52 A History of Judaism
The impression that festival ceremonies evolved over time is re -
inforced by a remarkable letter found in an archive from the ancient
Jewish community of Elephantine on the island of Yeb, on the Nile near
Aswan. This document, from the late fifth century bce, was probably
sent by the Jerusalem authorities to Egypt to instruct the Jews of Ele-
phantine in how to observe the Pesach according to the Torah. The text
of the letter has to be reconstructed in large part from our knowledge of
the biblical texts, but the general gist is clear:
[To my brothers Je]daniah and his colleagues the Jewish T[roop], your
brother Hanan[i]ah. The welfare of my brothers may the gods [seek after
at all times]. And now, this year, year 5 of Darius the king, from the king it
has been sent to Arsa[mes .. .] ... Now, you, thus count four[teen days of
Nisan and on the 14th at twilight the Passover ob]serve and from day 15
until day 21 of [Nisan the Festival of Unleavened Bread observe. Seven
days unleavened bread eat. Now], be pure and take heed. Work [do] n[ot
do] [on day 15 and on day 21 of Nisan. Any fermented drink] do not
drink. And anything of leaven do not [eat and do not let it be seen in your
houses from day 14 of Nisan at] sunset until day 21 of Nisa[n at sunset.
And any leaven which you have in your houses b]ring into your chambers
and seal [them] up during [these] days.Since the Elephantine Jews worshipped in their own local temple, in this
respect at least the celebration of Pesach will have differed greatly from
that described by Philo in Egypt some 500 years later.^20
The sacrifices and other offerings in the Jerusalem Temple were per-
formed by a hereditary caste of priests. All priests (in Hebrew, cohanim )
claimed descent through the male line from Aaron, brother of Moses, to
whom, according to the Torah, this task had been assigned. The priest
had to be male, and without any physical blemish: ‘[no one] who is
blind or lame, or one who has a mutilated face or a limb too long, or
one who has a broken foot or a broken hand, or a hunchback, or a
dwarf, or a man with a blemish in his eyes or an itching disease or scabs
or crushed testicles’ was allowed to approach the altar to perform
priestly duties. Purity of lineage was deemed of sufficient concern for
the marriage partners of priests to be limited. A priest was forbidden to
marry a divorced woman or a harlot, in case doubt was cast on the off-
spring of the marriage, and Josephus noted with pride the care with
which priests’ family records were preserved in archives. By Josephus’
time there were many thousands of priests living both in the land of
Israel and in the diaspora (especially in Babylonia and in Alexandria in