Summary
Tuvia (Levi) Babovitch, the last Karaite chief rabbi of Egypt (r. 1934–56), defender of the traditional bans on Karaite-Rabbanite intermarriage and on conversion to Karaism, against Murad Farag and the reforming youth of Al-Kalim (The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry: Culture, Politics, and the Formation of a Modern Diaspora, lines 87-109, 534-574).
Details
- He “was personally committed to the view that Karaites who married Rabbanites thereby excluded themselves from the community” and “also upheld the ban on conversion to Karaism against the wishes of some members of the community” (Introduction, note 4: Yosef Algamil in Pe’amim 32 (1987):49; Tzvi Zohar in Pe’amim 32 (1987):32) (The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry: Culture, Politics, and the Formation of a Modern Diaspora, lines 87-109, 294-467).
- When the shaykh of al-Azhar died in 1945, Babovitch attended the funeral, and the Karaite community newspaper extended condolences “to the Egyptian nation and the Eastern countries” (al-umma al-misriyya wa’l-aqtar al-sharqiyya) — a formulation the book reads as implying Egypt was a Muslim country, not a secular-liberal state (Chapter 2, note 28) (The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry: Culture, Politics, and the Formation of a Modern Diaspora, lines 534-574).
- The Young Karaite Jewish Association challenged Babovitch and the community council in the council elections of 1946, electing seven of its ten candidates (Chapter 2, note 34); al-Kalim’s editor Eli Amin Lisha’ reproached him for failing to visit the newly appointed shaykh of al-Azhar in 1946 or to greet King Faruq on his return to Cairo (Chapter 2, note 35) (The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry: Culture, Politics, and the Formation of a Modern Diaspora, lines 534-574).
- Several hundred young Karaites emigrated to Israel between 1948 and 1956 “against the advice of Chief Rabbi Babovitch” (Chapter 2, note 49) (The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry: Culture, Politics, and the Formation of a Modern Diaspora, lines 534-574).
Related pages
The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry: Culture, Politics, and the Formation of a Modern Diaspora, Karaites, Murad Farag, Al-Kalim