The Stains of Culture: An Ethno-Reading of Karaite Jewish Women (review)

I am probably the wrong person to be reviewing Ruth Tsoffar's book. The reader is repeatedly reminded of the author's identity as a secular, Israeli, Mizrahi [oriental] Jewish woman, and I am not a woman, a Karaite, or an anthropologist. I have trouble understanding sentences such as: "A transgressed system, once it is represented within the rubric of the radical dramatization of the vulnerable body, with a bleeding vagina and dripping nipples, testifies to its inability to remain in control. Underlying this construction of the deviant, transgressed body is the unconscious prototypical conception of the body as a self-regulating system, closed and defined" (p. 166). Nevertheless, I have studied Karaism and am one of those who, the author says, "have written extensively on both medieval Karaite commentaries and Karaism's unique halakhic, legal, philosophical, and historical position" (p. 30). I am always interested in knowing more about contemporary Karaite practice and how it compares with the literary sources with which I am familiar. Thus, I approached this book in the hope of expanding my intellectual horizons.

My first reaction was that Tsoffar would have benefited from more background on both Karaism and Rabbanism and should not have relied mostly on secondary literature, some of which is tendentious, outdated, or inaccurate. For instance, despite popular conceptions, Anan ben David (8th century) was not the founder of Karaism, and the authenticity of the motto attributed to him, "search Scriptures well and do not rely on my opinion," is questionable (p. 7). The Karaite prohibition of conversion to Judaism is a fairly recent innovation (p. 55). I am sure that the late second-, early third-century Church Father Clement of Alexandria would have been surprised to find out that he was a "Medieval Rabbanite scholar" (p. 188). I am unaware that anyone uses the Rabbinic term mayyim aharonim (water used to wash the hands before the grace after meals) to connote urine (p. 115).

Tsoffar's goal, however, is not an historical overview of Karaism or Karaite law, but an examination of the place of Karaite menstrual purity practices (included those of the post-parturient women) in the lives of Egyptian Karaite women living in the San Francisco area. By observing Karaite practice, including the exclusion of menstruant women from certain rituals, and by engaging Karaite women in conversation about their experiences as Karaite women, in both their personal roles as wives and mothers and their public roles as members of a Karaite community, and by applying interpretative techniques derived from contemporary social sciences, the author presents conclusions about the larger significance of the Karaite rituals. If I understood correctly, the author claims that Karaites use the laws of menstrual purity as a substitute for the better known Rabbanite dietary laws, specifically the separation of milk and meat, which are not part of Karaite religious practice. Feelings of inadequacy vis-à-vis the Rabbanite majority are compensated by strict menstrual separation, including the prohibition of the entrance of menstruating women into the synagogue, which would cause its ritual defilement, or the separation of menstruating women from family ceremonies, such as the Passover seder (Rabbanite Judaism requires a longer period of abstention from sexual relations but does not prevent menstruant women from participating in synagogal or other rituals). The women who uphold these practices feel that they contribute to the community's being "kosher" (p. 194: "The female body has become one of the last strategic sites in the 'koshering' and legitimizing of Karaite identity"). Tsoffar's conclusion would seem to corroborate statements found in traditional Karaite literature that accused the Rabbanites of dispensing with all ritual purity laws, not only menstrual ones, and replacing them with exaggerated dietary laws

In light of Tsoffar's conclusions, one cannot help but ask questions not addressed by this research. For instance, the author gives indications throughout the book of widespread contemporary Karaite non-compliance with Jewish law even as understood by...