A longstanding mystery surrounding the Dead Sea Scrolls may have a new explanation. Researchers have debated for decades whether the Qumran sect actually followed its unusual 364-day calendar or whether the system existed mainly as a religious and theoretical ideal. A study from Tel Aviv University argues that both possibilities may be partly correct.
According to the proposed reconstruction, the sect likely used the calendar during its early history, when disagreements over religious dates contributed to its separation from the Jerusalem establishment. Later, however, the system may have been abandoned because of a fundamental astronomical problem and changing political relations with the Hasmonean leadership under Alexander Jannaeus. The research was conducted by Prof.
Eshbal Ratzon of the Department of Jewish Philosophy and the Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas at the Entin Faculty of Humanities. The findings were published in the Tarbiz Quarterly for Jewish Studies. A Calendar Built Around 52 Perfect Weeks The Qumran calendar differed sharply from the lunisolar calendar that shaped Jewish religious life during the Second Temple period.
Its year contained exactly 364 days, which can be divided evenly by seven. That produced 52 complete weeks every year and ensured that religious festivals always occurred on the same day of the week. For members of the Qumran sect, this orderly structure was more than a mathematical convenience.
They regarded it as reflecting a perfect divine system. The calendar also carried political and religious significance. Authorities at the Temple in Jerusalem determined important dates using the prevailing calendar, but the Qumran sect rejected the idea that human leaders should have that power.
Its members believed the dates had already been established by God during the Creation of the world and therefore should not be altered by people. The very feature that made the Qumran calendar so elegant also created a serious practical problem. A 364-day year is about one day and a quarter shorter than the roughly 365-day astronomical year.
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