Some Precepts of the Torah

A unique document among the Dead Sea Scrolls called Some Precepts of the Torah (Miktsat Ma‘asei ha-Torah, or MMT) takes the form of a letter addressed to someone—presumably the high priest—in a position to effect change in the running of the Jerusalem Temple and to influence the populace at large. The letter addresses a number of halakhic issues and states the position of the author or authors, which differs from that of the addressee. The topics addressed in the letter include delineation of purity laws that pertain to the sanctuary, discussion of the impurity of gentile sacrifices, the use of vessels and tools made from unclean animals, and who may and may not become a member of the community. The letter ends with an exhortation about the precepts it advocates in order to avoid God’s curses and earn God’s blessings. The end of the letter also explains the reasons why the members of the group that composed the document retreated to their own community: they no longer wanted to live among others whose halakhic observance they deemed incorrect.

Miktsat Ma‘asei ha-Torah is known from six fragmentary copies found in Cave 4, and therefore the reconstituted text remains conjectural. For instance, many doubt whether a 364-day calendar attached to the beginning of the letter is an original part of the document. Also, while MMT is often associated with the formative period of the group behind the Dead Sea Scrolls, much debate persists on its nature as a text. Was this an actual letter that the group sent to one of the Hasmonaean high priests, or is its epistolary form simply a literary device for instructing newcomers on the reasons for the group’s separation? The fact that there are six extant copies of the document suggests that it served a didactic function within the group even if it was originally an authentic letter.

The ongoing debate over these questions does not detract from the significance of the document. Miktsat Ma‘asei ha-Torah highlights the role halakhic disagreements played in group formation and sectarian divisions, even as it shows that some of the legal and ritual debates recorded in later rabbinic literature were already underway in the late Second Temple period. The text also plays a part in discussions on the history of the tripartite division of the Jewish canon, since its reference to “the book of Moses and the words of the prophets and of David and the annals of each generation” seems to correspond roughly to the Torah, Prophets, and Writings. Furthermore, the language of the text itself—some elements of which show close affinities to rabbinic Hebrew—is a valuable link in the history and development of the Hebrew language.