חקר תולדות ההלכה ומגילות מדבר-יהודה: הרהורים תלמודיים ראשונים לאור מגילת 'מקצת מעשי התורה'

At a symposium, sponsored by the Hebrew University (June 1987) to mark the fortieth anniversary of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, an attempt was made to assess the significance of the Scrolls for our understanding of the history of early Halakha, and to illuminate the contribution of the Qumran writings on Talmudic literature and vice versa. The lecture is presented here literally, with additional discussion provided in the notes. The main themes discussed were as follows: 1. A brief survey of research of early Halakha since the beginnings of Wissenschaft des Judentums in the 19th century, through Schechter's publication of the Zadokite Fragments (CD) in 1910, culminating with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls and up to the present. Unfortunately, this extremely important area of research has suffered considerable neglect, particularly (and paradoxically!) since the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. 2. An account of the Qumran sect's approach to Halakha follows, based primarily on the crucially important 4QMMT scroll, due to be published by Professors J. Strugnell of Harvard University and E. Qimron of Ben Gurion University (Beer Sheba). Comparison of the DS Scroll's halakhic rulings with the halakhic traditions preserved in rabbinic literature reveals that the halakha of 4QMMT is clearly anti-Pharisaic and most probably Sadducean. This Halakha, in contrast to Pharisaic Halakha, is stringent, uncompromising and harshly formalistic. 3. An examination of the relative position of the Qumran community in the spectrum of Second Temple period sects, from the halakhic standpoint, as reflected in rabbinic ideology and talmudic literature. An attempt is made to reconcile the generally accepted view, that the members of the Qumran sect were Essenes (as demonstrated by their spiritual and social orientation), with the assumption that the sect's religious code was Sadducean. It is suggested that the Essenes (who may well be the Bet Sin [Boethusians] mentioned in rabbinic literature) followed a Sadducean halakhic tradition. This sect was thus engaged in a dual struggle: an ethical, social and theological conflict with the Sadducees ('Manasseh' in their writings), and a halakhic and theological conflict with the Pharisees ('Ephraim'). 4. Following the previous conclusions, a general characterization of the major 'parties' of late Second Temple Judaism is presented. All of these groups assigned a central role to strict religious observance. The two largest groups, the Sadducees and the Pharisees, represent the two main streams of ancient Judaism, whose roots apparently go back to the (late?) biblical period: the priestly group, which insisted on strict observance of the Law, considered the Temple ritual as the pivot of religious life and adhered zealously to the strict observance of the cult; and the more flexible party, which sought to spread religious observance among the widest possible circles and in everyday life. Somewhere between these two main groups stood the small, pietistic, zealous Qumran sect (Essenes/Boethusians [?]), which adhered to the priestly, Sadducean Halakha, albeit on different spiritual and ideological grounds.