title: Karaite Judaism

text: The community leaders charged Abraham Firkovich (1786-1874) with gathering anything that could help show that Karaites were not in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus, and thus not responsible for the crucifixion. Through his work, Firkovich helped establish the idea among the Russian authorities that the Karaites, as descendants of the exiled northern kingdom of Israel, had already gone into exile centuries before the death of Jesus and thus had no responsibility for it. Firkovich referenced tombstones in Crimea (altering the dates) and gathered thousands of Karaite, Rabbinic, and Samaritan manuscripts, including one rabbinic document from Transcaucasia that claims that the Jews there were descendants of the exiles from the northern Kingdom of Israel.


title: Karaite Judaism

text: These actions convinced the Tsar that Karaite ancestors could not have killed Jesus and that thus their descendants were free of familial guilt.


title: Karaite Judaism

text: Despite this, within the community "Ḥakhamim" still taught that the Karaites were and had always been a part of the Jewish people; prayer was in Hebrew, the lineage of Kohens, Levites, and families of Davidic descent were meticulously preserved, and books printed in Hebrew adamantly identified the Karaites as Jews.


title: Karaite Judaism

text: By the early 20th century, most European Karaites were no longer very knowledgeable about the religion and Seraya Shapshal, a Karaite soldier of fortune who had been the tutor of the last Qajar Shah of Persia, Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar and a Russian spy, managed about 1911 to get himself elected Chief "Ḥakham" of the Karaites in the Russian Empire (by that time, due to Russian regulations, the position had become more of a political one than a spiritual one). Influenced by the Pan-Turkic movement in Turkey, Shapshal made his position into something of a Priest-king. He changed the title "Hakham" to ""Ḥakhan"" (a portmanteau between "Hakham" and the Mongol-Turkic title khan), forbade the use of Hebrew, and in the 1930s reintroduced Yahwist elements (such as the veneration of sacred oak trees in the cemetery). He also recognized both Jesus and Muhammad as prophets (in order to appease both the Tsarist Russian Orthodox government and the Muslim Turkic peoples).


title: Karaite Judaism

text: After the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, atheism became official state policy in Soviet territories and Karaite religious schools and places of worship were the very first religious institutions closed by the Soviet government. The authorities allowed only the teaching of Shapshalian doctrines about the Karaites, and the official stance according to Soviet law (carried over from Russian Imperial law) erroneously regarded the Karaites as Turkic descendants of the Khazars and not as Jews.


title: Karaite Judaism

text: Not all European Karaites accepted the Shapshalian doctrines. Some Hachamim and a small part of the general Karaite population still preserved their Jewish heritage, but most dared not oppose Shapshal openly due to his official standing with regard to the Soviet Union.


title: Karaite Judaism

text: The Karaite community in Egypt was considered one of the oldest and had existed in that country for about 1,300 years. Many interactions, including financial support, religious leadership positions and marriages, have taken place between the various Karaite communities, including those in Egypt, Turkey, Jerusalem and Crimea.


title: Karaite Judaism

text: A split emerged within the Karaite community of Egypt around the turn of the 20th century, between those now termed "progressives" and those termed "traditionalists". The progressives, of which noted writer and intellectual Murat Faraj Lisha‘ was at the forefront, called for a more liberal interpretation of "Halakha", along with societal reforms and greater solidarity with Rabbanites. The traditionalists were led by Chief "Hakham" Tubiah ben Simhah Levi Babovich, and called not only for a more obdurate interpretation, but for greater separatism from both Rabbanites and Zionism. Although Babovich was respected for his dedication towards the community, his conservatism and opposition towards local customs were met by little success.


title: Karaite Judaism

text: In the 1950s, the entire Jewish population in Egypt was estimated at 80,000 including 5,000 Karaite Jews. Following the United Arab Republic's participation in the Six-Day War, all Jewish men in Egypt were placed in camps, and were kept there for up to two years before being expeled from the country resulting in the complete disappearance of the Jewish and Karaite communities by the 1970s. Karaites were among the last to leave and most of Egypt's Karaite Jews settled in Israel.


title: Karaite Judaism

text: Karaite Jews do not object to the idea of a body of interpretation of the Torah, along with extensions and development of non-rabbinic "halakha" (Jewish law) that strives to adhere to the Tanakh's straightforward meaning. Several hundred such books have been written by various Karaite "Ḥakhamim" (sages) throughout the movement's history, although most are lost today. The disagreement arises over the rabbinic tradition's raising of the Talmud and the other writings of the rabbis above the Torah. The Karaites believe this has led to traditions and customs being kept under rabbinic law that contradict what is written in the Torah. The Karaites also have their own traditions and customs passed down from their ancestors and religious authorities. These are known as "Sevel HaYerushah", which means "the Yoke [or burden] of Inheritance." Most of these practices are kept primarily by traditional Karaites; theoretically, any tradition thereof is said to be rejected if it contradicts the simple meaning of the Tanakh's text. The vast majority of these traditions are not forced upon any Karaite Jew or convert to Judaism through the Karaite movement, except very few such as donning a head covering in the Karaite synagogue.


title: Karaite Judaism

text: Those Karaites who are new to the Karaite lifestyle do not have such an inheritance or tradition and tend to rely solely upon the Tanakh and those practices mentioned in it, and to adapt Biblical practices to their cultural context. Karaite communities are so small and generally isolated, that their members commonly adopt the customs of their host country. In Israel, too, traditional Karaites tend to be culturally assimilated into mainstream society (both secular and Orthodox).


title: Karaite Judaism

text: Many modern Karaite Jews have emerged from the Karaite revival of the late 20th century; the World Karaite Movement was founded by Nehemia Gordon and "Ḥakham" Meir Rekhavi in the early 1990s. Karaite Jewish University (KJU), approved by the "Mo‘eṣet HaḤakhamim" (the Council of Sages) in Israel, was founded to teach an introductory course on Karaite Judaism. It could lead to a student's conversion by a "Beit Din" (religious Jewish court) authorized by the "Mo‘eṣet HaḤakhamim". KJU teaches various forms of Karaite Judaism and includes "Sevel HaYerushah" in its course materials. Thus, newly admitted converts to Karaite Judaism can choose to accept or reject Sevel HaYerushah.


title: Karaite Judaism

text: As with other Jews, during Shabbat, Karaites attend synagogue to worship and to offer prayers. Most Karaites refrain from sexual relations on that day since they maintain that engaging in them can cause fatigue and copulation, in particular, results in ritual impurity on this holy day, concerns that Rabbinic Judaism ceased to have long ago; additionally, impregnating one's wife is considered "melakha" (forbidden work). Their prayer books are composed almost completely of biblical passages. Karaite Jews often practice full prostration during prayers, while most other Jews no longer pray in this fashion.


title: Karaite Judaism

text: Unlike Rabbinic Jews, Karaites do not practice the ritual of lighting Shabbat candles. They have a differing interpretation of the Torah verse, "You shall not [burn] (Hebrew: "bi‘er" the "pi‘el" form of "ba‘ar") a fire in any of your dwellings on the day of Shabbat." In Rabbinic Judaism, the "qal" verb form "ba‘ar" is understood to mean "burn", whereas the "pi‘el" form (present here) is understood to be, not intensive as usual but causative, the rule being that the pi‘el of a stative verb will be causative, instead of the usual hif‘il. Hence "bi‘er" means "kindle", which is why Rabbinic Judaism prohibits "starting" a fire on Shabbat. The vast majority of Karaite Jews hold that, throughout the Tanakh, "ba‘ar" explicitly means "to burn", while the Hebrew word meaning "to ignite" or "to kindle" is "hidliq". Accordingly, the mainstream in Karaite Judaism takes the passage to mean that fire should not be left burning in a Jewish home on Shabbat, regardless of whether it was lit prior to, or during the Sabbath. However, the minority of Karaites who view the prohibition to be on kindling a fire often permit a fire to continue burning into the Sabbath.


title: Karaite Judaism

text: Historically, Karaites refrained from using or deriving benefit from fire until the Sabbath ends, and accordingly their homes were not lit during the night of the Sabbath. Many modern Karaites today use a fluorescent or LED lamp powered by batteries, which is turned on prior to Shabbat. Many observant Karaites either unplug their refrigerators on Shabbat or turn off the circuit breakers. Karaites consider producing electricity to be a violation of Shabbat, no matter who produces it. Additionally, some Karaites view the purchasing of electricity that is charged on an incremental basis during the Shabbat as a commercial transaction that the Tanakh prohibits, no matter when the payment is made; the recording of the electric meter is considered by them to be a commercial transaction.


title: Karaite Judaism

text: Karaites maintain that in the absence of a Temple, ordinary washing with flowing waters (described in the Torah as "living"—flowing—water) should be substituted for purification with water that includes ashes obtained through the red heifer burning ritual. Karaites believe that this was the practice before the Tabernacle was built in the Sinai Peninsula following the Exodus. They follow certain Torah laws for avoiding "Ṭum’at Met" (ritual impurity caused by contact with a dead body, human bones, graves, or being present in a space under any ceiling where a human died) which are no longer considered relevant in Rabbinic Judaism, except for Kohanim (members of the Jewish priestly class).


title: Karaite Judaism

text: The Karaite method of counting the days from the offering of the ‘Omer is different from the rabbinic method. The Karaites understand the term "morrow after the Sabbath" in Leviticus 23:15–16 to refer to the weekly Sabbath, whereas Rabbinic Judaism interprets it as referring to the day of rest on the first day of Ḥagh HaMaṣṣot. So while Rabbinic Judaism begins the count on the 16th of Nisan and celebrates Shavu‘ot on the 6th of Sivan, Karaite Jews count from the day after the weekly Sabbath (i.e., the Sunday) that occurs during the seven days of Ḥagh HaMaṣṣot to the day after the seventh weekly Sabbath. They celebrate Shavu‘ot on that Sunday, no matter what the calendar date of that Sunday on which it happens to fall.


title: Karaite Judaism

text: A Tzitzit (alternatively spelled Ṣiṣit, plural: Tzitziyot or Ṣiṣiyot) is a knotted or braided tassel worn by observant Jews (both Karaite and Rabbinic) on each of the four corners of what is often an outer garment or their Tallit. The Torah commands Israel to make tassels on the corners of their four-cornered garment containing a thread of "Tekhelet" () and repeats this commandment using the word for "twisted cords" ("Gedilim") instead of "tassels" at . The purpose of the tassels is stated in the Book of Numbers as a visual reminder to the Israelites to remember the commandments given by God.


title: Karaite Judaism

text: The thread of Tekhelet is a blue-violet or blue thread, which, according to the traditions of Rabbinic Judaism, is to be dyed with a specific kind of dye derived from a mollusc (notably the "Hexaplex trunculus" sea snail). Due to a number of factors, including Rome outlawing the use of Tekhelet by commoners, the source and practice of using a Tekhelet thread in Tzitzit was lost for most Rabbinic Jews. Their Tzitziyot are usually all white. Karaite Jews believe that the importance of Tekhelet is that the color of thread is blue-violet and it may be produced from any source, including synthetic industrial dyes, except impure (a state mostly overlapping unkosher) marine creatures, rather than insist on a specific dye. Therefore, they believe that the rabbinic tradition of relying on a dye from a mollusc is incorrect. They suggest that the source of the dye was indigo or "Isatis tinctoria".


title: Karaite Judaism

text: Rabbinic Jews have specific traditions on how the tassels are to be knotted. Karaite Jews, for their part, have certain traditions on the manner of braiding the tassels, although they are not binding. Consequently, the way the "Tzitziyot" are made usually distinguishes Karaite "Tzitziyot" from rabbinic "Tzitziyot".


title: Karaite Judaism

text: Karaite Jews do not wear tefillin in any form. According to Karaites, the Biblical passages cited for this practice are metaphorical, and mean to "remember the Torah always and treasure it". This is because the commandment in scripture is "And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be upon thy heart"... "And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thy hand, and they shall be for forehead ornaments between thine eyes". (Deuteronomy 6:5,9) Since words cannot be on one's heart, or bound on one's hand, the entire passage is understood metaphorically. Furthermore, the same expressions ("And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thy hand" as well as "and they shall be as frontal ornaments between thine eyes") are used in Exodus 13:9 in reference to the commandments of Ḥagh HaMaṣṣot, in Exodus 13:16 in reference to the ritual of redeeming the first born, in Deuteronomy 6:8 in reference to the ‘Aseret HaDevarim (the Ten Utterances, usually mistranslated as "the Ten Commandments"), and in Deuteronomy 11:18 in reference to all the words of the Torah, indicating that, from a Karaite perspective, they must be metaphorical in nature (because one could never ritually "write" and "bind" upon their hearts themselves).


title: Karaite Judaism

text: Like Tefillin, Karaites interpret the scripture that mandates inscribing the Law on doorposts and city gates as a metaphorical admonition, specifically, to keep the Law at home and away. This is because the previous commandment in the same passage is the source for Tefillin for Rabbinic Judaism, and is understood metaphorically due to the language. As a result, the entire passage is understood as a metaphor. Therefore, they do not put up mezuzot, although many Karaite Jews do have a small plaque with the Ten Commandments on their doorposts.


title: Karaite Judaism

text: However, a Christian account in the 19th century tells of a Karaite synagogue in Constantinople that reportedly had a mezuzah. In Israel, in an effort to make Rabbinic Jews comfortable, many Karaite Jews do put up mezuzot, but not out of belief that it is commanded.


title: Karaite Judaism

text: In both Deuteronomy 23:3, and Zechariah 9:6, the Hebrew word "mamzer" is referenced alongside the nations of Ammon and Moab (in Deut 23:3), and the Philistine cities of Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron and Ashdod (in Zech 9:5–6). From such, Karaites have come to consider the most logical understanding of the Hebrew word "mamzer", which modern Rabbinical Jews understand to refer to either children born from adultery or from incest (Talmud Bavli, Masekhet Yevamot), to actually speak of a nation or people. Karaites think that such an understanding fits perfectly into the context of both Deuteronomy 23 and Zechariah 9, (and this was also the understanding of the Rabbinist commentator Yehudah ben Shemu’el ibn Bil‘am). Several Medieval Rabbinite Jewish sages felt it necessary to debate this topic with Medieval Karaite Jewish sages.


title: Karaite Judaism

text: Karaite Judaism defines the Four species ("Arba`at haMinim") somewhat differently than Rabbinic Jews, i.e. (1) fruit of splendorous tree ("Peri `Eṣ Hadar"), which need not be the Etrog (yellow citrus fruit) demanded by rabbinic law, yet may be either any seasonal fruit tree considered splendorous by an individual Jew, or branches of olive trees featuring the olives, that were considered splendorous by the Judean Israelites in the generation of Nehemiah, as seen in Neḥemyah 8; (2) date palm fronds ("Kappoth Temarim") instead of the closed palm frond used by Rabbinic Jews; (3) branches of thickly leaved trees ("‘Eṣ ‘Avoth") which may be from fig, laurel and eucalyptus rather than myrtle branches only; and (4) willow branches ("‘Aravoth Naḥal") e.g. maple, oak, yew and butternut, as opposed to the rabbinically dictated willow tree's boughs. Karaite Jews have always understood the "Arba`at haMinim" to be used for the purpose of constructing the roof of the Sukkah (pl. "Sukkot"); they are not made into a "lulav" and shaken in six directions, as is the rabbinic practice. In the Book of Nehemiah (8:15), the Israelites are instructed to construct their Sukkot out of the four species: olive branches and oil tree branches (fruit of splendorous tree), as well as date palm fronds, myrtle branches and branches of thickly leaved trees are mentioned in the same passage as materials for the Sukkah's construction.


title: Karaite Judaism

text: Karaite Judaism follows patrilineal descent, meaning a Jew is either someone whose father is Jewish (since almost all Jewish descent in the Tanakh is traced patrilineally) or both of whose parents are Jews, or one who has undergone a formal conversion which entails circumcision for uncircumcised males and formally accepting the God of Israel as one's own God and the people of Israel as one's own people.


title: Karaite Judaism

text: Karaites believe that conversion to the Jewish people should be done after living among Jews (preferably Karaite) in the form of a vow (the dominant position among modern Karaites maintains that this oath should be taken before a Karaite Beit Din whose members act on the behalf of the Israeli Council of Sages); see Exodus 12:43–49, Ruth 1:16, Esther 8:17, and Isaiah 56:1–8 and studying the Tanakh. Also Ezekiel the prophet states that "gerim" ("sojourners") who have joined themselves to the Children of Israel will be given land inheritance among the tribes of Israel among whom they live during the final Redemption.


title: Karaite Judaism

text: In the Middle Ages, some, such as the Karaites Jews in Greater Khorasan, viewed pronouncing the Tetragrammaton as a mitzvah because the name appears some 6800 times throughout the Tanakh. Today, publicly uttering the Tetragrammaton is a controversial issue among Karaites. Virtually all traditional Karaites view the pronunciation of God's name to be blasphemous, and adhere to the rabbinic tradition of substituting Adonai when coming across YHWH while reading. Other Karaites and some of those coming from a rabbinic background like Nehemia Gordon and "Ḥakham" Meir Rekhavi, as well as some joiners to the people of Israel through Karaite Judaism such as James Walker and Daniel ben Immanuel, do not consider the pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton to be forbidden. There is, however, disagreement among scholars as to the correct pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton.


title: Karaite Judaism

text: Karaism has produced a vast library of commentaries and polemics, especially during its "Golden Age". These writings prompted new and complete defenses of the Mishnah and the Talmud, the culmination of these in the writings of Saadia Gaon and his criticisms of Karaism. Though he opposed Karaism, the rabbinic commentator Abraham ibn Ezra regularly quoted Karaite commentators, particularly Yefet ben Ali, to the degree that a legend exists among some Karaites that Ibn Ezra was ben Ali's student.


title: Karaite Judaism

text: The most well-known Karaite polemic is Yiṣḥaq ben Avraham of Troki's "Faith Strengthened" (), a comprehensive counter-Christian missionary polemic, which was later translated into Latin by Johann Christoph Wagenseil as part of a larger collection of Jewish anti-Christian polemics entitled "Tela Ignea Satanæ, sive Arcani et Horribiles Judæorum Adversus Christum, Deum, et Christianam Religionem Libri" (Altdorf, 1681: "The Fiery Darts of Satan, or the Arcane and Horrible Books of the Jews Against Christ, God, and the Christian Religion"). Many counter-missionary materials produced today are based upon or cover the same themes as this book.


title: Karaite Judaism

text: Scholarly studies of Karaite writings are still in their infancy, and owe greatly to the Firkovich collections of Karaite manuscripts in the National Library of Russia that have become accessible after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The cataloguing efforts of scholars at the Bibliothèque nationale de France and in the United States and England is continuing to yield new insights into Karaite literature and thought.


title: Karaite Judaism

text: Aaron ben Moses ben Asher was a Jewish scholar from Tiberias, famous as the most authoritative of the Tiberian Masoretes, and a member of a family who had been involved in creating and maintaining the Masoretic Text (authoritative text of the Hebrew scripture), for at least five generations. His Tiberian vocalization of the Bible is still, for all intents and purposes, the text all Jews continue to use, and he was the first systematic Hebrew grammarian.


title: Karaite Judaism

text: His "Sefer Diqduqei HaTe‘amim" ("Grammar of the Punctuation/Vocalizations") was an original collection of grammatical rules and Masoretic information. Grammatical principles were not at that time considered worthy of independent study. The value of this work is that the grammatical rules presented by ben Asher reveal the linguistic background of vocalization for the first time. He had a tremendous influence on the world of Biblical criticism.


title: Karaite Judaism

text: In the nineteenth century, certain scholars suggested that Aharon Ben Asher might have been a Karaite and not a Rabbinic Jew. Aharon Dothan has examined this issue from many angles, and his conclusion is that Ben Asher was a Rabbinic Jew, but Raphael Zer has raised this issue again and presented new evidence.


title: Karaite Judaism

text: In 989, an unknown scribe of a former "Nevi'im" manuscript vouched for the care with which his copy was written by claiming that he had vocalized and added the Masoretic text "from the books that were vocalized by Aaron ben Moses Ben-Asher". Maimonides, by accepting the views of ben Asher in regard to open and closed sections, helped establish and spread his authority. "The book on which we have relied for these matters is the book that is well-known in Egypt, which includes twenty-four books, which was in Jerusalem for many years for the purpose of proofreading books from it. Everybody relied on it since Ben-Asher proofread it and scrutinized it for years, and proofread many times as he copied it. I relied on it when I wrote a Sefer Torah properly".


title: Karaite Judaism

text: Estimates of the size of the modern Karaite movement put the number at 1,500 Karaites in the United States, some 80 Constantinopolitan Karaites in Turkey, 30,000 in Israel, the largest communities being in Ramla, Ashdod and Beersheba, 1,196 in Ukraine (with Crimea), 300 in Lithuania and 205 in Russia. At the Polish census of 2002, only 45 people declared themselves "Karaims", including 43 Polish citizens.


title: Karaite Judaism

text: During the early 1920s a British mandate official in Jerusalem records visiting the Karaite synagogue, which he describes as being "small, mediaeval, semi-underground" serving "Jerusalem's tiny colony of Qaraites".


title: Karaite Judaism

text: In the early 1950s, the Chief Rabbinate of Israel originally objected to the immigration of Karaite Jews to Israel, and unsuccessfully tried to obstruct it. In 2007, however, Rabbi David Ḥayim Chelouche, the chief rabbi of Netayana was quoted in "The Jerusalem Post" as saying, "A Karaite is a Jew. We accept them as Jews and every one of them who wishes to come back [to mainstream Judaism] we accept back. There was once a question about whether Karaites needed to undergo a token circumcision in order to switch to Rabbinic Judaism, but the rabbinate agrees that today that is not necessary."


title: Karaite Judaism

text: Moshe Marzouk, one of the Egyptian Jews executed in 1954 for planting bombs in Cairo in the service of Israeli Military Intelligence (the Lavon Affair) was a Karaite. Marzouk was considered a hero in Israel; however, his Karaite identity was downplayed in newspapers, which usually just described him as an Egyptian Jew. However, in 2001, the Israeli government, through the Israel Postal Authority, issued a special memorial sheet honoring him and many other Karaite Jews that gave their lives for Israel.


title: Karaite Judaism

text: In Israel, the Karaite Jewish leadership is directed by a group called Universal Karaite Judaism. Most of the members of its Board of 'Ḥakhamim' are of Egyptian Jewish descent. The largest Karaite community today resides in Ashdod.


title: Karaite Judaism

text: There are about 1,500 Karaites living in the United States. The Congregation B'nai Israel is located in Daly City, California, which is a suburb of San Francisco. It is the only Karaite synagogue in the United States with a permanent dedicated facility. The leaders of the congregation are of Egyptian Karaite extraction. One notable congregant, Mark Kheder, the synagogue's treasurer, has described his internment in an Egyptian prisoner-of-war camp during the 1967 Six-Day war. The congregation's acting "Rav (Ḥakham"), Joe Pessah, was also among those who were arrested by the Egyptian government. Another, much smaller congregation, Karaite Jewish Congregation Oraḥ Ṣaddiqim, exists in Albany, NY, but they have yet to find a permanent dedicated facility and, in the meantime, continue to use a room in the home of their "Ḥakham", Avraham Ben-Raḥamiël Qanaï, as their temporary synagogue.


title: Karaite Judaism

text: On 1 August 2007, some members of the first graduating class of Karaite Jewish University were converts, representing the first new officially authorized members into Karaite Judaism in 542 years. At a ceremony in its Northern California synagogue, ten adults and four minors joined the Jewish people by taking the same oath that Ruth took. The group's course of study lasted over one year. This conversion comes 15 years after the Karaite Council of Sages reversed its centuries-old ban on accepting converts. On 17 February 2009, the second graduating class of converts took the oath. This included 11 adults and 8 minors.


title: Karaite Judaism

text: There are about 80 Karaites living in Istanbul, Turkey, where the only Karaite synagogue in Turkey, the "Kahal haKadosh Bene Mikra", is still functional (on Shabbat and holy days) in the Hasköy neighborhood in the European part of the city.


title: Karaite Judaism

text: In Poland, Karaites are a recognized minority, represented by the Association of Polish Karaites () and the Karaite Religious Association in the Polish Republic (). Karaites live primarily in and around Warsaw, Wrocław and Tricity; they are linguistically assimilated.


title: Karaite Judaism

text: In Switzerland there is also a Karaite Jewish community: the Karaite Jews of Europe (KJE). This community is accepted by the Universal Karaite Judaism (UKJ) in Israel and the Karaite Jews of America (KJA), its members are also recognized as Jews by the Israeli State. Aliyah to Israel is also possible for converts. The community follows the traditional Egyptian-style rite. In Eglisau, a small community center with a prayer- room is run and is supported by Hakham Meir Yosef Rekhavi. The Karaite Jewish University is maintained together with the KJA and UKJ.


title: Karaite Judaism

text: In 2016, the Religious Council of Karaite Jews unanimously reelected their chief rabbi, Rabbi Moshe Piroz, for another four-year term. Piroz has been serving as chief rabbi since 2011.


title: Karaite Judaism

text: Rabbinic Judaism's scholars, such as Maimonides, write that people who deny the divine authority of the Oral Torah are to be considered among the heretics. However, at the same time, Maimonides holds ("Hilkhot Mamrim" 3:3) that most of the Karaites and others who claim to deny the "oral teachings" are not to be held accountable for their errors in the law because they are led into error by their parents and are similar to a tinok shenishba (a captive baby), or to one who was forced.


title: Karaite Judaism

text: Rabbinic scholars have traditionally held that, because the Karaites do not observe the rabbinic law on divorce, there is a strong presumption that they are mamzerim (adulterine bastards), so that marriage with them is forbidden even if they return to Rabbinic Judaism. Some recent Ashkenazi Ḥaredi scholars have held that Karaites should be regarded as Gentiles in all respects, though this is not universally accepted. They hasten to add that this opinion is not intended to insult the Karaites, but only to give individual Karaites the option of integrating into mainstream Judaism by way of conversion. In contrast, in 1971, Ovadia Yosef, who was then the Chief Rabbi of the Sefaradim and ‘Edot HaMizraḥ of Israel, proclaimed that Egyptian Karaites are Jews and that it is permissible for Rabbinic Jews to marry with them.


title: Karaite Judaism

text: In response to the position taken by the Karaites in regards to the authority of the Talmud, Orthodox Judaism counters first that the majority of the Oral Law codified in the Mishnah and Talmud are the legal rulings of the last Sanhedrin, a body of 71 elders that made up the highest court of jurisprudence in ancient Israel, and that not all of the Oral Law are literally "Laws given to Moses on Mount Sinai". The decisions made by this High Court must be upheld, per se the Law of Moses (Deuteronomy 17), this gives their legal rulings divine authority. Karaites reject the authority of this Sanhedrin that developed during the second Temple period partly because it was an admixture of different people and not just priests and levites as mandated by the Torah. The Sanhedrin also took legal authority away from the descendants of Zadok who served as priests in the Temple in Jerusalem. This is essentially the same view held by the Sadducees and Boethusians during the second Temple period. Secondly, Rabbinic Judaism points to the innumerable examples of biblical commandments that are either too ambiguous or documented in such a concise fashion that proper adherence could not be enforced on a national scale without the further legislation provided by the Talmud. Karaites respond that the Torah itself states "this law I am commanding you is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not in the heavens, to say, who shall ascend into the heavens and bring it to us, and cause us to understand it, that we do it?" indicating the Torah could easily be understood by the average Israelite. Examples cited in Rabbinic Judaism as laws requiring rabbinic explanation include:


title: Karaite Judaism

text: Orthodox Judaism also notes that the Torah was never meant to be observed as a personal covenant between the individual Jew and God, but a national covenant wherein the Torah functions as the constitution of Israel as a whole. Orthodox Jews point out that the Torah could never be enforced as a national law, as it was during the time of Joshua, King David, and Ezra, if every individual Jew had their own opinion on how to observe its commandments. In order for the Torah to properly govern the Jewish people, and for its laws be legally enforced with the punishments and penalties prescribed in the Torah, those laws must be legislated and clearly defined by a ruling Sanhedrin. Karaites counter that the enforcement of the Torah on a national scale can only be legislated by the descendants of Zadok in the Temple in Jerusalem as per the Torah (Deuteronomy 17) and prophets (Ezekiel 44) not by a collection of opinions by various rabbis.


title: Karaite Judaism

text: For Karaites, in sum, the rabbinic interpretations above, as codified in oral law, are only one form of interpretation. They are not divinely ordained, and they are neither binding halakhah nor practical religious law.


title: Karaite Judaism

text: The child of a Karaite mother is regarded as halakhically Jewish by the Orthodox Rabbinate. By contrast, somebody who is patrilineally Jewish (one whose father is Jewish) is regarded as a Jew by the "Mo′eṣet HaḤakhamim" (the Karaite Council of Sages) on the condition that they were raised Jewish during childhood. Although it is widely accepted that Karaite Jews are halakhically Jewish (apparently with the exception of those who join the Jewish people through the Karaite movement), there is still a question as to whether or not marriage between the Karaite and Rabbinite communities is permitted. Two Sephardi chief rabbis, Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron and Ovadia Yosef encouraged such marriages, hoping it would help Karaites to assimilate into mainstream Judaism. Maimonides decreed that Jews raised in a Karaite household are considered to be "Tinoq she'Nishba", like babies taken captive by non-Jews; they cannot be punished for their supposedly wayward behavior, because it is the result of their parents' influence.


title: Karaite Judaism

text: In 2013, The Economist reported, "rabbis working for Israel’s ministry of religion deemed Karaite marriages invalid, fined their butchers for claiming to be kosher, and demanded that Karaites marrying Orthodox Jewish women should convert, sometimes having to undergo tavila, or baptism." The chief rabbinate's spokesman told The Economist that "Israel is a Jewish state and Jews have superior rights. But the Karaites are not Jewish." R. Moshe Firrouz, head of the Karaites' Council of Sages, protested, saying that "the rabbinate is denying us our religious freedom."


title: Brittney Powell

text: Brittney Powell (born March 4, 1972) is a German-American actress. She has starred in "" and has represented the show at Comic-Con in San Diego, California during 2009 and modeled for the Safety Geeks' 2010, 2011, and 2012 Safety Pin-Up Calendars.


title: Brittney Powell

text: In 1991, Powell started her career in "Playboy: Girls of Spring Break" as herself. She then went on to be a contestant on "Round Trip to Heaven". Powell has guest starred in more than 25 different TV series such as "Friends", "Harry and the Hendersons", "California Dreams", "The Commish", "Silk Stalkings", "", "The Sentinel", "NCIS", "Invention with Brian Forbes", and "".


title: Brittney Powell

text: Powell has starred in the short-lived "Pacific Palisades" in 1997. She was cast as Summer Halloway on "General Hospital" in 2002 where she had a contract role.


title: Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County

text: Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County (or simply Laguna Beach) is an American reality television series that originally aired on MTV from September 28, 2004, until November 15, 2006. The series aired for three seasons and was primarily focused on the personal lives of several students attending Laguna Beach High School. Its premise was originated with Liz Gateley, while Tony DiSanto served as the executive producer.


title: Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County

text: The series was originally led by seniors Lauren Conrad, Lo Bosworth, Stephen Colletti, Morgan Olsen, Trey Phillips, Christina Schuller, and juniors Kristin Cavallari and Talan Torriero. The second season saw the additions of Jason Wahler, Taylor Cole, Alex Murrel and Jessica Smith. Upon its conclusion, all cast members departed from the series and were replaced by a group of current students. The third season was led by Cameron Brinkman, Tessa Keller, Breanna Conrad, Lexie Contursi, Raquel Donatelli, Cami Edwards, Kelan Hurley, Chase Johnson, and Kyndra Mayo.


title: Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County

text: Created by Liz Gateley in 2004, "Laguna Beach" was originally planned to document a group of students' on-campus lives as they completed their secondary education at Laguna Beach High School. However, after an incident during the halftime show of Super Bowl XXXVIII briefly exposed the breast of performer Janet Jackson, the school board questioned if the network, who produced the event, held the care necessary to operate in an academic setting. Subsequently, their contract was ended, effectively jeopardizing the feasibility of the series' concept.


title: Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County

text: Throughout its run, the series was led by eight (seasons 1–2), and nine (season 3) primary cast members, who were credited by their first names. Its original main cast members were Conrad, Cavallari, Stephen Colletti, Lo Bosworth, Morgan Olsen, Trey Phillips, Christina Schuller, and Talan Torriero. The second season saw the additions of Taylor Cole, Alex Murrel, Jessica Smith, and Jason Wahler. By the conclusion of the season, all students had graduated high school, and departed the series before production of the third season began. Consequently, the program was revamped to showcase an entirely new group of current students.


title: Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County

text: In its series premiere, "Laguna Beach" first introduces Lauren Conrad, Lo Bosworth, Stephen Colletti, Morgan Olsen, Trey Phillips, and Christina Schuller, who were completing their senior year at Laguna Beach High School. Younger students Kristin Cavallari and Talan Torriero were shown to be finishing their junior year. The first season highlighted the love triangle involving rivals Conrad and Cavallari and their shared love interest, Colletti. The latter two eventually began a turbulent romantic relationship. Meanwhile, the close friendship between Bosworth and Conrad provided both with a stabilizing influence, similar to the bond between Olsen and Schuller. Phillips, an advocate for youth community involvement, coordinated a fashion show benefiting the Active Young America organization. Upon the seniors' graduation, they prepared to leave Laguna Beach and begin their college studies.


title: Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County

text: By the beginning of season two Talan Torriero developed romantic feelings for both Cavallari and Cole, though both of them were uninterested in beginning a relationship with him. Meanwhile, Jason Wahler dated Smith, Murrel, and Conrad in separate periods during production, though his player tendencies placed a strain on each failed relationship. The season concluded as the recently graduated students prepared to leave for college.


title: Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County

text: During the third season, new students are introduced such as, Cameron Brinkman who takes over Jason's role as the bad boy that can get whatever he wants. Tessa Keller, Rocky Donatelli, Kyndra Mayo, Chase, Kelan Hurley, Cami Edwards along with other additional cast members.


title: Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County

text: The Parents Television Council (PTC) argued that the sexually explicit and profane content in the series makes the show inappropriate for its intended audience. It included the series in its 2004 study on profanity, violence, and sexual content on cable television. Although much of the profane language throughout the series is censored, the PTC pointed out that the context in which the censored words were used made them discernible, which in their view rendered the censorship useless. The PTC also criticized MTV for not including content indicators such as "L" (language) or "S" (sexual content) in addition to its television ratings for the show, a move that prevents viewers from being able to effectively use the V-chip feature found on some televisions to control the broadcast of the show into their homes. MTV airs the show several times during daytime hours in addition to its regular timeslots around 10:00 PM (ET), and the PTC claimed that the adolescents whom MTV is targeting are being exposed to "excessive sexual and profane content through inaccurately rated programs."


title: Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County

text: A 2010 study in the journal "Economics Letters" demonstrated that "Laguna Beach" caused an increase in crime in the Laguna Beach area. Not only had MTV's show caused an increase in crime, but residents also believed it glorified violence, drug and alcohol abuse, objectification of women and superficiality. Charles Ahlers, the President of the Orange County Visitor and Convention Bureau, argue that the show is positive because it has helped boom the local economy and make Laguna Beach a desirable destination. But these positive aspects seem to be dominated by rejection and negativity from residents. Locals claim that their town is not being depicted how it should be- by the art and culture. The down town strip of ice cream shops and art galleries are being overshadowed by teen drama and partying. During filming days, streets would be stopped with traffic jams and tourists swarming local stores trying to get a glimpse of the teenage cast members.


title: Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County

text: "Laguna Beach" was often criticized for appearing to fabricate much of its storyline. In one instance, Cavallari claimed that producers exploited Colletti and Conrad's friendship to exaggerate the love triangle highlighted during the first season. She also alleged that she was treated poorly by producers, which "forced [her] to be a bitch", but stated that her distaste for Conrad was not fabricated.


title: Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County

text: The first season of "Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County" premiered on September 28, 2004. The series continued to air on Tuesday evenings until its conclusion on December 7, 2004, at which point it had aired eleven episodes. The second season was expanded to seventeen episodes and premiered on July 11, 2005, in its new timeslot on Mondays. The finale aired on November 14, 2005. The third and final season premiered on August 16, 2006, and aired a total of fifteen episodes by its end on November 15, 2006. On July 2 2007, Laguna Beach: The Real Orange Country began airing on The N, and ran there until September 27 2009 before it became TeenNick. In July 2012, MTV aired a month-long morning marathon of "Laguna Beach", titled "Retro Mania". The following year, the marathon was renamed "RetroMTV Brunch". On August 13, 2016, reruns started to air on MTV's new sister channel MTV Classic. As of December 30, 2016, the series has been removed from the schedule.


title: Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County

text: "Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County" entered an off-network syndication in 2009 and the fall of that year Trifecta Entertainment & Media put it into barter syndication and aired on affiliates of Fox, MyNetworkTV, The CW and Independent stations, however as of fall 2012 the show has left local syndication along with "Punk'd" and "The Hills".


title: Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County

text: After the third season of the revamped "Laguna Beach" failed to attain the success of the original format, producers began to search elsewhere for a potential fourth installment of the series. "" premiered on August 13, 2007, and showcased a group of students attending Newport Harbor High School. The series was led by Chrissy Schwartz, Clay Adler, Chase Cornwell, Sasha Dunlap, Grant Newman, and Allie Stockton. After the cast and storylines failed to achieve viewer interest, the program was cancelled on January 2, 2008, after broadcasting twelve episodes.


title: Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County

text: "Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County" episodes aired regularly on MTV in the United States. Most episodes are approximately thirty minutes, and were broadcast in standard definition. The series' episodes are also available for download at the iTunes Store. Episodes were previously available for viewing through the official MTV website, though they have since become unavailable since the series' conclusion. The series, in addition to "The Hills", were premiered in syndication in fall 2009. Since its debut, Paramount Pictures has released the first two seasons of "Laguna Beach" onto DVD, to regions 1, 2, and 4. Each product includes all episodes of the respective season, in addition to deleted scenes and interviews of series personnel.


title: Lower East Side

text: The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets.


title: Lower East Side

text: Traditionally an immigrant, working-class neighborhood, it began rapid gentrification in the mid-2000s, prompting the National Trust for Historic Preservation to place the neighborhood on their list of America's Most Endangered Places in 2008.


title: Lower East Side

text: The Lower East Side is part of Manhattan Community District 3, and its primary ZIP Code is 10002. It is patrolled by the 7th Precinct of the New York City Police Department.


title: Lower East Side

text: The Lower East Side is roughly bounded by East 14th Street on the north, by the East River to the east, by Fulton and Franklin Streets to the south, and by Pearl Street and Broadway to the west. This more extensive definition of the neighborhood includes Chinatown, the East Village, and Little Italy. A less extensive definition would have the neighborhood bordered in the south and west by Chinatown, – which extends north to roughly Grand Street – in the west by Nolita and in the north by the East Village.


title: Lower East Side

text: Historically, the "Lower East Side" referred to the area alongside the East River from about the Manhattan Bridge and Canal Street up to 14th Street, and roughly bounded on the west by Broadway. It included areas known today as East Village, Alphabet City, Chinatown, Bowery, Little Italy, and NoLIta. Parts of the East Village are still known as "Loisaida", a Latino pronunciation of "Lower East Side".


title: Lower East Side

text: Politically, the neighborhood is in New York's 7th and 12th congressional districts. It is in the New York State Assembly's 65th district and 74th district; the New York State Senate's 26th district; and New York City Council's 1st and 2nd districts.


title: Lower East Side

text: As was true of all of Manhattan Island, the area now known as the Lower East Side was occupied by members of the Lenape tribe, who were organized in bands that moved from place to place according to the seasons, fishing on the rivers in the summer, and moving inland in the fall and winter to gather crops and hunt for food. Their main trail took approximately the route of Broadway. One encampment in the Lower East Side area, near Corlears Hook was called Rechtauck or Naghtogack.


title: Lower East Side

text: The population of the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam was located primarily below the current Fulton Street, while north of it were a number of small plantations and large farms called ""bouwerij"" ("bowery", equivalent to ""boerderij"" in present-day Dutch). Around these farms were a number of enclaves of free or "half-free" Africans, which served as a buffer between the Dutch and the Native Americans. One of the largest of these was located along the modern Bowery between Prince Street and Astor Place, as well as the "only separate enclave" of this type within Manhattan. These black farmers were some of the earliest settlers of the area.


title: Lower East Side

text: Gradually, during the 17th century, there was an overall consolidation of the boweries and farms into larger parcels, and much of the Lower East Side was then part of the Delancey farm.


title: Lower East Side

text: James Delancey's pre-Revolutionary farm east of post road leading from the city (Bowery) survives in the names Delancey Street and Orchard Street. On the modern map of Manhattan, the Delancey farm is represented in the grid of streets from Division Street north to Houston Street. In response to the pressures of a growing city, Delancey began to survey streets in the southern part of the "West Farm" in the 1760s. A spacious projected "Delancey Square"—intended to cover the area within today's Eldridge, Essex, Hester and Broome Streets—was eliminated when the loyalist Delancey family's property was confiscated after the American Revolution. The city Commissioners of Forfeiture eliminated the aristocratic planned square for a grid, effacing Delancey's vision of a New York laid out like the West End of London.


title: Lower East Side

text: The point of land on the East River now called Corlears Hook was also called Corlaers Hook under Dutch and British rule, and briefly Crown Point during British occupation in the Revolution. It was named after the schoolmaster Jacobus van Corlaer, who settled on this "plantation" that in 1638 was called by a Europeanized version of its Lenape name, "Nechtans" or "Nechtanc". Corlaer sold the plantation to Wilhelmus Hendrickse Beekman (1623–1707), founder of the Beekman family of New York; his son Gerardus Beekman was christened at the plantation, on August 17, 1653.


title: Lower East Side

text: On February 25, 1643, volunteers from the New Amsterdam colony killed forty Wiechquaesgecks at their encampment in the Massacre at Corlears Hook, as part of Kieft's War, in retaliation for ongoing conflicts between the colonists and the natives of the area, including their unwillingness to pay tribute, and their refusal to turn over the killer of a colonist.


title: Lower East Side

text: The projection into the East River that retained Corlaer's name was an important landmark for navigators for 300 years. On older maps and documents it is usually spelled "Corlaers" Hook, but since the early 19th century the spelling has been anglicized to "Corlears". The rough unplanned settlement that developed at Corlaer's Hook under the British occupation of New York during the Revolution was separated from the densely populated city by rough hills of glacial till: "this region lay beyond the city proper, from which it was separated by high, uncultivated, and rough hills", observers recalled in 1843.


title: Lower East Side

text: As early as 1816, Corlears Hook was notorious for streetwalkers, "a resort for the lewd and abandoned of both sexes", and in 1821 its "streets abounding every night with preconcerted groups of thieves and prostitutes" were noted by the "Christian Herald". In the course of the 19th century they came to be called "hookers". In the summer of cholera in New York, 1832, a two-storey wooden workshop was commandeered to serve as a makeshift cholera hospital; between July 18 and September 15 when the hospital was closed, as the cholera wound down, 281 patients were admitted, both black and white, of whom 93 died.


title: Lower East Side

text: Corlears Hook is mentioned in the opening page of Herman Melville's "Moby Dick", first published in 1851: "Circumambulate the city of a dreamy Sabbath afternoon. Go from Corlears Hook to Coenties Slip, and from thence, by Whitehall, northward. What do you see? ..."


title: Lower East Side

text: The original location of Corlears Hook is now obscured by shoreline landfill. It was near the east end of the present pedestrian bridge over the FDR Drive near Cherry Street. The name is preserved in Corlears Hook Park at the intersection of Jackson and Cherry Streets along the East River Drive.


title: Lower East Side

text: The bulk of immigrants who came to New York City in the late 19th and early 20th centuries came to the Lower East Side, moving into crowded tenements there. By the 1840s, large numbers of German immigrants settled in the area, and a large part of it became known as "Little Germany" or "Kleindeutschland". This was followed by groups of Italians and Eastern European Jews, as well as Greeks, Hungarians, Poles, Romanians, Russians, Slovaks and Ukrainians, each of whom settled in relatively homogeneous enclaves. By 1920, the Jewish neighborhood was one of the largest of these ethnic groupings, with 400,000 people, pushcart vendors prominent on Orchard and Grand Streets, and numerous Yiddish theatres along Second Avenue between Houston and 14th Streets.


title: Lower East Side

text: Living conditions in these "slum" areas were far from ideal, although some improvement came from a change in the zoning laws which required "new law" tenements to be built with air shafts between them, so that fresh air and some light could reach each apartment. Still, reform movements, such as the one started by Jacob Riis's book "How the Other Half Lives" continued to attempt to alleviate the problems of the area through settlement houses, such as the Henry Street Settlement, and other welfare and service agencies. The city itself moved to address the problem when it built First Houses, the first such public housing project in the United States, in 1935-1936. The development, located on the south side of East 3rd Street between First Avenue and Avenue A, and on the west side of Avenue A between East 2nd and East 3rd Streets, is now considered to be located within the East Village.


title: Lower East Side

text: By the turn of the twentieth century, the neighborhood had become closely associated with radical politics, such as anarchism, socialism and communism, and was also known as a place where many popular performers had grown up, such as Eddie Cantor, Al Jolson, George and Ira Gershwin, Jimmy Durante, and Irving Berlin. Later, more radical artists such as the Beat poets and writers were drawn to the neighborhood – especially the parts which later became the East Village – by the inexpensive housing and cheap food.


title: Lower East Side

text: The German population decreased in the early twentieth century as a result of the "General Slocum" disaster and due to anti-German sentiment prompted by World War I. After World War II, the Lower East Side became New York City's first racially integrated neighborhood with the influx of African Americans and Puerto Ricans. Areas where Spanish speaking was predominant began to be called Loisaida.


title: Lower East Side

text: By the 1960s, the influence of the Jewish and eastern European groups declined as many of these residents had left the area, while other ethnic groups had coalesced into separate neighborhoods, such as Little Italy. The Lower East Side then experienced a period of "persistent poverty, crime, drugs, and abandoned housing". A substantial portion of the neighborhood was slated for demolition under the Cooper Square Urban Renewal Plan of 1956, which was to redevelop the area from Ninth to Delancey Streets from the Bowery/Third Avenue to Chrystie Street/Second Avenue with new privately owned cooperative housing. The United Housing Foundation was selected as the sponsor for the project, which faced great opposition from the community. Neither the original large-scale development nor a 1961 revised proposal were implemented, and it was not until 1991 that an agreement was made to redevelop a small portion of the proposed renewal site.


title: Lower East Side

text: The East Village was once considered the Lower East Side's northwest corner. However, in the 1960s, the demographics of the area above Houston Street began to change, as hipsters, musicians, and artists moved in. Newcomers and real estate brokers popularized the East Village name, and the term was adopted by the popular media by the mid-1960s. As the East Village developed a culture separate from the rest of the Lower East Side, the two areas came to be seen as two separate neighborhoods rather than the former being part of the latter.


title: Lower East Side

text: By the 1980s, the Lower East Side had begun to stabilize after its period of decline, and once again began to attract students, artists and adventurous members of the middle-class, as well as immigrants from countries such as Bangladesh, China, the Dominican Republic, India, Japan, Korea, the Philippines and Poland.


title: Lower East Side

text: In the early 2000s, the gentrification of the East Village spread to the Lower East Side proper, making it one of the trendiest neighborhoods in Manhattan. Orchard Street, despite its "Bargain District" moniker, is now lined with upscale boutiques. Similarly, trendy restaurants, including Clinton St. Baking Company & Restaurant, Cube 63, and Falai are found on a stretch of tree-lined Clinton Street that "New York Magazine" described as the "hippest restaurant row" on the Lower East Side.


title: Lower East Side

text: In November 2007, the Blue Condominium, a 32-unit, 16 story luxury condominium tower was completed at 105 Norfolk Street just north of Delancey Street. The pixellated, faceted blue design starkly contrasts with the surrounding neighborhood. Following the construction of the Hotel on Rivington one block away, several luxury condominiums around Houston, and the New Museum on Bowery, this new wave of construction is another sign that the gentrification cycle is entering a high-luxury phase similar to in SoHo and Nolita in the previous decade.


title: Lower East Side

text: More recently, the gentrification that was previously confined to north of Delancey Street continued south. Several restaurants, bars, and galleries opened below Delancey Street after 2005, especially around the intersection of Broome and Orchard Streets. The neighborhood's second boutique hotel, Blue Moon Hotel, opened on Orchard Street just south of Delancey Street in early 2006. However, unlike The Hotel on Rivington, the Blue Moon used an existing tenement building, and its exterior is almost identical to neighboring buildings. In September 2013, it was announced that the Essex Crossing redevelopment project was to be built in the area, centered around the intersection of Essex and Delancey Streets, but mostly utilizing land south of Delancey Street.


title: Lower East Side

text: The census tabulation area for the Lower East Side is bounded to the north by 14th Street and to the west by Avenue B, Norfolk Street, Essex Street, and Pike Street. Based on data from the 2010 United States Census, the population of Lower East Side was 72,957, an increase of 699 (1.0%) from the 72,258 counted in 2000. Covering an area of , the neighborhood had a population density of . The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 22.6% (16,453) White, 10.9% (7,931) African American, 0.2% (142) Native American, 24.9% (18,166) Asian, 0.0% (13) Pacific Islander, 0.3% (191) from other races, and 1.6% (1,191) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 39.6% (28,870) of the population.


title: Lower East Side

text: The racial composition of the Lower East Side changed moderately from 2000 to 2010, with the most significant changes being the White population's increase by 18% (2,514), the Asian population's increase by 10% (1,673), and the Hispanic / Latino population's decrease by 10% (3,219). The minority Black population experienced a slight increase by 1% (41), while the very small population of all other races decreased by 17% (310).


title: Lower East Side

text: The Lower East Side lies in Manhattan Community District 3, which encompasses the Lower East Side, the East Village and Chinatown. Community District 3 had 171,103 inhabitants as of NYC Health's 2018 Community Health Profile, with an average life expectancy of 82.2 years. This is higher than the median life expectancy of 81.2 for all New York City neighborhoods. Most inhabitants are adults: a plurality (35%) are between the ages of 25–44, while 25% are between 45–64, and 16% are 65 or older. The ratio of youth and college-aged residents was lower, at 13% and 11% respectively.


title: Lower East Side

text: As of 2017, the median household income in Community District 3 was $39,584, though the median income in the Lower East Side individually was $51,649. In 2018, an estimated 18% of Community District 3 residents lived in poverty, compared to 14% in all of Manhattan and 20% in all of New York City. One in twelve residents (8%) were unemployed, compared to 7% in Manhattan and 9% in New York City. Rent burden, or the percentage of residents who have difficulty paying their rent, is 48% in Community District 3, compared to the boroughwide and citywide rates of 45% and 51% respectively. Based on this calculation, , Community District 3 is considered to be gentrifying: according to the Community Health Profile, the district was low-income in 1990 and has seen above-median rent growth up to 2010.


title: Lower East Side

text: One of the oldest neighborhoods of the city, the Lower East Side has long been a lower-class worker neighborhood and often a poor and ethnically diverse section of New York. As well as Irish, Italians, Poles, Ukrainians, and other ethnic groups, it once had a sizeable German population and was known as Little Germany (Kleindeutschland). Today it is a predominantly Puerto Rican and Dominican community, and in the process of gentrification (as documented by the portraits of its residents in the Clinton+Rivington chapter of The Corners Project.)


title: Lower East Side

text: Since the immigration waves from eastern Europe in the late 19th and early 20th century, the Lower East Side became known as having been a center of Jewish immigrant culture. In her 2000 book "Lower East Side Memories: A Jewish Place in America", Hasia Diner explains that the Lower East Side is especially remembered as a place of Jewish beginnings for Ashkenazi American Jewish culture. Vestiges of the area's Jewish heritage exist in shops on Hester and Essex Streets, and on Grand Street near Allen Street. An Orthodox Jewish community is based in the area, operating yeshiva day schools and a mikvah. A few Judaica shops can be found along Essex Street and a few Jewish scribes and variety stores. Some kosher delis and bakeries, as well as a few "kosher style" delis, including the famous Katz's Deli, are located in the neighborhood. Second Avenue in the Lower East Side was home to many Yiddish theatre productions in the Yiddish Theater District during the early part of the 20th century, and Second Avenue came to be known as "Yiddish Broadway," though most of the theaters are gone. Songwriter Irving Berlin, actor John Garfield, and singer Eddie Cantor grew up here.


title: Lower East Side

text: Since the mid-20th century, the area has been settled primarily by immigrants, primarily from Latin America, especially Central America and Puerto Rico. They have established their own groceries and shops, marketing goods from their culture and cuisine. Bodegas have replaced Jewish shops. They are mostly Roman Catholic.


title: Lower East Side

text: In what is now the East Village, the earlier populations of Poles and Ukrainians have moved on and been largely supplanted by newer immigrants. The immigration of numerous Japanese people over the last fifteen years or so has led to the proliferation of Japanese restaurants and specialty food markets. There is also a notable population of Bangladeshis and other immigrants from Muslim countries, many of whom are congregants of the small Madina Masjid (Mosque), located on First Avenue and 11th Street.


title: Lower East Side

text: The neighborhood still has many historic synagogues, such as the Bialystoker Synagogue, Beth Hamedrash Hagadol, the Eldridge Street Synagogue, Kehila Kedosha Janina (the only Greek synagogue in the Western Hemisphere), the Angel Orensanz Center (the fourth oldest synagogue building in the United States), and various smaller synagogues along East Broadway. Another landmark, the First Roumanian-American congregation (the Rivington Street synagogue) partially collapsed in 2006, and was subsequently demolished. In addition, there is a major Hare Krishna temple and several Buddhist houses of worship.


title: Lower East Side

text: Chinese residents have also been moving into Lower East Side, and since the late 20th century, they have comprised a large immigrant group in the area. The part of the neighborhood south of Delancey Street and west of Allen Street has, in large measure, become part of Chinatown. Grand Street is one of the major business and shopping streets of Chinatown. Also contained within the neighborhood are strips of lighting and restaurant supply shops on the Bowery.


title: Lower East Side

text: While the Lower East Side has been a place of successive immigrant populations, many American Jews relate to the neighborhood in a strong manner, and Chinatown holds a special place in the imagination of Chinese Americans, just as Astoria in Queens holds a place in the hearts of Greek Americans. It was a center for the ancestors of many people in the metropolitan area, and it was written about and portrayed in fiction and films.


title: Lower East Side

text: In the late twentieth century, Jewish communities have worked to preserve a number of buildings associated with the Jewish immigrant community.


title: Lower East Side

text: Little Fuzhou (), or Fuzhou Town () is a neighborhood within the eastern sliver of Chinatown, in the Two Bridges and Lower East Side areas of Manhattan. Starting in the 1980s and especially in the 1990s, the neighborhood became a prime destination for immigrants from Fuzhou, Fujian, China. Manhattan's Little Fuzhou is centered on East Broadway. However, since the 2000s, Chinatown, Brooklyn became New York City's new primary destination for the Fuzhou immigrants evolving a second Little Fuzhou of the city and has now far surpassed as being the largest Fuzhou cultural center of the New York metropolitan area and still rapidly growing in contrast to Manhattan's Little Fuzhou, now undergoing gentrification.


title: Lower East Side

text: Since the 2010s, the Fuzhou immigrant population and businesses have been declining throughout the whole eastern portion of Manhattan's Chinatown due to gentrification. There is a rapidly increasing influx of high-income professionals moving into this area, often non-Chinese, including high-end hipster-owned businesses.


title: Lower East Side

text: The neighborhood has become home to numerous contemporary art galleries. One of the first was ABC No Rio. Begun by a group of Colab no wave artists (some living on Ludlow Street), ABC No Rio opened an outsider gallery space that invited community participation and encouraged the widespread production of art. Taking an activist approach to art that grew out of The Real Estate Show (the take over of an abandoned building by artists to open an outsider gallery only to have it chained closed by the police) ABC No Rio kept its sense of activism, community, and outsiderness. The product of this open, expansive approach to art was a space for creating new works that did not have links to the art market place and that were able to explore new artistic possibilities.


title: Lower East Side

text: Other outsider galleries sprung up throughout the Lower East Side and East Village—some 200 at the height of the scene in the 1980s, including the 124 Ridge Street Gallery among others. In December 2007, the New Museum relocated to a brand-new, critically acclaimed building on Bowery at Prince. A growing number of galleries are opening in the Bowery neighborhood to be in close proximity to the museum. The Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space, which opened in 2012, exhibits photography featuring the neighborhood in addition to chronicling its history of activism.


title: Lower East Side

text: Social service agencies like Henry Street Settlement and Educational Alliance have visual and performing arts programs, the former at Abrons Arts Center, a home for contemporary interdisciplinary arts.


title: Lower East Side

text: As the neighborhood gentrified and has become safer at night, it has become a popular late night destination. Orchard, Ludlow and Essex between Rivington Street and Stanton Street have become especially packed at night, and the resulting noise is a cause of tension between bar owners and longtime residents. Further, as gentrification continues, many established landmarks and venues have been lost.


title: Lower East Side

text: The Lower East Side is also home to many live music venues. Punk bands played at C-Squat and alternative rock bands play at Bowery Ballroom on Delancey Street and Mercury Lounge on East Houston Street. Punk bands play at Otto's Shrunken Head and R-Bar. Punk and alternative bands play at Bowery Electric just north of the old CBGB's location. There are also bars that offer performance space, such as Pianos on Ludlow Street and Arlene's Grocery on Stanton Street.


title: Lower East Side

text: The Lower East Side is the location of the Slipper Room a burlesque, variety and vaudeville theatre on Orchard and Stanton. Lady Gaga, Leonard Cohen and U2 have all appeared there, while popular downtown performers Dirty Martini, Murray Hill and Matt Fraser often appear. Variety shows are regularly hosted by comedians James Habacker, Bradford Scobie, Matthew Holtzclaw and Matt Roper under the guise of various characters.


title: Lower East Side

text: The Lower East Side is patrolled by the 7th Precinct of the NYPD, located at Pitt Street. The 7th Precinct, along with the neighboring 5th Precinct, ranked 48th safest out of 69 patrol areas for per-capita crime in 2010. , with a non-fatal assault rate of 42 per 100,000 people, the Lower East Side and East Village's rate of violent crimes per capita is less than that of the city as a whole. The incarceration rate of 449 per 100,000 people is higher than that of the city as a whole.


title: Lower East Side

text: The 7th Precinct has a lower crime rate than in the 1990s, with crimes across all categories having decreased by 64.8% between 1990 and 2019. The precinct reported 0 murders, 7 rapes, 149 robberies, 187 felony assaults, 94 burglaries, 507 grand larcenies, and 18 grand larcenies auto in 2019.


title: Lower East Side

text: , preterm births and births to teenage mothers are less common in the Lower East Side and East Village than in other places citywide. In the Lower East Side and East Village, there were 82 preterm births per 1,000 live births (compared to 87 per 1,000 citywide), and 10.1 births to teenage mothers per 1,000 live births (compared to 19.3 per 1,000 citywide). The Lower East Side and East Village have a low population of residents who are uninsured. In 2018, this population of uninsured residents was estimated to be 11%, slightly less than the citywide rate of 12%.


title: Lower East Side

text: The concentration of fine particulate matter, the deadliest type of air pollutant, in the Lower East Side and East Village is , more than the city average. Twenty percent of Lower East Side and East Village residents are smokers, which is more than the city average of 14% of residents being smokers. In the Lower East Side and East Village, 10% of residents are obese, 11% are diabetic, and 22% have high blood pressure—compared to the citywide averages of 24%, 11%, and 28% respectively. In addition, 16% of children are obese, compared to the citywide average of 20%.


title: Lower East Side

text: Eighty-eight percent of residents eat some fruits and vegetables every day, which is about the same as the city's average of 87%. In 2018, 70% of residents described their health as "good," "very good," or "excellent," less than the city's average of 78%. For every supermarket in the Lower East Side and East Village, there are 18 bodegas.


title: Lower East Side

text: The nearest major hospitals are Beth Israel Medical Center in Stuyvesant Town, as well as the Bellevue Hospital Center and NYU Langone Medical Center in Kips Bay, and NewYork-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital in the Civic Center area. In addition, FDNY EMS Division 1/Station 4 is located on Pier 39.


title: Lower East Side

text: The Lower East Side is located within the ZIP Code 10002. The United States Postal Service operates two post offices in the Lower East Side:


title: Lower East Side

text: The Lower East Side and East Village generally have a higher rate of college-educated residents than the rest of the city . A plurality of residents age 25 and older (48%) have a college education or higher, while 24% have less than a high school education and 28% are high school graduates or have some college education. By contrast, 64% of Manhattan residents and 43% of city residents have a college education or higher. The percentage of Lower East Side and East Village students excelling in math rose from 61% in 2000 to 80% in 2011, and reading achievement increased from 66% to 68% during the same time period.


title: Lower East Side

text: The Lower East Side and East Village's rate of elementary school student absenteeism is lower than the rest of New York City. In the Lower East Side and East Village, 16% of elementary school students missed twenty or more days per school year, less than the citywide average of 20%. Additionally, 77% of high school students in the Lower East Side and East Village graduate on time, more than the citywide average of 75%.


title: Lower East Side

text: The New York City Department of Education operates public schools in the Lower East Side as part of Community School District 1. District 1 does not contain any zoned schools, which means that students living in District 1 can apply to any school in the district, including those in the East Village.


title: Lower East Side

text: The following public elementary schools are located in the Lower East Side, serving grades PK-5 unless otherwise indicated:


title: Lower East Side

text: The following public elementary/middle schools are located in the Lower East Side, serving grades PK-8 unless otherwise indicated:


title: Lower East Side

text: The Lower East Side Preparatory High School (LESPH) and Emma Lazarus High School (ELHS) are second-chance schools that enable students, aged 17–21, to obtain their high school diplomas. LESPH is a bilingual Chinese-English school with a high proportion of Asian students. ELHS' instructional model is English-immersion with an ethnically diverse student body.


title: Lower East Side

text: The Seward Park Campus comprises five schools with an average graduation rate of about 80%. The original school in the building was opened 1929 and closed 2006.


title: Lower East Side

text: The New York Public Library (NYPL) operates two branches in the Lower East Side. The Seward Park branch is located at 4192 East Broadway. It was founded by the Aguilar Free Library Society in 1886, and the current three-story Carnegie library building was opened in 1909 and renovated in 2004. The Hamilton Fish Park branch is located at 415 East Houston Street. It was originally built as a Carnegie library in 1909, but was torn down when Houston Street was expanded; the current one-story structure was completed in 1960.


title: Lower East Side

text: The Lower East Side is home to many private parks, such as La Plaza Cultural. There are several public parks in the area, including Sara D. Roosevelt Park between Chrystie and Forsyth Streets from Houston to Canal Streets, as well as Seward Park on Essex Street between Hester Street and East Broadway.


title: Lower East Side

text: The East River shorefront contains the John V. Lindsay East River Park, a public park running between East 12th Street in the East Village and Montgomery Street in the Lower East Side. Planned for the waterfront is Pier 42, the first section of which is scheduled to open in 2021.


title: Lower East Side

text: There are multiple New York City Subway stations in the neighborhood, including Grand Street (), Bowery (), Second Avenue (), Delancey Street–Essex Street (), and East Broadway (). New York City Bus routes include .


title: Lower East Side

text: The Williamsburg Bridge and Manhattan Bridge connect the Lower East Side to Brooklyn. The FDR Drive is on the neighborhood's south and east ends.


title: Lower East Side

text: , thirty-seven percent of roads in the Lower East Side have bike lanes. Bike lanes are present on Allen, Chrystie, Clinton, Delancey, Grand, Houston, Montgomery, Madison, Rivington, Stanton, and Suffolk Streets; Bowery, East Broadway, and FDR Drive; the Williamsburg and Manhattan bridges; and the East River Greenway.


title: Lower East Side

text: The Lower East Side is served by NYC Ferry's Lower East Side route, which stops at Corlears Hook in the East River Park. The service started operating on August 29, 2018.


title: Jennifer Warnes

text: Jennifer Jean Warnes (born March 3, 1947) is an American singer and songwriter. She has performed as a vocalist on a number of film soundtracks. She has won two Grammy Awards, in 1983 for the Joe Cocker duet "Up Where We Belong" and in 1987 for the Bill Medley duet "(I've Had) The Time of My Life". Warnes also collaborated closely with Leonard Cohen.


title: Jennifer Warnes

text: Warnes was born on March 3, 1947, in Seattle, Washington but raised in Anaheim, California. Her desire and ability to sing came early; at age seven she was offered her first recording contract, which her father declined. She sang in church and local pageants until age 17 when Warnes was offered an opera scholarship to Immaculate Heart College. She was so committed to her Catholic faith, that for a while she entered a convent after graduating from high school.


title: Jennifer Warnes

text: Warnes chose to sing folk music as it became popularized by Joan Baez in the mid-1960s. In 1968, after a few years with musical theatre and clubs, she signed with Parrot Records (a London Records subsidiary) and recorded her first album. That year, she joined the cast of the television show "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour".


title: Jennifer Warnes

text: Early in her career, industry advisors suggested Warnes change her name to "Warren", but then realized that there was already an actress named Jennifer Warren, so she performed briefly as simply 'Jennifer', though she was credited as Jennifer Warren when she provided duet vocals for singer-guitarist Mason Williams on his 1968 album, "The Mason Williams Ear Show". Soon, however, she returned to her birth name.


title: Jennifer Warnes

text: In November 1968, Warnes (as "Jennifer Warren") portrayed the female lead in the Los Angeles, California, production of the stage musical "Hair". She had a related UK single release as "Jennifer" on London HLU 10278 in June 1969 with "Let The Sunshine In" and "Easy to Be Hard", licensed from the US Parrot label.


title: Jennifer Warnes

text: In 1971, Warnes met Canadian songwriter and poet Leonard Cohen, and the two remained friends. She toured Europe with Cohen's band in 1972 and 1979 — first as a back-up singer and then as a vocal arranger and guest singer on Cohen's albums "Live Songs" (1973), "Recent Songs" (1979), "Various Positions" (1985), "I'm Your Man" (1988), "The Future" (1992), "" (2001), and "Old Ideas" (2012). Warnes later (1987) recorded a critically acclaimed audiophile album of Cohen songs, "Famous Blue Raincoat".


title: Jennifer Warnes

text: In 1972, Warnes released her third album, "Jennifer", which was produced by John Cale. It was unavailable after the LP was deleted, until it was finally reissued in Japan in 2013 (Reprise WPCR-14865). In 1976, Warnes released the album "Jennifer Warnes" (Arista 4062), which contained her breakthrough single, "Right Time of the Night", which hit number 1 on "Billboard's" Easy Listening (Adult Contemporary) chart in April 1977 and number 6 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart in May 1977.


title: Jennifer Warnes

text: Warnes recorded the song "It Goes Like It Goes" for the 1979 motion picture "Norma Rae". The song won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Her 1979 single "I Know A Heartache When I See One", was a Top 10 Country hit and reached the Top 20 on both the Pop and Adult Contemporary charts.


title: Jennifer Warnes

text: Warnes recorded the Randy Newman composition "One More Hour" for the 1981 motion picture "Ragtime". This became her second song performance nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song.


title: Jennifer Warnes

text: Warnes teamed up with Joe Cocker to record "Up Where We Belong" for the 1982 motion picture "An Officer and a Gentleman". Written by Buffy Sainte-Marie, Will Jennings and Jack Nitzsche, the song won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, as well as a Golden Globe Award. The song also won Warnes and Cocker the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, which was released as a single and hit No. 1 (for three weeks running) on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart. It was certified platinum for over two million sales in the United States. That same year, she recorded James Taylor's "Millworker" for the "American Playhouse" PBS production of "Working".


title: Jennifer Warnes

text: In 1985, she recorded a duet version with B. J. Thomas of the song "As Long As We Got Each Other", the theme for the TV show "Growing Pains". It was used as the opening theme for the second and third seasons. For the fourth season, the song was once again re-recorded with Thomas and Dusty Springfield. However, the Warnes version made its return for the fifth season and the seventh (final) season of the show. The same year, she recorded vocals for Leonard Cohen's record "Various Positions", getting equal vocals credits with Cohen in the inside booklet. After releasing a praised tribute LP of Leonard Cohen's songs in 1987, "Famous Blue Raincoat", to which Cohen contributed two new compositions, "First We Take Manhattan", which featured Stevie Ray Vaughan on guitar, and "Ain't No Cure for Love", she contributed vocals to Cohen's 1988 hit LP "I'm Your Man", most notably to "Take This Waltz" and "Tower of Song".


title: Jennifer Warnes

text: Warnes teamed with Bill Medley to record "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" for the 1987 motion picture "Dirty Dancing". This marked the third song performed by Warnes to win the Academy Award for Best Original Song and second for the Golden Globe Award in the same category. The song also won Warnes and Medley the Grammy Award for Duo or Group with Vocal. It reached No. 1 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and spent four consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart.


title: Jennifer Warnes

text: On September 30, 1987, at the Coconut Grove in Los Angeles, she contributed vocals for Roy Orbison's star-studded television special "Roy Orbison and Friends, A Black and White Night".


title: Jennifer Warnes

text: In 1991, Warnes recorded the Lennon-McCartney song "Golden Slumbers" as a duet with Jackson Browne, included in the album "For Our Children" which was released by Disney as a benefit for the Pediatric AIDS Foundation.


title: Jennifer Warnes

text: Warnes released her seventh studio album, "The Hunter", in June 1992. The LP featured the AC No. 13 single "Rock You Gently", and also featured the track "Way Down Deep" co-written by Warnes and Leonard Cohen. She recorded the track "Cold Enough To Snow" for the 1993 film, "Life With Mikey".


title: Jennifer Warnes

text: In August 2007, the Shout Factory Records label re-released the 20th anniversary edition of "Famous Blue Raincoat" with a 24-page booklet and four additional songs. "The Hunter" was re-released in 2009, and "The Well" was re-released in September 2010.


title: Jennifer Warnes

text: All remasters were issued on high quality vinyl and 24K gold discs. "Famous Blue Raincoat" was released with four bonus tracks. "The Hunter" was released without bonus material. The re-released "The Well," however, contains a total of 14 tracks. These include two previously unreleased recordings from the original session: "La Luna Brilla", "A Fool for the Look (in Your Eyes)", and one extra bonus selection, "Show Me the Light" (a second duet with Bill Medley, which was originally featured on the 1998 movie soundtrack "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer-The Movie").


title: Jennifer Warnes

text: In 2018, Warnes released her first album since 2001, "Another Time, Another Place". The first cut from the new album, "Just Breathe" was released on March 1, 2018. Written by Eddie Vedder, the song was originally recorded by Pearl Jam. The album includes 10 tracks, among them a new version of "So Sad" by Mickey Newbury, "I Am The Big Easy" by Ray Bonneville, "Once I Was Loved" by John Legend, "Why Worry" by Mark Knopfler, and "The Boys And Me" by Warnes herself and Michael Smotherman.


title: Damages (TV series)

text: Damages is an American legal thriller television series created by writing and production trio Daniel Zelman, Glenn Kessler, and Todd A. Kessler. It premiered on July 24, 2007, on FX and aired for three seasons before moving to the DirecTV channel Audience Network in 2010, airing for two further seasons, and concluding in 2012.


title: Damages (TV series)

text: The plot revolves around the brilliant, ruthless lawyer Patty Hewes (Glenn Close) and her newest protégée, recent law school graduate Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne). Each season features a major case that Hewes and her firm take on, while also examining a chapter of the complex relationship between Ellen and Patty. The first two seasons center on the law firm Hewes & Associates in New York City, while later seasons focus more on Patty and Ellen's relationship and Ellen’s attempts to distance herself from Hewes & Associates, both personally and professionally.


title: Damages (TV series)

text: The series is known for its depiction of season-long cases, from the point of view of both the law firm and an opponent. It is also noted for the technical merit of its writing, including its effective use of plot twists and non-linear narrative. It has received critical acclaim and various award nominations, with Close and Željko Ivanek winning Primetime Emmy Awards for their performances. Other established actors in the cast include Ted Danson, Tate Donovan, William Hurt, Marcia Gay Harden, Timothy Olyphant, Martin Short, Lily Tomlin, John Goodman, Ryan Phillippe, Dylan Baker, Janet McTeer, and John Hannah.


title: Damages (TV series)

text: The regular cast consists of Glenn Close, Rose Byrne, Ted Danson, Tate Donovan, Željko Ivanek and Noah Bean.


title: Damages (TV series)

text: A young woman, Ellen Parsons, is found running through the streets half-naked and covered in blood. During the ensuing police investigation, her fiancé, David, is found in the couple's apartment, bludgeoned to death, and Ellen is arrested.


title: Damages (TV series)

text: Six months earlier, Ellen, a newly minted lawyer, is being courted for prestigious jobs. She turns down an offer to work with the defense attorney Hollis Nye (Philip Bosco). Ultimately, she chooses a job at Hewes & Associates, headed by notorious lawyer Patty Hewes. When Nye finds out about this, he warns Ellen of the dangers of working for Patty and asks her to sign his business card. Ellen later notices he wrote, "I was warned,” above her signature.


title: Damages (TV series)

text: Ellen becomes engrossed in a major case that Hewes & Associates is pursuing. Patty has been retained in a class action lawsuit by the former employees of billionaire Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson). In a case reminiscent of the Enron scandal, Frobisher is accused of insider trading and lying to his employees about his company's health, even as he unloaded hundreds of millions of his own stock, depriving his employees of their retirement funds and benefits. Early in the season, Patty shows she is willing to go to extreme, unethical, and illegal lengths to win her case. As the season progresses, Ellen becomes increasingly involved in the case and in Patty's tradecraft.


title: Damages (TV series)

text: Ellen deduces that one reason she was hired was her personal connection to the case; her fiancé's sister turns out to be an important witness. Throughout much of the season, Ellen skirts the edges of unethical behavior, and she eventually crosses that line. As Ellen becomes increasingly devoted to the case, her relationship with her fiancé, David, becomes strained. The situation worsens when Patty betrays his sister. Eventually, Ellen and David tire of Patty, and Ellen publicly leaves Hewes & Associates. Nevertheless, she maintains an interest in the case and soon becomes personally and professionally embroiled in it again.


title: Damages (TV series)

text: Throughout the first season, the series plays with time. Instead of unfolding in the present and showing flashbacks of the past, the main narrative unfolds several months in the past and is interspersed with flashes of events that are taking place in the present. These flashes gradually reveal that Ellen's fiancé, David, has been murdered and that Ellen, while staying at Patty's apartment, appears to have been attacked.


title: Damages (TV series)

text: By the finale of the first season, the past-tense main narrative of the show has caught up with the flashes of the present, and most of the questions raised by those flashes have been resolved. The murder charges against Ellen are dropped. The identities of David's murderer and Ellen's attacker are revealed to the audience, and the Frobisher case is resolved. As a result, Frobisher gives two billion dollars of his personal fortune to the employees, in exchange for a guarantee that no criminal charges will be filed against him. He is later shot and left for dead by a former employee, whom he had double-crossed earlier by manipulating him for information.


title: Damages (TV series)

text: Glenn Close, Rose Byrne, and Tate Donovan return as regulars in the second season of the series. Season one recurring star Anastasia Griffith became a regular, while season one regular Ted Danson returned for five episodes. William Hurt, Timothy Olyphant and Marcia Gay Harden also joined the regular cast, while John Doman guest starred.


title: Damages (TV series)

text: Once naive young attorney Ellen Parsons talks to an unknown person off-screen. Suddenly, she pulls out a gun before pulling the trigger twice.


title: Damages (TV series)

text: Six months earlier, an old acquaintance of Patty's, scientist Daniel Purcell (William Hurt), convinces Patty to take a case involving a conspiracy between Purcell's scientific firm and a huge energy corporation, Ultima National Resources (UNR). Patty's initial refusal to assist Purcell is understood better when it is revealed that Purcell is the father of Patty's son, Michael, a relationship she abused to win a case during Michael's childhood. Currently, Purcell is having an affair with Patty's opponent in the courtroom, Claire Maddox (Marcia Gay Harden), the attorney of UNR's CEO. On a similar note, a partner in UNR, Dave Pell (Clarke Peters), conspires against her with Patty's husband, Phil, while Phil is also having an extramarital affair. When Phil's affair is anonymously leaked to the press (found to be by Patty), Patty kicks him out of their apartment. Ellen, still believing Patty had tried to have her killed, deals with her past by attending group grief counseling sessions and working with the FBI to bring Patty down. Patty's partner Tom Shayes, whose wife is pregnant with a son, continues to be in the dark on certain issues regarding cases. Eventually, Ellen uses Tom to further the FBI investigation, causing him to get fired in the process.


title: Damages (TV series)

text: Similar to the first season, the majority of the narrative is past tense, with glimpses of the present. This season gradually reveals it is Patty that Ellen held at gunpoint, attempting to force the truth out of her. Several minutes after Ellen fires the gun, Patty is found bleeding in the elevator.


title: Damages (TV series)

text: In the season finale, Ellen convinces Patty to bribe the judge to accept evidence that would otherwise be inadmissible, in a setup to incriminate Patty. At the same time, Patty makes a deal with Pell to call off the FBI and hand over the data proving UNR is using toxic chemicals. In return, Patty will drop the energy trading angle of the case. She also sets up Ellen to take the fall for bribing the judge. Ellen, meanwhile, procures a handgun. After destroying the FBI cameras in the room by shooting them, Ellen confronts Patty about her actions from season one, leaving to bribe the judge after Patty confesses that she was responsible for the attempted murder of Ellen. Soon thereafter, Patty is found bleeding in the elevator. Here, it is revealed that before her confrontation with Ellen, Patty was stabbed by Fin Garrity. When Ellen bribes the judge, her FBI handler arrests both her and the judge. As they leave, Federal Marshals arrest the corrupt agent Ellen was assisting, freeing Ellen.


title: Damages (TV series)

text: One month later, Patty is recovering at home, Tom is returning to Patty's firm, and Ellen has a new job offer. Patty says Ellen will return.


title: Damages (TV series)

text: Glenn Close, Rose Byrne, and Tate Donovan returned as regulars for the third season. Season 1 regular Ted Danson returned for five episodes. Martin Short and Campbell Scott joined the cast. Lily Tomlin and Keith Carradine special guest starred.


title: Damages (TV series)

text: Patty is the victim of a car crash. The other car belongs to Tom Shayes, who is found dead in a dumpster. Ellen is implicated in Tom's murder because her blood-stained purse is found in the hands of a homeless man near the dumpster. When a detective questions Ellen, they discuss what the homeless man said, and the detective asks whether Ellen and Tom were romantically involved. Ellen replies, "We were starting a law firm together".


title: Damages (TV series)

text: Six months earlier, Patty Hewes is tackling a new case. Appointed a trustee by the US government, she is tasked to recover billions of dollars lost to the largest investment fraud in Wall Street history: a fraudulent Ponzi scheme run by Louis Tobin (Len Cariou), a Bernie Madoff-type. Patty believes Tobin has hidden the money and that members of his family, specifically his loyal son Joe (Campbell Scott) and daughter Carol, secretive wife Marilyn (Lily Tomlin), and trusted attorney and family friend Leonard Winstone (Martin Short) know much more than they claim. Tom has a personal involvement because he invested in the Tobin fund and lost his savings and those of his parents and in-laws, which makes his work on the case a conflict of interest. Ellen, meanwhile, has stayed true to her promise not to return to Patty's firm and has avoided contact for the past year that she has been working at the District Attorney's office. Ellen runs into Tom, and she mentions she is having trouble cracking a drug case. Soon afterward, Ellen's case is suddenly resolved under suspicious circumstances, and she receives a package from Hewes & Associates containing an expensive Chanel bag from Patty (the same bloodstained bag that ends up in the hands of the homeless man). Believing Hewes & Associates is more capable than the D.A. to bring about restitution for the victims, Ellen begins to secretly cooperate with Patty and Tom, and they all get drawn into the Tobin family's world of deceit.


title: Damages (TV series)

text: Patty and Ellen's bond resurfaces as they work on the case together. Throughout the third season, Ellen tries to prove that she can get to and manipulate Patty, which Patty figures out through Ellen's manipulation of her replacement at Hewes & Associates: a young, ambitious lawyer named Alex.


title: Damages (TV series)

text: Ellen and Patty each deal with family crises. Patty learns her son, Michael, and his girlfriend Jill, who is at least 15 years his senior, are expecting a baby. At the end of the season, Jill finds herself in custody for having sex with a minor and about to lose her freedom and custody of the baby. Toward the end of the season, it is revealed that the car that hit Patty was driven by Michael, who was enraged by Patty's having Jill arrested. Meanwhile, Ellen's sister is arrested on a drug charge. Also revealed is an old and painful secret Patty has been keeping for years, about her daughter, Julia. Through memories and dreams Patty repeatedly sees herself, highly pregnant, walking up to a ranch with horses and a man she briefly talks to. He asks what she's doing so far away from her home in her condition, and Patty replies her doctor said she'd be okay. However, the doctor actually told Patty she must stay in bed and avoid any physical activity, or else the baby will die. Following Tom's funeral, Patty indirectly admits to Ellen that she brought on a miscarriage so she could go to New York and accept an important job offer, thus beginning her climb to the top of the legal profession. Ellen then asks, "Is it worth it?" Patty does not reply, and Ellen leaves.


title: Damages (TV series)

text: Glenn Close and Rose Byrne returned as regulars for the fourth season. John Goodman and Dylan Baker joined the cast. Chris Messina guest starred.


title: Damages (TV series)

text: The fourth season opens to reveal Ellen's new job at another law firm (the same firm she was offered a position at in season one). Ending Ellen's search for a career-defining case, she begins researching and gathering witnesses for a wrongful-death suit against private military contractor Howard T. Erickson (John Goodman), who heads the "HighStar" security company. Erickson made his fortune supplying the U.S. government with security forces in Afghanistan and is protected by his connections within the highest echelons of power in Washington, D.C. During a high school reunion, Ellen enlists her old friend Chris Sánchez (Chris Messina), a HighStar employee, as her key witness. Unfortunately, the law firm Ellen works for, fearful of repercussions, rejects the case, forcing Ellen to seek the resources for case elsewhere. After Patty sees Ellen harassed by a supporter of HighStar while she and Ellen have lunch together, she offers Ellen everything necessary to file the case. As the case unfolds, Jerry Boorman (Dylan Baker), an opportunist deeply tied to Erickson and the CIA, works all angles to prevent the case from progressing, fearful that his true involvement in the wrongful-deaths will be discovered.


title: Damages (TV series)

text: Once the case is clearly resolved, Ellen and Patty meet in Manhattan in a spot overlooked by the Statue of Liberty. Ellen is angry because Patty put Chris in danger to continue the case despite her protest. In response, Patty offers Ellen her hand claiming that they "can do great things together". Ellen refuses and says goodbye.


title: Damages (TV series)

text: Glenn Close and Rose Byrne returned as regulars for the fifth and final season. Ryan Phillippe joined the main cast. Chris Messina, Jenna Elfman, Janet McTeer and John Hannah guest starred.