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119-652: The Hasideans have been the object of much scholarly speculation: were they a specific group with a coherent ideology, or merely a generic term for "the faithful"? If they were a group, what was their religious and political stance? What happened to them after the Maccabean Revolt concluded? Were they predecessors of the Pharisees , the Essenes , both, or neither? Scholars have come to different conclusions: from seeing them as religious "moderates" whose main goal

238-562: A beit knesset or in Greek as a synagogue ) and houses of prayer (Hebrew Beit Tefilah ; Greek προσευχαί , proseuchai ) were the primary meeting places for prayer, and the house of study ( beit midrash ) was the counterpart for the synagogue. In 539 BCE the Persians conquered Babylon , and in 537 BCE Cyrus the Great allowed Jews to return to Judea and rebuild

357-582: A Jewish social movement and a school of thought in the Levant during the time of Second Temple Judaism . Following the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD, Pharisaic beliefs became the foundational, liturgical, and ritualistic basis for Rabbinic Judaism . Although the group does not exist anymore, their traditions are considered important among all various Jewish religious movements . Conflicts between Pharisees and Sadducees took place in

476-635: A citron as opposed to any other fruit), the methods of textual exegesis (the disagreements recorded in the Mishna and Talmud generally focus on methods of exegesis), and Laws with Mosaic authority that cannot be derived from the Biblical text (these include measurements (e.g. what amount of a non-kosher food must one eat to be liable), the amount and order of the scrolls to be placed in the phylacteries, etc.). The Pharisees were also innovators in that they enacted specific laws as they saw necessary according to

595-582: A Pharisee, estimated the total Pharisee population before the fall of the Second Temple to be around 6,000. He claimed that the Pharisees' influence over the common people was so great that anything they said against the king or the high priest was believed, apparently in contrast to the more elite Sadducees, who were the upper class. Pharisees claimed Mosaic authority for their interpretation of Jewish religious law , while Sadducees represented

714-452: A day (morning, afternoon and evening), and include in their prayers a recitation of these passages in the morning ( Shacharit ) and evening ( Ma'ariv ) prayers. Pharisaic wisdom was compiled in one book of the Mishna, Pirkei Avot . The Pharisaic attitude is perhaps best exemplified by a story about the sages Hillel the Elder and Shammai , who both lived in the latter half of

833-561: A distinct group that allied with Judas early and remained so during the revolt. The incident described in 1 Maccabees 7 was not a major split or philosophical difference, but a tactical one. The Maccabees had been crushingly defeated at the Battle of Beth Zechariah in 162 BCE, had declined to interfere with Bacchides' campaign in 161 BCE, and were likely still rebuilding. The Hasideans had been true allies of Judas, but some of them had hoped to negotiate for concessions and relief thinking Alcimus

952-576: A kingdom of priests and a holy nation," and the words of 2 Maccabees (2:17): "God gave all the people the heritage, the kingdom, the priesthood, and the holiness." The Pharisees believed that the idea that all of the children of Israel were to be like priests was expressed elsewhere in the Torah, for example, when the Law itself was transferred from the sphere of the priesthood to every man in Israel. Moreover,

1071-558: A liar according to the book. At the least, the author certainly intends the reader to think that Alcimus is lying about Judas being the source of the troubles in Judea, so him being a wicked informer and smearing the "real" Hasideans by claiming the troublemaker Judas is their leader is also a possibility. Loosely speaking, there are three main branches to take with these references to the Hasideans as to who they were. The simplest option

1190-460: A moderate, and the government used the opportunity to execute those who showed up. Still, in this scenario, the government was correct in perceiving the Hasideans as opponents. Judas declined to negotiate personally, deciding it was not good to negotiate from a position of weakness, and he would need to win again on the battlefield before a longer-term peace could be secured. In this view, the incident proved him correct: negotiations undertaken before

1309-685: A sofer is not the calligraphy , but, rather, remembering the thousands of laws that apply to sifrei Torah, tefillin, mezuzot, and all the other texts that are written on parchment . Some people who want to become ritual scribes learn at the Vaad Mishmereth STaM , an international organization whose goal is to protect the halachic and artistic integrity of the scribal arts, located in Jerusalem and Bnei Brak in Israel, as well as in Brooklyn , New York, United States; studying comes with

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1428-745: A source very much favorable to the Hasmonean family, then says this caused a group of Hasideans to join under Matthias's revolt and provide needing backing. Then a group of scribes appeared in a body before Alcimus and Bacchides to ask for just terms. The Hasideans were first among the Israelites to seek peace from them, for they said, 'A priest of the line of Aaron has come with the army, and he will not harm us.' Alcimus spoke peaceable words to them and swore this oath to them, 'We will not seek to injure you or your friends.' So they trusted him; but he seized sixty of them and killed them in one day (...) Then

1547-520: A translator from Hebrew to Greek may have simply erred when choosing to transliterate the Hebrew hasidim as if it were a proper name, or some other scribal meddling. Another option is to consider them a group who indeed took the proper name hasidim or a variant thereof, but a group largely in sync with Judas Maccabeus and the Hasmoneans, if possibly extra-pious. In this version, the Hasideans were

1666-522: Is a Jewish scribe who can transcribe Sifrei Kodesh (holy scrolls), tefillin (phylacteries), mezuzot ( ST"M , סת״ם , is an abbreviation of these three terms) and other religious writings. By simple definition, soferim are copyists , but their religious role in Judaism is much more. Besides sifrei Torah, tefillin, and mezuzot, scribes are necessary to write the Five Megillot (scrolls of

1785-717: Is a teacher sent from God, Joseph of Arimathea , who was a disciple, and an unknown number of "those of the party of the Pharisees who believed", among them the Apostle Paul – a student of Gamaliel , who warned the Sanhedrin that opposing the disciples of Jesus could prove to be tantamount to opposing God. "Pharisee" is derived from Ancient Greek Pharisaios ( Φαρισαῖος ), from Aramaic Pərīšā ( פְּרִישָׁא ), plural Pərīšayyā ( פְּרִישַׁיָּא ), meaning "set apart, separated", related to Hebrew Pārūš ( פָּרוּשׁ ), plural Pərūšīm ( פְּרוּשִׁים ),

1904-612: Is coming for any of the religious duties," suggesting that all laws are of equal importance). One belief central to the Pharisees which was shared by all Jews of the time is monotheism . This is evident in the practice of reciting the Shema , a prayer composed of select verses from the Torah (Deuteronomy 6:4), at the Temple and in synagogues; the Shema begins with the verses, "Hear O Israel,

2023-486: Is destroyed. We never witnessed its glory. But Rabbi Joshua did. And when he looked at the Temple ruins one day, he burst into tears. "Alas for us! The place which atoned for the sins of all the people Israel lies in ruins!" Then Rabbi Yohannan ben Zakkai spoke to him these words of comfort: "Be not grieved, my son. There is another way of gaining ritual atonement, even though the Temple is destroyed. We must now gain ritual atonement through deeds of loving-kindness." Following

2142-471: Is exemplified by the assertion that "A learned mamzer takes precedence over an ignorant High Priest." (A mamzer , literally, bastard, according to the Pharisaic definition, is an outcast child born of a forbidden relationship, such as adultery or incest, in which marriage of the parents could not lawfully occur. The word is often, but incorrectly, translated as "illegitimate".) Sadducees rejected

2261-415: Is generally the terminology for introducing a non-Greek word to merely pronounce. Then there united with them a company of Hasideans, mighty warriors of Israel, all who offered themselves willingly for the law. And all who became fugitives to escape their troubles joined them and reinforced them. 1 Maccabees relates that at the start of the conflict around 167–166 BCE, some of those "who had rejected

2380-405: Is possible that these books are describing a split among the Hasideans with some following Judas and others not, the favored explanation by scholars is that in 2 Maccabees, the term simply means "the faithful" in the sense of traditionalist Jews in general, and not a specific group. The reference also should be taken carefully, as the author has made it part of Alcimus's argument, but Alcimus is also

2499-593: Is that the Pharisees differed from Sadducees in the sense that they accepted the Oral Torah in addition to the Scripture. Anthony J. Saldarini argues that this assumption has neither implicit nor explicit evidence. A critique of the ancient interpretations of the Bible are distant from what modern scholars consider literal. Saldarini states that the Oral Torah did not come about until the third century CE, although there

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2618-455: Is to deny that the Hasideans were a coherent group at all. In this case, 1 Maccabees was merely expressing that some of the "faithful" of Israel joined with Mattathias, and other "faithful" were content to negotiate with Alcimus (if unwisely according to the author of 1 Maccabees). They would not be greatly distinguished from any other traditionalist Jews. Daniel R. Schwartz notes that 1 Maccabees 2:42 has significant textual variants between

2737-574: The Likkut Sifrey Stam . Sephardic soferim rely, in addition to Mishneh Torah (Hilchot Tefillin u'Mezuzah v'Sefer Torah, Hilchot Tzitzit), on Arba'ah Turim , Beit Yosef on Tur , and Shulchan Arukh . Baladi Rite Yemenite (Teimani) scribes try to follow as closely as possible only the instruction of the Rambam , i.e. Mishneh Torah (Hilchot Tefillin u'Mezuzah v'Sefer Torah, Hilchot Tzitzit), though before Mishneh Torah, their standard

2856-536: The Davidic dynasty of the First Temple era. The Pharisees emerged largely out of the group of scribes and sages. Some scholars observe significant Idumean influences in the development of Pharisaical Judaism. The Pharisees, among other Jewish sects, were active from the middle of the second century BCE until the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE. Josephus first mentions them in connection with Jonathan,

2975-527: The Essenes , was shared and elevated by the Pharisees. At first, the values of the Pharisees developed through their sectarian debates with the Sadducees; then they developed through internal, non-sectarian debates over the law as an adaptation to life without the Temple, and life in exile, and eventually, to a more limited degree, life in conflict with Christianity. These shifts mark the transformation of Pharisaic to Rabbinic Judaism. No single tractate of

3094-575: The Hasmonean dynasty. After defeating the Seleucid forces, Judas Maccabaeus 's nephew John Hyrcanus established a new monarchy in the form of the priestly Hasmonean dynasty in 152 BCE, thus establishing priests as political as well as religious authorities. Although the Hasmoneans were considered heroes for resisting the Seleucids, their reign lacked the legitimacy conferred by descent from

3213-615: The Qal passive participle of the verb pāraš ( פָּרַשׁ ). It may refer to their separation from Gentiles, sources of ritual impurity or from irreligious Jews. Alternatively, it may have a particular political meaning as "separatists" due to their division from the Sadducee elite, with Yitzhak Isaac Halevi characterizing the Sadducees and Pharisees as political sects, not religious ones. Scholar Thomas Walter Manson and Talmud-expert Louis Finkelstein suggest that "Pharisee" derives from

3332-501: The Song of Songs , Book of Ruth , Book of Esther , Ecclesiastes , and Book of Lamentations ), Nevi'im (the books of the prophets, used for reading the haftarah ), and for gittin , divorce documents. Many scribes also function as calligraphers—writing functional documents such as ketubot (marriage contracts), or ornamental and artistic renditions of religious texts, which do not require any scribal qualifications, and to which

3451-455: The Talmud see a direct link between themselves and the Pharisees, and historians generally consider Pharisaic Judaism to be the progenitor of Rabbinic Judaism , that is normative, mainstream Judaism after the destruction of the Second Temple. All mainstream forms of Judaism today consider themselves heirs of Rabbinic Judaism and, ultimately, the Pharisees. Although the Pharisees did not support

3570-522: The Talmud . While Arba'ah Turim does not include women in its list of those ineligible to write Sifrei Torah, some see this as proof that women are permitted to write a sefer Torah. However, today, virtually all Orthodox (both Modern and Ultra) authorities contest the permissibility of a woman's writing a sefer Torah. Yet, women are permitted to inscribe Ketubot (marriage contracts), STaM not intended for ritual use, and other writings of sofrut beyond simple STaM. In 2003, Canadian Aviel Barclay became

3689-635: The Therapeutae in Egypt . However, their status as Jews is unclear. The Books of the Maccabees , two deuterocanonical books in the Bible, focus on the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucids under king Antiochus IV Epiphanes and concludes with the defeat of General Nicanor , in 161 BCE by Judas Maccabeus , the hero of the work. It included several theological points: prayer for

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3808-557: The divinity of the Torah , and Epicureans (who deny divine supervision of human affairs). Another passage suggests a different set of core principles: normally, a Jew may violate any law to save a life, but in Sanhedrin 74a, a ruling orders Jews to accept martyrdom rather than violate the laws against idolatry , murder , or adultery . ( Judah ha-Nasi , however, said that Jews must "be meticulous in small religious duties as well as large ones, because you do not know what sort of reward

3927-408: The scribes and sages, later called rabbis (Hebrew for "Teacher/master"), dominated the study of the Torah. These men maintained an oral tradition that they believed had originated at Mount Sinai alongside the Torah of Moses; a God-given interpretation of the Torah . The Hellenistic period of Jewish history began when Alexander the Great conquered Persia in 332 BCE. The rift between

4046-409: The 1st century BCE. A Gentile once challenged Shammai to teach him the wisdom of the Torah while he stood on one foot. Shammai drove him away. The same gentile approached Hillel and asked of him the same thing. Hillel chastised him gently by saying, "What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation – now go and study." According to Josephus, whereas

4165-552: The Aramaic words pārsāh or parsāh , meaning "Persian" or "Persianizer", based on the demonym pārsi , meaning ' Persian ' in the Persian language and further akin to Pārsa and Fārs . Harvard University scholar Shaye J. D. Cohen denies this, stating: "Practically all scholars now agree that the name "Pharisee" derives from the Hebrew and Aramaic parush or persushi ." The first historical mention of

4284-545: The Greek term for the Essenes, Essēnoi or Essaioi (Ἐσσηνοά, Ἐσσαῖοι), and the East Aramaic / Syriac Ḥăsayin / Ḥăsayyâ, the Aramaic equivalent of the Hebrew "Ḥasidim", although this claimed similarity is contested by other scholars. Others, such as Emil Schürer and John Kampen, think that the Pharisees developed from the Ḥasidieans. The Book of Daniel is generally agreed to have been written at some point during

4403-409: The Hasideans "had grown in recent scholarship from an extremely poorly attested entity to the great Jewish alternative to the Maccabees at the time of the revolt. There has been no corresponding growth in the evidence." The origin and tenets of the Hasideans remain obscure. So too is their later influence, if any. The historian Josephus describes three groups active in Hasmonean politics by 100 BCE:

4522-440: The Hasmoneans potentially exaggerating or misrepresenting a real incident to become a symbol of Seleucid untrustworthiness. An alternative approach is to be modest on what can be known. Some historians believe that there is simply nothing to say about the Hasideans until more information than the three passages we have is discovered. John J. Collins was disdainful of the hypothesizing done by other scholars; he wrote in 1977 that

4641-700: The Jews in the 1st century CE. (The other schools were the Essenes , who were generally apolitical and who may have emerged as a sect of dissident priests who rejected either the Seleucid -appointed or the Hasmonean high priests as illegitimate; the Sadducees , the main antagonists of the Pharisees; and the Zealots . ) Other sects may have emerged at this time, such as the Early Christians in Jerusalem and

4760-648: The Lord is our God; the Lord is one." According to the Mishna , these passages were recited in the Temple along with the twice-daily Tamid offering; Jews in the diaspora , who did not have access to the Temple, recited these passages in their houses of assembly. According to the Mishnah and Talmud, the men of the Great Assembly instituted the requirement that Jews both in Judea and in the diaspora pray three times

4879-511: The Pharisaic proclamation of the Oral Torah was their way of freeing Judaism from the clutches of Aaronite priesthood, represented by the Sadducees. The Oral Torah was to remain oral but was later given a written form. It did not refer to the Torah in a status as a commentary, rather had its own separate existence which allowed Pharisaic innovations. The sages of the Talmud believed that the Oral law

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4998-411: The Pharisaic tenet of an Oral Torah, creating two Jewish understandings of the Torah. An example of this differing approach is the interpretation of, " an eye in place of an eye ". The Pharisaic understanding was that the value of an eye was to be paid by the perpetrator. In the Sadducees' view the words were given a more literal interpretation, in which the offender's eye would be removed. The sages of

5117-591: The Pharisees and their beliefs comes in the four gospels and the Acts of the Apostles , in which both their meticulous adherence to their interpretation of the Torah as well as their eschatological views are described. A later historical mention of the Pharisees comes from the Jewish-Roman historian Josephus (37–100 CE) in a description of the "four schools of thought", or "four sects", into which he divided

5236-514: The Pharisees and their teachings. The deportation and exile of an unknown number of Jews of the ancient Kingdom of Judah to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar II , starting with the first deportation in 597 BCE and continuing after the fall of Jerusalem and destruction of the Temple in 587 BCE, resulted in dramatic changes to Jewish culture and religion. During the 70-year exile in Babylon, Jewish houses of assembly (known in Hebrew as

5355-418: The Pharisees were considered the most expert and accurate expositors of Jewish law. Josephus indicates that the Pharisees received the backing and good-will of the common people, apparently in contrast to the more elite Sadducees associated with the ruling classes. In general, whereas the Sadducees were aristocratic monarchists, the Pharisees were eclectic, popular, and more democratic. The Pharisaic position

5474-407: The Pharisees. After the death of John Hyrcanus, his younger son Alexander Jannaeus made himself king and openly sided with the Sadducees by adopting their rites in the Temple. His actions caused a riot in the Temple, and led to a brief civil war that ended with a bloody repression of the Pharisees. However, on his deathbed Jannaeus advised his widow, Salome Alexandra , to seek reconciliation with

5593-410: The Pharisees. Her brother was Shimon ben Shetach , a leading Pharisee. Josephus attests that Salome was favorably inclined toward the Pharisees, and their political influence grew tremendously under her reign, especially in the Sanhedrin or Jewish Council, which they came to dominate. After her death her elder son Hyrcanus II was generally supported by the Pharisees. Her younger son, Aristobulus II ,

5712-647: The Romans, and actively supported them against the Sadducean faction. When the Romans finally broke the entrance to the Jerusalem's Temple, the Pharisees killed the priests who were officiating the Temple services on Saturday. They regarded Pompey's defilement of the Temple in Jerusalem as a divine punishment of Sadducean misrule. Pompey ended the monarchy in 63 BCE and named Hyrcanus II high priest and ethnarch (a lesser title than "king"). Six years later Hyrcanus

5831-402: The Sadducees as a sect that interpreted the Torah literally, and the Pharisees as interpreting the Torah liberally. R' Yitzhak Isaac Halevi suggests that this was not, in fact, a matter of religion. He claims that the complete rejection of Judaism would not have been tolerated under the Hasmonean rule and therefore Hellenists maintained that they were rejecting not Judaism but Rabbinic law. Thus,

5950-488: The Sadducees believed that people have total free will and the Essenes believed that all of a person's life is predestined , the Pharisees believed that people have free will but that God also has foreknowledge of human destiny . This also accords with the statement in Pirkei Avot 3:19, "Rabbi Akiva said: All is foreseen, but freedom of choice is given". According to Josephus, Pharisees were further distinguished from

6069-468: The Sadducees in that Pharisees believed in the resurrection of the dead . Unlike the Sadducees, who are generally held to have rejected any existence after death, the sources vary on the beliefs of the Pharisees on the afterlife. According to the New Testament the Pharisees believed in the resurrection of the dead . According to Josephus , who himself was a Pharisee, the Pharisees held that only

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6188-430: The Sadducees were in fact a political party not a religious sect. However, according to Jacob Neusner , this view is a distortion. He suggests that two things fundamentally distinguished the Pharisaic from the Sadducean approach to the Torah. First, Pharisees believed in a broad and literal interpretation of Exodus (19:3–6), "you shall be my own possession among all peoples; for all the earth is mine, and you shall be to me

6307-399: The Seleucid government deception and lies, and uses the incident above to prove their point. The author makes clear his stance that these Hasideans were being fooled; working with the government will only get you betrayed and killed, and the only justifiable stand is to work with the Hasmonean family for full autonomy and independence. This passage also implicitly associates the Hasideans with

6426-461: The Temple three times a year : Pesach ( Passover ), Shavuot (the Feast of Weeks), and Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles). The Pharisees, like the Sadducees, were politically quiescent, and studied, taught, and worshiped in their own way. At this time serious theological differences emerged between the Sadducees and Pharisees. The notion that the sacred could exist outside the Temple, a view central to

6545-401: The Temple, and stripped it of money and ceremonial objects. He imposed a program of forced Hellenization , requiring Jews to abandon their own laws and customs, thus precipitating the Maccabean Revolt . Jerusalem was liberated in 165 BCE and the Temple was restored. In 141 BCE an assembly of priests and others affirmed Simon Maccabeus as high priest and leader, in effect establishing

6664-430: The Temple, torts, criminal law, and governance. In their day, the influence of the Pharisees over the lives of the common people was strong and their rulings on Jewish law were deemed authoritative by many. According to Josephus, the Pharisees appeared before Pompey asking him to interfere and restore the old priesthood while abolishing the royalty of the Hasmoneans altogether. Pharisees also opened Jerusalem's gates to

6783-542: The Temple. He did not, however, allow the restoration of the Judean monarchy , which left the Judean priests as the dominant authority. Without the constraining power of the monarchy, the authority of the Temple in civic life was amplified. It was around this time that the Sadducee party emerged as the party of priests and allied elites. However, the Second Temple , which was completed in 515 BCE, had been constructed under

6902-467: The Torah already provided ways for all Jews to lead a priestly life: the laws of kosher animals were perhaps intended originally for the priests, but were extended to the whole people; similarly the prohibition of cutting the flesh in mourning for the dead. The Pharisees believed that all Jews in their ordinary life, and not just the Temple priesthood or Jews visiting the Temple, should observe rules and rituals concerning purification. The standard view

7021-405: The anti-Jewish persecution and their anger at the corruption of High Priest Menelaus . After these decrees were repealed in 163–162 BCE, however, fighting a full-scale rebellion against the Seleucid government was no longer seen as needed. The hated High Priest Menelaus was executed around 162 BCE. This explains how Alcimus was able to lure some Hasideans to his side: by offering a return to

7140-443: The auspices of a foreign power, and there were lingering questions about its legitimacy. This provided the condition for the development of various sects or "schools of thought," each of which claimed exclusive authority to represent "Judaism," and which typically shunned social intercourse, especially marriage, with members of other sects. In the same period, the council of sages known as the Sanhedrin may have codified and canonized

7259-480: The authority of the priestly privileges and prerogatives established since the days of Solomon , when Zadok , their ancestor, officiated as high priest. Pharisees are notable by the numerous references to them in the New Testament . While the writers record hostilities between the Pharisees and Jesus , they also reference Pharisees who believed in him, including Nicodemus , who said it is known that Jesus

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7378-533: The beginning of the transition from Pharisaic to Rabbinic Judaism . The Mishnah was supremely important because it compiled the oral interpretations and traditions of the Pharisees and, later on, the rabbis , into a single authoritative text, thus allowing oral tradition within Judaism to survive the destruction of the Second Temple. However, none of the Rabbinic sources include identifiable eyewitness accounts of

7497-502: The concerns of the times, perhaps because they were sacked by the Romans at Qumran . Of all the major Second Temple sects, only the Pharisees remained . Their vision of Jewish law as a means by which ordinary people could engage with the sacred in their daily lives was a position meaningful to the majority of Jews. Such teachings extended beyond ritual practices. According to the classic midrash in Avot D'Rabbi Nathan (4:5): The Temple

7616-617: The context of much broader and longstanding social and religious conflicts among Jews, made worse by the Roman conquest. One conflict was cultural, between those who favored Hellenization (the Sadducees) and those who resisted it (the Pharisees). Another was juridical-religious, between those who emphasized the importance of the Temple with its rites and services , and those who emphasized

7735-514: The dead , the last judgment , intercession of saints , and martyrology . The New Testament apocrypha known as the Gospel of Peter also alludes to the Pharisees. Judah ha-Nasi redacted the Mishnah , an authoritative codification of Pharisaic interpretations, around 200 CE. Most of the authorities quoted in the Mishnah lived after the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE; it thus marks

7854-487: The destruction of the Temple, Rome governed Judea through a Procurator at Caesarea and a Jewish Patriarch and levied the Fiscus Judaicus . Yohanan ben Zakkai , a leading Pharisee, was appointed the first Patriarch (the Hebrew word, Nasi, also means prince , or president ), and he reestablished the Sanhedrin at Yavneh (see the related Council of Jamnia ) under Pharisee control. Instead of giving tithes to

7973-520: The everyday world. This was monumental as a practice during this era, as it helped the Jews of the time to truly align themselves with the law, applying even to the mundanities of life. This was a more participatory (or "democratic") form of Judaism, in which rituals were not monopolized by an inherited priesthood but rather could be performed by all adult Jews individually or collectively, whose leaders were not determined by birth but by scholarly achievement. Many, including some scholars, have characterized

8092-418: The fear and dread of them fell on all the people, for they said, 'There is no truth or justice in them, for they have violated the agreement and the oath that they swore.' A second passage in chapter 7 happens after the appointment of Alcimus as the new High Priest of Israel by the new Seleucid King Demetrius I Soter . This was in a later phase of the struggle, around 161 BCE, when the Seleucids had repealed

8211-403: The first century, for example, the two major Pharisaic schools were those of Hillel and Shammai . After Hillel died in 20 CE, Shammai assumed the office of president of the Sanhedrin until he died in 30 CE. Followers of these two sages dominated scholarly debate over the following decades. Although the Talmud records the arguments and positions of the school of Shammai, the teachings of

8330-690: The government. One common point of speculation is that the author of Daniel was a member of the Hasideans, or at least a good example of how the Hasideans thought. Scholars favoring this include Martin Hengel , Victor Tcherikover , and James A. Montgomery . Others are skeptical of the claimed connection; if the passage in 1 Maccabees 2 about the Hasideans being "mighty warriors" is accurate, that would not appear to align with Daniel's ideology. Pharisees The Pharisees ( / ˈ f ær ə s iː z / ; Hebrew : פְּרוּשִׁים , romanized :  Pərūšīm , lit.   'separated ones') were

8449-565: The importance of other Mosaic Laws . A specifically religious point of conflict involved different interpretations of the Torah and how to apply it to current Jewish life, with Sadducees recognizing only the Written Torah and rejecting Prophets , Writings , and doctrines such as the Oral Torah and the resurrection of the dead . Josephus ( c.  37  – c.  100 CE ), believed by many historians to have been

8568-417: The key Rabbinic texts, the Mishnah and the Talmud , is devoted to theological issues; these texts are concerned primarily with interpretations of Jewish law, and anecdotes about the sages and their values. Only one chapter of the Mishnah deals with theological issues; it asserts that three kinds of people will have no share in "the world to come :" those who deny the resurrection of the dead , those who deny

8687-523: The king's command" forbidding traditional Jewish practices such as circumcision and Jewish dietary laws had escaped into the wilderness. The empire's soldiers had attacked them on the Sabbath , they declined to defend themselves, and were killed. Mattathias the Hasmonean uses the incident to rally support for his brand of resistance which allowed for warfare on the Sabbath. The author of 1 Maccabees,

8806-522: The kingdom attain tranquility. (...) For as long as Judas lives, it is impossible for the government to find peace.' The book 2 Maccabees appears to use the term differently than how 1 Maccabees does. In it, Alcimus, in explaining the situation in Judea to King Demetrius, calls Judas Maccabeus the leader of the Asidaioi . This contrasts with 1 Maccabees 7, where they are clearly not followers of Judas, but rather are naively welcoming to Alcimus. While it

8925-487: The last Hasmonaeans further eroded his popularity. According to Josephus, the Pharisees ultimately opposed him and thus fell victims (4 BCE) to his bloodthirstiness. The family of Boethus , whom Herod had raised to the high-priesthood, revived the spirit of the Sadducees, and thenceforth the Pharisees again had them as antagonists. While it stood, the Second Temple remained the center of Jewish ritual life. Jews were required to travel to Jerusalem and offer sacrifices at

9044-579: The latter sections of the Hebrew Bible ( Nakh ), from which, following the return from Babylon, the Torah was read publicly on market-days. The Temple was no longer the only institution for Jewish religious life. After the building of the Second Temple in the time of Ezra the Scribe , the houses of study and worship remained important secondary institutions in Jewish life. Outside Judea, the synagogue

9163-642: The law has led some (notably, Saint Paul and Martin Luther ) to infer that the Pharisees were more legalistic than other sects in the Second Temple Era. The authors of the Gospels present Jesus as speaking harshly against some Pharisees (Josephus does claim that the Pharisees were the "strictest" observers of the law). Yet, as Neusner has observed, Pharisaism was but one of many "Judaisms" in its day, and its legal interpretation are what set it apart from

9282-425: The laws concerning sofrut. It is a common misconception that one has to be a rabbi in order to become a sofer. People who want to become ritual scribes usually learn from another expert scribe by undergoing shimush (apprenticeship), since it would be impossible for someone to be a scribe without any actual practice. Newly certified scribes write Megilat Esther scrolls . The hardest part about learning to be

9401-518: The letters, though the same rules apply throughout the text. Generally, regarding sifrei Torah, none of these groups would consider that these differences would render a Torah posul (ritually unfit or invalid). The documents must be written on properly prepared parchment or vellum known as klaf . Many scribes also function as calligraphers—writing functional documents like ketubot, or ornamental and artistic renditions of religious texts—which do not require any scribal qualifications, and to which

9520-549: The mainstream and Hasmonean-skeptical Pharisees , the Hasmonean-supporting and influential among the upper classes Sadducees , and the outright anti-Hasmonean Essenes . Heinrich Grätz supposes that after the Maccabean victories, the Hasideans retired into obscurity, being dissatisfied with Judas Maccabeus, and eventually became the order of the Essenes. The theory is supported by linguistic similarity between

9639-444: The meaning of the Torah or how best to put it into practice, no rabbi felt that he (or his opponent) was rejecting God or threatening Judaism; on the contrary, it was precisely through such arguments that the rabbis imitated and honored God. One sign of the Pharisaic emphasis on debate and differences of opinion is that the Mishnah and Talmud mark different generations of scholars in terms of different pairs of contending schools. In

9758-495: The moderates that the Seleucids were evil and to be hated; they were a looming threat that could not be ignored. A story such as the one seen in Chapter 7, where the perfidious Alcimus executes even supposed moderates and breaks his oaths, would fit perfectly into the Hasmonean ideology that the only sure path for Judea was to unite under the Hasmonean banner. As such, the details cannot be trusted to be historical in this view, with

9877-458: The most important thing for the faithful was to remain 'pure' in their Judaism to maintain God's favor. For example, the book features stories of Daniel and his friends refusing a mandate to eat King Nebuchadnezzar's rich food and eating a diet of vegetables instead, and emerging all the healthier from it: presumably an encouragement to keep Jewish dietary law in the Maccabean era despite pressure from

9996-600: The most onerous of the anti-Jewish decrees and were working to restore calm to the restive province. Alcimus appears to have moderated the worst of his predecessor's actions and reached out to restore loyalty to the government. However, the Maccabee rebels continued to press for full autonomy, and despised Alcimus as a collaborator and traitor. The author of 1 Maccabees portrays Alcimus as grudgingly effective at luring some to his side ("all who were troubling their people joined him [Alcimus]"), but considered his arguments to trust

10115-513: The needs of the time. These included prohibitions to prevent an infringement of a biblical prohibition (e.g. one does not take a Lulav on Shabbat "Lest one carry it in the public domain") called gezeirot , among others. The commandment to read the Megillah ( Book of Esther ) on Purim and to light the Menorah on Hanukkah are Rabbinic innovations. Much of the legal system is based on "what

10234-590: The oldest manuscripts. The Codex Alexandrinus , the Vulgate Latin translation, and Syriac translations read "Hasideans" ( Ἀσιδαῖων , Asidaíon ); however, the Codex Sinaiticus , the Venetus , and Old Latin translations only read "Judeans" ( Ιουδαίων , Ioudaíon ) instead. Schwartz prefers the "Judeans" reading which would eliminate mention of the Hasideans there entirely, and suggests that

10353-654: The option of receiving a certificate, though certification of this sort is not a halachic requirement, nor does it necessarily guarantee the quality of a particular sofer's work. This process does, however, ensure that a certified sofer has received the proper education and is a recognized expert in the field of sofrut. The main texts from which Ashkenaz soferim learn the scribal art include the Keset Ha-Sofer , Chasdey David , Mishnah Berurah (24-45), Mishneh Torah (Hilchot Tefillin u'Mezuzah v'Sefer Torah, Hilchot Tzitzit), Mishnat Hasofer , Mishnat Sofrim , and

10472-450: The other books of the Bible, such as Psalms or the Book of Ezra . This was promoted in 19th-century Jerusalem by Rabbi Shemuel Shelomo Boyarski . There are many rules concerning the proper formation of letters that must be followed if a written text is to be deemed religiously valid. The Ashkenazi , Sefardi , Chabad (Lubavitch), and Mizrahi Jews each have their own script for forming

10591-475: The other sects of Judaism. The Mishna in the beginning of Avot and (in more detail) Maimonides in his Introduction to Mishneh Torah records a chain of tradition ( mesorah ) from Moses at Mount Sinai down to R' Ashi, redactor of the Talmud and last of the Amoraim . This chain of tradition includes the interpretation of unclear statements in the Bible (e.g. that the "fruit of a beautiful tree" refers to

10710-438: The persecutions of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, around 167–165 BCE. Compared to the more secular stance of 1 Maccabees that advocated direct military action under the leadership of the Hasmonean family, Daniel appears to have a more spiritual and apocalyptic approach to the crisis, suggesting that God would directly intervene to punish the Seleucids. It appears to suggest more of a passive resistance and praises martyrdom; thus,

10829-410: The priests and sacrificing offerings at the (now-destroyed) Temple, the rabbis instructed Jews to give charity. Moreover, they argued that all Jews should study in local synagogues , because Torah is "the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob" (Deuteronomy 33:4). Soferim A sofer , sopher , sofer SeTaM , or sofer ST"M ( Hebrew : סופר סת״ם , "scribe"; plural soferim , סופרים )

10948-606: The priests and the sages developed during this time, when Jews faced new political and cultural struggles. This created a sort of schism in the Jewish community. After Alexander's death in 323 BCE, Judea was ruled by the Egyptian-Hellenic Ptolemies until 198 BCE, when the Syrian-Hellenic Seleucid Empire , under Antiochus III , seized control. Then, in 167 BCE, the Seleucid king Antiochus IV invaded Judea, entered

11067-412: The rabbis believe that they themselves are projections of heavenly values onto earth. The rabbis thus conceive that on earth they study Torah just as God, the angels, and Moses, "our rabbi," do in heaven. The heavenly schoolmen are even aware of Babylonian scholastic discussions, so they require a rabbi's information about an aspect of purity taboos. The commitment to relate religion to daily life through

11186-467: The rebels held more ground would only result in their defeat. The third option is to see the Hasideans as a group but with a distinctly different ideology than the Hasmoneans; the passage in 1 Maccabees 7 was recording a genuine difference in goals. In this view, the Hasideans were deeply religious but comparative "moderates" as their chief concern was the repeal of Antiochus IV's decrees forbidding Jewish practices. They had joined with Judas earlier due to

11305-479: The reign of Queen Salome Alexandra . As Josephus was himself a Pharisee, his account might represent a historical creation meant to elevate the status of the Pharisees during the height of the Hasmonean Dynasty. Later texts like the Mishnah and the Talmud record a host of rulings by rabbis, some of whom are believed to be from among the Pharisees, concerning sacrifices and other ritual practices in

11424-403: The rules on lettering and parchment specifications do not apply. The major halakha pertaining to sofrut , the practice of scribal arts, is in the Talmud in the tractate " Maseket Sofrim ". In the Torah's 613 commandments , the second to last is that every Jew should write a sefer Torah before they die. A sofer must be religiously observant, of good character, and knowledgeable about

11543-492: The sages constructed via logical reasoning and from established practice". Also, the blessings before meals and the wording of the Amidah. These are known as Takanot . The Pharisees based their authority to innovate on the verses: "....according to the word they tell you... according to all they instruct you. According to the law they instruct you and according to the judgment they say to you, you shall do; you shall not divert from

11662-522: The school of Hillel were ultimately taken as authoritative. Following the Jewish–Roman wars , revolutionaries like the Zealots had been crushed by the Romans, and had little credibility (the last Zealots died at Masada in 73 CE). Similarly, the Sadducees, whose teachings were closely connected to the Temple, disappeared with the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. The Essenes too disappeared, perhaps because their teachings so diverged from

11781-467: The school, replicates on earth the heavenly academy, just as the disciple incarnates the heavenly model of Moses, "our rabbi." The rabbis believe that Moses was (and the Messiah will be) a rabbi, God dons phylacteries, and the heavenly court studies Torah precisely as does the earthly one, even arguing about the same questions. These beliefs today may seem as projections of rabbinical values onto heaven, but

11900-441: The schools of the Pharisees and rabbis were and are holy: "...because there men achieve sainthood through study of Torah and imitation of the conduct of the masters. In doing so, they conform to the heavenly paradigm, the Torah believed to have been created by God "in his image," revealed at Sinai, and handed down to their own teachers ... If the masters and disciples obey the divine teaching of Moses, "our rabbi," then their society,

12019-424: The scribes ( Soferim ), saying that both were negotiating terms with Alcimus. But he [Alcimus] found an opportunity that furthered his mad purpose when he was invited by Demetrius to a meeting of the council and was asked about the attitude and intentions of the Jews. He answered: 'Those of the Jews who are called Hasideans, whose leader is Judas Maccabeus, are keeping up war and stirring up sedition, and will not let

12138-586: The sense of "the pious". Psalm 79 describes many hasidim being slaughtered near Jerusalem by Israel's enemies, while Psalm 149 depicts hasidim as warriors who "execute vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples". The date of composition of these psalms is uncertain; some scholars date them to the Maccabean period and consider the verses in question to refer to the hasidim at this time, while others disagree and assign an earlier date to these psalms. Later rabbinic Judaism in Talmudic sources use

12257-536: The soul was immortal and the souls of good people would be resurrected or reincarnated and "pass into other bodies," while "the souls of the wicked will suffer eternal punishment." Paul the Apostle declared himself to be a Pharisee even after his belief in Jesus. Fundamentally, the Pharisees continued a form of Judaism that extended beyond the Temple, applying Jewish law to mundane activities in order to sanctify

12376-399: The status quo ante and peace, when Judaism was accepted but the authority of the Seleucid government was unchallenged. While the above two views largely take 1 Maccabees at its word (if differing on what those words imply), this view can take into account more skeptical stances that distrust 1 Maccabees as a partisan, pro-Hasmonean source. To continue the revolt, the Hasmoneans had to convince

12495-435: The successor of Judas Maccabeus. One of the factors that distinguished the Pharisees from other groups prior to the destruction of the Temple was their belief that all Jews had to observe the purity laws (which applied to the Temple service) outside the Temple. The major difference, however, was the continued adherence of the Pharisees to the laws and traditions of the Jewish people in the face of assimilation. As Josephus noted,

12614-482: The support of Mark Antony and Octavian , and secured recognition by the Roman Senate as king, confirming the termination of the Hasmonean dynasty. According to Josephus, Sadducean opposition to Herod led him to treat the Pharisees favorably. Herod was an unpopular ruler, perceived as a Roman puppet. Despite his restoration and expansion of the Second Temple , Herod's notorious treatment of his own family and of

12733-423: The term hasid as well, although generally to individual pious people rather than a particular group or sect. These sources generally long post-date the Maccabean period, though. While the term comes from Hebrew, the books of the Maccabees only survived in Greek form, hence "Asidaioi" and variants. It appears to have been used as a loanword ; the author of 2 Maccabees says the group was "called" Asidaioi , which

12852-479: The wars of expansion of the Hasmoneans and the forced conversions of the Idumeans , the political rift between them became wider when a Pharisee named Eleazar insulted the Hasmonean ethnarch John Hyrcanus at his own table, suggesting that he should abandon his role as High Priest due to a rumour, probably untrue, that he had been conceived while his mother was a prisoner of war. In response, he distanced himself from

12971-489: The word they tell you, either right or left" (Deuteronomy 17:10–11) (see Encyclopedia Talmudit entry "Divrei Soferim"). In an interesting twist, Abraham Geiger posits that the Sadducees were the more hidebound adherents to an ancient Halacha whereas the Pharisees were more willing to develop Halacha as the times required. See however, Bernard Revel 's "Karaite Halacha" which rejects many of Geiger's proofs. Just as important as (if not more important than) any particular law

13090-647: The world's first known, traditionally trained, soferet. Among non-Orthodox Jews, women have written Torah scrolls since the early 2000s. In 2007 Jen Taylor Friedman , a British woman, became the first woman to scribe a sefer Torah. In 2010, the first sefer Torah scribed by a group of six women (from Brazil, Canada, Israel, and the United States) was completed; this was known as the Women's Torah Project . Since then, other women have written Torah scrolls. As of 2014 , there were an estimated 50 female sofers around

13209-568: The world. Besides Torah scrolls, tefillin, and mezuzot, scribes are also necessary for the writing of the Five Megillot (scrolls of the Song of Songs , Book of Ruth , Book of Esther , Ecclesiastes , and Book of Lamentations ) and Nevi'im (the books of the prophets, used for reading the haftarah ), and for gittin (divorce documents). In some communities, especially Chaim Kanievsky 's community in Bnei Brak , soferim also write

13328-404: Was an unstated idea about it in existence. Every Jewish community in a way possessed their own version of the Oral Torah which governed their religious practices. Josephus stated that the Sadducees only followed literal interpretations of the Torah. To Saldarini, this only means that the Sadducees followed their own way of Judaism and rejected the Pharisaic version of Judaism. To Rosemary Ruether,

13447-469: Was based on the Rama, i.e. Rabbi Meir ben Todros HaLevy Abulafia . Forming the basis for the discussion of women becoming soferim, Talmud Gittin 45b states, "Sifrei Torah, tefillin and mezuzot written by a heretic, a star-worshipper, a slave, a woman, a minor, a Cuthean , or an apostate Jew , are unfit for ritual use." The rulings on mezuzot and tefillin are virtually undisputed among those who hold to

13566-498: Was deprived of the remainder of political authority and ultimate jurisdiction was given to the Proconsul of Syria , who ruled through Hyrcanus's Idumaean associate Antipater , and later Antipater's two sons Phasael (military governor of Judea) and Herod (military governor of Galilee). In 40 BCE Aristobulus's son Antigonus overthrew Hyrcanus and named himself king and high priest, and Herod fled to Rome. In Rome, Herod sought

13685-461: Was in conflict with Hyrcanus, and tried to seize power. The Pharisees seemed to be in a vulnerable position at this time. The conflict between the two sons culminated in a civil war that ended when the Roman general Pompey intervened, and captured Jerusalem in 63 BCE. Josephus' account may overstate the role of the Pharisees. He reports elsewhere that the Pharisees did not grow to power until

13804-399: Was often called a house of prayer. While most Jews could not regularly attend the Temple service, they could meet at the synagogue for morning, afternoon and evening prayers. On Mondays, Thursdays and Shabbat , a weekly Torah portion was read publicly in the synagogues, following the tradition of public Torah readings instituted by Ezra. Although priests controlled the rituals of the Temple,

13923-500: Was simultaneously revealed to Moses at Sinai, and the product of debates among rabbis. Thus, one may conceive of the "Oral Torah" as both based on the fixed text and as an ongoing process of analysis and argument in which God is actively involved; it was this ongoing process that was revealed at Sinai along with the scripture, and by participating in this ongoing process rabbis and their students are actively participating in God's ongoing act of revelation . As Jacob Neusner has explained,

14042-412: Was the preservation of traditionalist Judaism against Hellenism (but not necessarily for establishing a separate independent political state) to seeing them as simply as a very religious group who were betrayed. The Hebrew word hasid means "pious". It was thus a natural term of self-identification for various individuals and groups. The name "Hasidim" occurs at several points in the Book of Psalms in

14161-405: Was the value the rabbis placed on legal study and debate. The sages of the Talmud believed that when they taught the Oral Torah to their students, they were imitating Moses, who taught the law to the children of Israel. Moreover, the rabbis believed that "the heavenly court studies Torah precisely as does the earthly one, even arguing about the same questions." Thus, in debating and disagreeing over

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