(4Q321) Ba קטעים של מגילת לוח מקומראן — משמרות

In this paper we present a first example of the planned publication of several fragments of calendrical compositions, discovered among the Qumran Cave IV finds. These ancient timetables, which in some instances can be fully restored, help in filling out the mosaic-like picture emerging from the collation of calendar-related references in major Qumran writings. Such references are found in the Community Rule (IQS), the Zadokite Document (CD), Pesher Habakkuk (1QpHab) and the Hodayoth Scroll (1QH), and the detailed exposition in the Temple Scroll (11Q Miq). The comparatively-speaking large number of calendrical records and statements attests to the exceeding importance of 'proper chronology' in the world-view of the Qumran community. At the same time, these sources throw welcome light on the 'calendar-controversy' which was among the major factors that led to the Qumranites' secession from mainstream Judaism, and a cause of internal rift and dissent in Second Temple Jewry. Our paper addresses itself to a document consisting of two components: In the latter part of the composition the author records seriatim the first day of each solar month and the dates of the festivals in terms of their concurrence with days in the week of service of a given priestly course, משמר. In the former part he laboriously records the two days in the lunar month. One is identified by its date only. It is named X in our paper. The other is identified by its date and by the otherwise unknown term דוקה. We propose to understand these data as referring to the 'negative' phases in the moon's monthly course: X is the day at the end of the month when the moon is in complete darkness. דוקה designates the day in the middle of the month that follows upon the night in which the moon begins to wane. From the דוקה day to X, thirteen days elapse; from X to דוקה sixteen or seventeen. In each instance, X and דוקה pointedly fall on the days which abut on the nights on which the moon is on the increase. These days are most positively evaluated by adherents to the lunar calendar. The first of each month, i.e.;ראש חדש and the fifteenth on which the major festivals fall: פסח in the first month, פסח שני in the second, and סכות in the seventh. This explanation of the data can help in our understanding the meaning of the term דוקה. We propose to derive this term from דקק 'to become thin', rather than from דיק which root expresses 'exactitude' or 'precision'. Each דוקה and each X is also tied to specific days in the week of service of the priestly courses, משמרות הכהנים, in the temple, in accord with the solar year. This peculiarity highlights the particular pertinence of calendar-related statements in the Qumran writings to the sphere of the cult, since by that calendar is regulated the service of the משמרות in the temple throughout the year, and specifically on the annual festival seasons. It should be stressed that calendrical documents, like the one published here, are not intended to provide overall 'synchronization-tables' between the solar and the lunar year, as is sometimes maintained. Rather, the specification of the 'dark' days in the moon's monthly revolution and their equivalent dates in the solar calendar is meant to provide the members of the 'New Covenant' with means of avoiding, to the best of their ability, the days of 'darkness' which spell 'evil'.