Eyal Regev
Recovery of Pre-Rabbinic Halakha," in The Madrid Qumran Congress, ed. J. Trebolle Barrera
and L. Vegas Montaner, STD J 11 (Leiden: Brill, 1992), 2:503-13 (here 503-5). One may also add
the limitation on the discharge of excretions, mentioned by Philo and in the Temple Scroll
and the War Rule (see below).
- Boccaccini, Beyond the Essene Hypothesis, 165-96. Cf. Josephus, Jewish War 1.171-
173; Ant 2.154. - Jub 2:19, 23, 31-33; 15:27, 32; 16:17-18; 18:19; 19:16-19, 21-24; 21:24-25; 22:12-24; 24:10;
25; 27:23; 31:14; 33:20. - For the Gentiles' immorality and impurity, see Jub 1:8-11; 3:31; 11:16; 12:1-8,12-14; 19;
20:7-8; 21:3, 5; 22:16; 25:1; 30:13-15; 31:1-2; 35:14; 36:5; 48:5. For the call for separation from the
Gentiles, see Jub 6:35; 9:14-15; 15:34; 22:16; 25:1; 30. For Gentile impurity in Jubilees, see
C. Hayes, Gentile Impurities and Jewish Identities: Intermarriage and Conversion from the Bi
ble to the Talmud (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), 47, 53, 54, 55. For the prohibition
on intermarriage in Jubilees, see Hayes, 73-81. See also the article by Doering in this volume. - Calendar: 6:23-32; 23:19; circumcision: 15:25-26, 33-34; nudity: 3:31; 7:20; Sabbath:
2:29-30; 50:8-9; 23:19.
But what do Jubilees and the Essenes have in common? Following
Boccaccini's comparison of the Essenes with the entire Enochic literature,
including Jubilees, one may mention the belief in predestination and im
mortality of the soul, as well as the belief in angels and the sensitivity to the
pitfalls of sexuality.^10 Nonetheless, it seems to me that the association of Ju
bilees with the Essenes is indirect and dependent on their strong relation
ship with the Qumran sects.
III. Differences
Jubilees differs from both the yahad and the Damascus Covenant in its basic
social stance. Jubilees is addressed to the people of Israel, attempting to con
vince them to follow the path of the eternal convent in Sinai. It emphasizes
the holiness of the Jewish nation as a whole,^11 contrasting the Israelites to
the immoral Gentiles and condemning contacts with Gentiles.^12 Admittedly,
Jubilees is critical of the Jews who transgress the laws pertaining to the calen
dar, circumcision, and nudity, and perhaps also the Sabbath.^13 In one in
stance (30:16) Jubilees even seeks to prevent someone whose daughter mar
ried a Gentile from entering the temple. On the whole, however, Jubilees
does not want certain Jews to separate themselves from the rest of the nation
due to their religious or halakic scrupulousness.
In contrast, the yahad and the Damascus Covenant are sects by defini
tion. They are strongly characterized by the three major ideological compo-