May I add to this discussion about Prof Rachel Elior's take on the Dead Sea Scrolls and the issue of what was our original calendar.
Rachel was at Limmud December 2006 and I attended some of her sessions. She was amazing, talking for hours without any notes.
She does not believe that the Dead Sea Scrolls were written by the Essenes or the Sadducees. One of the documents found at Qumran was a collection of Psalms to be recited in the Temple - one a day - for 365 DAYS!
Consequently, she believes that this collection was written by Zadokite priests, the lawful cohanim, descendants of Onias III (I hope I have the right one!), who was the last true descendant of Aaron, Pinchas, Zadok and Ezra - the Cohen Gadol thread of Aaronid/Zadokite descent.
The original Temple priests followed a SOLAR calendar because of the clue of the 365 Psalms; Antiochus IV/Epiphanes introduced a LUNAR calendar which Jews had to observe, presumably after Onias was deposed in favour of corrupt, megalomaniac Jews such as Menelaus and Jason who vied for the title of Cohen Gadol and bribed Antiochus accordingly.
Chanucah need never have happened if not for the actions of some wicked Jewish families who disturbed the hierarchical order that had been working since Aaron. I refer you and your correspondents to the first and second books of Maccabees for a more reliable (if still biased) analysis of what probably started the Maccabean revolt.
The Rabbonim had their own agenda for creating the myth of the miracle of the bottle of oil, which was to do with denigrating the Hasmonean dynasty for their heresy and ultimate failure(please note that the Wicked Priest mentioned in the Dead Sea Scrolls was probably Simon and/or Jonathan Maccabee and their Hasmonean successors, none of whom had any right, albeit priests, to claim the title of HIGH PRIEST, Cohen Gadol, nor to merge that position with the title of King or Ethnarch!)
Thanks to the Maccabees/Hasmoneans, the Romans ultimately intervened through Pompey's invasion and installed Herod. It is another irony that he proceeded to wipe out the Hasmonean dynasty as he was an Idumean/Edomite, a nation forced to convert to Judaism by the Hasmoneans.
The Romans introduced a SOLAR calendar and according to Rachel Elior, the Rabbis - I am not sure if it as late as Rabbi Akiva who canonises the Tenach [Song of Songs, Ezekiel, Daniel, Ecclesiastes and Job in but Maccabees out] - decided to revert to a LUNAR calendar to differentiate the Jews from their masters in a counter-assimilatory drive.
So we now follow the calendar first introduced by King Antiochus IV -another irony!
So that leaves a very big question: If our original calendar was SOLAR, how do we explain that the Torah indicates LUNAR, with its mentions of Rosh Chodesh, the New Moon?
First, there are hints in the Torah and Tenach of a solar influence.
Second, if Rachel is right (she has recently brought out a book on this whole subject of our calendar published by the Littman Library), then I can only surmise there were some late additions/amendments to the Torah text by the Rabbonim in the first or early second century of the Common Era. Shock horror - back to the Torah min HaShamayim debate!
I hope to be e-mailing Rachel shortly about this conclusion, because if I am right, then what does the Qumran text of Exodus 12 and other places in the Torah have to say about observing Rosh Chodesh?
Rachel's analysis of our calendar could have some interesting theological implications.
I would welcome anybody's views on Rachel's approach and the implications of her work.
Finally, thank you, Michael, for including one of my Limmud talks, on your website.
KInd regards and Shabbat Shalom,
Nahum Gordon nahum.gordon@virgin.net Friday 16.02.07
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Re: interesting
Date: 2007-02-16 12:33 pm (UTC)May I add to this discussion about Prof Rachel Elior's take on the Dead Sea Scrolls and the issue of what was our original calendar.
Rachel was at Limmud December 2006 and I attended some of her sessions. She was amazing, talking for hours without any notes.
She does not believe that the Dead Sea Scrolls were written by the Essenes or the Sadducees. One of the documents found at Qumran was a collection of Psalms to be recited in the Temple - one a day - for 365 DAYS!
Consequently, she believes that this collection was written by Zadokite priests, the lawful cohanim, descendants of Onias III (I hope I have the right one!), who was the last true descendant of Aaron, Pinchas, Zadok and Ezra - the Cohen Gadol thread of Aaronid/Zadokite descent.
The original Temple priests followed a SOLAR calendar because of the clue of the 365 Psalms; Antiochus IV/Epiphanes introduced a LUNAR calendar which Jews had to observe, presumably after Onias was deposed in favour of corrupt, megalomaniac Jews such as Menelaus and Jason who vied for the title of Cohen Gadol and bribed Antiochus accordingly.
Chanucah need never have happened if not for the actions of some wicked Jewish families who disturbed the hierarchical order that had been working since Aaron. I refer you and your correspondents to the first and second books of Maccabees for a more reliable (if still biased) analysis of what probably started the Maccabean revolt.
The Rabbonim had their own agenda for creating the myth of the miracle of the bottle of oil, which was to do with denigrating the Hasmonean dynasty for their heresy and ultimate failure(please note that the Wicked Priest mentioned in the Dead Sea Scrolls was probably Simon and/or Jonathan Maccabee and their Hasmonean successors, none of whom had any right, albeit priests, to claim the title of HIGH PRIEST, Cohen Gadol, nor to merge that position with the title of King or Ethnarch!)
Thanks to the Maccabees/Hasmoneans, the Romans ultimately intervened through Pompey's invasion and installed Herod. It is another irony that he proceeded to wipe out the Hasmonean dynasty as he was an Idumean/Edomite, a nation forced to convert to Judaism by the Hasmoneans.
The Romans introduced a SOLAR calendar and according to Rachel Elior, the Rabbis - I am not sure if it as late as Rabbi Akiva who canonises the Tenach [Song of Songs, Ezekiel, Daniel, Ecclesiastes and Job in but Maccabees out] - decided to revert to a LUNAR calendar to differentiate the Jews from their masters in a counter-assimilatory drive.
So we now follow the calendar first introduced by King Antiochus IV -another irony!
So that leaves a very big question: If our original calendar was SOLAR, how do we explain that the Torah indicates LUNAR, with its mentions of Rosh Chodesh, the New Moon?
First, there are hints in the Torah and Tenach of a solar influence.
Second, if Rachel is right (she has recently brought out a book on this whole subject of our calendar published by the Littman Library), then I can only surmise there were some late additions/amendments to the Torah text by the Rabbonim in the first or early second century of the Common Era. Shock horror - back to the Torah min HaShamayim debate!
I hope to be e-mailing Rachel shortly about this conclusion, because if I am right, then what does the Qumran text of Exodus 12 and other places in the Torah have to say about observing Rosh Chodesh?
Rachel's analysis of our calendar could have some interesting theological implications.
I would welcome anybody's views on Rachel's approach and the implications of her work.
Finally, thank you, Michael, for including one of my Limmud talks, on your website.
KInd regards and Shabbat Shalom,
Nahum Gordon
nahum.gordon@virgin.net
Friday 16.02.07