[Avodah] Qumram

[Micha Berger]

On Thu, Sep 04, 2008 at 12:19:32PM -0700, Eli Turkel wrote:
:> I would think the Qumranim would fall under "seifer Torah shekasvo min",
:> even if the whole thing were in Ashuris.>>

: It is still debated who lived in Qumram and wrote the dead sea scrolls.
: They were defintely not Saducees. perhaps Essenes perhaps some other group.

But they were certainly minim of some sort. In the MMT is presented
the position attributed in the gemara to the Tzeduqim, that tum'ah can
not travel from the keli sheini up the irui to be metamei the liquid in
the keli rishon. It is recorded as an argument and a discussion in both
sources, allowing us to see the dispute from both sides.

They also had a calendar that required all years have an even number of
weeks, as did the Tzeduqim of Rabban Gamliel's day. (Which is why they
were faking testimony about seeing the moon, an explanation of the Tzeduqi
"mimacharas hashabbos" -- the 2nd day of Pesach was always to be Sunday,
and even Easter always being on a Sunday may be a legacy of this.)

So, perhaps the Issiim shared this lenient position, but given their
attitude toward taharah, I doubt it. More likely they were some small
breakaway from the Tzeduqim that simply wasn't big enough for Josephus
to bother mentioning.


I am not sure I agree with RZS's speculation. For "min" to refer to the
early Xians in particular, one would have to explain why their attitude
toward sheimos or the One to Whom they refer are unique among the sects.
Trinitarianism wasn't an issue yet. In fact, there is no indication
that anyone in the original Jewish churches (Notzerim, Evyonim, James'
friends in J-m) were trinitarian.

Is belief in a dead but human messiah that different of a hashkafic
divide than the Tzeduqi lack of belief in an afterlife?

For that matter, in the days of the tannaim, most Jewish Xians were
still obeying Tzeduqi or (lehavdil) Perushi law.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             "As long as the candle is still burning,
micha at aishdas.org        it is still possible to accomplish and to
http://www.aishdas.org   mend."
Fax: (270) 514-1507          - Unknown shoemaker to R' Yisrael Salanter