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Karaite Judaism

Karaite Judaism (יהדות קראית) is a Jewish religious movement characterized by the recognition of the written Tanakh alone as its supreme authority in halakha (Jewish religious law) and theology. Karaites believe that all of the divine commandments which were handed down to Moses by God were recorded in the written Torah without any additional Oral Law or explanation. Unlike mainstream Rabbinic Judaism, which regards the Oral Torah, codified in the Talmud and subsequent works, as authoritative interpretations of the Torah, Karaite Jews do not treat the written collections of the oral tradition in the Midrash or the Talmud as binding.

Karaite interpretation of the Torah strives to adhere to the plain or most obvious meaning (peshat) of the text; this is not necessarily the literal meaning of the text—instead, it is the meaning of the text that would have been naturally understood by the ancient Hebrews when the books of the Torah were first written—without the use of the Oral Torah. By contrast, Rabbinic Judaism relies on the legal rulings of the Sanhedrin as they are codified in the Midrash, Talmud, and other sources to indicate the authentic meaning of the Torah. Karaite Judaism holds every interpretation of the Torah to the same scrutiny regardless of its source, and teaches that it is the personal responsibility of every individual Jew to study the Torah, and ultimately to decide personally its correct meaning. Karaites may consider arguments made in the Talmud and other works, but without exalting them above other viewpoints.

According to the Karaite Mordecai ben Nissan (born 1650), the ancestors of the Karaites were a group called Benei Ṣedeq during the Second Temple period. Historians have argued over whether Karaism has a direct connection to the Sadducees dating back to the end of the Second Temple period (70 CE) or whether Karaism represents a novel emergence of similar views. Karaites have always maintained that while there are some similarities to the Sadducees due to the rejection of rabbinical authority and of the Oral Law, there are major differences.

According to Rabbi Abraham ibn Daud, in his Sefer ha-Qabbalah (written c. 1160), the Karaite movement crystallized in Baghdad in the Gaonic period (c.  7th–9th centuries) under the Abbasid Caliphate in present-day Iraq. This is the view universally accepted among Rabbinic Jews. However, some Arab scholars claim that Karaites were already living in Egypt in the first half of the seventh century, based on a legal document that the Karaite community in Egypt had in its possession until the end of the 19th century, in which the first Islamic governor ordered the leaders of the Rabbinite community against interfering with Karaite practices or with the way they celebrate their holidays. It was said to have been stamped by the palm of Amr ibn al-ʿĀṣ as-Sahmī, the first Islamic governor of Egypt (d. 664), and was reportedly dated 20 AH (641 CE).

At one time, Karaites made up a significant proportion of the Jewish population. an estimated 30,000 to 50,000 Karaites resided in Israel, with smaller communities in Turkey, Europe and the United States. A 2007 report estimated that, of 30,000 worldwide, more than 20,000 descend from those who made aliyah from Egypt and Iraq to Israel. The largest Karaite community today resides in the Israeli city of Ashdod.

Origins
Some scholars trace the origin of Karaism to those who rejected the Talmudic tradition as an innovation. Judah Halevi, an 11th-century Jewish philosopher and rabbi, wrote a defense for Rabbinic Judaism entitled Kuzari, placing the origins of Karaism in the first and second centuries BCE, during the reign of Alexander Jannaeus ("King Jannai"), king of Judaea from 103 to 76 BCE: "After him came Judah b. Tabbāi and Simon b. Shētaḥ, with the friends of both. At this period arose the doctrine of the Karaites in consequence of an incident between the Sages and King Jannai who was a priest. His mother was under suspicion of being a 'profane' woman. One of the Sages alluded to this, saying to him: 'Be satisfied, O king Jannai, with the royal crown, but leave the priestly crown to the seed of Aaron.' His friends prejudiced him against the Sages, advising him to browbeat, expel, and scatter or kill them. He replied: 'If I destroy the Sages what will become of our Law?' 'There is the written law,' they replied, whoever wishes to study it may come and do so; take no heed of the oral law.' He followed their advice and expelled the Sages and among them Simon b. Shētaḥ, his son-in-law. Rabbinism was laid low for some time. The other party tried to establish a law built on their own conception, but failed, till Simon b. Shētaḥ returned with his disciples from Alexandria, and restored tradition to its former condition. Karaism had, however, taken root among people who rejected the oral law, and called all kinds of proofs to their aid, as we see to-day. As regards the Sādōcaeans and Boēthosians, they are the sectarians who are anathemised in our prayer." Abraham Geiger, a 19th-century German scholar who founded Reform Judaism, posited a connection between the Karaites and a remnant of the Sadducees, the 1st-century Jewish sect that followed the Hebrew Bible literally and rejected the Pharisees' notion of an Oral Torah even before it was written. Geiger's view is based on comparison between Karaite and Sadducee halakha: for example, a minority in Karaite Judaism do not believe in a resurrection of the dead or afterlife, a position also held by the Sadducees. The British theologian John Gill (1767) noted, "In the times of John Hyrcanus, and Alexander Janneus his son, sprung up the sect of the Karaites, in opposition to the Pharisees, who had introduced traditions, and set up the oral law, which these men rejected. In the times of the said princes lived Simeon ben Shetach, and Judah ben Tabbai, who flourished AM 3621, these two separated, the latter from the former, because he could not embrace his inventions which he formed out of his own brain; and from him the Karaites sprung, who were first called the society or congregation of Judah ben Tabbai, which was afterwards changed into the name of Karaites."

Gill also traces the Karaite sect to the split between the schools of Hillel the Elder and Shammai in 30 BCE.

American scholar Bernard Revel rejects many of Geiger's arguments in his 1913 published dissertation, The Karaite Halakah. Revel also points to the many correlations between Karaite halakha and theology and the interpretations of Philo of Alexandria, the 1st-century philosopher and Jewish scholar. He also notes the writings of a 10th-century Karaite who refers to Philo's works, showing that the Karaites made use of Philo's writings in the development of their movement. Later Medieval Karaite commentators did not view Philo in a favorable light. These attitudes show a friction between later Karaite theology and possible connections to Philo's philosophy, which could serve as either a rejection of their origins, rejection of theological positions no longer accepted, or that Philo's philosophy was not entirely used in the founding of the Karaites (although some influences remain possible).

Early 20th-century scholars Oesterley and Box suggested that Karaism formed in a reaction to the rise of Islam. The new religion recognized Judaism as a fellow monotheistic faith, but claimed that it detracted from its belief by deferring to rabbinical authority.

9th century
Anan ben David (ענן בן דוד, c. 715 – 795 or 811?) is widely considered to be a major founder of the Karaite movement. His followers, called Ananites, did not believe the rabbinical oral law was divinely inspired.

According to a 12th-century Rabbinic account, in approximately 760, Shelomoh ben Ḥisdai II, the Exilarch in Babylon died, and two brothers among his nearest kin, ʻAnan ben David (whose name according to the Rabbinical account was ʻAnan ben Shafaṭ, but was called "ben David" due to his Davidic lineage) and Ḥananyah were next in order of succession. Eventually, Ḥananyah was elected by the rabbis of the Babylonian Jewish colleges (the Geonim) and by the notables of the chief Jewish congregations, and the choice was confirmed by the Caliph of Baghdad.

A schism may have occurred, with ʻAnan ben David being proclaimed exilarch by his followers. However, not all scholars agree that this event occurred. Leon Nemoy notes, "Natronai, scarcely ninety years after ‘Anan's secession, tells us nothing about his aristocratic (Davidic) descent or about the contest for the office of exilarch which allegedly served as the immediate cause of his apostasy." Nemoy later notes that Natronai—a devout Rabbanite—lived where ʻAnan's activities took place, and that the Karaite sage Jacob Qirqisani never mentioned ʻAnan's purported lineage or candidacy for Exilarch.

ʻAnan's allowing his followers to proclaim him as Exilarch was considered treason by the Muslim government. He was sentenced to death, but his life was saved by his fellow prisoner, Abu Hanifa, the founder of the madhhab or school of fiqh (Muslim jurisprudence) known as the Hanafi. Ultimately he and his followers were permitted to migrate to Palestine. They erected a synagogue in Jerusalem that continued to be maintained until the time of the Crusades. From this center, the sect diffused thinly over Syria, spread into Egypt, and ultimately reached Southeast Europe.

Ben David challenged the Rabbinical establishment. Some scholars believe that his followers may have absorbed Jewish Babylonian sects such as the Isunians (followers of Abū ʻĪsā al-Iṣfahānī), Yudghanites, and the remnants of the pre-Talmudic Sadducees and Boethusians. Later, sects such as the Ukbarites emerged separately from the Ananites.

However, the Isunians, Yudghanites, Ukabarites, and Mishawites all held views that did not accord with those of either the Ananites or the Karaites. Abū ʻĪsā al-Iṣfahānī, who was an illiterate tailor, claimed to be a prophet, prohibited divorce, claimed that all months should have thirty days, believed in Jesus and Muhammad as prophets, and told his followers that they must study the New Testament and the Quran. Yudghan was a follower of Abū ʻĪsā al-Iṣfahānī and claimed to be a prophet and the Messiah, saying that the observance of Shabbat and Holy Days was no longer obligatory. Isma‘il al-‘Ukbari believed he was the prophet Elijah, and hated ʻAnan. Mishawayh al-‘Ukbari, who was a disciple of Isma‘il al-‘Ukbari and the founder of the Mishawites, taught his followers to use a purely solar calendar of 364 days and 30-day months, insisting that all the Holy Days and fast days should always occur on fixed days in the week, rather than on fixed days of the months. He further said that Shabbat should be kept from sunrise on Saturday to sunrise on Sunday. Most Ananites and Karaites rejected such beliefs.

ʻAnan developed his movement's core tenets. His Sefer HaMiṣwot ("The Book of the Commandments") was published about 770. He adopted many principles and opinions of other anti-rabbinic forms of Judaism that had previously existed. He took much from the old Sadducees and Essenes, whose remnants still survived, and whose writings—or at least writings ascribed to them—were still in circulation. Thus, for example, these older sects prohibited the burning of any lights and the leaving of one's dwelling on the Sabbath. Unlike the Sadducees, ʻAnan and the Qumran sectaries allowed persons to leave their house, but prohibited leaving one's town or camp. ʻAnan said that one should not leave one's house for frivolous things, but only to go to prayer or to study scripture. The Sadducees required the observation of the new moon to establish the dates of festivals and always held the Shavuot festival on a Sunday.

The Golden Age
In the "Golden Age of Karaism" (900–1100) a large number of Karaite works were produced in all parts of the Muslim world, the most notable being a work penned by Jacob Qirqisani, entitled Kitāb al-Anwār wal-Marāqib ("Code of Karaite Law"), which provides valuable information concerning the development of Karaism and throws light also on many questions in Rabbinic Judaism. Karaite Jews were able to obtain autonomy from Rabbinic Judaism in the Muslim world and establish their own institutions. Karaites in the Muslim world also obtained high social positions such as tax collectors, doctors, and clerks, and even received special positions in the Egyptian courts. Karaite scholars were among the most conspicuous practitioners in the philosophical school known as Jewish Kalam.

According to historian Salo Wittmayer Baron, at one time the number of Jews affiliating with Karaism was as much as 10 percent of world Jewry, and debates between Rabbinist and Karaite leaders were not uncommon.

Among the staunchest critics of Karaite thought and practice at this time was Saadia Gaon, whose writings brought about a permanent split between some Karaite and Rabbinic communities.

Anecdote about Karaites in Egypt during the 13th-century
Egypt had long been a bastion for Karaites and their teachings. According to David ben Solomon ibn Abi Zimra, in one day in Egypt, a great congregation of Karaites became Rabbinical Jews during the time of the Nagid Rabbi Abraham Maimonides, who, in his words, "was not reluctant to receive them."

Karaites in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union
During the 19th century, Russian authorities began to differentiate Karaite Jews from Rabbanite Jews, freeing them from various oppressive laws that affected Rabbinic Jews. In the 1830s the Tsarist governor of the Taurida Governorate, Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov, told the Karaite leaders that, even though the Russian Empire liked the idea that the Karaites did not accept the Talmud, they were still Jews and responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus and thus subject to the laws. The leaders, hearing that, devised a ruse by which they could be freed of the oppressive laws and told him that the Karaites had already settled in the Crimea before the death of Jesus. The Tsarist government then said that, if they could prove it, they would be free of the oppressive laws.

The community leaders charged Abraham Firkovich (1786-1874) with gathering anything that could help show that Karaites were not in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus, and thus not responsible for the crucifixion. Through his work, Firkovich helped establish the idea among the Russian authorities that the Karaites, as descendants of the exiled northern kingdom of Israel, had already gone into exile centuries before the death of Jesus and thus had no responsibility for it. Firkovich referenced tombstones in Crimea (altering the dates) and gathered thousands of Karaite, Rabbinic, and Samaritan manuscripts, including one rabbinic document from Transcaucasia that claims that the Jews there were descendants of the exiles from the northern Kingdom of Israel. These actions convinced the Tsar that Karaite ancestors could not have killed Jesus and that thus their descendants were free of familial guilt.

Despite this, within the community Ḥakhamim still taught that the Karaites were and had always been a part of the Jewish people; prayer was in Hebrew, the lineage of Kohens, Levites, and families of Davidic descent were meticulously preserved, and books printed in Hebrew adamantly identified the Karaites as Jews.

In 1897 the Russian census counted 12,894 Karaites in the Russian Empire.

By the early 20th century, most European Karaites were no longer very knowledgeable about the religion and Seraya Shapshal, a Karaite soldier of fortune who had been the tutor of the last Qajar Shah of Persia, Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar and a Russian spy, managed about 1911 to get himself elected Chief Ḥakham of the Karaites in the Russian Empire (by that time, due to Russian regulations, the position had become more of a political one than a spiritual one). Influenced by the Pan-Turkic movement in Turkey, Shapshal made his position into something of a Priest-king. He changed the title Hakham to "Ḥakhan" (a portmanteau between Hakham and the Mongol-Turkic title khan), forbade the use of Hebrew, and in the 1930s reintroduced Yahwist elements (such as the veneration of sacred oak trees in the cemetery). He also recognized both Jesus and Muhammad as prophets (in order to appease both the Tsarist Russian Orthodox government and the Muslim Turkic peoples).

After the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, atheism became official state policy in Soviet territories and Karaite religious schools and places of worship were the very first religious institutions closed by the Soviet government. The authorities allowed only the teaching of Shapshalian doctrines about the Karaites, and the official stance according to Soviet law (carried over from Russian Imperial law) erroneously regarded the Karaites as Turkic descendants of the Khazars and not as Jews.

Not all European Karaites accepted the Shapshalian doctrines. Some Hachamim and a small part of the general Karaite population still preserved their Jewish heritage, but most dared not oppose Shapshal openly due to his official standing with regard to the Soviet Union.

Karaites in Egypt
The Karaite community in Egypt was considered one of the oldest and had existed in that country for about 1,300 years. Many interactions, including financial support, religious leadership positions and marriages, have taken place between the various Karaite communities, including those in Egypt, Turkey, Jerusalem and Crimea.

A split emerged within the Karaite community of Egypt around the turn of the 20th century, between those now termed "progressives" and those termed "traditionalists". The progressives, of which noted writer and intellectual Murat Faraj Lisha‘ was at the forefront, called for a more liberal interpretation of Halakha, along with societal reforms and greater solidarity with Rabbanites. The traditionalists were led by Chief Hakham Tubiah ben Simhah Levi Babovich, and called not only for a more obdurate interpretation, but for greater separatism from both Rabbanites and Zionism. Although Babovich was respected for his dedication towards the community, his conservatism and opposition towards local customs were met by little success.

In the 1950s, the entire Jewish population in Egypt was estimated at 80,000 including 5,000 Karaite Jews. Following the United Arab Republic's participation in the Six-Day War, all Jewish men in Egypt were placed in camps, and were kept there for up to two years before being expelled from the country resulting in the complete disappearance of the Jewish and Karaite communities by the 1970s. Karaites were among the last to leave and most of Egypt's Karaite Jews settled in Israel.

The latest Chief Karaite sages of the Karaite community in Egypt (החכמים הראשיים הקראים) were:

 * 1) Hakham Moshe El-Kodsi (1856–1872)
 * 2) Hakham Shlomo Ben Afeda Ha-Kohen (1873–1875)
 * 3) Hakham Shabbatai Mangoubi (1876–1906)
 * 4) Hakham Aharon Kefeli (1907)
 * 5) Hakham Brakhah Ben Itshaq Kohen (1908–1915)
 * 6) Hakham Abraham Kohen (1922–1933)
 * 7) Hakham Tubiah ben Simhah Levi Babovich (1934–1956)

From 1916 to 1921, due to World War I, there was no Chief sage in Egypt.

Core tenets
The oldest Karaite articles of faith were formulated by the 12th century scholar and liturgist Judah ben Elijah Hadassi in his Eshkol ha-Kofer: "(1) God is the Creator of all created beings; (2) He is premundane and has no peer or associate; (3) the whole universe is created; (4) God called Moses and the other Prophets of the Biblical canon; (5) the Law of Moses alone is true; (6) to know the language of the Bible is a religious duty; (7) the Temple at Jerusalem is the palace of the world's Ruler; (8) belief in Resurrection contemporaneous with the advent of the Messiah; (9) final judgment; (10) retribution."

Karaite interpretations of the Torah
Karaite Jews do not object to the idea of a body of interpretation of the Torah, along with extensions and development of non-rabbinic halakha (Jewish law) that strives to adhere to the Tanakh's straightforward meaning. Several hundred such books have been written by various Karaite Ḥakhamim (sages) throughout the movement's history, although most are lost today. The disagreement arises over the rabbinic tradition's raising of the Talmud and the other writings of the rabbis above the Torah. The Karaites believe this has led to traditions and customs being kept under rabbinic law that contradict what is written in the Torah. The Karaites also have their own traditions and customs passed down from their ancestors and religious authorities. These are known as Sevel HaYerushah, which means "the Yoke [or burden] of Inheritance." Most of these practices are kept primarily by traditional Karaites; theoretically, any tradition thereof is said to be rejected if it contradicts the simple meaning of the Tanakh's text. The vast majority of these traditions are not forced upon any Karaite Jew or convert to Judaism through the Karaite movement, except very few such as donning a head covering in the Karaite kenesa.

Those Karaites Jews who are new to the Karaite lifestyle do not have such an inheritance or tradition and tend to rely solely upon the Tanakh and those practices mentioned in it, and to adapt Biblical practices to their cultural context. Karaite communities are so small and generally isolated, that their members commonly adopt the customs of their host country. In Israel, too, traditional Karaites tend to be culturally assimilated into mainstream society (both secular and Orthodox).

Many modern Karaite Jews have emerged from the Karaite revival of the late 20th century; the World Karaite Movement was founded by Nehemia Gordon and Ḥakham Meir Rekhavi in the early 1990s. Karaite Jewish University (KJU), approved by the Mo‘eṣet HaḤakhamim (the Council of Sages) in Israel, was founded to teach an introductory course on Karaite Judaism. It could lead to a student's conversion by a Beit Din (religious Jewish court) authorized by the Mo‘eṣet HaḤakhamim. KJU teaches various forms of Karaite Judaism and includes Sevel HaYerushah in its course materials. Thus, newly admitted converts to Karaite Judaism can choose to accept or reject Sevel HaYerushah.

Shabbat
As with other Jews, during Shabbat, Karaites attend synagogue to worship and to offer prayers. Most Karaites refrain from sexual relations on that day since they maintain that engaging in them can cause fatigue and copulation, in particular, results in ritual impurity on this holy day, concerns that Rabbinic Judaism ceased to have long ago; additionally, impregnating one's wife is considered melakha (forbidden work). Their prayer books are composed almost completely of biblical passages. Karaite Jews often practice full prostration during prayers, while most other Jews no longer pray in this fashion.

Unlike Rabbinic Jews, Karaites do not practice the ritual of lighting Shabbat candles. They have a differing interpretation of the Torah verse, "You shall not [burn] (Hebrew: bi‘er the pi‘el form of ba‘ar) a fire in any of your dwellings on the day of Shabbat." (Ex. 35:3) In Rabbinic Judaism, the qal verb form ba‘ar is understood to mean "burn", whereas the pi‘el form (present here) is understood to be, not intensive as usual but causative, the rule being that the pi‘el of a stative verb will be causative, instead of the usual hif‘il. Hence bi‘er means "kindle", which is why Rabbinic Judaism prohibits starting a fire on Shabbat. The vast majority of Karaite Jews hold that, throughout the Tanakh, ba‘ar explicitly means "to burn", while the Hebrew word meaning "to ignite" or "to kindle" is hidliq. Accordingly, the mainstream in Karaite Judaism takes the passage to mean that fire should not be left burning in a Jewish home on Shabbat, regardless of whether it was lit prior to, or during the Sabbath. However, the minority of Karaites who view the prohibition to be on kindling a fire often permit a fire to continue burning into the Sabbath.

Historically, Karaites refrained from using or deriving benefit from fire until the Sabbath ends, and accordingly their homes were not lit during the night of the Sabbath. Many modern Karaites today use a fluorescent or LED lamp powered by batteries, which is turned on prior to Shabbat. Many observant Karaites either unplug their refrigerators on Shabbat or turn off the circuit breakers. Karaites consider producing electricity to be a violation of Shabbat, no matter who produces it. Additionally, some Karaites view the purchasing of electricity that is charged on an incremental basis during the Shabbat as a commercial transaction that the Tanakh prohibits, no matter when the payment is made; the recording of the electric meter is considered by them to be a commercial transaction.

Laws of ritual purity
Karaites maintain that in the absence of a Temple, ordinary washing with flowing waters (described in the Torah as "living"—flowing—water) should be substituted for purification with water that includes ashes obtained through the red heifer burning ritual. Karaites believe that this was the practice before the Tabernacle was built in the Sinai Peninsula following the Exodus. They follow certain Torah laws for avoiding Ṭum’at Met (ritual impurity caused by contact with a dead body, human bones, graves, or being present in a space under any ceiling where a human died) which are no longer considered relevant in Rabbinic Judaism, except for Kohanim (members of the Jewish priestly class).

Sephirath Ha‘Omer and Shavu‘oth
The Karaite method of counting the days from the offering of the ‘Omer is different from the rabbinic method. The Karaites understand the term "morrow after the Sabbath" in Leviticus 23:15–16 to refer to the weekly Sabbath, whereas Rabbinic Judaism interprets it as referring to the day of rest on the first day of Ḥagh HaMaṣṣot. So while Rabbinic Judaism begins the count on the 16th of Nisan and celebrates Shavu‘ot on the 6th of Sivan, Karaite Jews count from the day after the weekly Sabbath (i.e., the Sunday) that occurs during the seven days of Ḥagh HaMaṣṣot to the day after the seventh weekly Sabbath. They celebrate Shavu‘ot on that Sunday, no matter what the calendar date of that Sunday on which it happens to fall.

Tzitzit (Ṣiṣiyot)
A Tzitzit (alternatively spelled Ṣiṣit, plural: Tzitziyot or Ṣiṣiyot) is a knotted or braided tassel worn by observant Jews (both Karaite and Rabbinic) on each of the four corners of what is often an outer garment or their Tallit. The Torah commands Israel to make tassels on the corners of their four-cornered garment containing a thread of Tekhelet and repeats this commandment using the word for "twisted cords" ("Gedilim") instead of "tassels" at. The purpose of the tassels is stated in the Book of Numbers as a visual reminder to the Israelites to remember the commandments given by God.

The thread of Tekhelet is a blue-violet or blue thread, which, according to the traditions of Rabbinic Judaism, is to be dyed with a specific kind of dye derived from a mollusc (notably the Hexaplex trunculus sea snail). Due to a number of factors, including Rome outlawing the use of Tekhelet by commoners, the source and practice of using a Tekhelet thread in Tzitzit was lost for most Rabbinic Jews. Their Tzitziyot are usually all white. Karaite Jews believe that the importance of Tekhelet is that the color of thread is blue-violet and it may be produced from any source, including synthetic industrial dyes, except impure (a state mostly overlapping unkosher) marine creatures, rather than insist on a specific dye. Therefore, they believe that the rabbinic tradition of relying on a dye from a mollusc is incorrect. They suggest that the source of the dye was indigo or Isatis tinctoria.

Rabbinic Jews have specific traditions on how the tassels are to be knotted. Karaite Jews, for their part, have certain traditions on the manner of braiding the tassels, although they are not binding. Consequently, the way the Tzitziyot are made usually distinguishes Karaite Tzitziyot from rabbinic Tzitziyot.

Tefillin
Karaite Jews do not wear tefillin in any form. According to Karaites, the Biblical passages cited for this practice are metaphorical, and mean to "remember the Torah always and treasure it". This is because the commandment in scripture is "And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be upon thy heart"... "And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thy hand, and they shall be for forehead ornaments between thine eyes". (Deuteronomy 6:5,9) Since words cannot be on one's heart, or bound on one's hand, the entire passage is understood metaphorically. Furthermore, the same expressions ("And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thy hand" as well as "and they shall be as frontal ornaments between thine eyes") are used in Exodus 13:9 in reference to the commandments of Ḥagh HaMaṣṣot, in Exodus 13:16 in reference to the ritual of redeeming the first born, in Deuteronomy 6:8 in reference to the ‘Aseret HaDevarim (the Ten Utterances, usually mistranslated as "the Ten Commandments"), and in Deuteronomy 11:18 in reference to all the words of the Torah, indicating that, from a Karaite perspective, they must be metaphorical in nature (because one could never ritually "write" and "bind" upon their hearts themselves).

Marriage
Marriage among Karaite Jews is not unlike that among Rabbanites. One notable difference being there is no restriction on polygyny within Karaite Judaism. This is increasingly rare in the modern day, however, and the ability of the husband to take other wives hinged, not only on his ability to equally fulfill his duties to them, but also the acceptance of the act by the primary wife. The primary wife is well within her rights to include an anti-polygamy clause in their betrothal contract.

Mezuzot
Like Tefillin, Karaites interpret the scripture that mandates inscribing the Law on doorposts and city gates as a metaphorical admonition, specifically, to keep the Law at home and away. This is because the previous commandment in the same passage is the source for Tefillin for Rabbinic Judaism, and is understood metaphorically due to the language. As a result, the entire passage is understood as a metaphor. Therefore, they do not put up mezuzot, although many Karaite Jews do have a small plaque with the Ten Commandments on their doorposts.

However, a Christian account in the 19th century tells of a Karaite synagogue in Constantinople that reportedly had a mezuzah. In Israel, in an effort to make Rabbinic Jews comfortable, many Karaite Jews do put up mezuzot, but not out of belief that it is commanded.

Mamzerim
In both Deuteronomy 23:3, and Zechariah 9:6, the Hebrew word mamzer is referenced alongside the nations of Ammon and Moab (in Deut 23:3), and the Philistine cities of Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron and Ashdod (in Zech 9:5–6). From such, Karaites have come to consider the most logical understanding of the Hebrew word mamzer, which modern Rabbinical Jews understand to refer to either children born from adultery or from incest (Talmud Bavli, Masekhet Yevamot), to actually speak of a nation or people. Karaites think that such an understanding fits perfectly into the context of both Deuteronomy 23 and Zechariah 9, (and this was also the understanding of the Rabbinist commentator Yehudah ben Shemu’el ibn Bil‘am). Several Medieval Rabbinite Jewish sages felt it necessary to debate this topic with Medieval Karaite Jewish sages.

Four species
Karaite Judaism defines the Four species (Arba`at haMinim) somewhat differently than Rabbinic Jews, i.e. (1) fruit of splendorous tree (Peri `Eṣ Hadar), which need not be the Etrog (yellow citrus fruit) demanded by rabbinic law, yet may be either any seasonal fruit tree considered splendorous by an individual Jew, or branches of olive trees featuring the olives, that were considered splendorous by the Judean Israelites in the generation of Nehemiah, as seen in Neḥemyah 8; (2) date palm fronds (Kappoth Temarim) instead of the closed palm frond used by Rabbinic Jews; (3) branches of thickly leaved trees (‘Eṣ ‘Avoth) which may be from fig, laurel and eucalyptus rather than myrtle branches only; and (4) willow branches (‘Aravoth Naḥal) e.g. maple, oak, yew and butternut, as opposed to the rabbinically dictated willow tree's boughs. Karaite Jews have always understood the Arba`at haMinim to be used for the purpose of constructing the roof of the Sukkah (pl. Sukkot); they are not made into a lulav and shaken in six directions, as is the rabbinic practice. In the Book of Nehemiah (8:15), the Israelites are instructed to construct their Sukkot out of the four species: olive branches and oil tree branches (fruit of splendorous tree), as well as date palm fronds, myrtle branches and branches of thickly leaved trees are mentioned in the same passage as materials for the Sukkah's construction. "וַיִּמְצְאוּ, כָּתוּב בַּתּוֹרָה: אֲשֶׁר צִוָּה יהוה בְּיַד-מֹשֶׁה, אֲשֶׁר יֵשְׁבוּ בְנֵי-יִשְׂרָאֵל בַּסֻּכּוֹת בֶּחָג בַּחֹדֶשׁ הַשְׁבִיעִי. וַאֲשֶׁר יַשְׁמִיעוּ, וְיַעֲבִירוּ קוֹל בְּכָל-עָרֵיהֶם וּבִירוּשָׁלִַם לֵאמֹר—צְאוּ הָהָר וְהָבִיאוּ עֲלֵי-זַיִת וַעֲלֵי-עֵץ שֶׁמֶן, וַעֲלֵי הֲדַס וַעֲלֵי תְמָרִים וַעֲלֵי עֵץ עָבֹת: לַעֲשֹׂת סֻכֹּת, כַּכָּתוּב.

And they found written in the Torah, how YHWH had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in Sukkot in the feast of the seventh month; and that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem, saying: 'Go forth into the mountains, and fetch olive branches, and oil tree branches, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches of thickly leaved trees, to make Sukkot, as it is written."

Who is a Jew?
Karaite Judaism follows patrilineal descent, meaning a Jew is either someone whose father is Jewish (since almost all Jewish descent in the Tanakh is traced patrilineally) or both of whose parents are Jews, or one who has undergone a formal conversion which entails circumcision for uncircumcised males and formally accepting the God of Israel as one's own God and the people of Israel as one's own people.

Karaites believe that conversion to the Jewish people should be done after living among Jews (preferably Karaite) in the form of a vow (the dominant position among modern Karaites maintains that this oath should be taken before a Karaite Beit Din whose members act on the behalf of the Israeli Council of Sages); see Exodus 12:43–49, Ruth 1:16, Esther 8:17, and Isaiah 56:1–8 and studying the Tanakh. Also Ezekiel the prophet states that gerim ("sojourners") who have joined themselves to the Children of Israel will be given land inheritance among the tribes of Israel among whom they live during the final Redemption.

Pronouncing the Tetragrammaton
In the Middle Ages, some, such as the Karaite Jews in Greater Khorasan, viewed pronouncing the Tetragrammaton as a mitzvah because the name appears some 6800 times throughout the Tanakh. Today, publicly uttering the Tetragrammaton is a controversial issue among Karaites. Virtually all traditional Karaites view the pronunciation of God's name to be blasphemous, and adhere to the rabbinic tradition of substituting Adonai when coming across YHWH while reading. Other Karaites and some of those coming from a rabbinic background like Nehemia Gordon and Ḥakham Meir Rekhavi, as well as some joiners to the people of Israel through Karaite Judaism such as James Walker and Daniel ben Immanuel, do not consider the pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton to be forbidden. There is, however, disagreement among scholars as to the correct pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton.

Writings
Karaism has produced a vast library of commentaries and polemics, especially during its "Golden Age". These writings prompted new and complete defenses of the Mishnah and the Talmud, the culmination of these in the writings of Saadia Gaon and his criticisms of Karaism. Though he opposed Karaism, the rabbinic commentator Abraham ibn Ezra regularly quoted Karaite commentators, particularly Yefet ben Ali, to the degree that a legend exists among some Karaites that Ibn Ezra was ben Ali's student.

The most well-known Karaite polemic is Yiṣḥaq ben Avraham of Troki's "Faith Strengthened", a comprehensive counter-Christian missionary polemic, which was later translated into Latin by Johann Christoph Wagenseil as part of a larger collection of Jewish anti-Christian polemics entitled Tela Ignea Satanæ, sive Arcani et Horribiles Judæorum Adversus Christum, Deum, et Christianam Religionem Libri (Altdorf, 1681: "The Fiery Darts of Satan, or the Arcane and Horrible Books of the Jews Against Christ, God, and the Christian Religion"). Many counter-missionary materials produced today are based upon or cover the same themes as this book.

Scholarly studies of Karaite writings are still in their infancy, and owe greatly to the Firkovich collections of Karaite manuscripts in the National Library of Russia that have become accessible after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The cataloguing efforts of scholars at the Bibliothèque nationale de France and in the United States and England is continuing to yield new insights into Karaite literature and thought.

Cuisine
Karaite cuisine exhibits a profound influence from Egyptian culinary traditions alongside notable Ottoman-Turkish and Persian elements. The influence of Egyptian cuisine is evident in the adoption of dishes such as tamiyya (Egyptian-style falafel), fava beans, and mulukhiyah stew. Ottoman-Turkish elements include baba ghanoush (termed baba nouga in Karaite cuisine), pastirma, muhallebi and kunafeh, which in Karaite tradition, is prepared with nuts rather than cheese, aligning with earlier renditions of the dessert. Indications of Persian influence may be seen in the preparation of keshk, a rice and greens dish.

Karaite cuisine features a unique noodle-making tradition, creating thin, handmade noodles called tigrinins, seasoned with a special Karaite za'atar blend that combines dried hyssop leaves and ground garlic, diverging from the more typical regional za'atar mix of hyssop, sumac and sesame. Matfunah is a type of frittata or quiche made with potatoes and onions, sometimes incorporating leftover Sabbath stew meat. The cuisine's characteristic spice blend, makleef, includes allspice, white pepper, black pepper, nutmeg, roses, cinnamon, and cloves, contributing to the flavor profiles of Karaite dishes.

During the Festival of Matzot, as Karaites refer to Passover Eve, their observance is distinct: the Seder plate is absent, and blessings are specifically for matzot, maror, and grilled meat. The holiday's basic menu typically features roasted meat prepared on the grill, a salad of bitter herbs using chicory leaves enhanced with lemon juice and zest, and homemade crispy flatbreads. While traditionally Karaites abstain from wine on Passover because it is a fermented product, changes due to secularization and intermarriage have led some within the community to include wine in their Passover celebration.

Karaites, Aharon Ben Mosheh Ben Asher, and the Masoretic Text
Aaron ben Moses ben Asher was a Jewish scholar from Tiberias, famous as the most authoritative of the Tiberian Masoretes, and a member of a family who had been involved in creating and maintaining the Masoretic Text (authoritative text of the Hebrew scripture), for at least five generations. His Tiberian vocalization of the Bible is still, for all intents and purposes, the text all Jews continue to use, and he was the first systematic Hebrew grammarian.

His Sefer Diqduqei HaTe‘amim ("Grammar of the Punctuation/Vocalizations") was an original collection of grammatical rules and Masoretic information. Grammatical principles were not at that time considered worthy of independent study. The value of this work is that the grammatical rules presented by ben Asher reveal the linguistic background of vocalization for the first time. He had a tremendous influence on the world of Biblical criticism.

In the nineteenth century, certain scholars suggested that Aharon Ben Asher might have been a Karaite and not a Rabbinic Jew. Aharon Dothan has examined this issue from many angles, and his conclusion is that Ben Asher was a Rabbinic Jew, but Raphael Zer has raised this issue again and presented new evidence.

In 989, an unknown scribe of a former Nevi'im manuscript vouched for the care with which his copy was written by claiming that he had vocalized and added the Masoretic text "from the books that were vocalized by Aaron ben Moses Ben-Asher". Maimonides, by accepting the views of ben Asher in regard to open and closed sections, helped establish and spread his authority. "The book on which we have relied for these matters is the book that is well-known in Egypt, which includes twenty-four books, which was in Jerusalem for many years for the purpose of proofreading books from it. Everybody relied on it since Ben-Asher proofread it and scrutinized it for years, and proofread many times as he copied it. I relied on it when I wrote a Sefer Torah properly".

Karaites today
Estimates of the size of the modern Karaite movement put the number at 1,500 Karaites in the United States, some 80 Constantinopolitan Karaites in Turkey, and around 30,000 in Israel, the largest communities being in Ramla, Ashdod and Beersheba. There are around 1,800 in Europe, primarily in Ukraine (with Crimea), which has about 800, 350 in Poland, 250 in Kazakhstan, 200 in Lithuania and 200 in Russia (without Crimea). Most of these communities have experienced serious decline in recent decades.

During the early 1920s, a British mandate official in Jerusalem records visiting the Karaite synagogue, which he describes as being "small, mediaeval, semi-underground" serving "Jerusalem's tiny colony of Qaraites".

In the early 1950s, the Chief Rabbinate of Israel originally objected to the immigration of Karaite Jews to Israel, and unsuccessfully tried to obstruct it. In 2007, however, Rabbi David Ḥayim Chelouche, the chief rabbi of Netayana was quoted in The Jerusalem Post as saying, "A Karaite is a Jew. We accept them as Jews and every one of them who wishes to come back [to mainstream Judaism] we accept back. There was once a question about whether Karaites needed to undergo a token circumcision in order to switch to Rabbinic Judaism, but the rabbinate agrees that today that is not necessary."

Moshe Marzouk, one of the Egyptian Jews executed in 1954 for planting bombs in Cairo in the service of Israeli Military Intelligence (the Lavon Affair) was a Karaite. Marzouk was considered a hero in Israel; however, his Karaite identity was downplayed in newspapers, which usually just described him as an Egyptian Jew. However, in 2001, the Israeli government, through the Israel Postal Authority, issued a special memorial sheet honoring him and many other Karaite Jews that gave their lives for Israel.

In Israel, the Karaite Jewish leadership is directed by a group called Universal Karaite Judaism. Most of the members of its Board of 'Ḥakhamim' are of Egyptian Jewish descent. The largest Karaite community today resides in Ashdod.

There are about 1,500 Karaites living in the United States. The Congregation B'nai Israel is located in Daly City, California, which is a suburb of San Francisco. It is the only Karaite synagogue in the United States with a permanent dedicated facility. The leaders of the congregation are of Egyptian Karaite extraction. One notable congregant, Mark Kheder, the synagogue's treasurer, has described his internment in an Egyptian prisoner-of-war camp during the 1967 Six-Day war. The congregation's acting Rav (Ḥakham), Joe Pessah, was also among those who were arrested by the Egyptian government. Another, much smaller congregation, Karaite Jewish Congregation Oraḥ Ṣaddiqim, exists in Albany, NY, but they have yet to find a permanent dedicated facility and, in the meantime, continue to use a room in the home of their Ḥakham, Avraham Ben-Raḥamiël Qanaï, as their temporary synagogue.

On 1 August 2007, some members of the first graduating class of Karaite Jewish University were converts, representing the first new officially authorized members into Karaite Judaism in 542 years. At a ceremony in its Northern California synagogue, ten adults and four minors joined the Jewish people by taking the same oath that Ruth took. The group's course of study lasted over one year. This conversion comes 15 years after the Karaite Council of Sages reversed its centuries-old ban on accepting converts. On 17 February 2009, the second graduating class of converts took the oath. This included 11 adults and 8 minors.

There are about 80 Karaites living in Istanbul, Turkey, where the only Karaite synagogue in Turkey, the Kahal haKadosh Bene Mikra, is still functional (on Shabbat and holy days) in the Hasköy neighborhood in the European part of the city.

In Poland, Karaites are a recognized minority, represented by the Association of Polish Karaites (Związek Karaimów Polskich) and the Karaite Religious Association in the Polish Republic (Karaimski Związek Religijny w Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej). Karaites live primarily in and around Warsaw, Wrocław and Tricity; they are linguistically assimilated.

A small, primarily online, Karaite community, Congregation Bnei Mikra, was founded in Pyeongtaek, South Korea in November 2022 by a formerly Rabbinical, American soldier. It is affiliated with Eastern European Karaism.

In Switzerland there is also a Karaite Jewish community: the Karaite Jews of Europe (KJE). This community is accepted by the Universal Karaite Judaism (UKJ) in Israel and the Karaite Jews of America (KJA), its members are also recognized as Jews by the Israeli State. Aliyah to Israel is also possible for converts. The community follows the traditional Egyptian-style rite. In Eglisau, a small community center with a prayer- room is run and is supported by Hakham Meir Yosef Rekhavi. The Karaite Jewish University is maintained together with the KJA and UKJ.

In 2016, the Religious Council of Karaite Jews unanimously reelected their chief rabbi, Rabbi Moshe Firrouz, for another four-year term. Firrouz has been serving as chief rabbi since 2011.

Karaism in Rabbinic Jewish opinion
Rabbinic Judaism's scholars, such as Maimonides, write that people who deny the divine authority of the Oral Torah are to be considered among the heretics. However, at the same time, Maimonides holds (Hilkhot Mamrim 3:3) that most of the Karaites and others who claim to deny the "oral teachings" are not to be held accountable for their errors in the law because they are led into error by their parents and are similar to a tinok shenishba (a captive baby), or to one who was forced.

Rabbinic scholars have traditionally held that, because the Karaites do not observe the rabbinic law on divorce, there is a strong presumption that they are mamzerim (adulterine bastards), so that marriage with them is forbidden even if they return to Rabbinic Judaism. Some recent Ashkenazi Ḥaredi scholars have held that Karaites should be regarded as Gentiles in all respects, though this is not universally accepted. They hasten to add that this opinion is not intended to insult the Karaites, but only to give individual Karaites the option of integrating into mainstream Judaism by way of conversion. In contrast, in 1971, Ovadia Yosef, who was then the Chief Rabbi of the Sefaradim and ‘Edot HaMizraḥ of Israel, proclaimed that Egyptian Karaites are Jews and that it is permissible for Rabbinic Jews to marry with them.

In response to the position taken by the Karaites in regards to the authority of the Talmud, Orthodox Judaism counters first that the majority of the Oral Law codified in the Mishnah and Talmud are the legal rulings of the last Sanhedrin, a body of 71 elders that made up the highest court of jurisprudence in ancient Israel, and that not all of the Oral Law are literally "Laws given to Moses on Mount Sinai". The decisions made by this High Court must be upheld, per se the Law of Moses (Deuteronomy 17), this gives their legal rulings divine authority. Karaites reject the authority of this Sanhedrin that developed during the second Temple period partly because it was an admixture of different people and not just priests and levites as mandated by the Torah. The Sanhedrin also took legal authority away from the descendants of Zadok who served as priests in the Temple in Jerusalem. This is essentially the same view held by the Sadducees and Boethusians during the second Temple period. Secondly, Rabbinic Judaism points to the innumerable examples of biblical commandments that are either too ambiguous or documented in such a concise fashion that proper adherence could not be enforced on a national scale without the further legislation provided by the Talmud. Karaites respond that the Torah itself states "this law I am commanding you is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not in the heavens, to say, who shall ascend into the heavens and bring it to us, and cause us to understand it, that we do it?" indicating the Torah could easily be understood by the average Israelite. Examples cited in Rabbinic Judaism as laws requiring rabbinic explanation include:
 * Tefillin: As indicated in Deuteronomy 6:8 among other places, tefillin are to be placed on the arm and on the head between the eyes. However, there are no details provided regarding what tefillin are or how they are to be constructed. Karaites, however, argue that since other passages in the Tanakh with similar language are read metaphorically, the verses from which the Rabbis derive the law of tefillin should also be read metaphorically.
 * Kashrut laws: As indicated in Exodus 23:19 among other places, a kid may not be boiled in its mother's milk. In addition to numerous other problems with understanding the ambiguous nature of this law, there are no vowelization characters in the Torah; they are provided by the Masoretic tradition. This is particularly relevant to this commandment, as the Hebrew word for milk is identical to the word for fat when vowels are absent. Without the oral tradition, it is not known whether the violation is in mixing meat with milk or with fat. Karaites maintain the vowels of the text have been preserved by the Masoretes who themselves were Karaites.
 * Shabbat laws: With the severity of Sabbath violation, namely the death penalty, one would assume that direction would be provided as to how exactly such a serious and core commandment should be upheld. However, there is little to no information as to what can and cannot be performed on the Sabbath. Karaites, nonetheless, do keep the Shabbat according to their own traditions and interpretations, as described in the section above.
 * Mezuzah: Deuteronomy 6:9 is sometimes interpreted to mean that a mezuzah needs to be placed on the doorposts of a house. However, there are no details regarding where on the doorpost, if it is all doorposts or just one, what words go in it, how the words should be written or how the mezuzah should be constructed. As with the passage from which the rabbis derive the tradition of teffilin Karaites state this passage is also intended to be understood metaphorically and not literally.

Orthodox Judaism also notes that the Torah was never meant to be observed as a personal covenant between the individual Jew and God, but a national covenant wherein the Torah functions as the constitution of Israel as a whole. Orthodox Jews point out that the Torah could never be enforced as a national law, as it was during the time of Joshua, King David, and Ezra, if every individual Jew had their own opinion on how to observe its commandments. In order for the Torah to properly govern the Jewish people, and for its laws be legally enforced with the punishments and penalties prescribed in the Torah, those laws must be legislated and clearly defined by a ruling Sanhedrin. Karaites counter that the enforcement of the Torah on a national scale can only be legislated by the descendants of Zadok in the Temple in Jerusalem as per the Torah (Deuteronomy 17) and prophets (Ezekiel 44) not by a collection of opinions by various rabbis.

For Karaites, in sum, the rabbinic interpretations above, as codified in oral law, are only one form of interpretation. They are not divinely ordained, and they are neither binding halakhah nor practical religious law.

Rabbinical classification of a Jew
The child of a Karaite mother is regarded as halakhically Jewish by the Orthodox Rabbinate. By contrast, somebody who is patrilineally Jewish (one whose father is Jewish) is regarded as a Jew by the Mo′eṣet HaḤakhamim (the Karaite Council of Sages) on the condition that they were raised Jewish during childhood. Although it is widely accepted that Karaite Jews are halakhically Jewish (apparently with the exception of those who join the Jewish people through the Karaite movement), there is still a question as to whether or not marriage between the Karaite and Rabbinite communities is permitted. Two Sephardi chief rabbis, Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron and Ovadia Yosef encouraged such marriages, hoping it would help Karaites to assimilate into mainstream Judaism. Maimonides decreed that Jews raised in a Karaite household are considered to be Tinoq she'Nishba, like babies taken captive by non-Jews; they cannot be punished for their supposedly wayward behavior, because it is the result of their parents' influence.

In 2013, The Economist reported, "rabbis working for Israel's ministry of religion deemed Karaite marriages invalid, fined their butchers for claiming to be kosher, and demanded that Karaites marrying Orthodox Jewish women should convert, sometimes having to undergo tavila, or baptism." The chief rabbinate's spokesman told The Economist that "Israel is a Jewish state and Jews have superior rights. But the Karaites are not Jewish." R. Moshe Firrouz, head of the Karaites' Council of Sages, protested, saying that "the rabbinate is denying us our religious freedom."

title: Karaite Judaism


text:
Amo

Amo or AMO may refer to:

Places

 * Amo, Indiana, United States, a town in Hendricks County
 * Amo Creek, a river in Alaska
 * Amu Darya, a river in Central Asia, sometimes referred to as "Amo"
 * Amo Township, Cottonwood County, Minnesota
 * Kampong Amo, a village in Brunei
 * Mao Airport (IATA code: AMO), serving the town of Mao, Chad
 * Mukim Amo, a mukim of Brunei

People

 * Amo (surname)
 * Adam Morrison or Amo (born 1984), American professional basketball player
 * Anton Wilhelm Amo, 18th century philosopher

Arts, entertainment, and media

 * Amo (TV series), a 2017 Philippine crime drama series
 * AMO (band), a Slovak band
 * Amo (Bring Me the Horizon album), 2019
 * Amo (Miguel Bosé album), or the title track, 2014
 * AMO, a character in the animated series Adventure Time episodes "The More You Moe, the Moe You Know"
 * "Amo", a 2022 song by Swedish rapper Dani M

Organizations

 * AMO, the research arm of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture
 * Advanced Medical Optics, a corporation specializing in eye care products
 * American Maritime Officers, a labor union
 * Archery Trade Association or Archery Manufacturer and Merchant's Organization
 * Association of Municipalities of Ontario
 * Australian Music Online, an Australian music website
 * Avtomobilnoe Moskovskoe Obshchestvo or Zavod Imeni Likhocheva, a Soviet automobile factory

Computing and technology

 * addons.mozilla.org, also known as Mozilla Add-ons, the Mozilla Foundation's official online repository
 * Analysis services Management Object model, the administration and management object model in Microsoft Analysis Services
 * Atomic Memory Operation, a special kind of an Atomic Operation in programming

Healthcare and science

 * Ablation of osteosynthesis material, a medical procedure, also known in French as ablation du matériel d'ostéosynthèse
 * Ammonia monooxygenase, an enzyme
 * Atlantic multidecadal oscillation, a climate cycle expressed in the North Atlantic sea surface temperature
 * Atomic, molecular, and optical physics

Other uses

 * Amo language
 * Wharenui or amo, an architectural feature of a Māori meeting house
 * Karuka is called amo in the Imbongu language

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Amo


text:
User:Iain Butler

Welcome to my User Page!
Pending Update - will be adding more current material here shortly.

84.71.123.177 (talk) 22:38, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

title: User:Iain Butler


text:
ZIS

ZIS may refer to:

 * Alzintan Airport in Zintan, Libya (IATA airport code ZIS)
 * Zavod imeni Stalina; several enterprises in the former Soviet Union and its products trademarked as "ZiS"
 * Zentrum für Internationale Studien der TU Dresden, School of International Studies of the Dresden University of Technology in Germany
 * Zhuhai International School in Zhuhai, China
 * Zurich International School in Zurich, Switzerland
 * Zingiberene synthase, an enzyme

title: ZIS


text:
Prince Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi

Prince Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi, (29 January 1873 – 18 March 1933) was an Italian mountaineer and explorer, briefly Infante of Spain as son of Amadeo I of Spain, member of the royal House of Savoy and cousin of the Italian King Victor Emmanuel III. He is known for his Arctic explorations and for his mountaineering expeditions, particularly to Mount Saint Elias and K2. He also served as an Italian admiral during World War I. He created Villaggio Duca degli Abruzzi in Italian Somalia during his last years of life.

Early years
He was born in Madrid, Spain as the third oldest son of Prince Amadeo of Savoy, Duke of Aosta and his first wife Donna Maria Vittoria dal Pozzo della Cisterna. Prince Luigi Amedeo was a grandson of King Vittorio Emanuele II of Italy. He was born during his father's brief reign as King Amadeo of Spain. His siblings are Prince Emanuele Filiberto, Prince Vittorio Emanuele, and Prince Umberto. Shortly after his birth, his father, who had reigned in Spain since 1870, abdicated and returned to Italy in 1873. Prince Luigi Amedeo was a member of the House of Savoy, well known in Europe since the 12th century. His uncle became King Umberto I of Italy in 1878, and his cousin became King Vittorio Emanuele III in 1900.

The title Duke of the Abruzzi (Italian: Duca degli Abruzzi) was created by King Umberto I in 1890 for Luigi Amedeo, who was a son of the abdicating King of Spain Amadeus and initially was given the title of Infante of Spain. His ducal title referred to the central Italian region of Abruzzo.

From 1893 to 1896, Luigi Amedeo traveled around the world, including Eritrea, then an Italian possession, and Vancouver. In September 1893, he traveled to Italian Somaliland to quell the unrest and stayed for a month to guard the port of Mogadishu, giving him his first contact with a land to which he would later devote the last years of his life and in which he would choose to die. He had begun to train as a mountaineer in 1892 on Mont Blanc and Monte Rosa (Italian Alps): in 1897 he made the first ascent of Mount Saint Elias (Canada/U.S., 5,489 m). There the expedition searched for a mirage, known as the Silent City of Alaska, that natives and prospectors claimed to see over a glacier. C. W. Thornton, a member of the expedition, wrote: "It required no effort of the imagination to liken it to a city, but was so distinct that it required, instead, faith to believe that it was not in reality a city."

Arctic expedition
In 1898, Prince Luigi Amedeo organized an expedition towards the North Pole and consulted the famous polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen that had sailed the furthest north with the Colin Archer-built polar ship Fram in 1893–1896. In 1899 Amedeo acquired Jason, a steam whaler of 570 tons. He renamed her Stella Polare and took her to Colin Archer's shipyard in Larvik, Norway. The interior was stripped out and beams, diagonals and knees heavily strengthened the ship.

In the spring of 1899 he arrived in the Norwegian capital Christiania with ten companions and Stella Polare ("Pole Star") took the expedition through the frozen sea. On 12 June they headed for Archangel (Arkhangelsk). On 30 June Stella Polare dropped anchor in the docks of Arkhangelsk and the duke was solemnly received by Governor Engelhardt. The same day, Prince Luigi Amedeo was invited to meet the local authorities and the present foreign diplomats.

On 7 July, a local newspaper wrote:

 * The city theatre arranged an extraordinary spectacle in the presence of the Duke of the Abruzzi. The drama The princess of Baghdad, consisting of three acts, was performed. Before the curtain was raised the orchestra had played the Italian royal anthem...

Later the duke himself wrote about his stay in Arkhangelsk: "Our departure was set for July 12. Early in the morning the church was open to us and we, although being Catholic, were allowed to join the mass. In the afternoon all the dogs were brought back on board to their kennels. In the evening the Stella Polare put out and was escorted by two steamers down the Dvina. I still remained on shore, as well as Doctor Cavalli, in order to spend the evening together with our Italian friends. Next evening we left Arkhangel’sk. During the whole journey we saw flags being hoisted to welcome us..."

Twenty men took part in the expedition, among them Captain Umberto Cagni, Lieutenant F. Querini and Doctor A. Cavalli Molinelli. They planned to go to Franz Joseph Land, in the Arctic wilderness, to establish a camp in which to stay during winter time and, afterwards, to reach the North Pole by dogsled across the frozen sea.

Prince Luigi Amedeo established the winter camp on Rudolf Island. The expedition was to start at the end of the Arctic night. The duke lost two fingers during winter because of the cold, which made it impossible for him to join the trip by sledge. He left the command over the pole expedition to Captain Cagni. On 11 March 1900, Cagni left the camp and reached latitude 86° 34’ on 25 April, setting a new record by beating Nansen's result of 1895 by 35 to 40 km. Cagni barely managed to return to the camp on 23 June. On 16 August Stella Polare left Rudolf Island heading south and the expedition returned to Norway. During the expedition, the northern coast of Rudolf Island and two other islands were explored and measured.

Later years
In 1906, inspired by Henry Morton Stanley's last wishes, the Duke led an expedition to the Ruwenzori Range (5,125 m), in Uganda. He scaled sixteen summits in the range, including the six principal peaks. One of them, Mount Luigi di Savoia, bears his name. The highest peak was reached on 18 June 1906. His next great expedition, in 1909, aimed to climb K2 in Karakoram. A team led by Prince Luigi Amedeo reached a height of 6,250 m on the ridge. The standard route up the mountain (formerly known as K2's East Ridge) climbs today on the Abruzzi Spur.

In an attempt on Chogolisa he and his companions again failed to reach the summit, but set a world altitude record, a height of approximately 7,500 m (24,600 ft) before turning around just 150 m below the summit due to bad weather.

In the Italian Navy
A vice-admiral in the Italian Royal Navy (Regia Marina), he was Inspector of Torpedo Craft from 1911 to 1912. During World War I, he was the Commander-in-Chief of the Italian Fleet (1914–1917) based in Taranto, his flagship being the ITALIAN BATTLESHIP Conte di Cavour. Under the duke, the Regia Marina was responsible for saving the Army of the Kingdom of Serbia. In February 1917, he was replaced by Paolo Thaon di Revel, under pressure from the British and French allies. In February 1918, he was promoted to admiral, but played no further role of importance.

The Explorers Club in New York elected the duke to its highest category of membership — Honorary Member — in 1912.

The duke assisted Italian dictator Benito Mussolini with the Italo-Ethiopian Treaty of 1928. He traveled to Addis Ababa with gifts. One gift, a Fiat 3000 tank, ended up playing a role in crushing the abortive coup d'état of 1928.

In 1932, the duke was briefly the president of the newly merged Italian Line of steamships. In 1931, combining all of Italy's transatlantic carriers into the Italian Line was one of Mussolini's biggest business deals. However, the duke resigned soon after SS Rex broke down at Gibraltar. According to him, "My reason is that I have been unable to achieve harmony among executives who formerly headed competing lines."

Italian Somaliland
In 1918, the Duke returned to Italian Somaliland. In 1920, he founded the "Village of the Duke of Abruzzi" (Villaggio Duca degli Abruzzi or Villabruzzi) some ninety kilometres north of Mogadishu. It was an agricultural settlement experimenting with new cultivation techniques.

By 1926, the colony comprised 16 villages, with 3,000 Somali and 200 Italian (Italian Somalis) inhabitants. Abruzzi raised funds for a number of development projects in the town, including roads, dams, schools, hospitals, a church and a mosque.

He died in the village on 18 March 1933.

In the late 1930s, the village area was one of the most socio-economically developed in eastern Africa. The area around the "Villaggio Duca degli Abruzzi" was the most agriculturally developed of Somalia before World War II and had some important food industries.

After Italian Somaliland was officially dissolved in 1947, the town was later renamed to Jowhar.

Personal life
In the early years of the twentieth century, Abruzzi was in a relationship with Katherine Hallie "Kitty" Elkins, daughter of the wealthy American senator Stephen Benton Elkins, but Abruzzi's cousin King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy refused to grant him permission to marry a commoner. His brother, Emanuele Filiberto, to whom Luigi was very close, persuaded him to give up the relationship. His brother later approved of young Antoinette "Amber" Brizzi, the daughter of Quinto Brizzi, one of the largest vineyard owners in Northern Italy. Despite this, Abruzzi was never officially married; however, in the later years of his life, Abruzzi had a relationship and deep romantic partnership with Faduma Ali, a young Somali woman who stayed by his side even while he was on his deathbed.

Scientific works

 * La Stella Polare nel Mare Artico 1899-1900 (1902)
 * On the "Pole Star" in the Arctic Sea (1903) by H.R.H. Luigi Amadeo of Savoy, (Duke of the Abruzzi), translated by William Le Queux, 2 vols.
 * Osservazioni scientifiche, eseguite durante la spedizione polare di S.A.R. Luigi Amedeo di Savoia (1903, with Umberto Cagni and Cavalli-Molinelli)

Animal named in honor
A species of African lizard, Leptosiaphos aloysiisabaudiae, is named in honor of Prince Luigi Amedeo.

Honours

 * Kingdom of Italy:
 * Knight of the Supreme Order of the Most Holy Annunciation, 2 May 1893
 * Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus, 2 May 1893
 * Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown of Italy, 2 May 1893
 * Commander of the Military Order of Savoy, 16 March 1913; Grand Officer, 29 December 1916; Grand Cross, 7 February 1924
 * Knight of the Civil Order of Savoy
 * Sovereign Military Order of Malta: Knight of Honour and Devotion of the Military Order of Malta
 * Empire of Japan: Grand Cordon of the Order of the Chrysanthemum, 19 June 1895
 * undefined:
 * Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, 21 November 1899
 * Founder's Medal, 1901
 * 🇸🇪 Sweden: Knight of the Royal Order of the Seraphim, 11 September 1900
 * United States: Cullum Geographical Medal, 1903
 * Siam: Knight of the Most Illustrious Order of the Royal House of Chakri, 2 January 1904
 * 🇦🇱 Albania: Grand Cordon of the Order of the Black Eagle, 1914
 * undefined: Grand Cross of the Royal and Distinguished Order of Charles III, with Collar, 1928


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Cockburn Town

Cockburn Town  is the capital of the Turks and Caicos Islands, spreading across most of Grand Turk Island. It was founded in 1681 by salt collectors.

Geography
Cockburn Town is located on the largest island in the Turks Islands archipelago, Grand Turk. Historic 18th and 19th century Bermudian architecture lines Duke and Front Streets in the town. The town is known for its long, narrow streets and old street lamps.

The closest anchorage to Cockburn Town is Hawk's Nest Anchorage, which, though sheltered, should only be entered in good light because of reefs near the entrance.

History
The seat of government ever since 1766, Cockburn Town was the first permanent settlement on any of the islands, founded in 1681 by salt collectors who arrived in the Turks and Caicos Islands. The city supposedly lies on the place where Juan Ponce de León first landed on the island. It is named for Francis Cockburn, former Governor of the Bahamas.

National Museum

Cockburn Town is home to the Turks & Caicos National Museum, which is housed in the colonial-era Guinep House, on Front Street. The house is believed to be over 180 years old and much of its structural material came from local shipwrecks, including a ship's mast, which is one of the building's main supports. The site was donated to the Museum in 1990.

Among the National Museum's collections is an exhibit of shipwrecks, including the oldest known European shipwreck in the Americas, the Molasses Reef Wreck, dated 1505.

Other exhibits detail the history of the Lucayans, the Space Race, Turks and Caicos postage stamps, slavery and the history of the slave trade, the sisal and salt industries, royal events, as well as a general history of the islands. The museum also maintains a garden, which is adjacent to the Guinep House.

Also of interest are the museum's research projects, including its Message in a Bottle Project, recording nearly 40 years' worth of messages to wash upon the shores of Grand Turk.

Her Majesty's Prison
"Her Majesty's Prison" on Pond Street was built in the 1830s and remained in operation until 1994. In addition to the main cell block and offices for prison officials, it hosts a bell tower and its own museum.

Climate
Grand Turk has a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen BSh) with summer-like weather occurring all year round and a rainier season from September to December when the northeastern trade winds are strongest and hurricanes common.

Education
The sole high school is HJ Robinson High School.

title: Cockburn Town


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Plaistow tube station

Plaistow ( or    ) is a London Underground station on Plaistow Road in the London Borough of Newham in Greater London. It is between West Ham and Upton Park stations on the District and Hammersmith & City lines, and in Travelcard Zone 3.

History
The London, Tilbury and Southend Railway direct line from Bow to Barking was constructed east to west through the middle of the Parish of West Ham in 1858. Before this, trains took a longer route to the north via Stratford and Forest Gate on the Eastern Counties Railway's line. The new line opened with stations initially at Bromley, Plaistow and East Ham. Upton Park was added as a new station to the east in 1877 and West Ham was added to the west in 1901. From 18 May 1869 the North London Railway ran a daily service to Plaistow via the Bow–Bromley curve, terminating at the northern bay platform. In 1905 the service switched to a new bay platform on the southern side. The North London Railway service to Plaistow ceased on 1 January 1916.

With the completion of the Whitechapel and Bow Railway in 1902 the line was doubled to four tracks and through services of the Metropolitan District Railway (commonly known as the District Railway) were able to operate to Upminster. The District Railway converted to electric trains in 1905 and services were cut back to East Ham. The District Railway was incorporated into London Transport in 1933, and became known as the District line.

The 1947 timetable shows only a few services a day on the main lines and a frequent service provided by the District line. The remaining Fenchurch Street–Southend services were withdrawn in 1962 when the LT&SR route was electrified with overhead lines.

Ownership of the station passed to the Midland Railway in 1912 and the London, Midland and Scottish Railway in 1923. After nationalisation of the railways in 1948 management of the station passed to British Railways. In 1969 ownership was transferred to the London Underground.

Design
The station has three platforms in use, comprising two through platforms and a third bay platform enabling eastbound trains to terminate and reverse back to central London. Two other platforms used to serve the LTSR line but are now closed and derelict; c2c trains pass through non-stop. Plaistow used to have sidings on the north side of the line, but the site is now derelict, having formerly been occupied by a Dagenham Motors car showroom.

The station booking hall, built in 1905, is the subject of a local listing which, while not conferring any additional planning controls on a building under current legislation, encourages the proper consideration of a building's architectural or historic interest(s) in the exercise of normal planning controls.

Works and engine sheds
Plaistow railway works were built adjacent to the station on the north side of the line to the west of the station in 1879 to 1880. A separate engine shed was opened in 1899 adjoining the western end of the works. The locomotive works closed in 1925, with responsibility being transferred to Bow railway works which were a short distance away. Carriage and wagon work lasted until 1932 when that work was transferred to Wolverton railway works.

On 30 September 1911 a new depot—initially called "West Ham"—opened on the south side of the line and this became a Midland Railway depot in 1912 when the Midland Railway took over the London Tilbury and Southend Railway (LTSR) and then a London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) shed in 1923 following the grouping, when it was allocated the 13a depot code. Following nationalization in 1948 the depot was initially part of British Railways London Midland Region, although on 20 February 1949 it transferred to the Eastern Region. The depot code was changed to 33A which it retained until November 1959. From then until closure in 1962 it was a sub-shed of Tilbury (33B), then closed following electrification of the LTSR system.

In 1950 Plaistow had an allocation of 83 locomotives, the majority (70) of which were tank engines for passenger traffic to and from Fenchurch Street with 6 freight engines and 7 shunting engines making up the balance.

Location
Although there is no station car park, there is a Newham London Borough Council-run pay and display car park to the immediate south, connected by a set of steps. This was closed for neighbouring building works that were expected to run until 2023.

Buses
London Buses routes 69, 241, 262 and 473 serve the station.

title: Plaistow tube station


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Peter Irons

Peter H. Irons (born August 11, 1940) is an American political activist, civil rights attorney, legal scholar, and professor emeritus of political science. He has written many books on the U.S. Supreme Court and constitutional litigation.

Education
Irons graduated from Antioch College (an early incubator of progressive politics).

He embarked on his current path in 1963 when he was sentenced to three years imprisonment at the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Connecticut for refusing military induction on the ground that the Federal government perpetuated racial discrimination. While serving most of that sentence, he began corresponding with Howard Zinn, who sent him books on civil liberties and American politics. His conviction was ultimately reversed by a federal judge on the ground of prosecutorial misconduct. Later, President Gerald Ford granted him a pardon for refusing induction.

Career
Irons completed a PhD at Boston University in 1973. Afterwards, Zinn helped arrange for him to work at a law firm defending Daniel Ellsberg, who was under federal prosecution at the time for stealing the Pentagon Papers. His work at the law firm would later serve as motivation for him to pursue a J.D. degree from Harvard Law School, which he received in 1978.

Upon graduating, he taught at Boston College Law School and the University of Massachusetts before moving to the University of California, San Diego. There in 1982 he established the Earl Warren Bill of Rights Project, of which he is the director. He was chosen in 1988 as the first Raoul Wallenberg Distinguished Visiting Professor of Human Rights at Rutgers University. He has lectured on constitutional law and civil liberties at the law schools of Harvard, Yale, Berkeley, Stanford, and more than 20 other schools.

He was also elected to two terms on the national board of the American Civil Liberties Union.

In addition to teaching and authoring several books, he has also helped reopen the wartime internment cases of Fred Korematsu, Minoru Yasui, and Gordon Hirabayashi. Judge Marilyn Hall Patel heard the Korematsu case.

He is an Emeritus Professor of Political Science at the University of California, San Diego and an author on legal history. He retired from the university in 2004 and now devotes some of his time to causes that interest him. He has undertaken some legal work in issues of the separation of church and state and written some articles for the Montana Law Review.

Starting in 1989, Irons represented the plaintiffs in the Mount Soledad case in San Diego, pro bono. He discontinued his involvement in the case in 1998 when threats made him fear for the safety of his two daughters.

Awards

 * 1984 – Durfee Award
 * 1986 – UCSD certificate of excellence
 * 1989 – Ceil Podoloff Award by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
 * 1989 – American Bar Association Certificate of Merit award The Courage of Their Convictions: Sixteen Americans Who Fought Their Way to the U.S. Supreme Court

Books

 * 2000 Silver Gavel Award Honorable Mention
 * 2000 Silver Gavel Award Honorable Mention
 * 2000 Silver Gavel Award Honorable Mention
 * 2000 Silver Gavel Award Honorable Mention
 * 2000 Silver Gavel Award Honorable Mention
 * 2000 Silver Gavel Award Honorable Mention
 * 2000 Silver Gavel Award Honorable Mention
 * 2000 Silver Gavel Award Honorable Mention
 * 2000 Silver Gavel Award Honorable Mention
 * 2000 Silver Gavel Award Honorable Mention
 * 2000 Silver Gavel Award Honorable Mention

 * 2003 Silver Gavel Award Winner
 * 2003 Silver Gavel Award Winner
 * 2003 Silver Gavel Award Winner

title: Peter Irons


text:
Mount Saint Elias

Mount Saint Elias (Was'eitushaa also designated Boundary Peak 186), the second-highest mountain in both Canada and the United States, stands on the Yukon and Alaska border about 26 mi southwest of Mount Logan, the highest mountain in Canada. The Canadian side of Mount Saint Elias forms part of Kluane National Park and Reserve, while the U.S. side of the mountain is located within Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve.

History and features
The name of the mountain in Tlingit, Yasʼéitʼaa Shaa or Was'eitushaa, means "mountain behind Icy Bay"; the Yakutat Tlingit occasionally call it Shaa Tlein "Big Mountain". It is one of the most important crests of the Kwaashkʼiḵwáan clan, who used it as a guide during their journey down the Copper River. Mount Fairweather at the apex of the British Columbia and Alaska borders at the head of the Alaska Panhandle is known as Tsalx̱aan; legend states that this mountain and Yasʼéitʼaa Shaa (Mt. St. Elias) originally stood next to each other, but had an argument and separated. Their children, the mountains in between the two peaks, are called Tsalx̱aan Yátxʼi ("Children of Tsalxaan").

European explorers first sighted the mountain on July 16, 1741, with the arrival of the expedition commanded by Vitus Bering, a Danish explorer in service of Russia. While some historians contend that Bering named the mountain, others believe that eighteenth-century mapmakers named it after Cape Saint Elias when Bering left the peak unnamed.

Mount Saint Elias is notable for its immense vertical relief. Its summit rises 18008 ft vertically in just 10 mi horizontal distance from the head of Taan Fjord, off of Icy Bay.

In 2007 Gerald Salmina directed an Austrian documentary film, Mount St. Elias, about a team of skier/mountaineers determined to make "the planet's longest skiing descent" by ascending the mountain and then skiing nearly all 18,000 feet down to the Gulf of Alaska; the movie finished editing and underwent limited release in 2009. The climbers ended up summiting on the second attempt and skiing down to 13000 ft.

Climbing history
Mt. St. Elias was first climbed on July 31, 1897, by an Italian expedition led by famed explorer Prince Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi, (who also reconnoitered the current standard route on K2 in 1909 ) and included noted mountain photographer Vittorio Sella.

The second ascent was not until 1946, when a group from the Harvard Mountaineering Club including noted mountain historian Dee Molenaar climbed the Southwest Ridge route. The summit party comprised Molenaar, his brother Cornelius, Andrew and Betty Kauffman, Maynard Miller, William Latady, and Benjamin Ferris. William Putnam was a member of the expedition but did not make the summit. They used eleven camps, eight of which were on the approach from Icy Bay, and three of which were on the mountain. They were supported by multiple air drops of food.

The first winter ascent was made on February 13, 1996, by David Briggs, Gardner Heaton and Joe Reichert. After being flown by pilots Steve Ranney and Gary Graham, in to 2300 ft on the Tyndall Glacier, they climbed the southwest ridge and followed the "Milk Bowl" variation in order to avoid 2,000 feet of loose rock on the normal route. The team had originally planned to begin their ascent from the ocean and cross the Tyndall Glacier but the terrain was in very poor condition.

Mount Saint Elias is infrequently climbed today, despite its height, because it has no easy route to the summit and because of its prolonged periods of bad weather (mainly snow and low visibility).

Routes

 * Abruzzi Ridge
 * Livermore Ridge

title: Mount Saint Elias


text:
Talk:Mount Saint Elias

Assessment comment
Substituted at 00:32, 30 April 2016 (UTC)

title: Talk:Mount Saint Elias


text:
National Liberation Front of Tripura

The National Liberation Front of Tripura (abbreviated NLFT) is a banned Tripuri nationalist terrorist organisation based in Tripura, India. It has an estimated 550 to 850 members.

The NLFT seeks to secede from India and establish an independent Tripuri state and is an active participant in the Insurgency in Northeast India.

The NLFT is currently designated as a terrorist organization in India.

History
With the increased immigration of Bengalis from the Bangladesh and West Bengal in the aftermath of one of the worst ethnic riots, the NLFT was born in 1989 with the backing of the Baptist Church of Tripura. Since then, the NLFT has been advancing its cause through armed rebellion. In its constitution, the organization claims to represent the indigenous population which it claims has been marginalized by "the subjugation policy of imperialist Hindustani (India)"; its constitution makes no mention of any specific religion and claims to extend membership to "any person irrespective of caste, sex or creed". However, some people who have left the NLFT, including former area commander Nayanbashi Jamatia, include animists who are Hindu and animists personal religions and faiths.

The NLFT has been described as engaging in terrorist violence motivated by their. The NLFT is listed as a terrorist organization in the Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002. The state government contends that the Baptists of Tripura supply arms and give financial support to the NLFT. In April 2000, according to the state government, the secretary of the Noapara Freedom Front in Tripura, Nagmanlal Halam, was arrested with explosives and confessed that for two years he had been buying explosives for the NLFT. In 2000, the NLFT threatened to kill Hindus celebrating the religious festival of Durga Puja. At least 20 in Tripura have been killed in two years for resisting forced conversion to Christianity. A leader of the Jamatia tribe, Rampada Jamatia, said that armed NLFT militants were forcibly converting tribal villagers to Christianity which he said was a serious threat to peace These forcible conversions back to Christianity sometimes including the use of "rape as a means of intimidation," were noted by academics outside of India in 2007.

In accordance with its stated goal of turning Tripura into the "land of Tripura free of Bengalis", the NLFT has told tribal communities to do act cleansing Tripura from Bengalis. This has caused the Bengali, Jamatia tribesmen and the predominantly animist Reangs to oppose the NLFT.

On August 7, 1998, 4 senior leaders of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) were kidnapped by the NLFT, and all 4 of them are now said to be dead.

In early 2000, 16 Bengali Hindus were killed by the NLFT at Gourangatilla. On 20 May 2000, the NLFT killed 25 Bengali Hindus at the Bagber refugee camp. In August 2000, a tribal Hindu spiritual leader, Shanti Kali, was shot dead by about ten NLFT guerrillas who said it wanted to convert all people in the state to Christianity. In December 2000, Labh Kumar Jamatia, a religious leader of the state's second largest Hindu group, was kidnapped by the NLFT, and found dead in a forest in Dalak village in southern Tripura. According to police, rebels from the NLFT wanted Jamatia to convert to Christianity, but he refused. A local Marxist tribal leader, Kishore Debbarma, was clubbed to death in Tripura's Sadar by militants from the Biswamohan faction of the NLFT in May 2005.

In 2001, there were 826 reported terrorist attacks in Tripura, in which 405 people lost their lives and 481 kidnappings were made by the NLFT and related organizations such as the Christian All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTP). Nagmanlal Halam, secretary of the Noapara Baptist Church in Tripura, was arrested for and confessed, under torture from police, to providing munitions and financial aid to the NLFT from 1998 until 2000.

The BBC reported in 2005 that independent investigations as well as confessions from surrendered members showed that the NLFT had been making and selling pornography to finance their activities. This includes DVDs of pornographic films made by the group with tribal men and women kidnapped and forced to participate in sex acts while being filmed. The movies are dubbed into various languages and sold illegally throughout the region for a profit. Statements from former members and one report state that the NLFT has a history of sexually abusing tribal women.

Though there are doubts arising as it was a paid propaganda.

According to the Institute for Conflict Management, approximately 90% of the NLFT's attacks were against Bengali's.

Factions
The NLFT was originally started by Dhananjoy Reang in March of 1989. Reang was removed from his position by a coup in 1993. After the coup, the group was briefly led by Nayanbasi Jamatiya, and then Biswamohan Debbarma took command, but some continued to follow Nayanbasi.

Cited causes of internal conflicts include the reluctance of Biswamohan Debbarma's Central Executive Committee to nominate Joshua Debbarma as the King of ‘Tripura Kingdom’; misappropriation of funds by senior leaders; lavish lifestyles led by the senior leadership; and forcible conversion of tribal cadres/civilians to Christianity.

Other leaders of the original NLFT included ‘Vice President’ Kamini Debbarma, ‘Publicity Secretary’ Binoy Debbarma, ‘Chief of Army’ Dhanu Koloi, and ‘Finance Secretary’ Bishnu Prasad Jamatiya.

Biswamohan faction
The Biswamohan faction (NLFT/BM) is earlier headed by Biswamohan Debbarma. In May 2017 In a meeting at an undisclosed location, selected Subir Debbarma alias Yamorok (45), as the new 'president' of the organization renaming it as the NLFT SD. It later signed a memorandum of Settlement with Government of India to abide by The Constitution of India & join the mainstream on 10 August 2019.

Upon the surrender of Mantu Koloi, second in command, he requested that Biswamohan Debbarma and Ranjit Debbarma engage in talks with the Government of India to resolve the crisis. This was sparked by the Bangladeshi government’s crackdown on hostile groups. The government there were able to do this by extensively searching the Sacherri jungles where the organization had many of its hideouts. However, both leaders vowed to fight on.

Nayanbasi faction
The Nayanbasi faction has approximately 50 sophisticated weapons, 50 persons in collaboration with the group, and 150 cadres in active duty. In January 2004, the Nayanbasi faction group sent a message to the Additional Director of General Police (ADG) with the intention to start peace talks. These meetings ultimately were not successful. Later that year it peacefully entered into a Memorandum of Settlement with India.

Location
The group has been banned from the Indian government since the Unlawful Activities Act of 1967. Therefore, the group operates from its headquarters in Khagrachari, a district in Bangladesh around 45 km from Simanapur. The National Liberation Front of Tripura has the ability to utilize this 856 km of the border that is unfenced and susceptible to invasion.

Attacks
The National Liberation Front of Tripura has conducted 81 attacks on various locations in South Asia and specifically in Tripura. Of these 81 attacks, handguns and firearms have been the most common weapon.

During the period 1992–2001 total of 764 civilians and 184 members of the security forces were killed in NLFT attacks, which also demanded lives of 124 members of the organization. Later, during the period 2005–2015, NLFT has been responsible for 317 incidents in which 28 security forces and 62 civilians lost their lives.

Objectives/Ideologies
A common ideology within the NLFT is Tripuri Nationalism. This has two components: a Tripura state that is for only the native citizens, and the Bengalis that inhabit Tripura have no political rights or power. Among the leadership and followers of the NLFT, there are a few common objectives that come to the surface when doing analysis on this group.

 * 1) To liberate Tripura from the union of India
 * 2) To deport all Indians and Bangladeshis who entered into Tripura after 1947.
 * 3) To restore alienated tribal lands

Peace Accord
Tripura Peace Accord is the tripartite accord signed-in on 10 August 2019 by the Government of India, Government of Tripura and the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) to end the insurgency.

The tripartite memorandum of understanding was signed by Satyendra Garg, Joint Secretary (Northeast) of Ministry of Home Affairs, Kumar Alok, Additional Chief Secretary (Home), Tripura and Sabir Kumar Debbarma and Kajal Debbarma of NLFT.

Flag
The NLFT has its own flag which consists of three colors: green, white, and red. The green portion of the flag symbolizes sovereignty over Tripura, the land to which they lay claim. The white portion of the flag signifies the peace they desire to. The color red represents the revolution and the blood that has been shed in the name of their revolution. The final part of the flag is the star which acts as the guiding light for the Borok during this struggle.

title: National Liberation Front of Tripura


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Greaves

Greaves may refer to:

 * Greave, armour that protects the leg (military)
 * Greaves (crater), a lunar crater near the southwest edge of Mare Crisium
 * Greaves (food), an edible by-product of the rendering process
 * Greaves (surname), people with the surname

title: Greaves


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Cay

A cay, also spelled caye or key, is a small, low-elevation, sandy island on the surface of a coral reef. Cays occur in tropical environments throughout the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans, including in the Caribbean and on the Great Barrier Reef and Belize Barrier Reef.

Etymology
The Taíno word for "island", cairi, became cayo in Spanish and "cay" in English (spelled "key" in American English).

Formation and composition

A cay forms when ocean currents transport loose sediment across the surface of a reef to where the current slows or converges with another current, releasing its sediment load. Gradually, layers of deposited sediment build up on the reef surface – a depositional node. Such nodes occur in windward or leeward areas of reefs, where flat surfaces sometimes rise around an emergent outcrop of old reef or beach rock.

The island resulting from sediment accumulation is made up almost entirely of the skeletal remains of plants and animals – biogenic sediment – from the surrounding reef ecosystems. If the accumulated sediments are predominantly sand, then the island is called a cay; if they are predominantly gravel, the island is called a motu.

Cay sediments are largely composed of calcium carbonate (CaCO$3$), primarily of aragonite, calcite, and high-magnesium calcite. They are produced by myriad plants (e.g., coralline algae, species of the green algae Halimeda) and animals (e.g., coral, molluscs, foraminifera). Small amounts of silicate sediment are also contributed by sponges and other creatures. Over time, soil and vegetation may develop on a cay surface, assisted by the deposition of sea bird guano.

Development and stability
A range of physical, biological and chemical influences determines the ongoing development or erosion of cay environments. These influences include:
 * the extent of reef surface sand accumulations,
 * changes in ocean waves, currents, tides, sea levels, and weather conditions,
 * the shape of the underlying reef,
 * the types and abundance of carbonate producing biota and other organisms such as binders, bioeroders, and bioturbators (creatures that bind, erode, and mix sediments) living in surrounding reef ecosystems.

Significant changes in cays and their surrounding ecosystems can result from natural phenomena such as severe El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycles. Also, tropical cyclones can either help build up or tear down these islands.

There is much debate and concern over the future stability of cays in the face of growing human populations and pressures on reef ecosystems, and predicted climate changes and sea level rise. There is also debate around whether these islands are relict features that effectively stopped expanding two thousand years ago during the late Holocene or, as recent research suggests, they are still growing, with significant new accumulation of reef sediments.

Understanding the potential for change in the sediment sources and supply of cay beaches with environmental change is an important key to predicting their stability. Despite, or perhaps because of, all the debate around the future of cays there is consensus that these island environments are very complex and fairly fragile.

Examples

Examples of cays include:

 * A few of the Florida Keys, such as Sand Key, are "cays" as defined above. (Most of the Florida Keys are exposed ancient coral reefs, and the oolite beds that formed behind reefs.)
 * Heron Island, Australia, a coral cay on the southern Great Barrier Reef
 * Prickly Pear Cays, Anguilla
 * Rama Cay, Nicaragua
 * Tobacco Caye, Dangriga, Belize
 * Warraber Island in central Torres Strait (-10.2°N, 142.81667°W), Australia, a small "vegetated sand cay" according to McLean and Stoddart (1978) and Hopley (1982). Approximately 750 x, this island is situated on the leeward surface of a large 11 km2 emergent reef platform. This cay and the surrounding reef flat formed in the Holocene, over a prior Pleistocene platform.
 * Elbow Cays, Bahamas
 * Great Goat Island, Jamaica
 * Ocean Cay
 * The Cays of Morrocoy, Venezuela

title: Cay


text: File:The Beatles 1 album cover.jpg

title: File:The Beatles 1 album cover.jpg