Reflecting on Judaism

When the above essay was completed I sent it to a number of Rabbis, from among my friends and acquaintances, for their comments. Only three responded. The first suggested that I have misunderstood the history of the period, without explaining in which way, and recommended that I do some further reading. The second commented on one or two aspects of it, which I will discuss below, and he too ended his letter by suggesting that I read more. For this suggestion I am very grateful. The third agreed with many of the thoughts I expressed and loaned me a book discussing, at length, the ‘Pharisees’. I have completed the suggested further reading and précis below, as faithfully as I can, from my research.

In my original essay I tried to show that the Pharisees, in establishing their authority, deliberately did not reflect past events accurately. It was difficult to understand why they should have acted in this way? We are taught that Torah truths are eternal and are relevant for every generation. The Torah states that the Law was handed over directly by Moses to the Priests. This Law was taught and followed by the Priests down the ages, certainly to the period of Ezra and beyond. The Pharisees must have been aware of these facts but they write the Priests out of our history. Generations of Rabbis must also be aware of the correct facts but they too appear to accept the incorrect version without question.

The Chief Rabbi acknowledged that the Pharisees and Sadducees both valued Torah and that both cherished the land of Israel. He also said that the Pharisees believed in the Oral Law and the Sadducees did not. But if the Sadducees did not have an Oral Law and their antecedents go back to Aaron the Priest through Ezra, from where did the Pharisees, whose antecedents go back to a maximum of only, say, 200 years, get their Oral Law? It can have come only from the Sadducees, via Ezra.

The Chief Rabbi also stated that without the teaching of the Talmud, a product of the Pharisees, there might well be no Jewish people in existence today. I acknowledged that this might well be so. But Jewish survival is not the subject under discussion. What we are discussing is whether the Oral Law of the Pharisees is more authoritative than that of the Sadducees. As a result of my research we may now reasonably ask whether the Pharisees had their own independent Oral Law at all. We Jews are very fortunate. Unlike some other religions we are positively encouraged to ask questions and in doing so follow a long and well-established tradition. Since the question has been raised and the grounds for raising it given, we hope that the Rabbis will now give a satisfactory answer.

Précis extract of “Sects in Judaism