The Sages, Other Groups, and Nehemiah Gordon
Contents:
1. Historical Background
2. Sanhedrin
3. The Sages in both Judah and Babylon
4. The Pharisees
5. The Samaritans
6. The Sadducees
7. The Old Karaites
8. The Neo-Karaites. Nehemiah Gordon
9. Nehemiah Gordon and Paul of Tarsis. Fifth Column Good Service?
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1. Historical Background
The Sages were the ideological and physical descendants of the leaders of the Jews after they returned from Babylon.
The northern Ten Tribes had been exiled, according to conventional understanding, in ca. 730-720 BCE. The Jews of Judah remained. In ca. 586 BCE the Babylonians destroyed the First Temple and completed the exile (that had begun earlier) of nearly all of Judah to Babylon.
Babylonian Captivity
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylonian_exile
# According to the Hebrew Bible, there were three deportations of Jews to Babylon: the exile of King Jeconiah, his court and many others in Nebuchadnezzar's eighth year; Jeconiah's successor Zedekiah and the rest of the people in Nebuchadnezzar's eighteenth year; and a later deportation in Nebuchadnezzar's twenty-third year. These are attributed to c. 597 BCE, c. 587 BCE, and c. 582 BCE, respectively.
The forced exile ended in 538 BCE after the fall of Babylon to the Persian king Cyrus the Great, who gave the Jews permission to return to "Yehud" (Judah) province and to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem. #
After the first group of Jews began to return from Babylon, in the Land of Israel Zerubbabel, the grandson of King Jehoiachin from before the Exile, was made governor of the Persian Province of Judah (Haggai 1:1). In the first year of Cyrus, King of Persia, Zerubbabel had led 42,360 Jews returning to Judea from the Babylonian Captivity. The date is generally thought to have been between 538 and 520 BC. Zerubbabel also laid the foundation of the Second Temple in Jerusalem soon after.
About 50 years after this Ezra and Nehemiah led additional returns of Jews to Judah. They took over the organization of the Province and completed the building of the Temple, as well as building a wall around Jerusalem.
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2. Sanhedrin
A new central body was set up known as "HaKenesset HaGadolah" or "Great Assembly." In English Translations the Great Assembly is sometimes called the "Great Synagogue." The Great Assembly originally numbered 120 but as members died out or retired they were not replaced until the number had diminished to 70. The number was actually 71 when the President (Ha-Nasi i.e. The Prince) is included. This reflected the situation in the time of Moses when in addition to the 70 elders Moses would also participate bringing the number up to 71. The seventy elders comprised the Sanhedrin (Numbers 11:16). The Great Assembly had included amongst its members the prophets Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.
We thus have an overlap between the Sages of the Sanhedrin and the Prophets.
See:
Elders. Rabbinical Authority
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3. The Sages in both Judah and Babylon
The effective rulers of Judah were members of the Sanhedrin. Most (but not always all) members of the Sanhedrin came from the body of Sages in Judah. It is important to remember that throughout all this period the majority of Jews remained in Mesopotamia (Babylon) and other areas of the Diaspora. Great centers of learning and leading Sages grew up in Mesopotamia. They inter-reacted with the Scholars of Judah in the Land of Israel. There was an exchange of personnel between the two centers, ongoing consultation and dialogue as well as various degrees of rivalry.
The Sages were the leaders and religious guides of the masses of people. They derived their authority from the Bible (Deuteronomy 17: 8-13).
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4. The Pharisees
Many members of the Sanhedrin belonged to the Pharisees. The term "Pharisee" is from the Hebrew "Perush" meaning "Separate" i.e. someone who separates them self from the mainstream. The Pharisees were a group in Judah who adopted for themselves extra stringencies and higher standards of observation. They did not expect the masses of the people to do as they did in all matters. This is somewhat analogous to the Marines in the US Army. The Marines are part of the army. They have a special purpose. Higher standards of acceptance, training, and service are applied to them. It is not expected that the rest of the US Army be like the Marines, nor is there a need for it.
Many of the Sages were also Pharisees or parallel to them but one did not have to be like a Pharisee to become a Sage. Becoming a Pharisee depended on the degree of learning, intellectual level, piety, and a willingness to accept extra sringencies. The Pharisees rejected the Samaritans and were rivalled by the Sadducees.
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5. The Samaritans
The Samaritans were descendants of non-Israelite foreigners settled by the Assyrians in land left vacant after the Ten Tribes had been exiled. The Samaritans adopted aspects of the Hebrew Faith while retaining their former pagan beliefs and practices (2-Kings 17:24). They were conquered by the Hasmonean (Maccabee) Jews. An attempt was made to bring the Samaritans closer to Judaism. They accepted parts of the written law but rejected Oral Tradition. At first their status (as Israelites or not) was uncertain but it was then discovered that a group amongst them secretly worshipped a pagan god in the shape of a dove. Henceforth they were all classified as being on the same level as all other non-Jewish Gentiles. At times they claimed to be descended from Israelites though they were not. They often collaborated with enemies of Jews and were antagonistic towards them. The Samaritans accepted the first Five Books (i.e. Torah, Pentateuch) of the Bible which they slightly modified. They also kept the Book of Joshua but no other Biblical work. A few hundred Samaritans still remain.
See:
THE SAMARITANS.
Do traditions of British and French Kinship Reflect Ancestral Connections?
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6. The Sadducees
At this same time among the Jews a cult known as "the Sadducees and the Boethians" (a similar group) emerged that rejected much of the Oral Law and denied Life after Death. The Sadducees were derived mainly from the Priestly wealthy class. At one stage they had close contacts with the Samaritans and intermarriages took place. In practice the Sadducees often became Hellenistic (adherents of Greek culture) and pro-Roman. Maimonides says their motivations from the beginning had been atheistic. Some of them however accepted the authority of the Sanhedrin though disagreeing with its mainstream teachings.
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7. The Old Karaites
Eventually the Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans and the Jews scattered. Two of their major centers were to be found in Egypt and Mesopotamia (Babylon, Iraq). From these regions the Karaite sect emerged. The Karaites like the Samaritans and Sadducees rejected the Oral Law. The Karaites more or less believed that anyone could interpret the Bible and each person could decide for themselves how the Biblical Law was to be applied. They still say this though some kind of consensus exists. Most Jewish accounts say that the Karaites were founded in Babylon by Anan ben Shafat in ca. 760 CE. Others claim that different Karaite sects (not necessarily all Jewish in origin) were already in existence and Anan ben Shafat merely built himself up on them. The Karaites in the Diaspora in Egypt and Babylon were probably mostly Jewish in origin. Those in Egypt were accepted as oringinally being Jewish by Maimonides (1138-1204 CE). Karaites in Eastern Europe later claimed to not be Jewish. This enabled them to avoid being persecuted alongside mainstream Jews. Some of the Karaites in Europe cooperated with the Nazis in WW2. On the whole they are not recognized as Jews and do not wish to be. At one stage some of them adopted a pagan religion worshipping oak trees. They regard themslves as of Turkish tribal origin and intermarried with Tartar groups in the Crimea and southern Russia. On the other had, a few thousand descendants of Karaites from Egypt and Iraq identify as Jews and now dwell in Israel. Their status is problematic. At present they are usually accepted as Jewish but need to accept certain conditions if wishing to marry a regular Jew or Jewess.
See:
Who's a Jew? An old religious argument once again rears its angry head
See Also: Firkovitch Forgeries. Karaite Impostors and the Ten Tribes
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8. The Neo-Karaites. Nehemiah Gordon
The neo-Karaties are an invention of an American named "Nehemiah Gordon." Gordon says he is the son of an Orthodox Jewish Rabbi. In talks on the Internet he disparages members of his family and Religious Jews in general. His approach is often inaccurate and misleading, He has a following of Christians and others who are delighted with him. Gordon is recognized by non-Jewish Christian groups as a Karaite. He gives talks on the Internet discussing how the Holy-Name of the Almighty should be pronounced and other matters contrary to Orthodox Jewish understanding. Nehemiah (also pronounced "Nechamiah") Gordon and a few friends somehow got temporary control of the small hitherto unused Karaite Synagogue and an adttached apartment in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. They also received funds from non-Jewish groups. Yair Davidiy in 2009 was invited to speak in the apartment adjoining the Karaite Synagogue in Jerusalem before a group headed by Nehemiah Gordon. Gordon later informed us that most of those attending were not Karaites but friends and acquaintances of his. Nevertheless, the lecture was paid for with a check on an account attributed to the Karaites. Gordon was openly hostile in this meeting to the idea that the Lost Ten Tribes were to be found amongst Western Peoples. He refusted to allow quotatations from Rabbis on the subject and did not relate to the Biblical verses we quoted. If anything, he opined, the Ten Tribes were to be located in the East. Gordon and one other participant kept referring to Germans and attempting to present our case as saying that the Lost Ten Tribes were in Germany. This is the diametrical opposite of what we do say. (It was later explained to Yair by a self-proclaimed Karaite named "Malakh" i.e. "Angel," that Yair had previously on another occasion been heard to say that some of the Lost Ten Tribes might have been in Germany. This saying by Yair allegedly took place at a public Sabbath meal given by Rabbi Mordecai Machles of Jerusalem. There had been about 100 people present and the Rabbi surprised me by warmly announcing my presence, and interest in the LTTs. People started asking me questions and I replied hoping not to unnrecessarily offend any of the foreign guests who were also present. Whatever was said by Yair, if it was said, had evidently been misunderstood, taken out of context, and passed around to others. Yair never imagined himself being so popular!). The Karaites in the past also misrepresent Judaism in a similar manner. They take something out of context and twist it in order to disparage Judaism. In Soviet Russia under Stalin we also had the "Yevsektsia" who were renegade Jews trying to wipe out Judaism. Anyway if Gordon were to represent the Karaites that would be one thing. That in the eyes of certain Ephraimites and their ilk he has become an expert on what the Old Testament requires is another. Even this would not be so bad if that is all there was to it. The problem is that the anti-Jewish implications of his message are what attracts many non-Jews to him. Some of these are "Ephraimite" types. We, in Brit-Am, are interested in spreading our understanding of the sources regarding the Lost Ten Tribes. We reach out to both Jewish and non-Jewish audiences. On the one hand Yair tries not to proselytize on behalf of Judaism. On the other hand we take a positive approach. This means we cannot tolerate negative attitudes towards the Jewish People and Jewish Religion - no matter where these malicious attempts come from.
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9. Nehemiah Gordon and Paul of Tarsis. Fifth Column Good Service?
Is Gordon inadvertently a fifth columnist deliberately distancing "Ephraimite"-type Christians from Jews?
As for "Brit-Am" We are not interested in Christian Theology. Neither do we know much about nor take sides in it. It may however be worth noting the attitude of Rabbi Jacob Emden. This authority, also known as "Ya'avetz" (1697-1776, Altona, Germany), "was of the opinion that Jesus' original objective, and especially that of Paul who came after him, was only to convert Gentiles to the Seven Laws of Noah while allowing Jews to follow full Mosaic Law."
For the Gentiles according to Emden, Christianity could have been a good thing,
# We should consider Christians and Moslems as instruments for the fulfilment of the prophecy that the knowledge of God will one day spread throughout the earth. Whereas the nations before them worshipped idols, denied God's existence, and thus did not recognize God's power or retribution, the rise of Christianity and Islam served to spread among the nations, to the furthest ends of the earth, the knowledge that there is One God who rules the world, who rewards and punishes and reveals Himself to man. #
This quoted opinion of Emden echoes to a degree that of Maimonides.
Rabbi Emden may have been influenced by a Late Medieval (?) legend that said that Paul deliberatedly did a service for Judaism in that he caused the Christians to emphasize the differences between themselves and the Jews. Otherwise there was danger of Jews not being aware of the threat that early Christianity posed to them.
Nehemiah Gordon likewise is helping separate the wheat from the chaff. I doubt that he intends it. Gordon encourages attempted enunciation of the Holy Name and no-Religious Jew would encourage that by anybody
Gordon ridicules Rabbinic Beliefs and presents his own ideas in their place. There is an anti-Semitic thread to all this. Some Ephraimites and other Christians follow Gordon in these matters or at least sympathize with him. We suspect such types of latent, or open, anti-Semitism.
The above was included as part of the first draft of this article years ago (it is now 2024). We have now changed part of it.
We said then, among other things,
Gordon also provides a pseudo-kosher excuse for such reprobates to retain their basic anti-Jewish sentiments instead of having to discard them.
Should we be angry or just say, Thank You?
There are no Jews present at the presentations of Gordon. He can therefore say what he likes and he does,
Addenda of Interest: The Karaites today are only a small number. Once they were more numberous. It has been claimed that most of the Jews in the Holy Land in the Early Middle Agers were Karaites. On 15 July 1099 the Crusaders captured Jerusalem and massacred all its non-Christian inhabitants including the Jews. It is now being cliamed that those Jews who were then killed were Karaites. Later the Crusaders treated the Jews with more leniency and according to the Jewish Historian Saul Baron (1895-1989), as related to us by an internee of his, the Jews actually prospered under their rule.
See Also:
The Holy Name of God.
A Series of Articles Discussing the Ineffable Name of God.
https://hebrewnations.com/articles/bible/name.html
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