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

COMMUNAL FASTS 135
snares of Belial, and survived the famine. This interpretation is supported
by the three passages in which 'season' appears with
'fast,' by the Damascus Document, and by Pesher Habakkuk, in
which the word adjoins the phrase "the resting
of the Day of Atonement," and is immediately followed by the
word Thus they all allude to the centrality of the timing of the
fast of Yom Kippur, and to the polemic concerning the calendar. 37
An additional allusion to the dispute concerning Yom Kippur may
possibly be found in 4Q510 1 4-8. Of the three quotations from
the Songs of the Sage, the first, which mentions twice, is the
least fragmentary. Many scholars interpret the word in this
source as having a meaning other than 'fasts.' 38 However, ancient
Jewish sources do not offer any other certain meaning for apart
from 'fast' 39 and, in the absence of clear evidence, it is preferable to
attribute to it its usual meaning in this case as well. On both occasions
in this passage, occurs in the construct state, first in conjunction
with and later with . The word appears to
be the opposite of thus 'fasts of the Sons of
Light'—fasts that are deemed desirable and good—are contrasted
with undesirable fasts. There is a similar parallel between
'the appointed times ... of the Sons of Light' and
'the times of those smitten by iniquity,' i.e., between
37 The interpretation by those scholars mentioned above in n. 18 is thus corroborated
by the inclusion of in the Yom Kippur prayer.
38 Baillet, DJD 7.216-18. He interprets as a reference to the suffering of
the Sons of Light; it is not eternal suffering. He attributes to similar meanings
in other sources but not a fast. See B. Nitzan, "Hymns from Qumran
Evil Ghosts," Tarbiz 55 (1985-86): 19-46, esp. 22, 24 n. 26, and 30 nn.
53-54 (Hebrew); Nitzan offers a similar analysis: are the
times of trouble and oppression of the Sons of Light" (30 n. 53; my translation).
Likewise, I. Ta-Shema, "Notes to 'Hymns from Qumran,'" Tarbiz. 55 (1985—86):
441 (Hebrew), concurs with Nitzan's interpretation of as "distress." This is
the standard interpretation of according to E. Qimron, The Hebrew of the Dead
Sea Scrolls, HSS 29 (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1986), 97, 115. However, in my opinion
this argument is not necessarily decisive.
39 With reference to the verse in Ezra 9:5, "And at
the evening sacrifice I arose from my fasting," which is often discussed in this context,
there is no hard evidence that a fast is meant but, at the same time, there is
no evidence of the opposite. See the dictionaries F. Brown, S. R. Driver, and C. A.
Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1968), 777, s.v. under III L. Koehler et al., The Hebrew and Aramaic
Lexicon of the Old Testament, vol. 4 (trans. M. E. J. Richardson; Leiden: Brill, 1999),
1769, s.v.