Today we continue with a bit more of Jewish Ethics (Derek Eretz 1:4 ), where we left off last month, reviewing the phrase: ''Do not discuss with the Sadducees, so that you shall not fall into the Gehenna.''
The Hashmonean Hebrew kings and priests, descendants of the Maccabees, were Sadducees who slaughtered Jews and their rabbis. We Jews used to celebrate Shevat 2, 76 BCE , as the death of the Hebrew Hashmonean King Alexander-Yannai (Jannaeus). He was an avowed enemy of the Jewish sages and our people. So ruthlessly did he persecute the rabbis and their followers (some 50,000 were killed between 82–76 BCE), that the day of his death was declared a holiday.
King Yanni was neither a Roman nor a Greek puppet. The Romans didn't come into Judea until 63 BCE (13 years after Yanni died). The Greeks had been expelled circa 165 BCE. Yanni practiced Hebraism.
So upset were the rabbis with the Hashmonean Hebraic, anti-Rabbinic kings, that when they codified the books that were to be included in the Jewish Bible, they deleted all of the four books of the Maccabees.
The Maccabees were from the Hashmonean family. Many rabbis did not want the holiday of Chanukah to be celebrated as it was a Maccabean-Hashmonean-Hebraic war victory. The Talmudic Jewish rabbis compromised by keeping Chanukah on the calendar, but giving all credit to God.
Thus, in this verse, the rabbis counsel avoidance of Sadducees, as discussions with them might lead to death.
The descendants of the Sadducees are known as Karaites. They get along well with the Jews of Israel and Turkey, where most of them live today.
The rabbinic injunction against debating religion with those who want to kill us extended into the Middle Ages. Rabbis were forced into Disputations with the Catholic Church. More often than not, the rabbis lost, and they and their congregations suffered.
Nachmanides (the Ramban) of Girondi, Spain, won a debate and a case of gold in 1293. The Pope forced King James to change his ruling, and sentenced the Ramban to exile in Palestine.
Thank God we can today, in the United States of America, have gentle discourse with those of other religions, and emphasize our similarities instead of our differences. Everyone has opinions. We don't need to argue. And we certainly do not need to ban, ghettoize, or murder those with whom we disagree.
Rabbi Arthur Segal is an international lecturer, author, and teacher. Visit him at www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org . Follow him on FaceBook at 'Arthur L Segal', on Twitter at RabbiASegal, or his blog at http://rabbiarthursegal.blogspot.com . Email at RabbiASegal@aol.com .
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