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

COMMUNAL FASTS 141
It may also be reasonably assumed that the liturgy of the Qumran
sect, in contrast with that of groups who did not go into seclusion
in the desert, functioned as a 'substitute' for the Temple rituals, while
those who were still associated with the Temple neither needed nor
wanted such a substitute. 58 The common feature shared by these
'substitutes' is the replacement of a rite entailing preoccupation with
flesh and blood by a ritual conducted by means of speech and
prayers, membership in the sect, and strict observance of the commandments.
59 This may be viewed as a process of rationalization
that perceived the sacrifices as a means of addressing God and as
a catalyst for the correction of deeds; therefore prayers and keeping
the commandments were likely to be a good alternative for the
Temple offerings. This line of thought could have led, in a similar
manner, to regarding the fast as a physical act that constituted a
means of addressing God and catalyzing the correction of actions,
and that it, in turn, could be supplanted by more appropriate spiritual
means.
Numerous sources from various periods testify to a similarity or
affinity between fasts and sacrifices. 60 M. Ta'an. 4:3 recounts that
"the men of the Mcfamad [those who stand by the daily offering in
Jerusalem] fasted four days in the week" (Danby's translation)
clearly showing that the purpose
of the fast was to reinforce the offering so that it would be willingly
accepted. In this case, fasts and the daily offering are bound together
in a common religious system and they function side by side. Similarly,
the prophets criticize fasts in the same tone that they criticize sacrifice.
Of sacrifice, it is said: "For
58
See, for example, S. Talmon, "The Emergence of Institutionalized Prayer in
Israel in Light of Qumran Literature," in The World of Qumran from Within., 200-43;
M. Weinfeld, "Grace after Meals at the Mourner's House in a Text from Qumran,"
Tarbiz 61/1 (1991): 15-23; "Prayer and Liturgical Practice in the Qumran Sect,"
in The Scrolls of the Judaean Desert: Forty Years of Research, 160—75; Nitzan, Qumran
Prayer and Religious Poetry, 47—49; E. Fleischer, "On the Beginnings of Obligatory
Jewish Prayer," Tarbiz, 59 (1989-90): 414-16 and n. 46. Yet the problem is not
simple; see the conclusions of E. G. Chazon, A Liturgical Document from Qumran and
Its Implications: "Words of the Luminaries" (4QDibHam) (Ph.D. diss., Hebrew University,
1991), 99-116, esp. 115-16.
59
See, for instance, n. 47 above on 1QS 8:24 9:11 and pp. 144-45 below on
1QS 3:8.
60
The list of examples presented here is not from the Dead Sea Scrolls. Its purpose
is to indicate a possible attitude concerning fasting, sacrifice and the relationship
between the two. The same attitude can be found in various places and in
various contexts. It seems to me that the same attitude exists in the Qumran sect,
and thus offers an explanation for the absence of public fasts from its world.