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The '''Sadducees''' (from Hebrew: ''Tsdoki,'' צדוקי meaning "[[High Priest]]") were a religious and political movement within ancient [[Judaism]] that existed during the second Temple period (c. 350 B.C.E..E.-70 C.E.). The group was founded in the second century B.C.E., and ceased to exist sometime after the first century C.E., following the destruction of the [[Temple of Jerusalem]] by the [[Roman Empire]].
The [[sect]] of the '''Sadducees''' - possibly from Hebrew '''Tsdoki''' צדוקי [{{IPA|sˤə.ðo.'qi}}], whence '''Zadokites''' or other variants - was founded in the [[2nd century BCE]], possibly as a political party, and ceased to exist sometime after the [[1st century|1st century CE]].  
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Most of what is known about the Sadducees (also known as "Zadokites" and "Tzedukim") is derived from their critics, as none of their writings remain extant. Consequently, the historically reconstructed picture of the Sadducees may not be entirely accurate since it is based on biased sources. These sources indicate that the Sadducees rejected the existence of an [[afterlife]], thus denied the [[Pharisees|Pharisaic]] doctrine of the [[Resurrection]] of the Dead.
  
The [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] name, Tsdoki, indicates their claim that they are the followers of the teachings of the High Priest Tsadok, often spelled [[Zadok (High Priest)|Zadok]], who anointed [[Solomon]] king at the start of the [[Solomon's Temple|First Temple Period]]. However, Rabbinic tradition suggests that they were not named after the High Priest Zadok, but rather another Zadok (who may still have been a priest), who rebelled against the teachings of [[Antigonus of Soko]], a government official of Judea in the [[3rd century B.C.E.]] and a predecessor of the Rabbinic tradition.
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==Etymology==
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The [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] term "Sadducee" derives from "Tsdoki," suggesting that they were the followers of the teachings of the High Priest Tsadok (often spelled [[Zadok (High Priest)|Zadok]]). Thus, the Sadducees seem to have been a [[priest]]ly group, associated with the leadership of the [[Temple in Jerusalem]].
  
While little or none of their own writings have been preserved, the Sadducees seem to have indeed been a [[priest]]ly group, associated with the leadership of the [[Temple in Jerusalem]]. Possibly, Sadducees represent the aristocratic clan of the [[Hasmonean]] [[kohen|high priests]], who replaced the previous high priestly lineage that had allowed the Syrian Emperor [[Antiochus IV Epiphanes]] to desecrate the Temple of Jerusalem with idolatrous sacrifices and to martyr monotheistic Jews. The Jewish holiday of [[Hanukkah]] celebrates the ousting of the Syrian forces, the rededication of the Temple, and the installment of the new Hasmonean priestly line. The Hasmoneans ruled as "priest-kings", claiming both titles high priest and king simultaneously, and like other aristocracies across the Hellenistic world became increasingly influenced by Hellenistic [[syncretism]] and Greek philosophies: presumably [[Stoicism]], and apparently [[Epicureanism]] if the Talmudic tradition criticizing the anti-Torah philosophy of the "Apikorsus" אפיקורסוס (i.e., Epicurus) refers to the Hasmonean clan qua Sadducees. Like Epicureans, Sadducees rejected the existence of an [[afterlife]], thus denied the Pharisaic doctrine of the Resurrection of the Dead.
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==History==
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[[Image:Josephus.jpg|thumb|Josephus]]
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Most of what is known about the Sadducees comes from their critics, including [[Josephus]], who wrote that they were a quarrelsome group whose followers were wealthy and powerful, and that he considered them boorish in social interactions.<ref>Josephus, [http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files=2529&pageno=105 Wars of the Jews, Book II, Chapter VIII, Paragraph 14.] Retrieved January 31, 2008.</ref> Josephus relates nothing concerning the origin of the Sadducees; he knows only that the three "sects"&mdash;the Pharisees, [[Essenes]], and Sadducees&mdash;dated back to "very ancient times" (Ant. xviii. 1, § 2), which point to a time prior to [[John Hyrcanus]] (ib. xiii. 8, § 6) or the Maccabean war (ib. xiii. 5, § 9). Josephus also implies that there was a "political" Sanhedrin of Sadducee collaborators with Roman rule.
  
The [[Dead Sea Scrolls]] community, who are probably [[Essenes]], were led by a high priestly leadership, who are thought to be the descendents of the "legitimate" high priestly lineage, which the Hasmoneans ousted. The Dead Sea Scrolls bitterly opposed the current high priests of the Temple. Since Hasmoneans constituted a different priestly line, it was in their political interest to emphasize their family's priestly pedigree that descended from their ancestor, the high priest Zadok, who had the authority to anoint the kingship of Solomon, son of David.
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Other sources critical about the Sadducees come from discussions in the [[Talmud]], the core work of [[Rabbinic literature|rabbinic]] Judaism (based on [[Pharisee]] teachings), [[Kararite Judaism|Karaite]] refutations of Sadducean beliefs, and the [[Christian]] [[New Testament]]. However, none of these writings presents the Sadducees' side of these controversies, and it is possible that their positions described in later literature were meant as [[rhetoric]]al foils for whatever opinion the author wished to present, and thus, did not, in fact, represent the teachings of the sect. Yet, although these texts were written long after these periods, many scholars have argued that they are a fairly reliable account of history during the Second Temple era.
  
Most of what is known about the Sadducees comes from [[Josephus]], who wrote that they were a quarrelsome group whose followers were wealthy and powerful, and that he considered them [[boorish]] in social interactions (see Josephus's [http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files=2529&pageno=105 Wars of the Jews, Book II, Chapter VIII, Paragraph 14]). We know something of them from discussions in the [[Talmud]] (mainly the Jerusalem), the core work of [[Rabbinic literature|rabbinic]] Judaism, which is based on the teachings of [[Pharisee|Pharisaic]] Judaism.  
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While little or none of their own writings have been preserved, the Sadducees seem to have been a [[priest]]ly group, associated with the leadership of the [[Temple in Jerusalem]]. They may represent the aristocratic clan of the [[Hasmonean]] [[kohen|high priests]], who replaced the previous high priestly lineage that had allowed the Syrian Emperor [[Antiochus IV Epiphanes]] to desecrate the Temple of Jerusalem with idolatrous sacrifices and to martyr monotheistic Jews. The Jewish holiday of [[Hanukkah]] celebrates the ousting of the Syrian forces, the re-dedication of the Temple, and the installment of the new Hasmonean priestly line. The Hasmoneans ruled as "priest-kings," claiming both titles, high priest and king, simultaneously. The [[Dead Sea Scrolls]] community, who are probably [[Essenes]], were led by a high priestly leadership, who are thought to be the descendants of the "legitimate" high priestly lineage, which the Hasmoneans ousted. The Dead Sea Scrolls bitterly opposed the current high priests of the Temple. Since Hasmoneans constituted a different priestly line, it was in their political interest to emphasize their family's priestly pedigree that descended from their ancestor, the high priest Zadok, who had the authority to anoint the kingship of [[Solomon]], son of [[David]].
  
 
== Beliefs ==
 
== Beliefs ==
Sadducees rejected certain beliefs of the Pharisaic interpretation of the [[Torah]]. They rejected the Pharisaic tenet of an oral Torah, and interpreted the verses literally.  In their personal lives this often meant a more stringent lifestyle, as they did away with the ability to interpret.
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According to the above mentioned sources, Sadducees rejected certain beliefs of the Pharisaic Judaism, including the Pharisaic tenet of an [[Oral Torah]]. The Sadducees interpreted the verses of the Torah literally, which often meant that they had a more stringent lifestyle. For example, in regard to criminal jurisdiction they were so rigorous that the day on which their code was abolished by the Pharisaic Sanhedrin under [[Simeon ben Shetah]]'s leadership, during the reign of Salome Alexandra, was celebrated as a festival. The Sadducees are said to have insisted on the literal execution of the law of retaliation: "Eye for eye, tooth for tooth," which pharisaic Judaism, and later rabbinic Judaism, rejected. On the other hand, they would not inflict the [[death penalty]] on false witnesses in a case where capital punishment had been wrongfully carried out, unless the accused had been executed solely in consequence of the testimony of such witnesses.
 
 
R' Yitchak [[Isaac Halevi]] suggests that while there is evidence of a Sadducee sect from the times of Ezra, It emerged as major force only after the [[Hashmenite rebellion]]. The reason for this was not, in fact, a matter of religion. He claims that as complete rejection of Judaism would not have been tolerated under the Hasmonean rule, the Hellenists joined the Sadducees maintaining that they were rejecting not Judaism but Rabbinic law. Thus, the Sadducees were for the most part a political party not a religious sect (''Dorot Ha'Rishonim'').
 
 
However there is evidence<ref>Cf., for one example of a sect that could have represented a Sadducee schism and did believe in Angels, the Afterlife, etc.:  Lawrence H. Schiffman, 'The Sadducean Origins of the Dead Sea Scroll Sect', in <i>Understanding the Dead Sea Scrolls</i>, ed. H. Shanks, New York: Random House, 1993, pp. 35-49.  It is widely known that the authors of the Dead Sea Scrolls never recognizably refer to themselves as "[[Essenes]]"—possibly due to the fact that they wrote mainly in Hebrew and Aramaic, whereas we have the term "Essenes" from Greek—but they do refer to themselves in various places as the "Zadokites"/"Sons of Zadok", which term is apparently identical to that by which the Sadducees identified themselves.  Among other arguments for a Sadducean Essene origin, Schiffman also cites interpretations of the purity regulations which closely parallel Sadducean views recorded by the spiritual heirs of the [[Pharisees]], who authored the Talmud.</ref> that there was an internal schism among those called "Sadducees" - some who rejected Angels, the Soul, and Resurrection - and some which accepted these teachings and the entirety of the Hebrew Bible.
 
 
 
In regard to criminal jurisdiction they were so rigorous that the day on which their code was abolished by the Pharisaic Sanhedrin under [[Simeon ben Shetah]]'s leadership, during the reign of Salome Alexandra, was celebrated as a festival. The Sadducees are said to have insisted on the literal execution of the law of retaliation: "Eye for eye, tooth for tooth", which pharisaic Judaism, and later rabbinic Judaism, rejected. On the other hand, they would not inflict the [[death penalty]] on false witnesses in a case where capital punishment had been wrongfully carried out, unless the accused had been executed solely in consequence of the testimony of such witnesses.
 
  
 
According to the Talmud, they granted the daughter the same right of inheritance as the son in case the son was dead.(see chapter Yeish Nochalin of the Babylonain Talmud, tractate Bava Batra)
 
According to the Talmud, they granted the daughter the same right of inheritance as the son in case the son was dead.(see chapter Yeish Nochalin of the Babylonain Talmud, tractate Bava Batra)
See however Emet L' Yaakov over there who explains that the focus of their argument was theological. The question was whether there is an "Afterlife" (see above) and thus the dead person can act as a chain on the line of inheritance as if he was alive.
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See however Emet L' Yaakov who explains that the focus of their argument was theological. The question was whether there is an "Afterlife" (see above) and thus the dead person can act as a chain on the line of inheritance as if he was alive.
  
According to the Talmud, they contended that the seven weeks from the first barley-sheaf-offering ("omer") to [[Shavuot]] ([[Pentecost]] in Christian reference) should, according to [[Leviticus]] 23:15-16, be counted from "the day after Sabbath," and, consequently, that Shavuot should always be celebrated on the first day of the week (Meg. Ta'an. i.; Men. 65a). In this they followed a literal reading of the Bible which regards the festival of the firstlings as having no direct connection with Passover, while the Pharisees, connecting the festival of the Exodus with the festival of the giving of the Law, interpreted the "morrow after the Sabbath" to signify the second day of Passover.
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According to the Talmud, they contended that the seven weeks from the first barley-sheaf-offering ("omer") to [[Shavuot]] ([[Pentecost]] in Christian reference) should, according to [[Leviticus]] 23:15-16, be counted from "the day after Sabbath," and, consequently, that Shavuot should always be celebrated on the first day of the week (Meg. Ta'an. i.; Men. 65a). In this they followed a literal reading of the Bible, which regards the festival of the firstlings as having no direct connection with Passover, while the Pharisees, connecting the festival of the Exodus with the festival of the giving of the Law, interpreted the "morrow after the Sabbath" to signify the second day of Passover.
  
 
In regard to rituals at the Temple in Jerusalem:
 
In regard to rituals at the Temple in Jerusalem:
Line 39: Line 37:
 
* They opposed the Pharisaic assertion that the scrolls of the Holy Scriptures have, like any holy vessel, the power to render ritually unclean the hands that touch them.
 
* They opposed the Pharisaic assertion that the scrolls of the Holy Scriptures have, like any holy vessel, the power to render ritually unclean the hands that touch them.
  
* They opposed the Pharisaic idea of the ''eruv'', the merging of several private precincts into one in order to admit of the carrying of food and vessels from one house to another on the Sabbath.
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* They opposed the Pharisaic idea of the ''eruv,'' the merging of several private precincts into one in order to admit of the carrying of food and vessels from one house to another on the Sabbath.
  
* In dating all civil documents they used the phrase "after the high priest of the Most High," and they opposed the formula introduced by the Pharisees in divorce documents, "According to the law of Moses and Israel".
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* In dating all civil documents they used the phrase "after the high priest of the Most High," and they opposed the formula introduced by the Pharisees in divorce documents, "According to the law of Moses and Israel."
  
* [[Ben Sira]], one of the [[Deuterocanonical books]], is believed by many scholars to have been by a Sadducee {{Fact|date=February 2007}}. (Note, the Talmud says clearly he was rejected by the Sadducees.)
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However there is evidence<ref>Lawrence H. Schiffman, "The Sadducean Origins of the Dead Sea Scroll Sect," in ''Understanding the Dead Sea Scrolls,'' ed. H. Shanks (New York: Random House, 1993), p. 35-49.</ref> that there was an internal schism among those called "Sadducees"—some of whom rejected [[Angel]]s, the [[soul]], and Resurrection—and some which accepted these teachings.
  
== Reliability of claims ==
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== Conflicting origins theories==
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Among the rabbis of the second century the following legend circulated: Antigonus of Soko, successor of [[Simeon the Just]], the last of the Men of the Great Assembly, and consequently living at the time of the influx of Hellenistic ideas (i.e., [[Hellenization]]), taught the maxim, "Be not like servants who serve their master for the sake of a reward, but be rather like those who serve without thought of receiving a reward" (Avot 1:3); whereupon two of his disciples, Zadok and [[Boethusians|Boethus]], mistaking the high ethical purport of the maxim, arrived at the conclusion that there was no future retribution, saying, "What servant would work all day without obtaining his due reward in the evening?" Instantly they broke away from the Law and lived in great luxury, using many silver and gold vessels at their banquets; and they established schools that declared the enjoyment of this life to be the goal of man, at the same time pitying the Pharisees for their bitter privation in this world with no hope of another world to compensate them. These two schools were called, after their founders, Sadducees and Boethusians.
  
None of the writings we have about Sadducees present their own side of these controversies, and it is possible that positions attributed to "Sadducees" in later literature are meant as [[rhetoric]]al foils for whatever opinion the author wishes to present, and do not in fact represent the teachings of the sect. Yet, although these texts were written long after these periods, many scholars have said that they are a fairly reliable account of history during the Second Temple era.
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[[Isaac Halevi]] suggests that while there is evidence of a Sadducee sect from the times of [[Ezra]], it emerged as major force only after the [[Hashmenite rebellion]]. The reason for this was not, he claims, a matter of religion. He suggests that the Hellenists joined the Sadducees maintaining that they were rejecting not Judaism, but Rabbinic law. Thus, the Sadducees were, for the most part, a political party not a religious sect.
  
== Legendary origin ==
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==New Testament views==
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The Sadducees are mentioned in the [[Christian]] [[New Testament]] in several places.  The [[Gospel of Matthew]], for example, indicates that the Sadducees did not believe in the [[resurrection]] of the dead. [[Acts of the Apostles]] asserts that the Sadducees claim there is no resurrection, nor angels, nor spirits, while the Pharisees acknowledge all three (Acts 23:8). Thus the New Testament contrasts the Sadducees' views with those of the Pharisees.
  
Josephus relates nothing concerning the origin of the Sadducees; he knows only that the three "sects" &mdash; the Pharisees, [[Essenes]], and Sadducees &mdash; dated back to "very ancient times" (Ant. xviii. 1, § 2), which point to a time prior to [[John Hyrcanus]] (ib. xiii. 8, § 6) or the Maccabean war (ib. xiii. 5, § 9).
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In the climate of Jewish-Christian polemics that characterized in first and second centuries CE, Christian leaders presented [[Christianity]] as the legitimate heir to the [[Tanakh|Hebrew Scriptures]], and thus made efforts to devalue Rabbinic Judaism. Thus, the books of the New Testament portray the Sanhedrin as a corrupt group of [[Pharisees]], although it was, in reality, primarily made up of Sadducees at the time. Since the Sadducees were no longer an active threat to naiscent Christianity, the Gospels also consistently make a distinction between the Pharisees  ("the teachers of the law") and "the elders" ("the rulers of the people").
  
Among the rabbis of the second century the following legend circulated: [[Antigonus of Soko]], successor of [[Simeon the Just]], the last of the [[Men of the Great Assembly]], and consequently living at the time of the influx of Hellenistic ideas (i.e., [[Hellenization]]), taught the maxim, "Be not like servants who serve their master for the sake of a reward, but be rather like those who serve without thought of receiving a reward" (Avot 1:3); whereupon two of his disciples, Zadok and [[Boethusians|Boethus]], mistaking the high ethical purport of the maxim, arrived at the conclusion that there was no future retribution, saying, "What servant would work all day without obtaining his due reward in the evening?" Instantly they broke away from the Law and lived in great luxury, using many silver and gold vessels at their banquets; and they established schools which declared the enjoyment of this life to be the goal of man, at the same time pitying the Pharisees for their bitter privation in this world with no hope of another world to compensate them. These two schools were called, after their founders, Sadducees and [[Boethusians]].
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==Sanhedrin==
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The Great [[Sanhedrin]] (Hebrew: '''סנהדרין'''; Greek: συνέδριον, meaning Grand "council") was an assembly of Jewish judges who constituted the supreme court and legislative body of ancient [[Israel]]. The make-up of the Great Sanhedrin included a chief justice (Nasi), a vice chief justice (Av Beit Din), and sixty-nine general members who all sat in the form of a semi-circle when in session. Among these members were both Sadducees and [[Pharisees]].
  
==New Testament/Greek Scriptures==
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==The end of the Sadducees==
The Sadducees are mentioned in the [[New Testament]]/[[Greek Scriptures]] of the [[Christian Bible]]. The [[Gospel of Matthew]] indicates that the Sadducees did not believe in the [[resurrection]] of the dead. {{bibleref|Matthew|22:29}}, 31-32 says:
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Since the Sadducees were associated closely with the Temple in Jerusalem, they vanished from history as a group after the Temple was destroyed in 70 C.E.. There is, however, some evidence that the Sadducees actually survived as a minority group within Judaism up until early medieval times, and they may have been responsible for hiding the [[Dead Sea Scrolls]].
  
:<sup>29</sup> In reply [[Jesus]] said to them: “You are mistaken, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of [[God]] ... [30] ... <sup>31</sup> As regards the resurrection of the dead, did you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, <sup>32</sup> ‘I am the God of [[Abraham]] and the God of [[Isaac]] and the God of [[Jacob]]’? He is the God, not of the dead, but of the living.”
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==Notes==
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<references/>
  
The Acts of the Apostles likewise indicates that Sadducees did not share the Pharisees’ belief in a resurrection; Paul starts a conflict during his trial, by claiming that his accusers were motivated by his advocacy of the doctrine of the resurrection (in an aside, Acts 23:8 asserts that “The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, or angel, or spirit; but the Pharisees acknowledge all three”).
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==References==
 
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*Saldarini, Anthony J. & James C. VanderKam. ''Pharisees, Scribes and Sadducees in Palestinian Society.'' Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2001. ISBN 978-0802843586
==The End of the Sadducees==
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*Schiffman, Lawrence H. "The Sadducean Origins of the Dead Sea Scroll Sect," in ''Understanding the Dead Sea Scrolls,'' Hershel Shanks, editor. New York: Random House, 1993. ISBN 978-0679744450
Being associated closely with the Temple in Jerusalem, after the Temple was destroyed in [[70]] CE the Sadducees vanish from history as a group.  There is, however, some evidence that Sadducees survived as a minority group within Judaism up until early medieval times. In refutations of Sadducean beliefs, [[Karaite]] Sages such as [[Ya'akov al-Qirqisani]] quoted one of their texts, which was called ''Sefer Zadok''. Translations into English of some of these quotes can be found in Zvi Cahn's ''"Rise of the Karaite sect"''.
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*Stemberger, Gunter. ''Jewish Contemporaries of Jesus: Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes.'' Augsburg Fortress Publishers, 1995. ISBN 978-0800626242
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*Wellhausen, Julius. ''The Pharisees and the Sadducees: An Examination of Internal Jewish History.'' Mercer University Press, 2001. ISBN 978-0865547292
  
 
==External links==  
 
==External links==  
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All links retrieved December 22, 2022.
 
*[http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=40&letter=S&search=Sadducees Jewish Encyclopedia: Sadducees]  
 
*[http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=40&letter=S&search=Sadducees Jewish Encyclopedia: Sadducees]  
 
*[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13323a.htm Catholic Encyclopedia: Sadducees]  
 
*[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13323a.htm Catholic Encyclopedia: Sadducees]  
*[http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Sadducees Encyclopedia Britannica: Sadducees]
 
[[Category:Ancient Jewish Greek history]]
 
[[Category:Ancient Jewish Roman history]]
 
[[Category:Jewish denominations]]
 
[[Category:Jews and Judaism-related controversies]]
 
 
==Notes==
 
 
<references/>
 
 
==References==
 
*Saldarini, Anthony J., J. & VanderKam, James C., C. "Pharisees, Scribes and Sadducees in Palestinian Society" Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2001. ISBN 978-0802843586
 
*Stemberger, Gunter. "Jewish Contemporaries of Jesus: Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes" Augsburg Fortress Publishers, 1995. ISBN 978-0800626242
 
*Wellhausen, Julius. "The Pharisees and the Sadducees: An Examination of Internal Jewish History" Mercer University Press, 2001. ISBN 978-0865547292 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
[[Category: Philosophy and religion]]
 
[[Category: Philosophy and religion]]
 
[[Category: Religion]]
 
[[Category: Religion]]
  
{{Credit|157775572}}
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{{Credits|Sadducees|157775572|Sanhedrin|121191426|Sefer_Zadok|129407090}}

Latest revision as of 18:35, 22 December 2022

The Sadducees (from Hebrew: Tsdoki, צדוקי meaning "High Priest") were a religious and political movement within ancient Judaism that existed during the second Temple period (c. 350 B.C.E.-70 C.E.). The group was founded in the second century B.C.E., and ceased to exist sometime after the first century C.E., following the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem by the Roman Empire.

Most of what is known about the Sadducees (also known as "Zadokites" and "Tzedukim") is derived from their critics, as none of their writings remain extant. Consequently, the historically reconstructed picture of the Sadducees may not be entirely accurate since it is based on biased sources. These sources indicate that the Sadducees rejected the existence of an afterlife, thus denied the Pharisaic doctrine of the Resurrection of the Dead.

Etymology

The Hebrew term "Sadducee" derives from "Tsdoki," suggesting that they were the followers of the teachings of the High Priest Tsadok (often spelled Zadok). Thus, the Sadducees seem to have been a priestly group, associated with the leadership of the Temple in Jerusalem.

History

Josephus

Most of what is known about the Sadducees comes from their critics, including Josephus, who wrote that they were a quarrelsome group whose followers were wealthy and powerful, and that he considered them boorish in social interactions.[1] Josephus relates nothing concerning the origin of the Sadducees; he knows only that the three "sects"—the Pharisees, Essenes, and Sadducees—dated back to "very ancient times" (Ant. xviii. 1, § 2), which point to a time prior to John Hyrcanus (ib. xiii. 8, § 6) or the Maccabean war (ib. xiii. 5, § 9). Josephus also implies that there was a "political" Sanhedrin of Sadducee collaborators with Roman rule.

Other sources critical about the Sadducees come from discussions in the Talmud, the core work of rabbinic Judaism (based on Pharisee teachings), Karaite refutations of Sadducean beliefs, and the Christian New Testament. However, none of these writings presents the Sadducees' side of these controversies, and it is possible that their positions described in later literature were meant as rhetorical foils for whatever opinion the author wished to present, and thus, did not, in fact, represent the teachings of the sect. Yet, although these texts were written long after these periods, many scholars have argued that they are a fairly reliable account of history during the Second Temple era.

While little or none of their own writings have been preserved, the Sadducees seem to have been a priestly group, associated with the leadership of the Temple in Jerusalem. They may represent the aristocratic clan of the Hasmonean high priests, who replaced the previous high priestly lineage that had allowed the Syrian Emperor Antiochus IV Epiphanes to desecrate the Temple of Jerusalem with idolatrous sacrifices and to martyr monotheistic Jews. The Jewish holiday of Hanukkah celebrates the ousting of the Syrian forces, the re-dedication of the Temple, and the installment of the new Hasmonean priestly line. The Hasmoneans ruled as "priest-kings," claiming both titles, high priest and king, simultaneously. The Dead Sea Scrolls community, who are probably Essenes, were led by a high priestly leadership, who are thought to be the descendants of the "legitimate" high priestly lineage, which the Hasmoneans ousted. The Dead Sea Scrolls bitterly opposed the current high priests of the Temple. Since Hasmoneans constituted a different priestly line, it was in their political interest to emphasize their family's priestly pedigree that descended from their ancestor, the high priest Zadok, who had the authority to anoint the kingship of Solomon, son of David.

Beliefs

According to the above mentioned sources, Sadducees rejected certain beliefs of the Pharisaic Judaism, including the Pharisaic tenet of an Oral Torah. The Sadducees interpreted the verses of the Torah literally, which often meant that they had a more stringent lifestyle. For example, in regard to criminal jurisdiction they were so rigorous that the day on which their code was abolished by the Pharisaic Sanhedrin under Simeon ben Shetah's leadership, during the reign of Salome Alexandra, was celebrated as a festival. The Sadducees are said to have insisted on the literal execution of the law of retaliation: "Eye for eye, tooth for tooth," which pharisaic Judaism, and later rabbinic Judaism, rejected. On the other hand, they would not inflict the death penalty on false witnesses in a case where capital punishment had been wrongfully carried out, unless the accused had been executed solely in consequence of the testimony of such witnesses.

According to the Talmud, they granted the daughter the same right of inheritance as the son in case the son was dead.(see chapter Yeish Nochalin of the Babylonain Talmud, tractate Bava Batra) See however Emet L' Yaakov who explains that the focus of their argument was theological. The question was whether there is an "Afterlife" (see above) and thus the dead person can act as a chain on the line of inheritance as if he was alive.

According to the Talmud, they contended that the seven weeks from the first barley-sheaf-offering ("omer") to Shavuot (Pentecost in Christian reference) should, according to Leviticus 23:15-16, be counted from "the day after Sabbath," and, consequently, that Shavuot should always be celebrated on the first day of the week (Meg. Ta'an. i.; Men. 65a). In this they followed a literal reading of the Bible, which regards the festival of the firstlings as having no direct connection with Passover, while the Pharisees, connecting the festival of the Exodus with the festival of the giving of the Law, interpreted the "morrow after the Sabbath" to signify the second day of Passover.

In regard to rituals at the Temple in Jerusalem:

  • They held that the daily burnt offerings were to be offered by the high priest at his own expense, whereas the Pharisees contended that they were to be furnished as a national sacrifice at the cost of the Temple treasury into which taxes were paid.
  • They held that the meal offering belonged to the priest's portion; whereas the Pharisees claimed it for the altar.
  • They insisted on an especially high degree of purity in those who officiated at the preparation of the ashes of the Red Heifer. The Pharisees, by contrast, opposed such strictness.
  • They declared that the kindling of the incense in the vessel with which the high priest entered the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) was to take place outside, so that he might be wrapped in smoke while meeting the Shekhinah within, according to Lev. xvi. 2; whereas the Pharisees, denying the high priest the claim of such supernatural vision, insisted that the incense be kindled within.
  • They opposed the popular festivity of the water libation and the procession preceding it on each night of the Sukkot feast.
  • They opposed the Pharisaic assertion that the scrolls of the Holy Scriptures have, like any holy vessel, the power to render ritually unclean the hands that touch them.
  • They opposed the Pharisaic idea of the eruv, the merging of several private precincts into one in order to admit of the carrying of food and vessels from one house to another on the Sabbath.
  • In dating all civil documents they used the phrase "after the high priest of the Most High," and they opposed the formula introduced by the Pharisees in divorce documents, "According to the law of Moses and Israel."

However there is evidence[2] that there was an internal schism among those called "Sadducees"—some of whom rejected Angels, the soul, and Resurrection—and some which accepted these teachings.

Conflicting origins theories

Among the rabbis of the second century the following legend circulated: Antigonus of Soko, successor of Simeon the Just, the last of the Men of the Great Assembly, and consequently living at the time of the influx of Hellenistic ideas (i.e., Hellenization), taught the maxim, "Be not like servants who serve their master for the sake of a reward, but be rather like those who serve without thought of receiving a reward" (Avot 1:3); whereupon two of his disciples, Zadok and Boethus, mistaking the high ethical purport of the maxim, arrived at the conclusion that there was no future retribution, saying, "What servant would work all day without obtaining his due reward in the evening?" Instantly they broke away from the Law and lived in great luxury, using many silver and gold vessels at their banquets; and they established schools that declared the enjoyment of this life to be the goal of man, at the same time pitying the Pharisees for their bitter privation in this world with no hope of another world to compensate them. These two schools were called, after their founders, Sadducees and Boethusians.

Isaac Halevi suggests that while there is evidence of a Sadducee sect from the times of Ezra, it emerged as major force only after the Hashmenite rebellion. The reason for this was not, he claims, a matter of religion. He suggests that the Hellenists joined the Sadducees maintaining that they were rejecting not Judaism, but Rabbinic law. Thus, the Sadducees were, for the most part, a political party not a religious sect.

New Testament views

The Sadducees are mentioned in the Christian New Testament in several places. The Gospel of Matthew, for example, indicates that the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. Acts of the Apostles asserts that the Sadducees claim there is no resurrection, nor angels, nor spirits, while the Pharisees acknowledge all three (Acts 23:8). Thus the New Testament contrasts the Sadducees' views with those of the Pharisees.

In the climate of Jewish-Christian polemics that characterized in first and second centuries CE, Christian leaders presented Christianity as the legitimate heir to the Hebrew Scriptures, and thus made efforts to devalue Rabbinic Judaism. Thus, the books of the New Testament portray the Sanhedrin as a corrupt group of Pharisees, although it was, in reality, primarily made up of Sadducees at the time. Since the Sadducees were no longer an active threat to naiscent Christianity, the Gospels also consistently make a distinction between the Pharisees ("the teachers of the law") and "the elders" ("the rulers of the people").

Sanhedrin

The Great Sanhedrin (Hebrew: סנהדרין; Greek: συνέδριον, meaning Grand "council") was an assembly of Jewish judges who constituted the supreme court and legislative body of ancient Israel. The make-up of the Great Sanhedrin included a chief justice (Nasi), a vice chief justice (Av Beit Din), and sixty-nine general members who all sat in the form of a semi-circle when in session. Among these members were both Sadducees and Pharisees.

The end of the Sadducees

Since the Sadducees were associated closely with the Temple in Jerusalem, they vanished from history as a group after the Temple was destroyed in 70 C.E. There is, however, some evidence that the Sadducees actually survived as a minority group within Judaism up until early medieval times, and they may have been responsible for hiding the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Notes

  1. Josephus, Wars of the Jews, Book II, Chapter VIII, Paragraph 14. Retrieved January 31, 2008.
  2. Lawrence H. Schiffman, "The Sadducean Origins of the Dead Sea Scroll Sect," in Understanding the Dead Sea Scrolls, ed. H. Shanks (New York: Random House, 1993), p. 35-49.

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • Saldarini, Anthony J. & James C. VanderKam. Pharisees, Scribes and Sadducees in Palestinian Society. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2001. ISBN 978-0802843586
  • Schiffman, Lawrence H. "The Sadducean Origins of the Dead Sea Scroll Sect," in Understanding the Dead Sea Scrolls, Hershel Shanks, editor. New York: Random House, 1993. ISBN 978-0679744450
  • Stemberger, Gunter. Jewish Contemporaries of Jesus: Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes. Augsburg Fortress Publishers, 1995. ISBN 978-0800626242
  • Wellhausen, Julius. The Pharisees and the Sadducees: An Examination of Internal Jewish History. Mercer University Press, 2001. ISBN 978-0865547292

External links

All links retrieved December 22, 2022.

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