Nadene Goldfoot
It was at the close of the 2nd Temple period, which happened in 70 CE when the Romans, who had been occupying Jerusalem, decided to end it all and burned down this holy city and its 2nd Temple of Solomon. This was a period of insoluble insecurity. People were being selected by the Romans to hang on crosses by the thousands for any little show of distrust of the Roman rule.
It is said that Jesus was an Essene. The Christian tradition says he was the son of Joseph, a carpenter in Bethlehem, and Mary, Out of this comes Christianity, a new religion entirely, taken over by the Romans who instituted it in place of their old beliefs of polytheism. The Roman Emperor's mother, Helena, had much to do with this during her trip to Jerusalem.
Essenes were a religious sect that developed out of Judaism of that period of Sadducees and Pharisees. Their religious outlook was that they were aligned with the Pharisees, but had their own specific beliefs and customs. In fact, there were many splinter groups developing during this period.
They believed in the immortality of the soul and in reward and punishment but not in physical resurrection. They opposed slavery and private property, and lived an abstemious communal life, meaning that it was an exclusive all male group.
Before meals they immersed themselves in water. Celibacy was common but some married in order to perpetuate mankind. In fact, some group went to far as to believe that every 7th year they could cohabit with their wife in order to produce children, then they would return to their flock.
Their chief occupation was farming. they opposed animal sacrifice and brought only offerings of flour and oil to the Temple.
Novices underwent a 3-year initiation and were only admitted as full members after swearing not to reveal the sect's secrets. the group was not altogether remote from political life, even taking part in the wars against the Romans.
In the time of Philo, an Alexandrian philosopher born in 20 BCE and died after 40 CE, they numbered 4,000 and lived in several towns and villages. Pliny the Elder, a Roman author who died on August 25, 79, mentions their settlement near Ein Gedi. Now a reserve, Ein Gedi is about a one hour drive from Jerusalem by car. . Nothing is heard of them after the destruction of the 2nd Temple. Information on the Essenes comes mainly from Philo and Josephus, who endeavored to represent them as a philosophical sect on the Hellenistic pattern.
The Jewish historian, General Josephus, records that Essenes existed in large numbers, and thousands lived throughout Roman Judaea, but they were fewer in number than the Pharisees and the Sadducees, the other two major sects at the time. The Essenes lived in various cities but congregated in communal life dedicated to voluntary poverty, daily immersion, and asceticism (their priestly class practiced celibacy). Most scholars claim they seceded from the Zadokite priests.
Zadok was a descendant of Aaron and was a priest, a Cohen. Solomon appointed Zadok's son a high priest in the Temple and from that time the high priesthood remained in the Zadokite family until the period of the Hasmonean rising. Incidentally, Jewish people consider Josephus sort of a quisling, because he was a Jewish general who was caught by the Romans and gave into them, accepting their offer of being the historian for them.
Researchers have used animal DNA from fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls, including the one shown here, to identify which pieces come from the same manuscripts and where those documents originated.
SHAI HALEVI, COURTESY OF THE ISRAEL ANTIQUITIES AUTHORITY
The discovery of the DEAD SEA SCROLLS in Qumran, the precise implications of which are still being debated, may cast a new light on the nature and beliefs of the Essenes or some sect closely associated with them, and possibly on their relations with early Christianity which seems to have owed a great deal to them. In Judea or the West Bank, about 20 miles from Jerusalem and one mile from the northwest tip of the Dead Sea, the archeological site at the ancient village of Khirbet Qumran provides a fascinating peek into the life of the Essenes, the ancient group of escetics who are believed to have lived here. Another resource says: The Essenes were a Jewish sect during the Second Temple period that flourished from the 2nd century BCE to the 1st century CE.
This was also a period where Jews were divided into 3 camps; Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes. Indeed, it was a period of division in their belief system.
Sadducees were a sect of the 2nd Temple Period which may have come from the high priest, Zadok, a Cohen, whose descendants served in the same office until 162 BCE. They had absolute control in the Temple. They were a temple cult without a basis of abstract faith, differing from the Pharisees in the nature of their religious outlook and way of life. According to their viewpoint, individuals and groups must inspire to well-being in this world without expecting recompense in the world to come. They held no belief in a future world or resurrection or the immortality of the soul and also, rejected the existence of angels and spirits. They followed the Written Law and not the Oral Law, and behaved severely in cases involving the capital penalty.
Surprisingly, we see that Hillel the Elder was on the scene, born in the 1st century BCE, so he may have just preceded or was born at the time of the Essenes. He was a true Jewish scholar of Jerusalem,, though he was born in Babylonia. He had made aliyah to Judah and had earned a slender living by working in manual labor while studying with Shmaya or Shemaiah and Avtalyon, THE leading teachers of their day.
Shemaiah was the head of the Sanhedrin (group of 71 scholars like a Supreme court and as legislature) at the end of the Hasmoneon Period in the 2nd half of the 1st century BCE. He and Avtalyon constituted the 4th of the ZUGOT or debating partners in their schools. Legend describes both Shemaiah and Avtalyon as proselytes, converts to Judaism, descended from Sennacherib. No halakhot are directly recorded as given by them, although several are quoted in their name by others. Sennacherib just happened to be the King of Assyria from 705-768 BCE, son of Sargon II. He had 2 campaigns against Judah, captured 46 cities but not Jerusalem, but in his 2nd, his camp was hit by a plague.
Shemaiah/ Shmaya was a tanna, a teacher, a rabbinic sage in the early pre-Mishnaic era who lived at the same time as Abtalion. They are known as one of the zuggot ("couples"): Shemaiah and Abtalion; Shemaiah holding the title of nasi, whilst Abtalion holding the office of Av Beit Din. According to the Mishnah, both Shemaiah and Abtalion studied Torah under Simeon ben Shetach of the 1st century BCE, the reputed president of the Sanhedrin. He was a brother of Queen Salome Alexandra and largely responsible for making Pharisaic influence dominant in public and private life during her reign of 76-67 BCE., when he turned the Sanhedrin into a Pharisaic body. Together with Judah ben Tabbai, he constituted the 3rd of the Zugot. His period of leadership is pictured in legend in one of peace and prosperity.
It was during this 2nd Temple Period, that the great expansion under the Hasmonean rulers was made possible by the widespread proselytization of the areas around Judea, especially Galilee and Idumea, and in the 1st century the royal family of Adiabene who embraced Judaism. There were many proselytes to Judaism in the Roman Empire. such as the translaters Aquila and Flavius Clemens. The rabbis fostered missionary activity during the 1st century CE. As conversion to Judaism entailed the rite of circumcision for males, it was forbidden by the Roman Emperor Hadrian (117-138) and subsequently by the other Christian emperors.
Some time after the death of Shemaiah and Abṭalion, Hillel succeeded in settling a question concerning the sacrificial ritual in a manner which showed at once his superiority over the Bene Bathyra, who were at that time the heads of the college.
Hiliel already was the head of the great school, at first associated with Menahem, a scholar mentioned in no other connection, afterward with Shammai, Hillel's peer in the study of the Law .
In due course, Hillel was appointed the president of the Sanhedrin and together with his friend and ideological opponent, SHAMMAI, constituted the last of the pair or ZUGOT, as they were called, of scholars. Evidently they were paired up as debating partners that would debate against each other.
Shammai was a rabbi and contemporary of Hillel. he lived during the troubled times of Herod's reign and foresaw the dangers of Roman hegemony (leadership or dominance, especially by one country or social group over others.) and therefore enacted many rules intended to keep the Jews from mixing with the heathen. Shammai took a rigorous point of view in moral and religious matters, at the same time being of a friendly nature, teaching to "receive every one graciously." Although the school of Shammai is famous for its disputes with the school of Hillel, Shammai himself differed on only 3 points with Hillel. He is possibly identical with the Pharisee Sameas, who rallied the Sanhedrin against Herod's attempt at intimidation in 47 BCE.
Unlike Shammai, Hillel was noted for his humility and tendency to leniency. although the 2 men differed in their decisions only on a few halakkot, their schools, such as Hillel's HOUSE OF HILLEL, and HOUSE OF SHAMMAI, diverged in many instances, but legal practice ultimately went in almost all cases according to the decision of the House of Hillel.
Few decisions are cited in Hillel's name but they include the institution of the PROSBUL. He laid down the 7 rules of Bible interpretation. This is referred to as HERMENEUTICS.
Many stories illustrate his virtues and he is credited with the authorship in its negative form of the so-called GOLDEN RULE: Do not do unto others that which you would not have them do unto you, which was told to someone who asked to be told the whole meaning of the Torah while standing on one foot.
In today's present time, DNA tests show that many of us are connected to Hillel. Hillel had a genealogy that went directly to King David through David's son, Shephatiah. We know that Hillel was born in Babylonia in about 70 BCE and died in Jerusalem in about 10 CE. Another tradition is that Hillel's grandson Gamaliel the Elder was the great-grandfather of Johanan ha-Sandalar of the 2nd century, Egypt. This man was in turn the ancestor(33 generations removed) of RASHI (1040-1105) the biblical commentator whose name we see in our prayer books of today. So if you are connected by DNA to RASHI, you are also to King David. Ben Meir, a Palestinian rabbi of the 9th and 10th century had a family who traced its descent to Hillel as documented in the UJ (Universal Jewish Encyclopedia) article on Ben Meir.
PS-update: “If one wishes to understand the historical Jesus and early Christianity one must understand first century Judaism. During this historic era the Roman occupiers of the land were particularly oppressive and there was much opposition to them particularly in the Galilee,” says Rabbi Moshe Reiss, PhD.
Jesus is believed to have been born around 4 CE and is thought to have died around 30 to 36 CE. He was a Jew, born probably in Nazareth in Galilee and he probably had brothers and sisters. Hillel was born in about 70 BCE and died in 10 CE. He was about a generation older than Jesus.
As to when and where the 1st printing press was created to be able to print our bibles, "Goldsmith and inventor Johannes Gutenberg was a political exile from Mainz, Germany when he began experimenting with printing in Strasbourg, France in 1440. He returned to Mainz several years later and by 1450, had a printing machine perfected and ready to use commercially: The Gutenberg press.." Mainz was a center containing many Jews.
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essenes
Finding Our Fathers, of Jewish genealogy by Dan Rottenberg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality_and_Judaism
https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/7698-hillel
https://humanjourney.us/ideas-that-shaped-our-modern-world-section/historical-jesus/?gclid=Cj0KCQiA4feBBhC9ARIsABp_nbUZTOzrXloQOOv-ELtdz38K9eL8vPt5dGGQPM7_gdM9PfBecqyVUxAaAiXREALw_wcB
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKfIKicM8Co on Dead Sea Scrolls
No comments:
Post a Comment