Posted: Jul 26, 2015 9:59 pm
The Scroll referring to the sect of Teacher of Righteousness states that their group emerged 390 years after the destruction of the first Temple, and that their leader emerged 20 years after that. The traditional dating has the time period that of Alexander Jannaeus the Hasmonean, but according to traditional Jewish dating, the first temple was destroyed in 423 BCE, not 587 BCE. Thus the sect emerged right smack in the midst of the rule of HEROD and his son-in-law SHIMON BEN BOETHUS about 15 years or so BCE.
Another interesting element is that of the sect that had a solar calendar. Traditionally Judaism uses a lunar calendar that gets reconciled with the solar calendar once every few years with a leap month ("Intercalation"). Evidently there were one or more sects who never followed this rabbinic calendar of the leap month, but their history is unknown since unlike the Samaritans and Saduccees they were never mentioned in the Talmud itself.
Another interesting element is that of the sect that had a solar calendar. Traditionally Judaism uses a lunar calendar that gets reconciled with the solar calendar once every few years with a leap month ("Intercalation"). Evidently there were one or more sects who never followed this rabbinic calendar of the leap month, but their history is unknown since unlike the Samaritans and Saduccees they were never mentioned in the Talmud itself.