Kabbalah
(Heb.,
kabalah; Yid.,
kabole) A general term for Jewish mysticism. Some distinguish between practical Kabbalah, which is more closely associated with
magic, and theoretical Kabbalah, which involves metaphysical exposition. [
See Mysticism;
and glossary entry Lurianic Kabbalah.]
Kahal
(lit., community) Until the mid-nineteenth century, the term
Kahal denoted the autonomous government of the Jewish community, which was called the
kehilah. [
See Kahal;
and glossary entry kehilah.]
Karaites
(from
bene mikra; “Scripturalists”) Jewish sect, characterized by its rejection of rabbinic authority and tradition, especially the Talmud. Karaism first emerged in Babylonia in the eighth and ninth centuries; its locus of activities shifted in the tenth and eleventh centuries to the
Land of Israel and subsequently to Egypt and then Byzantium. The presence of
Karaites in the Crimean peninsula is documented from the late thirteenth century. [
See Karaites.]
kehilah
(Yid.,
kehile) Jewish community or congregation. In twentieth-century
Poland the term denoted both the community and its autonomous government. [
See Kahal.]