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Re: Calendar, MMT



Moshe Shulman writes:

> >CD implies that Moreh Tzedik came about 20 years after the founding of the
>  >sect. IF we say that MMT is from the Moreh Tzedik (which I am not so 
>  >certain I have to look over the arguments again), this implies that it 
>  >predates CD, since the later implies the Moreh Tzedik is no longer alive.

Yirmiyahu Ben-David responds:

>  If CD and MMT are talking about a different Moreh Tzedek how does that 
>  hold?

For years _before_ MMT was published, Strugnell claimed MMT was written by
the 
Moreh Tzedek.  Since no one had access to the scroll, no one was in a
position to 
refute this assertion.  Now that MMT has been published, I think it's fair to
say there 
is no textual basis whatsoever for this fantastic claim.  

MMT has "we", "you", and "they".  Schiffman (for one) argues in my opinion
quite 
properly that the "we" group is the council.  It seems certain that "we"
cannot refer 
to the Moreh Tzedek.  So logically MMT must either predate or postdate the
Moreh
Tzedek.  Schiffman sees MMT as the earliest sectarian scroll, before the rise
of the 
Moreh Tzedek, but if the sectarians already had such a developed halakhah,
what 
did they need the Teacher for?

Russell Gmirkin