Jesus and the Hasidim

How do we define Jesus within first-century Jewish society? To which of the various Jewish sects does he belong? Was he a Pharisee, an Essene? After years of painstaking research, Shmuel Safrai has identified a new stream within the Judaism of Jesus' time: the Hasidic movement. This may be a major breakthrough in New Testament studies, as well, because the picture Safrai paints of the Hasidim is amazingly similar to what we know about Jesus. Jesus, who was quite close to the Hasidim and perhaps even involved with some of them, does not reflect Galilean boorishness or ignorance, but rather the dynamism and ongoing creativity of Jewish life in Galilee.

How to cite this article: Shmuel Safrai, “Jesus and the Hasidim,” Jerusalem Perspective 42/43/44 (1994): 3-22 [https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/2685/].

Josephus relates that there were three schools of thought among the people of Israel: Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes.^[1]The Dead Sea sect likewise divided Israel into these three groups.^[2]Rabbinic literature, however, mentions only Pharisees and Sadducees, referring obliquely at best to the existence of the Essenes.^[3]

Jesus was closer to the world of the Pharisees than to that of the Sadducees or Essenes. He certainly did not share beliefs, religious outlook or social views with the Sadducees, and he would have had little in common with the isolationist views of the Essenes and their overt hostility toward anyone who did not accept their stringent views on ritual purity. Even if one accepts the premises of certain modern scholars regarding similarities between various sayings in the synoptic Gospels and the literature of the Dead Sea sect, there is an enormous distance between Jesus and the Essenes. Jesus made this clear with his statement that the “sons of this world” are superior to the “sons of light” (Luke 16:8).

Jesus and the Pharisees

Jesus’ education and understanding of Torah was in agreement with the Pharisees’ norms, based on both the Written and Oral Torah (Luke 2:41-47). He even taught his disciples and followers: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in the seat of Moses, so be careful to observe everything they tell you” (Matt. 23:2-3). The expression “seat of Moses” is also found in midrashic literature^[4]and such seats have actually been found in ancient synagogues.^[5]Jesus, however, warned the people not to behave like the Pharisees, because “they say, but do not do” (Matt. 23:3).

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“Kis Baalbek” by Csontváry Kosztka Tivadar. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

This article originally appeared in issue 42/43/44 of the *Jerusalem Perspective* magazine. Click on the image above to view a PDF of the original magazine article.

^[1] Josephus, War 2:119-166; Antiq. 18:11-22. ↩
^[2] See David Flusser, “Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes in Pesher Nahum,” Alon Memorial Volume (Tel Aviv, 1970), 133-168 (Hebrew). English translation in Judaism of the Second Temple Period: Qumran and Apocalypticism (trans. Azzan Yadin; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007), 214-257—Ed. ↩
^[3] See Ze’ev Safrai, “Bene-Rechav, the Essenes and the Concept of Going to the Desert in the Teachings of the Sages,” Annual of Bar Ilan University 16/17 (1979): 37-58 (Hebrew). ↩
^[4] The expression קָתֶדְרָא דְּמֹשֶה (qā·ted·RĀ’ d^emo·SHEH, “the seat of Moses”) is mentioned in the teaching of Rav Aha in Pesikta de-Rav Kahana 1 (ed. Mandelbaum, 12). The first scholar to point this out was W. Bacher, “Le siege de Moise,” REJ 34 (1897): 299. ↩
^[5] E. L. Sukenik, “Kathedra De Moshe in Ancient Synagogues,” Tarbiz 1 (1930): 145-151 (Hebrew). See the comments of J. N. Epstein ad loc., 152. ↩

Comments 2

frank75@etex.net

2015Aug05 at 4:38 am

God bless Jerusalem Perspective and its’ wonderful authors! Safrai, Flusser and Bivin et al have opened the eyes of the world to the Jewishness of Yeshua. Christendom has long turned a blind eye to the culture and teachings of the sages of which Yeshua was connected. We can no more separate Yeshua from Yisrael than we can separate the New Testament from the Tanakh (Old Testament) or the Torah from the Spirit.

Paul Conway

2012Dec14 at 3:31 pm

This article has challenged my faith immensely. Western Christianity forgets the counsel of Chalcedon’s creed “fully God fully man.” I cannot identify with Christs divinity but his humanity rooted in the Hasidim pressures my life as an opportunity for him I should rise to meet in ‘Piety’. This article also puts to rest where Jesus fits into Judaism. Most Christians divorce him from Pharisaic Judaism because of anti Semitic statements that have found their way into the Gospels. Rather than attempting to place Jesus in his practice of faith he is depicted as beginning a new religion all together, Christianity. Jesus was a Jew! This article shows he was a Jew in the order of the Hasidim. So grateful for the pillars of Safrai and Flusser. Their influence is missed. Though they have “died, …through his faith he still speaks.” Hebrews 11:4

“The question is not whether Jesus was a Jew or not: rather, the question is what kind of a Jew he was.” The late David Flusser while teaching from his Home in Israel before his death.