The Pharisees And Scribes In Jewish Culture

“The rebel pulled the trigger, and like lightning, i saw the spark of fire that came from the muzzle” In this simile Ishmael explains how fast the rebel pulled the trigger and how quick a bullet can really go.

The major groups of the religious Jewish authority that are present in The Shadow of the Galilean are the members of the Sadducidic and Pharisidic movements. The movement that best illustrates how Theissen illuminates the actions and sayings of Jesus are the Pharisees. Theissen helps show that the characterization of the Pharisees in the Gospels is shallow, and that they were not as condemnatory or unified as the Bible presents them.

Chapter 11-12 A sadducee was mostly a priest or aristocrat that was apart of the Palestinian sect. A pharisee was apart of a Jewish sect that had beliefs in oral traditions, afterlife and believing in the coming of the messiah. There is almost always problems and tension between Jesus and the religious leaders.

In Chapter 2 of Encountering the New Testament the author talks about a few of the different practices that unified the Jews as well the different religious groups that had different beliefs. Judaism was unified in the beliefs that they had been chosen by God, they were waiting for the messiah to come, they respect the synagogues, they shared the same laws and traditions of elder. Although these beliefs were unifying there were seperate religious groups and leaders that held different beliefs. Probably the most well known group of religious leaders were the Pharisees. The Pharisees were a small group of religious leaders that believed in God, and the coming messiah. Although many of the Pharisees did live good lives many of them were

Pharisees were one of three major Jewish sects at the time, the other two being the Sadducees, which we hear a lot of in the Gospel, and the Essenes, whom we here almost none of. The word Pharisee comes from the Hebrew word ‘pharisaios’, which means “Separated One”, and they definitely separated themselves from other beliefs and customs of the Jewish lands. Before the Jewish Exile in, the Jews worshipped in the temple of Jerusalem, after the exile, the Jews worshiped in the synagogue, having taken on pagan religions of the Greek upon being Hellenized.

Pharisees are a religious party that developed during the Second Temple period. They believe int the oral Torah, which are the teachings that Moses received by God on Sinai. They were never written down, hence why they are called the oral Torah. Pharisees believed they part of Scripture and are just as binding. Their lasting effects on Jewish belief and practice is that many few Pharisees as more reliable sources of the biblical law and their knowledge of biblical text. This is a primary form of Judaism up to the first century. A second religious group that formed was Essenes. They typically are withdrawn from the Jewish community and protest against the moral and religious aspects of Judaism. This group of Jews withdrew from the society and

The Pharisaical Jews, on the other hand, were much more peaceful, and believed that the Roman occupation was all a part of God’s plan. They emphasized non-belligerence against their conquerors, and focused on maintaining internal peace and stability. From lecture, we learned that they often emphasized many Hellenistic ethics. Rather than taking a literal interpretation of the Torah, like the Zealots, the Pharisees preferred to debate how the Torah could be applied to their lives based on the events unfolding around them. Much like Job, in his attempts to be a good servant of God, the Pharisees believed that one must remain steadfast in their works for God. In both interpretations, God is portrayed as a wise deity who will guide men to salvation.

Dagyeong Yang (Irene) Dr. Paul R. Sauer REL200 The Pharisees Rationale Sadducees, Pharisees, Essenes, and Zealots are four major Jewish sects active in Palestine at the Second Temple Judaism period around 25 B.C. to 70 A.D. Those sects had distinguished characteristics and beliefs. A scroll written in Hebrew language in a stone box, which discovered by archaeologists was written by one of the four Jewish sects based on their belief.

The history of Jews in host cities often depict a story of success or of failure when it comes to relations between the Jews and the Christians in Europe. Historian Jonathan Elukin, author of Living Together, Living Apart, presents the integration as a success process with rare, and special cases, of failure. On the other side of the spectrum is historian Raymond P. Scheindlin. Scheindlin’s novel, A Short History of the Jewish People, presents many cases of integration between the Christians and Jews that led to massacres and brutal endings for the Jewish community. There are many monumental events that take place during the long span of time that oversees European Jewish history, and both historians study and evaluate the events, however, they do so through different lenses.

Scribes were among the first few people in ancient Egypt who knew how to read and write. As someone who was skilled in both the arts and writing, the scribe was supposed to write letters and legal documents, collected taxes, take records and tallies and performed all manner of clerical duties (Kraft). Scribes learned how to read and write from their fathers, since becoming a scribe was passed down to their sons, as well as attending a “scribe-in-training” school which is attached to a temple or the palace (Kraft). Wealthier young-scribes often had a tutor, but most learned by continually copying texts and rehearsing stories, often about manners and religious doctrine (Kraft). These lessons were strictly taught, “as attested by the fact that the ancient Egyptian word ‘seba’ means both ‘teach’ and ‘beat’”

The Jewish community and culture is growing at a rapid pace. I have several friends who are Jewish. The Jewish culture from what I have been told, seen and read is much different than my own. The Jewish culture religion is different from other religious cultures because the way they structure the holy scripts it is more like an oral history of the people and is meant to be taken literally. They tell the history in a different unique way than what I am use to.

There were two main groups of Jews at the time of Jesus (the Pharisees and the Sadducees).

The Sadducees were typically members of the Jewish upper-class, wealthy landowning aristocrats who controlled the priesthood and the Temple. They also believed the only worthy form of Judaism was found in reading the Torah. Unlike the Pharisees and Essenes they believed in freewill and had no belief in the afterlife. Pharisees were mainly from the middle class and strictly adhered to the law and maintained the Torah as the word of God. They were the spiritual fathers to modern Judaism.

Of all the major Second Temple sects, only the Pharisees believed with teachings directed to all Jews, they could transform Temple worship. Such teachings extended beyond ritual practices. Regardless of the importance they gave to the Temple, the Pharisees’ vision of Jewish law was a means by which ordinary people could engage with the blessings in their daily lives. Also, they wanted to grant them a position from which to respond to challenges in a way meaningful to the vast majority of Jews. Their responses would constitute Rabbinic Judaism.

There are many different cultures that surround us everyday; each one with its own unique customs and lifestyles. The Jewish culture contains some of the oldest traditions and customs that date back thousands of years. This culture has survived everything from exile to almost being diminished during the Holocaust. The Jewish culture has a unique culture, that has much to share with the world around them.