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Re: orion-list Prof. Goranson's "DOERS" - A MACCABEAN EVIDENCE?
Dear Leo Abrami,
Thanks for the compliment, but I am not a professor. Speaking as
one who was ALSO "not convinced" for half a year, I can understand
your reservations about Aramaic vs. Hebrew and the possible use
of DSS terminology.
And while it could be a nice form of parallelism between the Jewish
Healers
of Alexandria and those of the Palestinian desert, it just seems to be
a side show - a nice "play on words" that the DSS sect members
would have relished.... but not what is the source of the term
Essene.
As I mentioned earlier, it is the MILITARY aspect of the DSS community
structure that seems to be the DEFINING element of that society....
To be healers you do NOT need to be secretive, or to have oaths, or to
have a stiff requirement for holding "property in common." But all these
elements are PERFECTLY in tune with a secret military society.
Even the requirement that new recruits be sound in body (not blind, nor
bent, etc.) makes MORE sense if you are running a string of military
CAMPS (not hospitals) than if HEALING was what your society was about.
Even the DSS emphasis on CAMPS is revealing, wouldn't you agree?
And when monastic orders refer to their members as "militants" I think
there is MORE than just a mild coincidence (rather than as "doctors").
While there are parallels between the DSS people and the Therapeutae,
I speculate that the Therapeuts were the organizational expression of a
migration of Essenes who no longer have a mlitary justification for their
existence.... and for whom healing and prayer have become the NEW
justification. I find it very difficult to imagine that the Therapeuts
came
first, and THEN became more militant as they moved into Palestine.
It could happen, but the facts of history would suggest the reverse.
George Brooks
Tampa, FL
George.X.Brooks@JUNO.com
On Mon, 15 Nov 1999 22:10:34 -0700 leorose@Juno.Com writes:
> Dear Professor,
>
> I am not convinced by your ethymology of 'Essene'.
> A number of possibilities have been suggested and there is still no
> consensus in favor of any of them.
> As for me, I am inclined to favor the derivation from 'ah-sah' which
> means a physician or a healer in Aramaic; it is found in the Targum
> (cf. Jastrow, Dictionary of the Targum, Talmud...).
> It would be in consonance with Philo's description of the
> 'therapeutaye'.
>
> Leo Abrami For private reply, e-mail to leorose@juno.com
For private reply, e-mail to George Brooks <george.x.brooks@juno.com>
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