Why is the Karaite date of the Day of Atonement important?
Seventh-day Adventists claim that in 1844, a very small Jewish sect called the “Karaites,” used a different calendar and thus celebrated the Day of Atonement (10th of Tishri) on October 22, one month later than the Rabbinical/Orthodox Jews who did so on September 23. Thus the entire Seventh-day Adventist teaching regarding the 2300 days of Daniel 8:14, the Investigative Judgment, the Great Disappointment, and Jesus’ entrance into the Most Holy Place, hinges only on the words of their prophet Ellen White and on their claim Karaites celebrated the Day of Atonement on October 22 in 1844. If either of these assertions is incorrect, then Seventh-day Adventism is in serious theological trouble. The Rabbinical Day of Atonement in 1844 is easy to for anyone to prove from Jewish sources, that it came on September 23, 1844. See “Day of Atonement.” Samuel Snow, was first to espouse the October 22, 1844 date and claimed that it was from the calendar of the Karaite Jews. “SNOW, SAMUEL S. (1806-1870
