The Lost Readers of the Scripture: Some notes on the Karaite community of Hīt
The Lost Readers of the Scripture: Some notes on the Karaite community of Hīt

Author(s): Thomas Schmidinger
Subject(s): Jewish studies, Geography, Regional studies, Recent History (1900 till today), History of Judaism, WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), Post-War period (1950 - 1989), Transformation Period (1990 - 2010), Ethnic Minorities Studies, History of Religion
Published by: Transnational Press London
Keywords: Iraq; Karaites; Hit; religious community; minorities; 20th century;
Summary/Abstract: The Karaites are one of the religious communities erased from the memory of Iraq. Today hardly anybody in Iraq remembers this centuries-old religious community rooted in the Abrahamic faith of Islam, Christianity and mainstream Judaism. Multiple marginalisations resulted in nobody ever telling the story of the last Karaites in Iraq. The isolated and rural community in the town of Hīt in Anbar did not have any intellectuals to document their history. Later, Karaite Jews became a minority among the rabbinic Jews in Israel and the Iraqi Karaites were even a tiny minority within the minority of the Karaites of Israel. Without anyone interested in their history, even the second generation in Israel did not think that the stories of their parents and grandparents would be worth recording and telling.

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