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

COMMUNAL FASTS 143
These excerpts show that it was likely that fasts and sacrifices were
considered to belong to the same system of religious ritual, either
practiced together or one replacing the other. Their common denominator
is the focus on flesh and blood and, moreover, the inflicting
of harm on a living creature and the diminishment of life for the
purpose of sanctification. Thus, the critical approach that is adopted
toward sacrifices is likely to be adopted towards fasts.
It is possible that this process clarifies the lack of fast days,
with the exception of Yom Kippur, in the scrolls. This suggested
assessment comprises at least two stages that are logical but not necessarily
chronological: first, as a result of the sect being far from the
Temple and out of contact with it, 63 a decline in the practical importance
of sacrificial offerings along with a concurrent increase in the
importance of prayers, oral appeals to God, and adherence to the sect's
laws and rules; second, the spread of rationalization and the perception
of communal fasts as a part of this process. It is important
to note that this does not indicate a decrease in importance of adherence
to the commandments, 64 but rather a decrease in the significance
of those physical rites associated with sacrifices.
The importance of Yom Kippur is not diminished by this process
since it is one of the commandments specified in the Torah, with
an emphasis on its being "a law for
all time, throughout the ages in all your settlements" (Lev. 23:31),
that is, everywhere, without reference to the Temple. 65 Moreover,
the sources cited above strengthen the hypothesis that Talmon presented
forty years ago, that Yom Kippur was charged with special
historical significance for the sect, due to the persecution of the
"a substitute and an exchange for the atonement of sacrifices." If this is
so, then we have a further example of fasting as a functional equivalent to sacrifices.
63 See Schwartz, "Qumran between Priestliness and Christianity," 179-81, and, in
contrast, Sussman, "History of Halakha and the Dead Sea Scrolls," 71-72 and n. 236.
64 As happened during the parallel process of rationalization in Christianity. On
this parallelism see for example Schwartz, "Qumran between Priestliness and
Christianity," 176-81.
65 In my opinion, the fact that Yom Kippur is the only fast mentioned in the
Pentateuch does not explain the absence of communal fasts in the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Various non-biblical festivals, such as the festivals of the first wines and oils, were
added to the sect's annual calendar, and the laws of the sect include sectarian rules
on issues that are not discussed in the Pentateuch. In addition, the majority of
prayers is not based on the Pentateuch; thus, the absence of fasts in the Pentateuch
does not explain their absence in the scrolls. As I have discussed here, the silence
surrounding the subject of fasts requires clarification.