Corpus-Paul

["Liz Fried" <lizfried AT umich.edu>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jeffrey B. Gibson
> [mailto:jgibson000 AT mpdr0.chicago.il.ameritech.net]
> Sent: Saturday, May 22, 1999 12:41 PM
> To: Corpus-paul
> Subject: Re: C-P: Liz on Sanders - a clarification
>
>
> Liz Fried wrote:
>
> [snip]
>
> >
> > Rabbinic Judaism does not use this term and does not have this
> concept. In
> > Rabbinic Judaism all Jews have a share in the world to come.
> >
>
> This is certainly the *initial* testimony of M. Sanhedrin 10.1 --
> "All Israelites have
> a portion in the world to come" which cites Isa 60:21 as biblical
> proof for this
> sentiment .But, as G.E. Moore notes (_Judaism_ Vol. 2, p.
> 387-388), "it is immediately
> qualified by specific exceptions which emphasize the wide scope
> of the preceding
> assertion 'The following are those who have no portion in the
> Word to Come: He who
> says that the resurrection of the dead is not proved by the Law,
> or that the Law is
> not from Heaven, and the epicurean [i.e. one who denies divine
> providence and
> retribution in this life or another]'".
>


That's what I like about these lists.  You don't have to worry about whether
you're right or wrong. There is always someone out there who will be kind
enough to let you know.

I was discussing Sanders' notion of righteousness as the way to maintain
status as part of the elect of Israel in the covenant.  Dunn and maybe N.T.
Wright as well assumed that Sanders was talking about all of Palestinian
Judaism, but he was just talking about the DSS and the Enochean communities
(which may be the same, as Enoch was among the DSS).  These two communities
have a notion of the "elect" of Israel.  To be among this elect, you have to
be righteous.  To these communities the righteous elect (namely themselves)
will be saved at the end, but the rest of the Jews and the gentiles will not
be.  I contrast this with the rabbinic notion.  The rabbis did not have this
notion of being of the elect of Israel. There is no notion that being
*righteous* is necessary to be saved.  The statement that "all Israel" is
saved is explicitly made, as Sanders points out, to assert that all Israel,
not just the righteous, will be saved.

 Now then the rabbis do mention groups who will not be saved, and Sanders
discusses these.  Sanders suggests that the first of these, those who do not
believe in the resurrection of the dead, was aimed at the Sadducees.
However, Sanders notes, that even tho the rabbis say this, they never act as
if the Sadducees are out of the community, that their temple services are
invalid, or that the Sadducees are not in the covenant.  In other words,
these should be interpreted as polemical statements by the rabbis against
certain groups who don't accept their teachings. These statements shouldn't
be regarded as theology.  This can also be said of the statements against
the second two groups, those who deny the law is from Heaven and the
Epicurian. These statements are probably directed at the Hellenizer. Or they
may be apostates, who have put themselves out of the community.

 Sanders does not know what to make of the other groups excluded, the
biblical characters.

The point to be made is in who is *not* excluded.  It is not the `am
ha-aretz, whom the rabbis say fulfill very few of the commandments, nor is
it the transgressor, the sinner, who breaks more than he fulfills.  What
Sanders states, and what I am simply reiterating, is that the Rabbinic view
differs from that of the DSS and the Enochian community in the lack of the
concept of the "elect" of Israel. Those who do believe in the resurrection
of the dead, i.e., at that time nearly everyone, are not the elect, there is
no elect.  They are certainly not more righteous.  To be righteous you have
to obey the totality of the commandments. These have little to do with
beliefs.

Liz

>
> Yours,
>
> Jeffrey
> --
> Jeffrey B. Gibson
> 7423 N. Sheridan Road #2A
> Chicago, Illinois 60626
> e-mail jgibson000 AT ameritech.net
>
>
>

Lisbeth S. Fried
Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies
New York University
51 Washington Sq. S.
New York, NY 10012
lqf9256 AT is3.nyu.edu
lizfried AT umich.edu