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

COMMUNAL FASTS 145
to suggest other, better, ways of atonement and purification of the
body. In other words, the body is not purified thorough self-denial
of one's needs but rather by obeying and submitting to God's laws. 67
Despite this source, it seems to me that the cases of individual
fasting in the Qumran literature do not provide enough evidence to
form the basis of a comprehensive description of the phenomenon.
For now one must be content with the conclusion that, with the
exception of Yom Kippur, the communal fast did not exist in Qumran
and that its very absence reflects a significant process of rationalization
in the religious practices of the sect.
67 The phrase also appears in 4Q525 2-3 ii 6:
"and by humbling his soul he does not..." (my translation; for a different translation
and interpretation, see Puech, DJD 25.122, 225). The juxtaposition clearly
indicates that the subject is suffering and not fasting, and so this fragment is not
relevant to this discussion. This sentence indicates a freer use of the expression
. That being the case, the scrolls do not limit use of this expression to fasts but
also apply it to general suffering. Rabbinic literature also debates whether the meaning
of the expression may have been broadened (see m. Ned. 11:1-2).
Nevertheless, there is clearly no basis to rule out the definitive interpretation of the
sentence in 1QS 3:8.