לימוד התורה בכת מדבר יהודה

The Judean Desert Sect fashioned its own path with regard to study and its value. Study was important in the life of the community, evident in the requirement for candidates to know the Law of Moses and the Law of the Sect. Every member was required as well to study in a group each evening. Fulfillment of the commandments, a vital aspect in the life of the sect, depended on it. Group study was also emphasized for its unifying effect on the outlook of the sect. The requirement of at least ten men participating in study was the symbolic significance of the commandment "And thou shalt meditate therein day and night". Thus did the sect raise the banner of Torah in its war against the foreign culture which threatened Judaism in that period. This ruling of the presence of at least ten men in study is apparently rooted in the idea that this minimal number would constitute a community. The sect's distinctiveness in their attitude on study is underscored in its emphasis on the moral life of the individual rather than on scholarship. It seems that here, too, the Judean Desert Sect was different from its opponents, especially the Pharisees.