Footnote 6 – Essene Origins: Palestine or Babylonia?

Even before Solomon Schechter published the Damascus Document, scholars of Karaite history noted the similarities between the Essenes and Karaites. The Jewish Encyclopedia of 1902–1905 states that the Karaites “borrowed” from the Essenes. Other scholars reject this contention, however, arguing that “nowhere in early Karaite literature so far known is there mention of the discovery of pre-Karaite documents confirming the righteousness of the Karaite teachings” (Encyclopedia Judaica, Vol. 10, p. 762 (1972)).