The Sadducee-Pharisee split probably began around 150 B.C.E and disappeared after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E. As a result, the Karaites (9th-century) adopted many Sadducee-ideas including the notion that the Shabbat beings in Saturday morning and ends on Sunday morning. The Pharisees couldn't disagree more. Shabbat begins on Friday evening (18 minutes in advance for women to light the candles) and ends on Saturday evening (sometimes 42 minutes after sunset). Tradition has it that the Pharisees follow both the Written and Oral Law as received from Moshe at Sinai. The Pharisees claim that the Sadducees, and thus, Karaites opted to reform Judaism by removing the Oral Torah, opting to only follow a literal reading of the Torah. They [the Sadducees] rejected, for example, the prophets and Talmud(s).[1] They also claim that the Sadducees (tzidukim) were named after its founder Tzadok. But the Sadducees held that it was they who followed the Torah, which, in their opinion, did not contain the Oral law; that the Oral Law was a later development by the Pharisees (and the rabbis).[2] They argue that their name tzedek means “the righteous ones,” and that the name for the Pharisees was derived from the root p-r-sh, which means “separated.” In other words, “those who separated themselves from the Torah.”[3]
QUESTIONS
What, if any, of the Sadducees and Karaites position is correct, regarding these matters?
Sources, please.
PS I agree with the pharisaic position but the question is thought-provoking.
[1] Avot d’Rabbi Natan I, chapter 5, and Avot d’Rabbi Natan II, chapter 10.
[2] This is also the position of Louis Finkelstein in “The Pharisees.”
[3] In the New Testament, the Christian claim the term Pharisee means “hypocrite,” but this is not true.
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