Qumran

Over the past fifty years, archaeological excavations in Israel have unearthed about half a dozen ancient synagogues that were in use at different points in time between the first century BCE through the outbreak of the Bar-Kochba rebellion early in the second century of the Common Era.  In close proximity to each of these synagogues, a mikveh (ritual bath) has been discovered.  In contrast, no mikvaot have been discovered adjacent to any of the dozens of later synagogues that have been excavated and studied, with only one or two possible exceptions. 
At this point it is impossible to determine exactly when mikvaot ceased to be built in connection with synagogues, as the archaeological record reports very little about synagogues of the late second - early third century CE.  From an archaeological perspective, it is clear that at least from the second half of the third century, synagogues began to be built without regard for proximity to mikvaot.
Talmudic sources make no mention of a requirement to build mikvaot adjacent to synagogues. To date, no satisfactory explanation has been given for the evident connection between the synagogue and the mikveh in the early period, and the disappearance of such a connection in later periods of synagogue history. The objective of this paper is to present and explore a possible interpretation of this puzzling phenomenon.
  During the Second Temple and Mishnaic Periods, a rabbinical enactment was in effect requiring mikveh ablutions prior to engagement in Torah study and prayer for individuals who had experienced seminal emission. Careful study of the Talmudic sources reveals that this enactment was nullified early in the Amoraic Period, sometime during the second quarter of the third century CE.
It would appear that the mikvaot built adjacent to the earlier synagogues were intended for this precise function, serving visitors to the synagogue who required ritual ablutions prior to Torah study and prayer.  Once the rabbinical enactment regarding these ablutions was nullified, there was no longer need for such mikvaot, and hence the absence of mikvaot in proximity to the later synagogues.

השאיפה לטהרה עמדה במוקד התרבות הדתית של יהודי העת העתיקה ועיצבה את תמונת עולמם, אורחות חייהם ויחסיהם החברתיים. קבוצות שונות הציעו דרכים למימוש חיי טהרה וכרכו בה גאולה עצמית ותיקון קוסמי.


הספר טהרה וקהילה בעת העתיקה: מסורות ההלכה בין יהדות בית שני למשנה מציע תיאור מקיף של תחום הטהרה, אופייה ותכליתה בעולמם של יהודי בית שני בכלל, ובפרט בתורתם של הפרושים. על רקע תפיסות מתחרות, המופיעות בספרות קומראן ובברית החדשה, הציעו הפרושים חלופה משלהם לחיי טהרה שבה נכרכו מסורת בדלנית ואידאולוגיה חברתית. מקורות התקופה משרטטים אורח חיים מעורר מחלוקת הממוקד בהגנה על הגוף במקום על הקודש, ובשליטה על הטומאה במקום שעבוד לעוצמתה הקוסמית. מדיניות הפרושים הוסיפה ועיצבה את דמותן של ההלכה והקהילה גם לאחר החורבן, ותורתם הניחה את היסודות לפעילותם של התנאים בתוך הקשרים חברתיים משתנים. ניתוח ביקורתי של תולדות מסורות ההלכה בתחום הטהרה במשנה ובתוספתא חושף את תהליכי התפרקותה של התרבות הדתית הקדומה והתגבשותה של תורת החכמים.

The concern for purity shaped Second Temple Judaism, and its significance expanded far beyond the limited realm of the Temple. The fear of impurity shaped daily conduct, stood at the heart of ideological disputes and formed the contours of Jewish society. The question how to ensure ritual and moral purity was of cosmic dimensions, and therefore determined the dividing lines between the main parties of Jewish society in Palestine. The Qumran sect developed the notion of the defiling sin, and Jesus was viewed by his followers as the ultimate purifier. Against these alternatives, this book offers a comprehensive analysis of the purity policy in the teachings of the dominant Pharisees. Early rabbinic traditions alongside anti-pharisaic sources uncover a controversial policy focused on the body and not on the purity of the Temple. They provided purification to wider social circles, while preserving its role in maintaining their own status. The book further demonstrates the fundamental change of religious life and social practices from the Second Temple period through the rise of the rabbinic movement, which offered a new version of ritual purity and community. A close analysis of the halakhic traditions in rabbinic literature reveals the gradual disintegration of the ancient religious culture and the emergence of the rabbinic culture within new social contexts.

Michael Segal, “Interpreting History in Qumran Texts,” in M. Kister, M. Segal, and R. Clements (eds.), The Religious Worldviews Reflected in the Dead Sea Scrolls: Proceedings of the Fourteenth International Symposium of the Orion Center for the Study of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Associated Literature (STDJ 127; Leiden: Brill, 2018), 212–244.

Trotz zahlreicher und fundierter Einblicke in die Gattung und den theologischen
Inhalt der Nag-Hammadi-Apokalypse des Paulus (NHC V,2) bleibt die genaue
Valenz des Textes umstritten: Ist der Text valentinianisch, wie oft behauptet, oder
nicht, und was bedeutet die Antwort für unser Verständnis der gnostischen Apokalypsen im Allgemeinen? Dieser Beitrag gibt einen Überblick über das Problem und belegt, dass der Nachweis für eine valentinianische Herkunft des Textes problematisch ist. Vor allem ist es unwahrscheinlich, dass die berühmten valentinianischen Lehrer des 2. Jahrhunderts Bedarf an Pseudonymität gehabt hätten. Ganz im Gegenteil zeigt die Beleglage für die Beziehung zwischen Gruppendefinition und Pseudonymität, dass die bekannten valentinianischen Lehrer ihre Autorität durch ihre kirchlichen Institutionen und hohe Ausbildung begründeten – im Unterschied zu den namenlosen Autoren der pseudonymen Apokalypsen und der sogenannten „sethianischen“ Literatur. Hier erscheint die Möglichkeit, dass die Nag-Hammadi-Apokalypse des Paulus eher ein späterer Text wäre, geschrieben nach der Blüte des Valentinianismus, in einer Zeit, als die valentinianische Theologie eine Art Geheimwissen unabhängig von irgendeiner Schule geworden war.

Summary
The literary pattern of Asael’s punishment in the Enochic myth does not seem to stem from biblical literature or Greek mythology. It is far more probable that one has to look for its antecedents in Babylonian anti-witchcraft literature. The Jewish author who lived in Mesopotamia in Late Babylonian period treated Asael and other Watchers as warlocks against whom exorcistic rituals have to be applied. The elimination of Asael and other Watchers from the earthly realm paved the way for the Jewish context of knowledge transmission, exemplified by Enoch and his insight into the structure of the world, revealed to him by angels faithful to God of Israel.

Scroll 5Q21 is extremely fragmentary and difficult to decipher. Its DJD editor, Joseph Milik, did not even attempt to provide an edition of the scroll. A re-examination of the fragments revealed it is to be a copy of the Temple Scroll. In this paper, I suggest a new collation of the fragments and present a preliminary edition of the scroll.

The story of the siege of Samaria is the longest Elisha story (2 Kgs 6:24–7:20). A problematic passage appears at the end of the story (7:16–20) which highlights the fulfillment of Elisha's prophecy exactly as he had anticipated (7:1–2). This is, however, a stacked pericope, which includes a repetition of each detail two or three times. Scholars have tried to understand these superfluous repetitions in many ways; some have suggested that the passage was created in several stages, but there is no scholarly agreement on this issue. It seems that a hitherto neglected Qumranic document, together with some other philological considerations, can help us arrive at a solution to this puzzle, according to which the story originally ended in the middle of 7:17.

Il Dizionario Teologico degli scritti di Qumran ha per obiettivo di contribuire in misura sostanziale alla conoscenza
e allo studio della letteratura di Qumran.
Vengono passati in rassegna nella loro specificità
tutti gli scritti rinvenuti nelle grotte del Mar Morto e nel Deserto di Giuda.
Grazie a Qumran è possibile accedere a nuove concezioni teologiche:
figure bibliche specifiche (Melchisedek, Mosè, Aronne, Sadoq, Levi)
vengono associate a nuove concezioni,
le quali mettono in grado di riconsiderare da nuove prospettive
molti ambiti problematici relativi a giudaismo e Nuovo Testamento.

The article describes the double documents from the Judaean Desert, on the one hand their material conditions and their lay out, on the other hand the relationship between the upper (inner) and the lower (outer) texts. There are three different forms: two widely identical texts, written one below the other on one side of a sheet; two such texts the first of which starts on the back of the sheet; and, third, documents with a noticeably shortened upper text. The upper text is often less carefully written. Both the lay out and some of the differences between the two texts point to the conclusion that the upper text was written first, while the lower text was copied from the upper one.

In theological research of The Christian Community and in anthroposophical circles, there is a tendency to follow the chronology of John rather than the synoptics. Questioning this tendency initially, this paper follows research by Andrew Welburn, Emil Bock, Rudolf Steiner and others on Essenism and Gnosticism to understand the re-emergence of mystery initiations in Palestine before the christian era and the significance of initiation, death and resurrection for christianity, tracing the independent mystery traditions of each of the four gospels and ending cautiously in favour of the historical accuracy of the second half of John's gospel.

In diesem Artikel werden zunächst die Gruppenbezeichnungen sowie die inhaltlichen Hinweise zum Zelotentum innerhalb der Schriften des Flavius Josephus untersucht. Die hieraus gewonnenen Grundmuster dieser gewaltsam-revolutionären Strömung werden dann auf latente, grundsätzlich nur schwach erkennbare Andeutungen innerhalb der neutestamentlichen Schriften angewandt und eine entsprechende zelotische „Atmosphäre“ der jeweiligen Situation hervorgehoben. Abschließend werden Schnittmengen sowie Gegensätze zwischen den zelotischen Anklängen und der neutestamentlich-christlichen Geisteshaltung herausgestellt.