Ask Me Anything

RedditOn Dec. 26th, from 6-8 PM EST you have the opportunity to ask me anything on Reddit’s Judaism forum. In order to post a question you must have a Reddit account (registration is simple).

Looking forward to seeing my readers there. Feel free to ask questions about the Dead Sea Scrolls, Second Temple Judaism, sectariansim, early Christianity and any other relevant topic.

2 Responses to Ask Me Anything

  • Michael Loftus says:

    Re the Damascus Document. If one assumes the Essenes, or the `Community’ who lived in Qumran died out after 68 CE, how do you explain the discovery of a copy of the Damascus Document which was found both in Qumran, and in the Cairo Geniza? If it was copied and transmitted at least until 10/11 Centuries CE and found it’s way into the Geniza, who was copying it? And why?

    many thanks.
    D’ash

  • admin says:

    This question must be seen in light of the wider issue of the fact that a number of Second Temple texts survived into medieval times and were preserved in the genizah or elsewhere in medieval manuscripts. These include Ben Sira, Tobit, Testament of Naphtali, and more indirectly, a few parts of Jubilees. So somehow or another we would have to account for the fact that there was some survival of Second Temple texts through paths that we cannot document. At the same time, regarding the sectarian materials, some of them seem to have reached early Karaites. Regarding the sectarian material, there are two basic theories: one is that these materials simply survived underground among remnants of the Sadducees and other such groups whose traditions were eventually absorbed by Karaism. Also, there are several accounts of the discovery of manuscripts in the Jericho area in late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Some think that these sectarian manuscripts may have derived from ancient discoveries, although most of those accounts speak of biblical texts. As you can see, we really cannot be sure but these are the dominant theories.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *