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

144 NOAH HACHAM
Teacher of Righteousness by the Wicked Priest; consequently, this
fast day was devoutly observed by the sect.
Thus, while our point of departure was that an ascetic sect would
surely have included communal fasting among its practices, we now
come rather to the conclusion that, even if the sect was generally
ascetic, the sectarians viewed such fasts not as a type of asceticism,
abstinence or self-affliction but, rather, as an expression of repentance
and supplication. Since fasting bears some similarity to sacrifices,
the diminishment of the role of sacrifices by the sect entailed the
marginalization of fasts, too.
If this analysis is correct, one may conjecture that this attitude
had an impact not only on communal fasts but also on fasting in
general, i.e., individual fasting was no longer regarded as a means
of atonement because other more appropriate and more spiritual
means, less closely associated with the physical realm, were regarded
as efficacious for atonement. Such an interpretation seems correct
for 1QS 3:8: "It is by humbling
his soul to all God's statutes, that his flesh can be cleansed"
(Charlesworth's translation). This sentence does not address fasts but
rather entreats submission to the laws of God, according to the sect's
interpretation. 66 As Licht points out, "the language hints at Lev. 16,
29-31," verses concerning Yom Kippur. Indeed, both texts contain
the combination + and the root and both speak of
atonement for sins. Yet, despite these linguistic similarities, the case,
as Licht points out, is different. The use of similar language for disparate
cases indicates an alternative interpretation of the expression
in 1QS. no longer means a fast to atone for sins
but rather submission to God's laws and commitment to follow them.
It is important to note that the expression appears only
once in the Bible, in a verse that criticizes fasting: . . .
"Is such the fast I desire, a day for men
to starve their bodies?" (Isa. 58:5). 1QS thus uses the same language
as Isaiah, and the content of this prophecy is accepted to have a
most extreme literal meaning: it is not a fast per se that God desires
but rather submission to the laws of God. This sentence thus expresses
a reluctance to view fasting as a means of atonement and attempts
66 See the interpretation of this verse in J. Licht, The Rule Scroll: A Scroll from the
Wilderness of Judaea, 1QS, IQSa IQSb (Jerusalem: Bialik Institute, 1965), 75-79
(Hebrew), and its translation cited above.