DSS.950328 Class Minutes #19, Dead Sea Scrolls, 28 March 1995
University of Pennsylvania, Religious Studies 225, Robert Kraft
Recorder: Matt Gerber, checked by David N. Slarskey


1. Pre-Class

Class began with an article from that day's NY Times "Science Times" 
being passed around. The article dealt with the use of DNA testing at 
Birmingham Young University to help reconstruct Dead Sea Scrolls 
fragments. It is able to do this by determining whether the different 
fragments are from the same animal hide.
 
Following this there was a brief discussion of the DSS CD-ROMs (yes,
they're still in MMETS, but the Library copy can be borrowed). 


2. Cleanup Questions

Q: When are paper topics due?
A: E-mail Dr. Kraft as soon as you have an idea what you want to do.
 
Q: When are finished papers due?
A: The last day of class, ideally.

Q: How is the instructor coming along with the reviews?
A: They're still "in process"; But fear not, all will be released for 
public consumption at some point! 


3. The Damascus Document (abbreviated as "DD")

As we have already seen with the "Manual," there is good evidence that 
there was a great deal of revising done to some of the more popular 
scrolls (those for which we have many copies). Since this indicates 
that at least some of the scrolls evolved into their currently 
preserved forms, we must always be aware of the difficulty of knowing 
what the original (or even the earliest recoverable) version said and 
why subsequent copies may have been modified? In most instances we 
don't yet have enough information to be able to answer this question, 
and probably never will have enough. What we can be fairly sure of is 
that what we have now is not necessarily what was originally written. 

So far, the Damascus Document has only been found in two places -- 
the DSS and the Cairo geniza. It would not be surprising, however, if 
it were to be found to be quoted or referred to in Syriac or Arabic or 
other ancient or "medieval" sources. This is because there is so much 
material out there that just hasn't been looked at yet from the 
perspective of DSS scholarship, partly because there aren't enough 
trained scholars or financial support for such undertakings. 

The Cairo geniza fragments of DD overlap with each other (Cairo A, 
column 8 parallels Cairo B, "column 19") and show some variations in 
the material that they have in common. When the ten DSS fragmentary 
manuscripts and their overlaps with themselves are compared with the 
much more recent Cairo materials (10th and 12th centuries ce), the 
following general reconstruction of "the larger DD tradition" emerges: 

-Hitherto unknown material preceding the start of Cairo fragment A;
-Cairo A columns 1-8, with overlap at the end from Cairo B;
-Cairo B ("columns 19-20");
-Some hitherto unknown material from the DSS fragments;
-Cairo A columns 15-16 (somehow out of order in the fragment?);
-Cairo A columns 9-14 (again, misordered in the fragment?);
-Hiterto unknown material after the end of the Cairo fragments. 

One key to understanding both the Damascus Document and the Manual of 
Discipline is addressing the question "How did these people/authors 
see the world they were living in, their role in it, the forces acting 
on them, and their history (which included both their interpretation 
of their past and whether or not they saw a future)?". In other 
words, we need to recreate the self-identity of the two documents to 
determine the context(s) in which they were written, and the authors' 
friends, foes, and goals. 

One such area of self-identification involves the relationship to the 
Jerusalem Temple, its leadership, rituals, and significance. DD has 
many more explicit references to these matters than does the Manual of 
Discipline, which makes only passing and general allusions to the 
Temple. Some have argued that the DD advocates stripping religion 
down to its basics & getting rid of the ruling Temple regieme. Others 
counter, however, that the author(s) of DD aim to substitute a 
different order of their own, as a purified Temple. 

How is this alternate leadership construed? In DD 14.3ff the insiders are 
described as priests, levites, children of Israel ("the Many"?), and 
"the proselyte." A learned priest heads the community (and/or each 
"camp"), and an "Inspector" (mevaqqer) is very important as well (see 
also DD 13.2ff for similar structures). The community has its "judges" 
(DD 10.4ff), also associated with priests and levites, and its halakic 
rites and rituals. 

By definition in the ancient world, a priest was someone who was a 
functionary in a temple. This raises the question: "What were the 
roles of the priests for these Temple-less communities?" Keep this 
question in mind as you read more of the preserved materials.
 
At the end of class, we took a quick look at DD 3.12 - 4.4. Here, 
the author(s) of the DD maintain that God has revealed secrets to 
those who hold the truth (thus suggesting an "apocalyptic" 
perspective). This section also introduces an example of self-
referencing interpretation of scripture (in this instance, also using 
Temple language drawn from Ezek 44.15) which is so basic to much of 
the DD and takes on its own literary form in the DSS "pesharim" 
(commentaries) fragments. 

 
4. Assignment

For next class, be prepared to discuss the DD attitudes to the Temple 
and its functions and read the War Scroll and the Temple Scroll. 

//end dss.950328//