================================================================== @@@@@ @@@@@ @@@@@ @ @ @ @ Selya on @ @ @@@@@ @@@@@ Fall Schiffman '75 @ @ @ @ 1996 @ @ @ @ @@@@@@ @@@@@@ @@@@@@ ================================================================== R E V I E W S ================================================================== Dead Sea Scroll Book Reviews, for Religious Studies 225 University of Pennsylvania, Robert Kraft, Fall Term 1996 Copyright by the respective authors; reproduction with appropriate credits is permitted. [[NOTE: The assignment was to summarize the reviewed book and to compare it especially with the textbooks used in the course, by James VanderKam The Dead Sea Scrolls Today (Eerdmans/SPCK 1994) and Joseph Fitzmyer Responses to 101 Questions on the Dead Sea Scrolls (Paulist Press 1992). As with this note, any comments by the course instructor are enclosed in double brackets below.]] ----- Lawrence H. Schiffman, The Halakha at Qumran. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1975. Pps. vii+170. Reviewed by Micah Y. Selya (Nov 1996) In his PhD dissertation, Lawrence Schiffman confronts the scholarly world with his novel attempts to identify the Qumran sect. Schiffman claims thatprevious scholars had begun their research with preconceived notions about the sect; they would then examine selected laws in light of these suppositions and conclude that their views had been "proven." The fallacy in the methodology is obvious. Schiffman sees himself as a revolutionary in his attempt to identify the sect by first understanding their exegetical system and halakhic terminology. He follows this with a case study of related laws analyzed in light of the sects exegetical system and compared to the laws of other 2nd Temple sectarian groups. In the first section, Schiffman takes key words from the Cairo Damascus Document and the Rule of Discipline that imply exegesis. Terms such as perush, pesher, mishpat, serekh and drash are just a few of those that he analyzes and classifies. The concepts of "Nistar" (hidden) and "Nigleh" (exposed) as they appear in the documents are interpreted critically and compared to their use in the Torah and other texts. Schiffman also looks at who the lawmakers were and examines their relationship to the Moshav Harabim (general community). Tying together these terminologies and his findings regarding the community's legislators, he is able to conclude that the sect's two most important tools in exegesis were perush and midrash. He further posits that not only was written transmission of law the norm at Qumran, but without a doubt the sect did not have an oral tradition as found in later Rabbinic tradition. In the second section, twenty-two laws found in the CDC which pertain to Sabbath observance are analyzed. Schiffman reviews each law in light of the methodology used to derive it. He then looks at other sects' parallel laws and compares the methodologies of the different sects. It is fascinating to see parallel developments of a law in the CDC, the Talmud, Karaite law, and in Falasha (Ethiopian Jewry) law, all of which base their rulings on the same text. Even more significant is that while in some instances the methodology of the Qumran sect is closest to that of the Talmud, the conclusive law is closer to that of the Falashas or Karaites. Schiffman concludes that strangely, the sect's halakha have both proto-Tannaitic elements as well as techniques and conclusions most similar to the Karaites. This book was written to be used by scholars and is no way meant for the layman. It is often very technical and assumes a great deal of knowledge of the reader. Schiffman's analysis of the Sabbath laws would not be possible without his tremendous background in Rabbinic literature and makes the section a pleasure to read for the students of Talmud. However, in forming his conclusions at the end of the first section, he does not make clear why the sect could not have had an oral tradition, nor is he willing to entertain alternate possibilities. It must also be recognized that the book was published in 1975. Further research must be done with regard to the "Halakhic texts" that have been released in recent years before accepting many of the conclusions of this dissertation. //end//