A Glimpse of the Karaite World: Selections from the Egyptian Karaite Periodical al-Kalim

Al-Kalim first appeared in February 1945 and published twice monthly, apart from summer breaks, until it tailed off and finally folded in 1956. Much of the magazine’s coverage was devoted to Karaite communal politics. But politics and current affairs were by no means al-Kalim’s staple content. Articles on Jewish history, religious practices and holy texts appeared in virtually every issue, and the Hakham Akbar or Grand Hakham Tubiyah Simhah Lifi Babufitsh (Toviyyah ben Simhah Levi Babovitch) regularly contributed interviews or essays. With its wide-ranging subject matter, al-Kalim is a compendious resource for the study of the Karaites in Egypt during the 1940s and ’50s.