Jews in the Middle Ages
Pharisees
(lat. pharisæ|us, -i; from heb. פרושים perushim/פרוש parush, meaning "set apart"[1]) were at various times a political party, a social movement, and a school of thought among Jews during the Second Temple period under the Hasmonean dynasty (140–37 BCE) in the wake of the Maccabean Revolt.
Sadducees
(Hebrew: צדוקים Tzedukim) were a group or a sect of Jews opposed to the Pharisees (Hebrew: פרושים — from which today's Rabbinical Jews are descended) that were active in the Land of Israel during the Second Temple period, starting from approximately the second century BCE. They are believed to have ceased to exist sometime after the destruction of Herod's Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE, but it has been speculated that modern Karaites may be descended from the Sadducees.
Essenes
(Hebrew: אִסִּיִים, Isiyim) were a Jewish religious group that flourished from the 2nd century BCE to the 1st century CE that some scholars claim seceded from the Zadokite priests.[1] Being much fewer in number than the Pharisees and the Sadducees (the other two major sects at the time) the Essenes lived in various cities but congregated in communal life dedicated to asceticism, voluntary poverty, daily baptisms, and abstinence from worldly pleasures, including marriage. Many separate but related religious groups of that era shared similar mystic, eschatological, messianic, and ascetic beliefs. These groups are collectively referred to by various scholars as the "Essenes." Josephus records that Essenes existed in large numbers, and thousands lived throughout Judæa.
Zealotry קנאות קיצונית was originally a political movement in the 1st century Second Temple Judaism which sought to incite the people of Iudaea Province to rebel against the Roman Empire and expel it from the Holy land by force of arms, most notably during the Great Jewish Revolt (66-70). Zealotry was described by Josephus as one of the "four sects" at this time. The zealots have been described as one of the first
(lat. pharisæ|us, -i; from heb. פרושים perushim/פרוש parush, meaning "set apart"[1]) were at various times a political party, a social movement, and a school of thought among Jews during the Second Temple period under the Hasmonean dynasty (140–37 BCE) in the wake of the Maccabean Revolt.
Sadducees
(Hebrew: צדוקים Tzedukim) were a group or a sect of Jews opposed to the Pharisees (Hebrew: פרושים — from which today's Rabbinical Jews are descended) that were active in the Land of Israel during the Second Temple period, starting from approximately the second century BCE. They are believed to have ceased to exist sometime after the destruction of Herod's Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE, but it has been speculated that modern Karaites may be descended from the Sadducees.
Essenes
(Hebrew: אִסִּיִים, Isiyim) were a Jewish religious group that flourished from the 2nd century BCE to the 1st century CE that some scholars claim seceded from the Zadokite priests.[1] Being much fewer in number than the Pharisees and the Sadducees (the other two major sects at the time) the Essenes lived in various cities but congregated in communal life dedicated to asceticism, voluntary poverty, daily baptisms, and abstinence from worldly pleasures, including marriage. Many separate but related religious groups of that era shared similar mystic, eschatological, messianic, and ascetic beliefs. These groups are collectively referred to by various scholars as the "Essenes." Josephus records that Essenes existed in large numbers, and thousands lived throughout Judæa.
Zealotry קנאות קיצונית was originally a political movement in the 1st century Second Temple Judaism which sought to incite the people of Iudaea Province to rebel against the Roman Empire and expel it from the Holy land by force of arms, most notably during the Great Jewish Revolt (66-70). Zealotry was described by Josephus as one of the "four sects" at this time. The zealots have been described as one of the first