Texts in conversation

4Q394 B:21-23 and Mishnah Yadayim 4:6

Dead Sea Scrolls, Torah and Temple Practices · Rabbinic

Summary

4QMMT rules that hides and bones of unclean animals may not be made into vessels for Temple use. Mishnah Yadayim attributes the same position to the Sadducees in a dispute over whether animal bones convey impurity.

Passages

4Q397 1-2 1

Dead Sea Scrolls, Torah and Temple Practices · 4QMMT/The Halakhic Letter

1 […] … And also concerning the hides [and the bones of the unclean animal: one must not make] 2 [from their bones] or from their hides handles for [vessels. And also concerning the hide of the carcass of] 3 [the] clean [animal]: whoever carries it, its carcass, [shall not approach the purity of the sanctuary] 4 [… And] also concerning the … which they […]

160–60 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in 4Q397

Mishnah Yadayim 4:6

Rabbinic · Mishnah

The Sadducees say: we complain against you, Pharisees, because you say that the Holy Scriptures defile the hands, but the books of Homer do not defile the hands. Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai said: Have we nothing against the Pharisees but this? Behold they say that the bones of a donkey are clean, yet the bones of Yohanan the high priest are unclean. They said to him: according to the affection for them, so is their impurity, so that nobody should make spoons out of the bones of his father or mother. He said to them: so also are the Holy Scriptures according to the affection for them, so is their uncleanness. The books of Homer which are not precious do not defile the hands.

190–230 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Mishnah Yadayim

References

"... three specific rulings in 4QMMT (Miqsat Ma'aseh ha-Torah) are attributed to Sadducees in the Mishnah: the red heifer could be burned only by priests who were in a state of complete ritual purity [4QMMT B:13-17/m. Parah 3:7]; non-kosher animals' bones were considered impure [4QMMT B:21-23/m. Yadayim 4:6]; and liquid poured from a pure vessel into an impure one rendered the former impure [4QMMT B:55-58/m. Yad. 4:7/m. Toh. 8:9]. In m. Yadayim 4:6 and 4:7, the contrary positions are assigned to Pharisees ..."

Jacob Neusner and Bruce D. Chilton, eds., In Quest of the Historical Pharisees (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2007), 412.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

Fragments 1-2

4Q3978 chapters

4Q394 B:21-23 and Mishnah Yadayim 4:6

Summary

Passages

4Q397 1-2 1

Mishnah Yadayim 4:6

References

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