By Joel Davidi Weisberger | July 01, 2021
Before I get to Abraham Firkovich’s remarkable letter to the third Lubavitcher Rebbe, known by his magnum opus “the Tzemach Tzedek,” I’d like to address something. People sometimes ask me (yes, I mean you, Mom) about the nature of my interest in the Karaites and Karaism, so I’d like to take this opportunity to relay my thoughts on the subject.
As a young boy studying in yeshiva I was provided with a decent well-rounded education, but still I always felt that there was something missing. Tanach wasn’t studied so I made it my mission to go through it on my own. The same goes for Jewish history: I devoured every book on the subject. Since I was always fascinated by Jewish history, I had come across the Zadokim and the Karaites (although sharing quite a few similarities, the Zadokim were active during the Second Temple whereas the Karaites came on the scene in the Middle Ages. The terms were often interchangeable, wit