An Unknown Jewish Sect

477 Pages·1970·12.573 MB·English

by  Louis Ginzberg

AN UNKNOWN JEWISH SECT
LOUIS GINZBERG
THE JEWISH THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY OF AMERICA
NEW YORK CITY
5736—1976
Prepared and published with the aid of the
Stroock Publication Fund
of The Jewish Theological Seminary of America
© Copyright 1970 by
THE JEWISH THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY OF AMERICA
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 76-127636
ISBN 0-87334-000-0
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Ginzberg, Louis, 1873-1953.
An unknown Jewish sect.
(Moreshet Series; v. 1)
Revised and updated translation of the author’s
Eine unbekannte jüdische Sekte, 1922 ed.
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
1. Zadokite documents. I. Title. II. Series:
Moreshet (New York); v. 1.
BM175.Z3G5613 1976 296.8'1 76-127636
Distributed by KTAV Publishing House, Inc.
New York, New York 10013
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
PRESS OF INC.
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Moreshet Series, Vol. I
Studies in Jewish History,
Literature and Thought
The Moreshet [Heritage] Series represents the
atest venture of The Jewish Theological Seminary
of America in the dissemination of Jewish scholar­
ship and thought. Under its imprint will appear the
works of Seminary faculty and alumni in all areas
of Jewish scholarly and theological endeavor includ­
ing works on Bible, rabbinics, history, philology, law,
theology, philosophy and ethics. Among them will also
be translations of classics, commentaries — ancient
as well as modern — and books reflecting the whole
spectrum of Jewish activity and expression. The time­
liness of such a new series under the auspices of a
major center of Jewish scholarly and theological en­
deavor in the most populous Jewish community of
the world requires no elaboration. Hopefully, this
series will serve to illuminate afresh to both scholar
and layman the wealth and variety of Jewish activity
and thought from ancient times to the present.
Table of Contents
Foreword by Eli Ginzberg lx
Preface xvii
I. Introduction 1-2
II. Orthography of the Fragments 3-4
III. Textual and Exegetical Notes 5-104
With detailed explanations of: Polygamy 19-20, Mar­
riage with a Niece 23-24, Angelology 26-27, Meaning of
yp 29-30, Confession 42-43, Age of Majority 45-47,
Meaning of un and run 49-51, Impurity of Water 51-55,
Drawing of Water on Sabbath 61-62, Terms for Syna­
gogues 71, Use of Trumpet at Divine Service 72-73,
Trade Relations with Gentiles 76-78, Eating of Honey
78-79, Killing of Fish 79-80, Impurity of Stone and
Earth 81-83, Genealogical Records 87-89, Oaths 91-94,
Perjury 95-96, Annullment of Oaths 96-99.
IV. The Halakah of the Fragments 105-154
Importance of Halakah for Assessment of Sects 105-107,
Sabbath Laws 107-115, Laws of Purity 115-116, Dietary
Laws 116-117, Sacrificial Cult 117, Capital Crimes 118,
Courts and their Procedure 117-122, Pharisaic Character
of Halakah 124-130, Relation to Zadokite Book used by
Qirqisani 130-134, Relation to Sadduceeism 134-138,
Relation to Dositheans 138-141, Relation to Book of
Jubilees and to the Falashas 141-144, Relation to
Karaites 144-154.
V. The Theology of the Fragments 155-208
The Law 155-159, Agreement with Dogmas of Pharisees
159-162, Attributes of God 162-164, Providence 165-
vi CONTENTS
167, Philosophy of History 167-169, Angelology and
Discourse on the direct Revelation of the Law 169-173,
Satan and Belial 173-177, Demonology 177-179, Sup­
posed cryptic Names of Satan in the Fragments 179-182,
the Prophets as Sources of Law in Fragments and in Rab­
binic Literature 182-192, Use of Pseudepigrapha 192-
193, Relation to Masoretic Text 194-199, Method of
Exegesis 199-202, Sectarianism 202-204, the Patriarchs
in the Fragments and in Rabbinic Literature 204-208.
VI. Messianic Doctrine 209-256
Is the p"rx HUD the Messiah 209-211, pis miD in Rabbinic
Literature, 211-222, where the Fragments refer to the
Messiah 222-227, the Two Messiahs in the Testaments
of the Twelve Patriarchs 227-233, the First Redemption
(Egyptian) and the Second Redemption (Messianic)
233-235, Messiah ben Joseph 235-238, the Four Messiahs
of Rabbinic Theology 239-247, the Two Messiahs of the
Fragments 247-252, their Functions 252-256.
VII. The Genesis of the Sect 257-273
Dates in the Fragments 257-260,(Dating of the Origin
of the Sect in Palestine 260-262^ Emigration to Da­
mascus 262-263, Development of the Sect in Damascus
263-265, the New Halakah 265-267, Clues in Rabbinic
Literature 267-269, the New Covenant in Damascus and
the Break with the Pharisees 269-273.
VIII. The Language of the Document 274-303
The Diverse Components of the Fragments 274-279,
Later Glosses and Interpolations 279-280, Was there a
Sanctuary of the Sect in Damascus 281-282, List of
Lexigraphic Peculiarities of the Fragments 282-300,
Comparison of Vocabulary of Fragments with Ben Sira
and the Books of Enoch 300-303.
IX. The Critique of Literature 304-337
Adler 304-305, Bacher 305, Blau 305-306, Böhl 306,
Chajes 306, Charles 306-313, Gressmann 313-315,
Juster 315-316, Kohler 316-320, Krauss 320, Lagrange
CONTENTS VÎi
320-321, Landauer 321, Levi 321-323, Leszynsky 323-
334, Margoliouth 334-335, Montgomery 335, Moore 335,
Poznanski 335, Revel 336, Schechter 336, Segal 336-337,
Strack 337, Ward 337.
X. The Karaite Hypothesis Disproved 338-408
Biichler’s View 338-340, Refutation of View of Karaite
and anti-Rabbinic Influences on Halaka of Fragments
340-355 (Polygamy 340-342 ; Marriage with Niece 342-
345, Dietary Laws 345-349, Menstruation 349-350, Laws
of Purity 351-355); Supposed Direct Borrowings from
the Talmud 355-363 (Persons Authorized to Determine
Condition of Leprosy 355-358; Sale of Sacrificeable
Animals to Gentiles 358-360, Traffic with the Banished
360-361; Formula of Confession 363). Proof-texts for
Halakhic Midrash 363-364, Methodology of Aggadic
Midrash 364-366, Linguistic Character of Fragments
366-381 (Mosaic Style 366-369, Diction and Vocabulary
369-376, Terminology 376-381). Historical Criticism
381-384, Historical Evaluation 384-402 (Temple Service
384-386, the Socio-Economic Situation 386-390, Dietary
Restrictions 390-391, Administrative Structure 391-395,
Validity of Witnesses 395-396, Essene Correspondence
396-398, Adjuration of Witnesses 398-401, Self-Im­
posed Oaths 401-402, Public Confession 402). Summary
402-408.
Index by Tovia Preschel. 411
Source Index by Tovia Preschel. 427

Foreword
It might be wise to present this book without explanation or
apology. However, since the world of scholarship confronts sufficient
enigmas, there is no point in deliberately adding to them. Therefore
this foreword will tell what I myself know and what I have learned
from experts about this scholarly effort of my father, which was
started shortly after Dr. Solomon Schechter published Fragments of
a Zadokite Work, Cambridge, 1910.
In the years immediately after Dr. Schechter’s book appeared
(1911-1914) my father wrote a series of articles which were published
in the Monatsschrift für Geschichte und Wissenschaft des Judentums,
Vol. LV to LVIII. In 1922, this series was published as a book with
the following title page: Eine Unbekannte Jüdische Sekte, von Louis
Ginzberg, Erster Teil, New York, 1922, Im Selbstverläge des Ver­
fassers. The back of the title page carried the notation: Karl Anger-
mayer, Pressburg (Tschecho-Slowakei).
From the preface to this volume we learn that my father “had
planned to add to this book a critical text of the fragments and a
translation, as well as further studies of their language and authen­
ticity and of the various strata of source material, and last but not
least, a critical bibliography. Unfortunately I have been obliged to
give up this plan because in the present state of things it is almost
impossible for an author living in America to have his works published
in Europe. Let us hope that peace so yearningly awaited by millions
will come soon.” The preface was dated January 1916.
A postscript dated July 1921 stated, “I have nothing to add to
the foregoing other than that the entry of the United States into the
World War made it impossible for this book to be published before
peace was concluded. For the further delays neither the author nor
the political situation is responsible. I trust there will not be an equal
delay in the publication of the second part.”
Publication of the second part was delayed not five years but for
more than fifty years. One thing led to another. My father had decided
to print his Monatsschrift articles in book form without waiting to
complete the additions which he considered desirable. But much of
what he expected to add was complete by the outbreak of World War I.
In fact there is no evidence that what is published here for the first
ix
X FOREWORD
time as Chapters 8, 9, and 10 was written after that time. The war
brought a halt to his intensive research into the “Unknown Sect.” In
addition, it must be noted that this manuscript was written in Ger­
man; all of his later work was in English or Hebrew. It may well be
that Dr. Schechter’s death in 1915 — the published volume is dedi­
cated to his memory — also served as a deterrent. My father was will­
ing to argue with a man who was at once his chief and his friend. But
he was not willing to return to the battlefield after his colleague had
died. Louis Ginzberg, like the rest of the scholarly world, lost interest
in the fragments. This is confirmed by the fact that he made only
six brief entries on his interleafed copy of the printed volume.
I personally recall that during the early 1s*930 Dr. George A.
Kohut extracted from my father a promise to permit the Kohut Foun­
dation to publish this manuscript. Kohut became a frequent visitor
at my father’s home in the 1930’s as he expanded his efforts on behalf
of Jewish scholars and scholarship. My father liked him a great deal
and appreciated his efforts. Although prompted on repeated occasions
to release the manuscript for publication, my father refrained. He
had doubts about releasing for publication materials on which he had
stopped writing two decades earlier; moreover, he had no inclination
with Hitler on the scene to publish in German. The only alternative
was to translate Part Two into English, as I believe Kohut suggested,
but then part of the work would be in German and part in English —
clearly an anomaly. So my father procrastinated and, while affirming
his promise, he did not release the manuscript.
The discovery of the “Dead Sea Scrolls” in 1947 was one more
reason to hold back the manuscript. He early appreciated the tre­
mendous significance of the scrolls for biblical and post-biblical studies,
but he went out of his way to avoid becoming entangled in this com­
plex arena which earlier had exercised so deep a hold on his interest
and imagination. As he wrote to his friend Ralph Marcus, “I do not
belong to the Jewish ’cave dwellers.’ All that I know is that a good
deal of trash has been written on the scrolls found in the caves — so
that I decided not to read anything bearing on this subject.” (quoted
in Keeper of the Law: Louis Ginzberg, by Eli Ginzberg, Jewish Pub­
lication Society, 1966, p. 279). But he surely read enough to appreciate
that his manuscript on the “Unknown Sect” would have to take ac­
count of the scrolls. At the time of his death in November 1953 he
had made no move to release the manuscript of Part Two, to alter or
add to it, or to leave instructions about its eventual disposition.
The Kohut Foundation reaffirmed its interest in and commitment
to publish the manuscript. But a consensus of interested scholars was
that with the German edition of Part One out of print and out of