Tag: Maccabees

14. Passover – Aristocratic Practice I

The Aristocratic understanding (System A) of “בין חערבים (byn ha-arabim)” was represented by the Jews called Sadducees, the Boethusian Sad­ducees, and by the ancient Samaritans.

Moreover, the Aristocratic practice was utilized by Yahushua the messiah, his apostles, and the early assemblies that followed him.1

Very few writings which discuss just how to observe Passover have come down to us directly from any acknowl­edged Sadducean, Boethusian, or ancient Samaritan source. So, for an acquaintance with their opinions, we are mainly dependent upon their antagonists.2

These antagonists, and records which are derived from the later variations of this view (as demonstrated by the neo-Samaritans and Karaites),3 show that, contrary to the Hasidic views, the Aristocratic approach understood that the first ערב (arab; intermixing of light and dark) occurred at sunset and the second at deep twilight (the setting of darkness).

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9. Passover – The Dark Period II

One of the most important historical and cultural developments in Judaism during the Hellenic period was the formation of the movement, during the late third century B.C.E., that later became the Hasidim.

From them are derived the Pharisees, Essenes, Zealots, and others, including the later Rabbinists and Talmudists, who are their spiritual descendants.1

The name Hasidim means “pious, devout” ones.2 These early Hasidim must not be confused with the German mystics of the 12th–13th centuries C.E. or with the modern Hasidic movement, founded in 18th century Poland by Israel ben Eliezer.3

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8. Passover – The Dark Period I

How did such radically different views for the expression בין הערבים (byn ha-arabim), the Passover supper, and the seven days of Unleavened Bread come into existence among the Jews?

To fully understand this dispute we must begin with an examination of the historical and cultural context wherein the division of views took root in Judaism.

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