In this second and final half of our discussion we will now look to the ancient records that demonstrate the Hasidic view regarding Passover.
The Book of Jubilees
The Book of Jubilees, originally composed in Hebrew by the Hasidim in the late second century B.C.E.,1 gives us the earliest representation of the Hasidic argument. To date, the most complete version of this text is found in the Ethiopian edition. It reports:
Different Jewish practices with reference to the Khag of Passover and the seven days of Unleavened Bread and the Khag of Shabuath (Pentecost) become overtly apparent in the mid-second century B.C.E.
During this period a great dispute was already under way among the Jews, not just over exactly how the nation of Judaea should observe these festivals but over the approach to religion itself.
This debate was fought between the two leading factions of Judaism: the Hasidic and the Aristocratic schools.