Sadducees seem to have prohibited the use of anything made from animals which were
either interdicted as food, or by reason of their not having been properly slaughtered;
while the Pharisees allowed it, and, in the case of Levitically clean animals which had
died or been torn, even made their skin into parchment, which might be used for sacred
purposes.79
71. Jer. Chag. iii. 8; Tos. Chag. iii., where the reader will find sufficient proof that the
Sadducees were not in the wrong.
72. In Yad. iv. 6, 7.
73. The Pharisees replied by asking on what ground the bones of a High-Priest 'defiled,'
but not those of a donkey. And when the Sadducees ascribed it to the great value of the
former, lest a man should profane the bones of his parents by making spoons of them, the
Pharisees pointed out that the same argument applied to defilement by the Holy
Scriptures. In general, it seems that the Pharisees were afraid of the satirical comments of
the Sadducees on their doings (comp. Parah iii. 3).
74. Wellhausen rightly denounces the strained interpretation of Geiger, who would find
here - as in other points - hidden political allusions.
75. Comp. 'The Temple, its Ministry and Services,' pp. 309, 312. The rubrics are in the
Mishnic tractate Parab, and in Tos. Par.
76. Parah iii.; Tos. Par. 3.
77. Parah iii. 7.
78. The Mishnic passage is difficult, but I believe I have given the sense correctly.
79. Shabb. 108 a.
These may seem trifling distinctions, but they sufficed to kindle the passions. Even
greater importance attached to differences on ritual questions, although the contro versy
here was purely theoretical. For, the Sadducees, when in office, always conformed to the
prevailing Pharisaic practices. Thus the Sadducees would have interpreted Lev. xxiii. 11,
15, 16, as meaning that the wave-sheaf (or, rather, the Omer) was to be offered on 'the
morrow after the weekly Sabbath' - that is, on the Sunday in Easter week - which would
have brought the Feast of Pentecost always on a Sunday; 80 while the Pharisees
understood the term 'Sabbath' of the festive Paschal day. 81 82 Connected with this were
disputes about the examination of the witnesses who testified to the appearance of the
new moon, and whom the Pharisees accused of having been suborned by their
opponents.83
80. Vv. 15, 16.
81. Men. x. 3; 65 a; Chag. ii. 4.
82. This difference, which is more intricate than appears at first sight, requires a longer
discussion than can be given in this place.
83. Rosh haSh. i. 7; ii. 1; Tos. Rosh haSh. ed. Z. i. 15.