Some Notes on Intermarriage Among Rabbanites and Karaites in the Middle Ages and its Subsequent Prohibition

Fred Astren

The existence of Karaite-Rabbanite intermarriage is indicated for medieval Egypt in both the responsa of Maimonides and in the documentary material from the Cairo Genizah. These sources characterize the social conditions that fostered this phenomenon, and demonstrate the tension in the religio-legal principles that both supported and opposed such marriages. The discussion reviews the scholarly literature on the problem, and examines references from the Karaite literature on such "mixed marriages." The main features of the subsequent Rabbanite and Karaite prohibitions against these marriages are described. The Karaite jurisprudents developed a consensus against intermarriage without the formulation of precise legal principles, whereas the rabbis developed two independent legal traditions prohibiting such unions.

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