historical perspectives: from the hasmoneans to bar kokhba in light ...

112 ADIEL SCHREMER
We have seen Qumran's tendency to halakhic strictness and its
bibliocentricity, that is, the crucial role that Scripture plays as a
source for the sect's self-definition and its unique halakhic norms.
Consequently, we are not surprised that the Qumran community
placed intensive study of the Torah at the center of its religious
activities. According to the Manual of Discipline the sect established
sessions for the study of the Torah:
And where there are ten (members) there must not be lacking a man
who studies the Torah day and night, constantly, one relieving another.
And the Many shall keep watch together for a third of every night of
the year, to read the book and to seek [guidance regarding] the law . . .
(1QS 6:6-7). 24
Yet, the description of the sect's history in the Damascus Document.,
quoted above, also testifies to the important role played by the 'teacher'
in that context. 25 Indeed, "the scrolls are very clear about the pivotal
position of authoritative teachers in the history of the community." 26
So, in summary we can clearly see that all these features of the
sect's ideology correspond to the main characteristics of the revolutionary
shift from 'tradition' to the 'book,' as analyzed by Soloveitchik:
the centrality of the book; the sense of guilt for not having known
it before; the denial of 'tradition' as a legitimate source for the
halakha; the tendency to halakhic stringency; the establishment of
study sessions; and the central role played by the 'teacher.' As for
24 My translation. Cf. S. D. Fraade, "Looking for Legal Midrash at Qumran,"
in Biblical Perspectives: Early Use and Interpretation of the Bible in Light of the Dead Sea
Scrolls. Proceedings of the First International Symposium of the Orion Center for the Study of the
Dead Sea Scrolls and Associated Literature, 12-14 May 1996, ed. M. E. Stone and E. G.
Chazon, STDJ 28 (Leiden: Brill, 1998), 66 and nn. 24-28.
25 Bibliography on the "Teacher [of Righteousness]" in the Scrolls is vast and
need not be cited here. For a recent survey see H. Ulfgard, "The Teacher of
Righteousness, the History of the Qumran Community, and Our Understanding of
the Jesus Movement: Texts, Theories and Trajectories," in Qumran between the Old
and the New Testament, ed. F. H. Cryer and T. L. Thompson, JSOTSup 290 (Sheffield:
Sheffield Academic Press, 1998), 310-46.
26 M. Fishbane, "Use, Authority and Interpretation of Mikra at Qumran," in
Mikra: Text, Translation, Reading, and Interpretation of the Hebrew Bible in Ancient Judaism
and Early Christianity, ed. M. J. Mulder, CRINT 2/1 (Assen and Maastricht: Van
Gorcum, 1988), 361.