Les Juifs de Lviv-Lwów (Lemberg) — communauté karaïte

Distinct from the large rabbinical Jewish community of Lwów (Lemberg), a Karaite community established itself in the region and practiced a Judaism based on Scripture alone, rejecting the rabbinical oral tradition. The Karaites of eastern Europe, present in Galicia, Volhynia, and Crimea, spoke Turkic languages (Karaim) and maintained their own liturgy and customs. Over the centuries, they were often regarded legally as a group separate from rabbinical Jews, a status that influenced their fate under various regimes. The small Karaite community of the Lwów region disappeared during the twentieth century, through emigration, assimilation, and the upheavals of the period.

Sources & resources

• The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe ↗
• Encyclopaedia Judaica — 2e éd., Keter/Macmillan