B”H
Did HaIsi’im (The Essenes) Observe Torah Sh’be’al Pe
(Tush’ba, for
short - the Oral Law)?
The answer is
undeniably affirmative. We have
overpowering archaological evidence to prove that this is true. The Talmud tells us that HaTzaddokim
(The Sadducees) did not follow Torah Sh’be’al Pe. In truth, HaTzedokim who remained true to the faith did
follow true Torah Sh’be’al Pe.
What they refused to do was accept rulings of the Prushim (the
Pharisees) that have no base in Torah Sh’bikhtav (The Written Tradition).
There were many
different groups that were all lumped together as “Tzaddokim” (Sadducees) by
the Prushim (The Pharisees). Some
of them were Hellenists and extremely destructive to the Jewish People. The Prushim use this as a pretense to
slander all of HaTzaddokim. This
is an atrocious case of lying and lashon hara, because among HaTzaddokim there
were many devoutly religious and holy Jews. Among the holiest and most devout
of them them were HaIsi’im. Yoseph ben Mittityahu (Josephus) describes the Dead
Sea sect, and those close to them who dwelled in towns and cities, as a
distinct group in and of themselves, even though they were Tzaddokim. Their
holiness was so singular that they were entitled to be mentioned as a separate
group. HaIsi’im, Josephus said, were the most righteous Jews of those
generations. We must wonder,
therefore, why the redactors of the Talmud chose to ignore them as a particular
group and lumped them together will all Tzaddokim, or worse yet Minim
(apostates). No matter; we now have the scrolls in hand that demonstrate
clearly that HaPrushim maligned
HaIsi’im.
It must be remembered
that according to Torah it is only the sons of Tzaddok, the High Priest at the
time of David HaMelekh, who are permitted to be High Priests. The arrogation of this office on the
part of the Maccabim, who were priests, but not direct descendants of Tzaddok
the High Priest, with the aiding and abetting of the Prushim was in absolute
violation of Torah.
Now for the Dead Sea
Sect of whom I shall speak particularly:
Did they observe Torah Sh’be’al Pe?
Let us begin with the
site of Qumran itself. There we
found mikva’ot, as well as t’fillin and mezuzot. How could there be mikva’ot, t’fillin and mezuzot if they
did not observe Torah Sh’be’al Pe?
How could they know how to make these, or even to make them at all had
they not been in possession of the Oral Tradition and followed it? The t’fillin found at Qumran contained
the very same verses that are found in t’fillin according to Rash”i and Rebbenu
Tam, although the Dead Sea Sect, Rash”i and Rebbenu Tam disagree on the order
of the verses. The t’fillin of the Dead Sea Sect were smaller than those we
know today, but they were written perfectly. Each passage was kept in a
separate indent in the t’fillin, just as it is done today. No two letters
touched and each letter was perfectly formed. According to the Dead Sea sect
the order of the t’fillin is: Deut. 11:13 – 21, Exodus 13:11 –16, Deut. 6:4 –
9, Ex. 13:1-10. According to the
Rash”i and the Ramba”m the order
is: Deut. 11:13 – 21, Deut. 6:4 – 9, Ex. 13:11 – 16, Ex. 13:1 – 10. While according to Rebbenu Tam the
order is Deut. 6:4 – 9, Deut. 11:13 – 21, Ex. 13:11 – 16, Ex. 13. 1 – 10.
The mezuzot that have
been found at Qumran also contained the passages required by later Rabbinic
halakhah, i.e., Deut. 6:4 – 9 and 11:13 – 21, the first two paragraphs of the
Sh’ma.
The Rabbis taught that
a mikveh must contain forty se’ah of water in order to be kosher. The
Tzaddokite Fragments (also called the Damascus Document) teaches that the
amount of water needed to purify a person or a vessel is the amount required to
cover a man’s body (X:11 – 12).
There are many issues
that the Dead Sea give us the rulings on that are discussions we encounter in
the Talmud, however, they are invariably less compromising. It would be apposite for the reader to
examine the Tzaddokite Fragments (the Damascus Document) in order to see for
herself or himself that this is true. Though the Tzaddokite Fragments contain a
rich treasury of the oral laws that HaIsi’im followed there are many more to be
found throughout the scrolls.
In his book RECLAIMING
THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS in the chapter entitled Israel and the Nations, Rabbi Dr.
Lawrence H. Schiffman writes: In the area of Jewish/non-Jewish relations the
Zadokite Fragment presents a summary of laws enshrined by later rabbinic
tradition in the Mishnah tractate Avodah Zarah (Foreign Worship).
We could bring example
after example, but these suffice to demonstrate that HaIsi’im were aware of
Tush’ba, followed true Tush’ba and were even in accord with the Prushim on many
matters. In fact, where they
Prushim were not in accord with HaIsi’im it was always HaIsi’im who were more
concerned with purity and adherence to Torah. Moreover, it was the Prushim who, in compromising the Law in
order to placate the wealthy and to draw the am ha’aretz (halakhic
know-nothings) to the cult of the Temple at the expense of purity and
correctness of the Avodah, who opened the doorway to Xianity, which also ruled
leniently in order to gain in popularity and become powerful with the people,
rachmanah litzlan.
The Rabbinic tradition
rules that water poured from a vessel into an impure vessel does not render the
vessel that was pure impure.
HaIsi’im who were priests in the Temple and were extremely careful about
ritual purity in the Temple and out rule otherwise. It is their opinion that it
is one flow of water connecting the two vessels and that water if poured
continuously from a pure vessel, if the flow of the water touches both the
vessels at once renders to pure vessel impure [Compare The Halakhic Letter
(Miktzat Ma’asei Torah), Fragment 8, column iv (=4Q396 ii – iii; 4Q397 6 – 13;
4QMMT B 51-66 with Tractate Yadayim 4:7] 5 - 8*. It was because of compromises such as these on the part of
the Prushim that made them the object of derision and embarrassment to the Dead
Sea Sect [See the Tzaddokite Fragments (Damascus Document) 1:18 – 20, 5:11 –
13, 8:12 – 13, 8:18, 19:24 – 26, 9:31; Thanksgiving Hymns 4:10 – 11; Pesher
Nachum 3 – 4 II, 8].
*The Halakhic Letter
(Miktzat Ma’asei Torah) is a very interesting document. It was sent by the Dead Sea sect in
their early stages in an attempt to explain their halakhic positions and
attempt a reconciliation with the priests who were serving, erroneously, in the
Temple and their Hasmonean ruler.
We know that the missive arrived and was rebuffed because the cites of
The Halakhic Letter above say: “[And] also concerning liquid streams: we say
that in these there is no purity and also that liquid streams can not separate
impure from pure, because the liquid of the liquid streams and their vessels is
alike, the same liquid.” Whereas the cite in Tractate Yadayim given above says:
The Sadducees say: “We complain against you, Pharisees. For you declare pure
the (poured out) liquid stream”.”
We see, then, that not only did the Hasmoneans and the Pharisees not
defer to HaIsi’im, the rightful priests in charge of the Avodah, they chose to
interpret an attempt at explanation of the Law and reconciliation as an act of
“complaining”.
The proof truly is in
the pudding, however. The terrible
reality is that the tradition of the Prushim has brought calamity after
calamity upon the Jewish People. The tradition of the Prushim has not protected
us against every vile thing from within and from without. We see again and
again that a person can scrupulously observe the mitzvoth as they are taught in
the Rabbinic tradition and study their tests assiduously and still never reach
more than the most elementary level of morality/spirituality in their thoughts
and actions, though they certainly know how to talk a good game. Had the
Rabbinical tradition been true Torah we would not have suffered as we have, and
do, nor would we have sinned as we have and do. HaIsi’im were not forced to go into the galut for two
thousand long and miserable years with no let up in sight, despite the fact
that we have slapped-daubed together an ersatz “state” in the Holy Land in
which the Rabbis are the paid flunkies of foreign interests who earn exorbitant
salaries to teach the Jewish People all manners of nonsense because their
gentile employers know that if the Jewish People were ever to regain their
Torah we could no longer be controlled and enslaved. (While earning their
exorbitant salaries the Rabbis enjoin the Israeli Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox
to suffer poverty and economic doubt silently, telling their hapless students
that their situation is the Will of HaShem, rachmanah litzlan.)
HaIsi’im were not forced
into exile because they did not need a tikkun. This should be clear, however the Rabbinic tradition has so
clouded our thoughts and emotions that only a handful are capable of seeing
this truth. The greatest tikkun needed in our times and the greatest test of
our d’veikut to HaShem is to throw off the yoke of Rabbinic falsehood and
distortion and pray with all of our might to return to Torah as in days of
old. The scrolls of the Dead Sea
sect lay in caves in the desert waiting for us for two thousand years so that
they may help us do just that.
Could it be a coincidence that they were discovered just a few months
before the state of Israel was declared.
Were there no Bedouins tending their flocks in the area of Qumran
before? Could it be a coincidence that on the very day that the state of Israel
was declared that the archeologist Eliezer Sukenik, father of Yigal Yadin? Let
us then recognize a miracle and a gift from HaShem and honor the holy Jews who
bequeathed their knowledge to us so that we might find our way back to HaShem
and the true Torah as they did.
Doreen Ellen
Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel, 5764