Ancient Jewish Calendars: A Response

Abstract

My discussion of the calendar as it appears in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the pseudepigraphic literature was not intended in any way to be a contribution to the history of science, nor should it be read nor considered in this context. The Three Temples: On the Emergence of Jewish Mysticism was intended to be a contribution to the history of the marginal voices of the deposed and the ousted, as well as an addition to the history of the bitter dispute about the idea of the sacred, especially as it pertains to the sources of divine authority and human hegemony. I did not propose in any way to attempt or to prove the veracity of any given calendar or to correct false perceptions inherent in any calculation regarding the laws of nature. I did strive to illuminate the depth of the argument between two opposing principles in the perception of time and to clarify the identity of the opposing factions. I attempted to explain the profound divisions found in the dispute that broke out between two factions in the last two centuries before the Common Era and the subsequent development of this interaction, involving yet a third group, in the last century Β CE and the first two centuries CE. Members of the first group were identified as the kokohanim benei Sadoq or the Zadokite priesthood, which was composed of Zadokite priests and their lay supporters, who adhered to the existing sacred biblical order and saw themselves as the proponents of freedom, truth, justice, and knowledge as inspired by divine revelation, Holy Scriptures, and the angelic calendar. The members of the second