occurs during the Seventh Month as “the turning of the year” (Exodus 34:22) and “leaving of the year” (Exodus 23:16); but Yom Teru’ah itself is never referred to as a new year of any sort.  Yet, some later Karaites (circa 16^th Century), indeed, composed songs that refer to Yom Teru’ah as Rosh Hashanah.

In Joshua 6:5, the verbal and nominal forms of the word teru’ah are used in the phrase “shout a great shout.”  Teru’ah (or is verbal equivalent) also means “shout” in Joshua 6:5, Joshua 6:20, 1 Samuel 4:, Psalms 66:1 and Psalms 100:1, among many other places. 

See Zvi Ankori,  Karaites in Byzantium,  p. 283: “Thus, most of the Karaites opposed in Byzantium, much as they did in the Islamic countries, the blowing of the shofar on the Jewish New Year.”

The classical Karaite approach toward melachah and melechet avodah – and how to reconcile that approach with the fact that we are commanded to blow a shofar on Yom Kippur to announce the Jubilee year – is beyond the scope of this piece.

 See Karaites in Byzantium, pp. 283-84 n.92.

Daniel al-Kumisi, the famed 10^th Century Jerusalem-based Karaite, while stopping short of saying there was a commandment to blow the shofar, actually advocated blowing the shofar as a means to promote teshuva. See his commentary on Leviticus 23:24 (my thanks to Nehemia Gordon for finding me this reference, and to Joel Davidi for informing me of this possibility):

"זכרון תרועה". והלא בכל מועדים וחדשים יתקעו בחצצרות. ככ' "וביום שמ[חתכם] וב[מועדיכם] וב[ראשי] חדשיכם ותקעתם". ו[א]ף כי יום זכרון תרועה שהוא תמיד בראש חדש מה חפץ לדבר. "יום תרועה יהיה לכם". דע כי במועדים וחדשים יתקעו על קרבנות. ומן דעתי ביום תרועה חוץ מן תקיעת קרבנות הריעו בכל עיר למען להכריז עליהם ולהזכיר אתם: ש<ובו> מדרכיכם ותטהרו את מעשיכם כי בא יום כפרים. כי כל צום בלא תשובה אין בו יתרון. ככ' "הלא זה צום אבחרהו פ[תח] ח[רצבות] רשע". ואחריו "הלא פרס לרעב". בתחלה לשוב מעונות ומן דרך תהפוכות ואחרי כן עשות חסד. ואחרי כן לצום צום. ואחרי כן ירצה י-הוה ויענה. ככ' "אז תקרא וי-הוה יענה". וכ' "אם תסיר מתוכך מוטה". על כן אשרי איש אשר בשמעו קול שופר תרועה ידע כי עליו להכין את מעשיו. ככ' "אשרי העם יודעי תרועה". ויוליכם י-הוה באור פניו. ככ' "י-הוה באור פנ' יהלכון".

Kumisi actively polemicized with the Rabbanites on a host of other issues.

 See Karaite Jews of Egypt: 1882-1986, Mourad el-Kodsi, p.171, who states that the Karaites viewed sexual relations during this time to be “completely forbidden.”  I do not know what the basis for such a prohibition would be.  It is also possible that el-Kodsi’s phraseology is imprecise. Observant Karaites confirm that the custom was to refrain from sexual relations during this time period.

As one might imagine, in the Middle Ages, the calendar was a source of polemics between Karaites and Rabbanites.  Daniel al-Kumisi, see n. 7 supra, wrote letters to the Karaites of the Diaspora to urge them to be strong about sighting the new moon: “Now you are living in the midst of the kingdom of Ishmael, who are favorable to those who fix the new month by lunar observation. Why then are you afraid of the Rabbanites? God will help you.”  Leon Nemoy, The Pseudo-Qumisian Sermon to the Karaites, American Academy for Jewish Research, Proceedings Vol. XLIII, p. 78. 

I note that in 2013, the calculated Rabbinic calendar set the first night of Rosh Hashanahas Wednesday September 4, 2013.  The second day of Rosh Hashanah ended on Friday night (erev Shabbat) September 6, 2013.   But the new moon was not seen in the Land of Israel until Saturday night September 7, 2013.

Today, we generally know with great certainty on which days the new moon might be seen in the Land of Israel.  In 2004, even with state of the art models to predict the visibility of the moon in the Land of Israel, the potential visibility was uncertain.  As a result, it was possible that Yom Teru’ah could fall on either of two days.  To deal with this possibility, teams of new moon observers were sent throughout Israel.  Some observers living in Israel decided that if they did not see the new moon during their observation, they would observeYom Teru’ah for two days – so that they would be certain to observe Yom Teru’ah on the appropriate day in case other observers did in fact sight the moon.  The problem of uncertain visibility can also occur in the Diaspora for Karaites who set their month by the local new moon.

The student’s response to Kirkisani’s question was, “Because [the Issawites] do not disagree with us over the festivals.”  Kirkisani interpreted the response to mean that the Rabbanites “regard open apostasy [i.e., the Issawite adherence to a messianic leader] more favorably than disagreement [by the Karaites] over a festival of [the Rabbanites’] own invention.” See Heresy and the Politics of Community: Jews of the Fatamid Caliphate, Marina Rustow, pp. 63-65 (interpreting the response to refer to the addition of Yom Tov Sheni); see also Calendar and Community: A History of the Jewish Calendar 2nd Century BCE – 10th Century CE, Sacha Stern, pp. 19-20 (interpreting the response to refer to eitherYom Tov Sheni or Hanukkah, “both of which the Karaites rejected but which the [Issawites] might have observed).