[Avodah] Tzedukim

Lisa Liel via Avodah avodah at lists.aishdas.org
Thu May 5 12:41:39 PDT 2016


On 5/5/2016 7:39 PM, Micha Berger via Avodah wrote:
> See <http://www.bibleodyssey.org/people/related-articles/sadducees.aspx>:
...
>      by Michael L. Satlow
...
>      ...
>      The Sadducees' origins are uncertain. A few sources link them to the
>      Jerusalem priest, with some scholars suggesting that the Greek term
>      Sadducee is derived from the Hebrew Zadoq...

The myth that the Tzedukim got their name from Tzadok the Kohen Gadol 
has zero basis to it.  Except maybe the quote from Acts, which has no 
weight.  The origin of the Tzedukim appears in Avot d'Rabbi Natan, where 
we find that the eponymous Tzadok was one of the talmidim of Antigonus 
Ish Socho.

>      However, the Sadducees first appear in the historical record not
>      as priests but as a political group. The Jewish historian Josephus
>      mentions them in the context of John Hyrcanus, the Hasmonean high
>      priest and ruler of Judah from 135-104 B.C.E. (Antiquities 13.10.5-6).
>      According to Josephus, a guest at a banquet for the Pharisees accused
>      Hyrcanus of being a [mamzer]...

Also, despite Josephus's claims, the accusation wasn't that he was a 
mamzer; it was that he was a chalal.

The article is a non-story.

Lisa

[To be fair without bothering to post a full reply for something off-topic:
The original had a word I wasn't comfortable repeating on-list,
starts with a "b", so I assumed the usual back-translation to the Hebrew.
I have no idea what Josephus actually wrote, nor do I expect a Xian to
bother explaining chalal rather than use a general term for what used
to be called an "illegitimate" child. So I  don't know if it's Josephus's
claims that's off or a miscommunication caused by my trying to be
overly frummy.     -micha]



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