Days of Hillel and the Essenes

 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.  

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Resource:

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

Who Were the Jewish Scholars and the Sanhedrin During Roman Occupation ?

Nadene Goldfoot     

Antigonus of Sokho,  who lived in about 200 BCE,  was a Jewish sage.  He said,

"Be not like servants who serve their master in the hope of receiving a reward, but be like those servants who serve their master with no expectation of receiving a reward;  and let the fear of Heaven be upon you."  

He was the teacher of the first men to be the heads of the Sanhedrin.  

                                                               

Hillel was born in the 1st century BCE and was a scholar who founded a school known as the "House of Hillel." or Bet Hillel.  He was also the ancestor of a dynasty of patriarchs who held office in the Sanhedrin until the 5th century.  He was one of the Jews born in Babylon (today's Iraq) but had come and settled in Judah and earned a living by manual labor while studying with Shemaiah and Avtalyon who made up the 4th of the Zugot. The Zugot (pairs) were 5 generations of scholars.  The first named is the president or Nasi of the Sanhedrin and the second is the senior judge of the court or bet din.  Shemaiah  lived in the 2nd half of the 1st century BCE and  was the head of the Sanhedrin at the end of the Hasmonean Period. and Avtalyon was the chief judge. 

 Shemaiah and Avtalyon  were proselytes, converts to Judaism, descended from Sennacherib, who was the king of Assyria (today's Iraq and SE Turkey)  in 705-681 BCE. and was the son of Sargon II..  Shemaiah was the leader of the Pharisees.  Avtalyon  was a leader of the Pharisees in the middle of the 1st century BC and by tradition vice-president of the great Sanhedrin of Jerusalem.   He was of heathen descent  Avtalyon is also written about in Josephus.  "Avtalyon  was one of the most influential and beloved men of his time. Once, when the high priest was being escorted home from the Temple by the people, at the close of a Day of Atonement, the Talmud (Yoma, 71b) relates that the crowd deserted him upon the approach of Avtalion and his colleague and followed them.   Avtalion used his influence with the people in persuading the men of Jerusalem, in the year 37 BC, to open the gates of their city to Herod the Great. The king was not ungrateful and rewarded Abtalion, or, as Josephus calls him, Pollion, with great honors."   ( B and V are the same Hebrew letter, so here wikipedia used the B.)  

 Sennacherib had invaded Judah in 701 BCE and had captured 46 cities, but not Jerusalem and had taken many prisoners.  A plague broke out in his camp and had forced him to retreat.  So, 400 years later, two Assyrians  had become the heads of the Sanhedrin.

Hillel was appointed president of the Sanhedrin and together with Shammai, were the last of the pairs or Zugot of scholars.  He was noted for his humility and leniency.  It was like these two were debating partners and would take opposite sides.  Hillel won all the debates.  He had 7 rules of Bible interpretation.  It was Hillel who wrote the negative form of the Golden Rule, "Do not do unto others that which you would not have them do unto you."  No doubt it was Hillel whose interpretations were studied in the time of Jesus in Jerusalem.  Shammai foresaw the dangers of Roman hegemony (influence over the Jewish morality)  and wrote many rules intended to keep the Jews from mixing with the heathen.  He took a rigorous point of view in moral and religious matters.  

The 5 Zugot were:
1. Yose ben Joezer and Yose ben Johanan (2nd century BCE) pupil of Antigonus of Sokho (200 BCE) an early mishnaic sage.  
2. Joshua ben Perahiah and Nittai the Arbelite (2nd century BCE)  
3. Judah ben Tabbai and Simeon ben Shetah (1st century BCE) Judah headed Pharisee party
4 Shemaiah and Avtalyon (1st century BCE)
5. Hillel and Shammai (1st century BCE)-lived during Herod's reign

Joshua  born: in c4 BCE and died in 29 CE in Judah at age c33  in the middle of the Roman occupation.  In Greek, his name translates into Jesus who.  was also executed on the Roman cross along with thousands of other Jews.  He was to become the messiah for millions of people who follow Christianity.  The New Testament is written about him.  These Gospels represent the entire Jewish people as eager for the death of Jesus and who rejected Pilate's proposal to release him.  According to these writings, Jews took the responsibility of  Jesus's blood on themselves and their descendants.  This reflects the anti-Jewish sentiment of the early Christians and the bigger desire to absolve the Romans from guilt in the death of their savior as Rome became the center for Christianity.   There are no sources for the life of Jesus of Nazareth in Jewish literature except what it found in the Gospels and by Josephus, who reflected a Christian philosophy.  He knew he was writing for possible Christian Romans.   Though Jesus was a threat to the Romans, he was not a threat to the Jews of the time.   The Jews were hoping for a messiah to come along, but when one did that filled the bill, it turned out to be Bar Kokhba a little later after Jesus had died.  .
                                                                         

 These were terrible times for the Jews of being occupied by the Romans.  In the year 50 CE, Ben Joseph Akiva was born.  He was to become the greatest scholar of his time and to be known as Rabbi Akiva.  He was born to poor Jews and with the hatred going on for Jews by the Romans, remained uneducated until he was 40 years old.

 He had married Rachel, daughter of a rich man, Kalba Sabbua, so that tells me that he had something to offer this rich girl, probably good looks and intelligence and sincerity.  Rachel was educated as rich girls of that day could be, so she helped her husband, Akiva, to study.

 Akiva devoted himself to learning.  He studied with many leading scholars and developed his own method of biblical interpretation by using every word and sign in the Torah as a particular significance and saw it could be used to establish a source for accepted halakhic decision.  He then collected and arranged the whole Oral Law according to subjects, .  This method was used  on with the Mishnah later recorded by Rabbi Judah Ha-Nasi (135-220) and his colleagues.

Akiva became famous and had thousands of students study at his school in Bene Brak in Judah.  This rabbi traveled a lot for the Jews on political missions.  He traveled with Rabbi Gamaliel, grandson of Hillel  and president of the Sanhedrin at Jerusalem, to Rome to get the reversal of Domitian's legislation against the Jews.  This was Domitian, the last Roman emperor, who worshipped  Jupiter and expected everyone else to do so.   "Titus Flavius Caesar Domitianus Augustus; 24 October 51 – 18 September 96) was Roman emperor from 81 to 96.  Domitian was the third and last emperor of the Flavian dynasty."  Traveling outside of Judah and visiting other Jewish communities was another duty Akiva took upon himself.

The Roman government who had taken over Judah prohibited the study of the Law-Torah.  Akiva ignored this decree, of course, even publicly.  Therefore, he was arrested as a rebel and kept for a long time in prison, and was finally killed at Caesarea, probably on a cross, the main way of execution for the Romans.  His disciples were the spiritual leaders of the Jewish people during the following generations.  No rabbi of the talmudic period made a more profound impression on Jewish history and on the imagination of the Jewish people than Rabbi Akiva.  .

Meir was born in the 2nd century and was a pupil of Akiva.  He was a member of the Sanhedrin at Usha (near Haifa) after the Hadrianic persecution.  The Sanhedrin was a group of 71 ordained scholars who were both functioning as the Supreme Court and as creating legislature.  Their job was to proclaim the New Moon, declare leap years,  make decisions on state offenses and doubtful questions of Jewish law.  In Jewish literature, there is no evidence of a political body except during the troubled decades which preceded the destruction of the Temple way in the past. in 597 BCE. After the suppression of the Bar Kokhba revolt, a synod was held at Usha where far-reaching legislation was enacted .  It was also the seat of the Sanhedrin for a time.  Its academy was led by distinguished scholars including Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Yose ha-Gelili, the Galilean of the 2nd century CE, the leading figure in the Jabneh academy where he often debated with Rabbi Akiva.  He was known for his high moral standards.  

The head of the Sanhedrin was called the Nasi, who in its later history was usually a descendant of Hillel, and an Av Bet Din.  Before 70 CE, the Sanhedrin met in the Temple chamber called the Hall of Hewn Stone.   A very bright pupil, it was his Mishnah that he created that became the basis of the accepted Mishsnah of Rabbi Judah Ha-Nasi.  His brilliance was recognized and it was said that  when a decision of the rabbis differed from Meir's opinion it was "because his colleagues could not plumb the depth of his reasoning."  In other words, they just didn't understand the depth of his words.

He was also a great orator and was noted for his parables and fables, evidently something used quite often by rabbis of those days.  He was also a Torah scribe, one who knew how to write and was a writer of Torah.  Besides all that, he led a clean life, so his personal conduct exemplified his teachings as well.  The Sanhedrin disappeared from the Jewish scene before the end of the 4th century CE.
                                                                     

At this period, Ben Kosiba Simeon or son of the star- Bar Kokhba was born, nephew of Rabbi Eleazar of Modiin and a descendant of King David,  the man who became Judah's general and fought against the Romans from 132 to 135 when he was killed.  To many of the Jews of Judah, this man was the Messiah because he was what was expected to come and save the Jews; a descendant of David, a real man and a fighter against the Romans.  Rabbi Akiva was one of his main enthusiastic supporters.  Akiva told his people, "This is the king-messiah!"  (Y Taanit IV, 8)  It was Bar Kokhba who had led the revolt against Hadrian in 132 .  It was Rabbi Akiva who had proclaimed him as the Messiah, but not all rabbis accepted his view.

We know this general had great personal strength, and was autocratic and irascible from letter written by him discovered near the Dead Sea.  The revolt came about from the rebuilding of Jerusalem as a Roman colony and prohibiting circumcision on baby boys.  This revolt was brewing for some time.  Bar Kokhba's soldiers captured Jerusalem in 132 and held it for the 3 years.  It was in 133 that the Romans had their counterattack with an army of 35,000 under Hadrian and Julius Severus.  They first entered Galilee, then fought for the Valley of Jezreel, Ephraim, and the Judean Hills, retaking Jerusalem.  Betar was the Jews' last stronghold. The Romans destroyed 50 fortresses and  985 villages .  580,000 Jews died as casualties.  Others died from hunger and disease.  Judea tell into desolation.  Jerusalem was turned into a heathen city, barred to Jews.

Our heroes were rabbis who were debaters.  You had to defend your ideas against others of equal intelligence and knowledge.  Family and ancestors mattered.  We haven't changed.  Intelligence and common sense  is necessary to live in today's world.  No wonder we have produced outstanding lawyers.  The people in our Knesset in Jerusalem come from good stock.

Resource:  The New Standard Jewish Encyhclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domitian
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/39555/Assyria
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shemaiah
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abtalion
http://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2014/04/sanhedrin-court-of-ancient-israel.html
http://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2014/09/3rd-century-phd-level-jewish-scholars.html
Update for Amoraim: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rav_Kahana_II

Sanhedrin Court of Ancient Israel

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                    

Israel was created as a kingdom when Saul  born in 11th century BCE from the tribe of Benjamin and was made its first king.  King David was the 2nd king and ruled from 1010 BCE to 970 BCE.  His son, King Solomon was the 3rd king who ruled from 961 BCE to 920 BCE.  When Solomon died, problems started with a revolt led by Jeroboam against Rehoboam, Solomon' son and successor in 933 BCE.  The seceding tribes were led by Ephraim.  The other tribes were Manasseh, Issachar, Zebulun, Naphtali, Asher, Dan, and Reuben and Gad and part of Manasseh. So the next king of Israel was Jeroboam from 933 to 912 BCE.  Hoshea was the last from 730 to 721 BCE.
                                                                               

                                King Solomon
Judah was created out of the southern part of Israel in the revolt.  Rehoboam was king and ruled from 933 to 917 BCE.  Their last king was Zedekiah from 597 to 586 BCE.

By the time the Romans occupied Judah, they came along and set up their own choices for rulers, like Herod,  who was the son of Antipater, the Idumean by his Nabatean wife, Cypros.  .
                                                                     

The Sanhedrin was an assembly of 71 ordained scholars who acted as both Supreme Court and legislature.  The head was the Nasi, usually a descendant of Hillel.  He was a scholar in the 1st century BCE and founder of a school called the House of Hillel and was an ancestor of a dynasty of patriarchs who held office until the 5th century.  He was born in Babylonia but had come back to live in Judah and earned a small living by doing manual labor while studying with famous teachers such as Shemaiah and Avtalyon.  He was appointed president of the Sanhedrin and worked with his friend but ideological opponent, Shammai. Shammai was concerned about the Romans occupying their country so set up many rules to keep the Jews from mixing with them as they were heathens.  His name Shammai is possibly identical with the Pharisee Sameas who rallied the Sanhedrin against Herod's attempt at intimidation in 47 BCE.    They were the last of the pairs (Zugot) of scholars.  He was noted for his humility and leniency.  Legal issues usually were solved by Hillel.  He is credited with writing the Golden Rule:  Don't do to others what you would  not want done to you.  How many countries of today had a supreme court of 71 judges before the 1st century?  Israel of today carries on with a supreme legal court system.

Resource:  http://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com/2013/08/haplogroup-j1-and-j1c3d-or-cohen-gene.html
http://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2014/10/who-were-jewish-scholars-and-sanhedrin.html
The New Standard Jewish Enyclopedia