The American Jewish Archives Journal, Volume LXI 2009, Number 1

There are examples of Orthodox Jewish scholars writing in Orthodox
publications on the scrolls and attempting to understand them as Orthodox
(read rabbinic/halakhic) Jewish documents. In the 1955 edition of the magazine
Orthodox Jewish Life, for example, Joseph Baumgarten wrote in his article, “The
Dead Sea Scrolls”:
Here are texts stemming from the pre-Tannaitic period, perhaps reaching
down to the period of Hillel and Shammai. Although their sectarian nature
separates them from the main current of Pharisaic tradition, they can add
greatly to our understanding of Rabbinic thought and the transmission of the
Oral Law in one of the most turbulent times of Jewish history. 69
Baumgarten, a respected Orthodox spokesperson of the period, brought
the scrolls into the authentic rabbinic tradition despite their obvious deviation
from the rabbinic tradition. Some Orthodox rabbis even today use the scrolls as
if they were a form of normative Judaism (albeit a Sadducean position). 70 One
could say that the scrolls in the 1950s and 1960s became a vehicle for interpreting
modern Judaism as much as modern Jews were interpreting the scrolls. Some
might assume that this ideological bent was possible because so little of the
materials were available for overall review. In fact, it appears that despite more
material being available for more Jewish scholars to analyze, an ideological
perspective may inevitably be a part of all future scrolls scholarship. Professor
Tzvi Zahavy assessed the work of three well-known Jewish scholars and showed
that their scholarship may indeed reflect their own religious backgrounds. 71
According to Zahavy, the scholars and their books, which include extensive
interpretations of the scrolls, are Shaye J.D. Cohen, From the Maccabees to the
Mishnah; Lawrence H. Schiffman, From Text to Tradition: A History of Second
Temple and Rabbinic Judaism; and Alan F. Segal, Rebecca’s Children. Zahavy
shows how each scholar’s religious background (in the Conservative, Orthodox,
and Reform movements, respectively), like the Christian interpreters, influenced
their interpretations of the scrolls. He writes:
An Orthodox Jewish analysis will search for “Torah-true” ideals, emphasize
ritual (e.g., prayer), focus on a textual canon, on elite rabbinic leadership,
highlight internal sectarian debate and differentiation, downplay interfaith
relations, ignore populist involvements in religious decision, deny the prominence
of changes and adaptations based on social and historical circumstance,
consider acculturation an evil, and emphasize particularism.
A Conservative Jewish investigation will emphasize the analysis of family
structures, democratic ideals, evolutionary change, institutional development
(e.g., synagogues), communal leadership patterns, the interface of scholarship
and rabbinic learning, rites of passage as opposed to other rituals, and treat
acculturation as a struggle fraught with contradiction and ambivalence.
How the Dead Sea Scrolls Influenced Reform Judaism • 137