Seraya Shapshal: Difference between revisions
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After the war he lived in Troki and later Vilna, teaching at the [[Soviet]]-dominated Lithuanian Academy of Sciences. He co-authored of a [[Karaim language|Karaim]]-[[Russian language|Russian]]-[[Polish language|Polish]] [[dictionary]] (published in 1974) and wrote a number of articles on the Karaims of Crimea. His "History of the Karaims" remains unpublished. Part of his collections and books are kept in a small museum in the old [[kenesa]] of Troki, where he died in 1961. |
After the war he lived in Troki and later Vilna, teaching at the [[Soviet]]-dominated Lithuanian Academy of Sciences. He co-authored of a [[Karaim language|Karaim]]-[[Russian language|Russian]]-[[Polish language|Polish]] [[dictionary]] (published in 1974) and wrote a number of articles on the Karaims of Crimea. His "History of the Karaims" remains unpublished. Part of his collections and books are kept in a small museum in the old [[kenesa]] of Troki, where he died in 1961. |
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21 November 1905 Seraya Shapshal (the old name Samuil ben Moshe Shapshal wrote the {{letter}} to the {{Falasha}}s) where he described the religious life of the Karaims and theire origins. |
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As a result of misinformation propagating across the internet, many Jews now regard his actions as having condemned their co-religionists to extermination, and accuse him of making a "death list". However, Shapshal maintained that he was forced to act as he did in order to save Karaite Jews who would have perished if he had not. As a matter of fact,more than Shapshal, it was the rabbis interrogated by the Germans who lied to supporting the notion of a non-Jewish identity of the Karaim in order to save human lives. The antagonism between Karaites and those of a Rabbinical background is an age old conflict. Ironically, Karaylar are more inclined towards Rabbinical ideas than other Karaim. |
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==References== |
==References== |
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* Shapshal, S. M.: Karaimy SSSR v otnoshenii etnicheskom: karaimy na sluzhbe u krymskich chanov. Simferopol', 2004 |
* Shapshal, S. M.: Karaimy SSSR v otnoshenii etnicheskom: karaimy na sluzhbe u krymskich chanov. Simferopol', 2004 |
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* Shapshal, S. M.: Karaimskaya Zhizn'. St.Petersburg, 1905 |
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Revision as of 20:46, 30 July 2008
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Seraya Shapshal or Haji Seraya Han Shapshal (Karaim: Хаджи Серая Хан Шапшал; Russian: Серая (Сергей) Маркович Шапшал; Polish: Seraj Szapszal) (1873-1961) was a hakham and leader of the Crimean and then Lithuanian Karaim community.
Shapshal was born in Çufut Qale, Crimea and studied at St. Petersburg University, where he received a doctorate in philology and Oriental languages. He was invited to serve as the personal tutor of the Iranian crown prince, Mohammad Ali Shah, and became a minister in the Persian government in 1907 (rumor had it that he was a Russian spy[citation needed]). In 1911 he returned to Crimea and became Chief Hakham of the Crimean Karaite communities.
From 1919 to 1927 he lived in Istanbul. Here he was active in the pan-Turkic movement[citation needed]. In 1927 he moved to Vilna, and became the head of the Karaims in Poland and Lithuania. A philosophical disciple of Avraham Firkovich, he took Firkovich's ideas to extremes, denying any connection between Karaims and Rabbinic Jews. In 1941 he met with Nazi authorities and was instrumental in the formulation of their policy towards the Karaim. As Hakham of Vilna he was infamous for his confrontations with such Jewish community figures as Zelig Kalmanovich, and having given to the Nazis a detailed list of the members of the Karaim communities of Troki and Vilnius, allowing them to easily discover and arrest Jews who had forged papers stating that they were Karaims.
After the war he lived in Troki and later Vilna, teaching at the Soviet-dominated Lithuanian Academy of Sciences. He co-authored of a Karaim-Russian-Polish dictionary (published in 1974) and wrote a number of articles on the Karaims of Crimea. His "History of the Karaims" remains unpublished. Part of his collections and books are kept in a small museum in the old kenesa of Troki, where he died in 1961.
21 November 1905 Seraya Shapshal (the old name Samuil ben Moshe Shapshal wrote the class="template-letter-box | to the Template:Falashas) where he described the religious life of the Karaims and theire origins.
References
- Shapshal, S. M.: Karaimy SSSR v otnoshenii etnicheskom: karaimy na sluzhbe u krymskich chanov. Simferopol', 2004
- Shapshal, S. M.: Karaimskaya Zhizn'. St.Petersburg, 1905