Miracle at Midnight

 

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165 of 167 people found the following review helpful

Miracle at Midnight is a WONDERFUL Movie! A MUST-SEE!!

By LactivistAnti-VaccineLiberal on June 14, 2005

Format: DVD

I watched this outstanding Disney made-for-tv movie many, many times, and I LOVE it!!

I first saw when it premiered on TV on the "Wonderful World of Disney" show in the spring of 1998. At that time I taped it on a VHS tape off of TV, and I loved it so much that I watched it over and over many, many times.

I should have broken the security tab on the tape, but because there were still several hours of free space left on the tape (it was taped in EP/SLP mode) I thought I would wait until the tape was filled before breaking it.

Unfortunately a couple of years later, I ended up accidentally taping over this great movie with something else, thereby erasing it. I was so upset, and so I am VERY glad to FINALLY have this movie on DVD!!

Since getting this terrific movie on DVD I have watched it so many times I have lost count!! I am also going to buy the soundtrack for it too, because the music is so moving and poignant.

Miracle at Midnight is the touching made-for-TV movie based on true events during World War II. It is set in Denmark during September 1943,(the information in the Amazon.com Editorial Reviews is either a typo or other error)and stars Sam Waterston and Mia Farrow as

Dr. Karl (Waterston) and Doris(Farrow) Koster, a Christian couple living in Copenhagen with their two children, 18 year old Hendrik (Justin Whalin) and preteen Elsa (Nicola Mycroft) during the Nazi occupation of Denmark.

When Dr. Koster learns that after three years of occupation, the Nazis are going to start deporting the Jewish people in Denmark, he and his family realize that they can no longer sit by and watch their friends, neighbors and countrymen, be taken, and dragged away to Nazi concentration camps and death camps. They decide to do whatever they can to help those in danger.

While Dr. Koster uses his position of Chief Surgeon to protect a young Resistance fighter who was shot by the Nazis, his 18 year old son Hendrik risks his life working for the same Resistance group, commandeering and seizing shipments of weapons that were sent to the Nazis.

But it all comes to a head on Wednesday, September 29, 1943, when Dr. Koster gets word that the Nazis have planned a mass arrest and deportation of all Jewish people, at Midnight on that Friday, which is the start of the Jewish holiday Rosh Hashanah.

Dr. Koster, his family, and his entire hospital staff, band together with the Resistance, and the Danish people,

realizing that they are going to have to work really fast if they want to save the thousands and thousands of innocent Jewish people in Denmark from being dragged off to Theresienstadt Concentration Camp by the Nazis.

They set up plans to find hiding places for the Jewish people, and get them safely through the initial raids, while they try to convince the Swedish government, to accept them, and find ways to transport them up the Danish coast to Sweden. As a majority of the Danes hate the Nazis, they are all willing to help, opening their homes, providing money and transportation.

While Hendrik works with the Resistance, securing trucks and other means to take Jewish people up the coast of Denmark to Sweden, his father, Dr. Karl Koster uses his position as Chief Surgeon at Christiana Hospital to hide Jews in the hospital, and his mother, Doris, and sister, Elsa, help out by letting their Jewish friends, Rabbi Ben Abrams, his wife, his daughter Hannah, and her fiance Michael hide in their attic.

Eventually the Nazis catch up to them, and the Kosters themselves are forced to flee for their lives. But before escaping, they are, in a matter of a couple of days, able to help save over 7,000 Danish Jews, in a miraculous rescue!

Miracle at Midnight is a TERRIFIC movie! It is just WONDERFUL having it on DVD! Now I can enjoy it for years to come!!

  43 of 43 people found the following review helpful

Touching, Uplifting Movie

By A Customer on June 27, 2000

Format: VHS Tape

The story of Christian Danes who risked their lives to save their Jewish fellow citizens from the Holocaust is not well known. This movie tells the story of one such Danish family, their struggles against Nazis and collaborators, and their efforts to save Danish Jews. Sam Waterston and Mia Farrow give outstanding performances. The story is gripping. More important, it will touch your heart.

Lamed Vavniks: The thirty-six righteous who sustain the world

JEWISH MYTH, MAGIC, AND MYSTICISM

JEWISH MYTH, MAGIC, AND MYSTICISM IS DEVOTED TO ALL ASPECTS OF JEWISH ESOTERIC TRADITIONS AND OCCULT LORE. IT IS THE OFFICIAL BLOG FOR THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF JEWISH MYTH, MAGIC, AND MYSTICISM. THE JMMM HAS BEEN RECOGNIZED AS ONE OF THE TOP 50 JEWISH BLOGS ON THE INTERNET IN 2010

FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2009

Lamed Vavniks: The thirty-six righteous who sustain the world

[One of the 36 hidden?]

A slight digression from my earlier entries on esoteric masters of the Talmud, but not much of one. Think of it as a byway on the theme. A congregant asked me about the Tzadikim Nistarim(Heb.) or Lamed Vovniks/"Thirty-Sixers" (Yiddish).

The Thirty-Six [Righteous] are the minimum number of utterly moral people in each generation that are necessary to sustain the world. The legend evidently evolved from an earlier tradition of interpreting the “thirty shekels of silver” mentioned in Zechariah 11:12 as an allegory for godly people; God ensures there will always be thirty righteous people in every generation.

It also may have roots in the story of Abraham's efforts to save Sodom (Gen. 18), where it becomes evident that any society must have a minimum number of decent people in order to survive (Gen. R. 49:3; Zohar I:105b; Tikkunei Zohar, 21).

In the earliest version of this idea in rabbinic literature, found in Gen. R. 49:3, there are forty-five, “fifteen in Babylon, thirty in the land of Israel.” There is no firm explanation for how the tradition settles upon the number thirty-six (Sanh. 97b). Perhaps it is symbolic of "abundant life": double the number eighteen, the number value of the word chai / "life." According to the “thirty-six” legend, most of the thirty-six are nisterim, unknown, anonymously doing their good work unnoticed by the world. A esoteric prooftext for the number is found in Isaiah 30:18 - "For the Eternal is a God of justice; fortunate are those who wait for Him." In Hebrew, the pronoun "for Him" has the numeric value of 36. Thus the verse is read as "...fortunate are those who wait - [the] 36"
(Thanks to the anonymous reader who called my attention to this Isa. verse)

The reward for their anonymous labors is that they are privileged to directly experience the Shekhinah. One of them in each generation is suitable to be the Messiah (Sanh. 97b; Chul. 45a; Gen. R. 35:2; Mid. Teh. 5:5; Zohar 2:151a).

The fine Holocaust novel by Andre Bart-Schwarz, The Last of the Just, employs this legend, but "christianizes" this Jewish tradition in that the book claims that the 36 are destined to suffer for the sake of sustaining the world. Suffering and myrtrdom is not a big element of the lamed-vavnik tradition

To learn more consult the: Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic, and Mysticism: http://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Jewish-Myth-Magic-Mysticism/dp/0738709050

collection of 80 classic short stories

http://www.gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0607731h.html#s01

Author: Rudyard Kipling, Charles Dickens, Arthur Conan Doyle, Guy Boothby, Guy de Maupassant, Mark Twain, Edgar Allan Poe
Date:
11-MAY-2014
Narrator:
Cathy Dobson
Provider:
Red Door Audiobooks
Running Time:
7 h 55 min
Format 4
A breathtaking collection of 80 classic short stories inspired by different locations, people and customs across the globe.Australia1. "A Visit to Droughtland" by Banjo Paterson"2." The Drover?s Wife", by Henry Lawson3. "Hughey?s Dog", by Banjo Paterson4. "In the Cattle Country", by Banjo Paterson5." An Error of Judgement", by John Barry6." A Strange Goldfield", by Guy Boothby7." The Dog", by Banjo Paterson8. "The Downfall of Mulligans", by Banjo Paterson Asia9. "The Phantom Rickshaw", by Rudyard Kipling10."Moti Guj - Mutineer", by Rudyard Kipling11. "The Mark of the Beast", by Rudyard Kipling12."The Secret Sharer", by Joseph Conrad13."The Monkey and the Queen?s Jewels"14."The Tale of Princess Sambula"15."The Ass in the Lion?s Skin"16."The Talkative Tortoise"17."The Peach Blossom Fountain"18. "The Lute Girl?s Lament"19".Typhoon off the Coast of Japan", by Jack LondonPlus dozens of other classic tales from around the globe!

A.B. 'Banjo' Paterson

( Andrew Barton Paterson )
1864 - 1941

Australian poet and writer

ANDREW BARTON PATERSON IS known to people as Banjo Paterson. The family owned a race horse named Banjo and in his earlier writings for the Bulletin, Paterson used the pseudonym 'The Banjo'.

Banjo Paterson was born at Narambla Station, New South Wales but considered his home on Illalong Station near Yass, New South Wales as his childhood home. Many experiences duringhis childhood, where he was in contact with drovers, bushrangers, and teamsters became the basis for his writings including the Australian Bush Myths.

Paterson was the eldest child of Andrew Bogle Paterson, an immigrant to Australia in 1850, and Rose Isabella (nee Barton). Banjo began his education at the small country school in Binalong and later was sent to Sydney (Gladesville) where he lived with his widowed grandmother Emily Mary Barton. After finishing his education in Sydney, he became a clerk in a solicitor's office. Paterson was admitted as a solicitor in August 1886.

His first published poem was El Mahdi to the Australian Troops.He was only 21 years old when it was published by the Bulletinin February 1885.

Fame greeting Paterson in the publication of his first work, The Man From Snowy River and Other Verses. Published in 1895, it was sold out within a week. For over 100 years, it has consistently outsold any other collection of Australian poetry. It's popularity today is evident is the success of the movie based onThe Man From Snowy River.

Paterson let a very interesting life. His interests included being a crocodile hunter, pearl diver, and amateur sportsman. His interests in politics led him to leave his law studies and become a war correspondent where he covered the Boer War and the Chinese Boxer Rebellion. He continued to travel the world learning first hand about politics.

Abandoning his pursuit of the law, he focused on a career as a journalist. Then while touring Australia in 1902, Paterson met Alice Emily Walker at Tenterfield Station in northern New South Wales. He married her at the station on April 8, 1903.

They made their home in Woolahra, a suburb of Sydney after he was appointed editor of the Sydney Evening News. His two children were born during this period. Looking for a less stressful and confining life, he resigned as editor and bought Coodra, a property in the Yass district. This decision ended in failure and Paterson turned for a short time to wheat farming at Grenfell.

In 1914 Paterson left for England to become a war correspondent during the First World War. Unable to secure a position, he became an ambulance driver instead. He returned to Australia where he enlisted and was commissioned as a lieutenant in the A.I.F. He spent his war years in the Middle East and rose to the rank of Major. Alice joined her husband in 1917 and worked for two years as a volunteer at the hospital in Ismailia. In 1919 the two returned to Australia where he went back to writing. He wrote forSmith's Weekly, edited the Sydney Sportsman along with a variety of fiction, verse and radio scripts. 

Henry Lawson and Banjo debated the aspects of the simple, rustic life of the Australian bush. Their debate in the Bulletin during 1892-1893 came at a time when nationalism was on the rise in Australia. Banjo was often considered a radical of his times for writings such as A Bushman's Song in which he takes the side of the drovers and shearers against the squatters and absentee landlords. 

In 1930 Paterson retired from journalism. The rest of his life was spent writing and enjoying his grandchildren. He was never out of the public eye and in 1939 received the Order of Commander of the British Empire. Paterson's likeness can be seen on the Australian $10 note (Dame Mary Gilmore is on the reverse).

Andrew Barton Paterson was admitted to hospital just before his 77th birthday and died on February 5, 1941.

Banjo was known not only for the song Waltzing Matilda, but also for his attempt to improve the lives of his fellow Australians by exposing their hardships to the public.

Paterson's works include:

• 1889  Australia for the Australians (political pamphlet)
• 1895  The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses
• 1902  Rio Grande's Last Race and Other Verses
• 1905  Waltzing Matilda (music)
• 1905  Old Bush Songs (collection)
• 1906  An Outback Marriage (fiction )
• 1917  Saltbush Bill J.P. and Other Verses
• 1917  Three Elephant Power and Other Stories
• 1923  The Collected Verse of A.B. Paterson
• 1933  The Animals Noah Forgot (children)
• 1934  Happy Dispatches (semi-autobiographical of his travels)
• 1936  The Shearer's Colt (fiction)

The Great Raid

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Great Raid
Theatrical poster
Directed by	John Dahl
Produced by	Lawrence Bender Marty Katz
Written by	Carlo Bernard Doug Miro
Starring	Benjamin Bratt Joseph Fiennes James Franco Marton Csokas Connie Nielsen Motoki Kobayashi Cesar Montano Kenny Doughty
Music by	Trevor Rabin
Cinematography	Peter Menzies Jr.
Edited by	Scott Chestnut Pietro Scalia
Distributed by	Miramax Films
Release dates	August 10, 2005 (U.S.) August 12, 2005
Running time	132 minutes
Country	United States Australia
Language	English
Budget	$80 million
Box office	$10,769,311[1]

The Great Raid is a 2005 war film about the Raid at Cabanatuan on the island of Luzon, Philippines during World War II. It is directed by John Dahland stars Benjamin Bratt, Joseph Fiennes, James Franco, Connie Nielsen, Motoki Kobayashi and Cesar Montano. The principal photography took place from July 4, to November 6, 2002, but its release was delayed several times from the original target of fall 2003. The film is adapted from two books,William Breuer's The Great Raid on Cabanatuan and Hampton Sides' Ghost Soldiers.

The film opened in theaters across the United States on August 12, 2005, three days before the 60th anniversary of V-J Day.

The real-life efforts of Filipino guerrillas are also specifically highlighted, especially a stand at a bridge that delayed Japanese reinforcements. These units fought alongside Americans against Japanese occupiers during the war.

Plot[edit]

In 1944, American forces were closing in on the Japanese-occupied Philippines. The Japanese held around 500 American prisoners who had survived the Bataan Death March in a notorious POW camp at Cabanatuanand subjected them to brutal treatment and summary execution. Many prisoners were also stricken with malaria.

The film opens with the massacre of prisoners of war on Palawan by theKempeitai, the Imperial Japanese military's secret police (though factually, it was committed by the Japanese Fourteenth Area Army).

Meanwhile at Lingayen Gulf, the 6th Ranger Battalion under Lt. Col Mucci is ordered by Lt. Gen. Walter Krueger to liberate all of the POWs at Cabanatuan prison camp before they are killed by the Japanese. The film chronicles the efforts of the Rangers, Alamo Scouts from the 6th Army and Filipino guerrillas as they undertake the Raid at Cabanatuan.

Throughout the film, the viewpoint switches between the POWs at Cabanatuan, the Rangers, the Filipino resistance and the Japanese.

In particular, the film covers the resistance work undertaken by nurse Margaret Utinsky, who smuggled medicine into the POW camps. The Kempeitai arrested her and sent her to Fort Santiago prison. She was eventually released, but spent six weeks recovering from gangrene as a result of injuries sustained from beatings.

What does it mean to study in order to do?

Pirkei Avos         by Rabbi Dovid Rosenfeld         Print Version To sponsor an edition of the Pirkei Avos e-mail list, click here

Killing Ourselves Chapter 5, Mishna 17 "There are four types among those who go to the study hall. [One who] goes but does not 'do' receives reward for the going. [One who] does but does not go receives reward for the doing. [One who] goes and does is pious. [One who] does not go and does not do is wicked."  This week's mishna contrasts people in regard to their study hall attendance. Before we begin, R. Samson Raphael Hirsch points out that in the time of the Mishna the Oral Tradition had not yet been committed to writing. (The Mishna in its present form was formalized only at the end of this period by Rabbi Judah the Prince (R. Yehuda HaNasi), c. 200 C.E.). Thus, the Torah was typically studied publicly and orally, at first from teacher to student and then discussed among the students. This in itself increased the dynamic, engaging nature of Torah study, contributing to its becoming the living wisdom it is today. Conversely, the possibility of any sort of advanced level of study in private was severely limited. (I hear regularly today from people in the far corners of the earth who never entered a synagogue in their lives, yet who dedicate long hours studying from an enormous assortment of on-line material.) Thus, our mishna views one who does not attend a place of study as one who has very little serious involvement in Torah study -- beyond what he has been taught already and the little he can deduce on his own.  Our mishna categorizes people in terms of going to study and "doing". The term doing is not entirely clear. It would seem to refer to what the person does after he arrives at the study hall. But if he does nothing, of what value is the traveling?  The commentator Rashi explains that one who does not do is one who listens to the lectures of others but does not actively study himself. He is rewarded for the "traveling" -- going as well listening to others, but not so much for the "doing" -- vigorously endeavoring to understand himself.  This is a key distinction in the eyes of the Sages, so much so that one who merely passively attends lectures is viewed as having accomplished little more than traveling to a place of study. The travel was his primary effort; sitting back and listening to someone else lecture is almost the relaxing part (bringing great heaviness to the eyelids, as we all know). True Torah study is something much grander and more intense. The Sages view achievement in Torah as coming through exertion alone.  Numbers 19 discusses certain laws of impurity relating to corpses. Verse 14 states: "This is the Torah [law]: If a man dies in a tent, anyone who enters the tent... becomes impure for seven days." Taking the part of the verse, the Talmud comments: "This is the Torah -- if a man dies:" Torah is only acquired if a person kills himself over it (Brachos 63b). Torah knowledge cannot be acquired passively. Although the initial knowledge will always come from a scholar or sacred text, understanding the material is not where the effort ends; it is where it begins. The student must then analyze, review, and internalize -- often with the help of study partners and colleagues. Only then will the Torah knowledge become his own.  There is a much higher goal required of us in Torah study than the basically passive task of absorbing information. We learned earlier that ideally one should study in order to "do" (Chapter 4, Mishna 6, http://www.torah.org/learning/pirkei-avos/chapter4-6.html). This certainly sounds like an active accomplishment -- not unlike the "doing" of our mishna. What does it mean to study in order to do? We explained there that studying to do does not mean in order to know how to fulfill the commandments. Most of the texts we study discuss laws and practices which have little or no relevance to our daily lives. Further, that would have Torah study as a means alone, while in truth it is an ends -- and an ends like no other. Ideally, we study not merely to know, but to "do" -- to make a change in ourselves and become different people. We study Torah to gain an understanding of G-d's wisdom, and ultimately to understand and develop a relationship with G-d Himself. This requires an enormous degree of exertion, devotion and submission before G-d's infinite wisdom. We build that relationship when we master and internalize the Torah -- when it enters our hearts and minds -- transforming our very beings into Torah personalitiesThus, our mishna tells us that one who merely attends Torah classes but does little to internalize the wisdom is lacking in the most critical aspect of Torah study. He has traveled to a worthy location, and he is certainly in good company. Far better to relax with words of Torah than in front of a TV screen. But his study has at best only begun. What does he do after the lecture? Does he build on his new-found wisdom, deepening and expanding his knowledge? Does he apply it to himself? Or does he move on to greener pastures -- unwilling to put in the true intellectual effort required for accomplishment in learning? Over the years I have both observed and been involved in many Torah study programs geared for the wider community, and they have invariably foundered on this point. It is not so difficult to attract people to an enticing Torah lecture -- in which a lively, engaging speaker selects some fascinating / amusing / timely topic and entertains an audience for an hour. People are more than willing to sacrifice the boob-tube for an evening to attend a Torah lecture (depending, of course, on the prime-time showings that night and the current pro-sports season) -- and only some of them will doze. But when these programs invite people to actually learn for themselves -- say to be paired off with an advanced study partner, the casually interested quickly fall away and pitifully few remain.  This, however, is our ultimate task when it comes to Torah study. Torah study cannot be viewed as a pastime -- something one does without serious commitment and gut-wrenching effort. Sitting back and expecting to be taught -- that everything should be figured out by someone else and spoon-fed to you -- will hardly create a knowledgeable Jew, let alone a Torah personality. And this is for the all-too-simple reason that G-d gave us the Torah not merely as a code of laws and ethics. It is a tool: for seeking and discovering G-d and His truths, and in so doing discovering ourselves. And it must be done by us alone. G-d will not come to us, nor can anyone else truly bring Him to us. We, and only we, can take possession of the Torah, making it -- and G-d -- a part of our lives.

ANTIGONUS OF SOCHO ; THE SADDUCEES

Antigonus, from Socho7, received it8
from Shimon the Righteous. He was
wont to say, "Do not be like those
slaves who serve their master only
because they want a reward. Rather, be
like those slaves who serve their master,
regardless of any reward9; and may the
awe of Heaven10 be upon you."
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/1581-antigonus-of-soko

ANTIGONUS OF SOKO:

The first scholar of whom Pharisaic tradition has preserved not only the name but also an important theological doctrine. He flourished about the first half of the third century B.C. According to the Mishnah, he was the disciple and successor of Simon the Just. His motto ran: "Be not like slaves who serve their master for their daily rations; be like those who serve their master without regard to emoluments, and let the fear of God be with you" (Ab. i. 3; see Grätz, "Gesch d. Juden," ii. 6, 239). Short as this maxim is, it contains the whole Pharisaic doctrine, which is very different from what it is usually conceived to be. Thus the first known Pharisee urges that good should be done for its own sake, and evil be avoided, without regard to consequences, whether advantageous or detrimental. The naive conception dominant in the Old Testament, that God's will must be done to obtain His favor in the shape of physical prosperity, is rejected by Antigonus, as well as the view, specifically called "Pharisaic," which makes reward in the future life the motive for human virtue. It is impossible that Antigonus could have been influenced by Hellenic views: chronology forbids the supposition. The cause of this ethical superiority was simply that the Pharisees carefully nurtured the germs of higher morality sown by the Prophets of the Old Testament and brought them to full fruition. Particularly Jewish is the second phrase of his maxim; the fear of God is the Jewish correlate to general human morality mentioned in the first half of the motto. Antigonus points out that men's actions should not be influenced by the lowly sentiment of fear of mortals, but that there is a divine judgment of which men must stand in awe. The expression "Heaven" for "God" is the oldest evidence in postexilic Judaism of the development of the idea of a transcendental Deity. It is also a curious fact that Antigonus is the first noted Jew to have a Greek name.

Later legend connects Antigonus with the origin of the Sadducee sect

SADDUCEES (Hebrew, ; Greek, Σαδδου καῖοι):

Table of Contents

• Name from High Priest Zadok.
• Legendary Origin.
• Their Views and Principles.
• Views on Temple Practises.
• Decline of Sadduceeism.
• In Literature.

Name from High Priest Zadok.

Name given to the party representing views and practises of the Law and interests of Temple and priesthood directly opposite to those of the Pharisees. The singular form, "Ẓadduḳi" (Greek, Σαδδουκαῖος), is an adjective denoting "an adherent of the Bene Ẓadoḳ," the descendants of Zadok, the high priests who, tracing their pedigree back to Zadok, the chief of the priesthood in the days of David and Solomon (I Kings i. 34, ii. 35; I Chron. xxix. 22), formed the Temple hierarchy all through the time of the First and Second Temples down to the days of Ben Sira (II Chron. xxxi. 10; Ezek. xl. 46, xliv. 15, xlviii. 11; Ecclus. [Sirach] li. 12 [9], Hebr.), but who degenerated under the influence of Hellenism, especially during the rule of the Seleucidæ, when to be a follower of the priestly aristocracy was tantamount to being a worldly-minded Epicurean. T he name, probably coined by the Ḥasidim as opponents of the Hellenists, became in the course of time a party name applied to all the aristocratic circles connected with the high priests by marriage and other social relations, as only the highest patrician families intermarried with the priests officiating at the Temple in Jerusalem (Ḳid. iv. 5; Sanh. iv. 2; comp. Josephus, "B. J." ii. 8, § 14). "Haughty men these priests are, saying which woman is fit to be married by us, since our father is high priest, our uncles princes and rulers, and we presiding officers at the Temple"—these words, put into the mouth of Nadab and Abihu (Tan., Aḥare Mot, ed. Buber, 7; Pesiḳ. 172b; Midr. Teh. to Ps. lxxviii. 18),reflect exactly the opinion prevailing among the Pharisees concerning the Sadducean priesthood (comp. a similar remark about the "haughty" aristocracy of Jerusalem in Shab. 62b). The Sadducees, says Josephus, have none but the rich on their side ("Ant." xiii. 10, § 6). The party name was retained long after the Zadokite high priests had made way for the Hasmonean house and the very origin of the name had been forgotten. Nor is anything definite known about the political and religious views of the Sadducees except what is recorded by their opponents in the works of Josephus, in the Talmudic literature, and in the New Testament writings.

Legendary Origin.

Josephus relates nothing concerning the origin of what he chooses to call the sect or philosophical school of the Sadducees; he knows only that the three "sects"—the Pharisees, Essenes, and Sadducees—dated back to "very ancient times" (ib. xviii. 1, § 2), which words, written from the point of view of King Herod's days, necessarily point to a time prior to John Hyrcanus (ib. xiii. 8, § 6) orthe Maccabean war (ib. xiii. 5, § 9). Among the Rabbis the following legend circulated: Antigonus of Soko, successor of Simon the Just, the last of the "Men of the Great Synagogue," and consequently living at the time of the influx of Hellenistic ideas, taught the maxim, "Be not like servants who serve their master for the sake of wages [lit. "a morsel"], but be rather like those who serve without thought of receiving wages" (Ab. i. 3); whereupon two of his disciples, Zadok and Boethus, mistaking the high ethical purport of the maxim, arrived at the conclusion that there was no future retribution, saying, "What servant would work all day without obtaining his due reward in the evening?" Instantly they broke away from the Law and lived in great luxury, using many silver and gold vessels at their banquets; and they established schools which declared the enjoyment of this life to be the goal of man, at the same time pitying the Pharisees for their bitter privation in this world with no hope of another world to compensate them. These two schools were called, after their founders, Sadducees and Boethusians (Ab. R. N. v.).

The unhistorical character of this legend is shown by the simple fact, learned from Josephus, that the Boethusians represent the family of high priests created by King Herod after his marriage to the daughter of Simon, the son of Boethus ("Ant." xv. 9, § 3; xix. 6, § 2; see Boethusians). Obviously neither the character of the Sadducees nor that of the Boethusians was any longer known at the time the story was told in the rabbinical schools. Nor does the attempt to connect the name "Sadducees" with the term "ẓedeḳ" or " ẓedaḳah" (= "righteousness"; Epiphanius, "Panarium," i. 14; Derenbourg, "Histoire de la Palestine," p. 454) deserve any more consideration than the creation by Grätz ("Gesch." 3d ed., iii. 88, 697) and others, for the purpose of accounting for the name, of a heretic leader called Zadok. Geiger's ingenious explanation ("Urschrift," pp. 20 et seq.), as given above, indorsed by Well-hausen ("Die Pharisäer und die Sadducäer," p. 45), is very generally approved to-day (see Schürer, "Gesch." 3d ed., ii. 408); and it has received striking confirmation from the special blessing for "the Sons of Zadok whom God has chosen for the priesthood" in the Hebrew Ben Sira discovered by Schechter (see Schechter and Taylor, "Wisdom of Ben Sira," 1899, p.35). In the New Testament the high priests and their party are identified with the Sadducees (Acts v. 17; comp. ib.xxiii. 6 with ib. xxii. 30, and John vii. 30, xi. 47, xviii. 3 with the Synoptic Gospels; see also "Ant." xx. 9, § 1).

The views and principles of the Sadducees may be summarized as follows:

• (1) Representing the nobility, power, and wealth ("Ant." xviii. 1, § 4), they had centered their interests in political life, of which they were the chief rulers. Instead of sharing the 'Messianic hopes of the Pharisees, who committed the future into the hand of God, they took the people's destiny into their own hands, fighting or negotiating with the heathen nations just as they thought best, while having as their aim their own temporary welfare and worldly success. This is the meaning of what Josephus chooses to term their disbelief in fate and divine providence ("B. J." ii. 8, § 14; "Ant." xiii. 5 § 9).
• (2) As the logical consequence of the preceding view, they would not accept the Pharisaic doctrine of the resurrection (Sanh. 90b; Mark xii. 12; Ber. ix. 5, "Minim"), which was a national rather than an individual hope. As to the immortality of the soul, they seem to have denied this as well (see Hippolytus, "Refutatio," ix. 29; "Ant." x. 11, § 7).
• (3) According to Josephus (ib. xiii. 10, § 6), they regarded only those observances as obligatory which are contained in the written word, and did not recognize those not written in the law of Moses and declared by the Pharisees to be derived from the traditions of the fathers. Instead of accepting the authority of the teachers, they considered it a virtue to dispute it by arguments.
• (4) According to Acts xxiii. 8, they denied also the existence of angels and demons. This probably means that they did not believe in the Essene practise of incantation and conjuration in cases of disease, and were therefore not concerned with the Angelology and Demonology derived from Babylonia and Persia.
• (5) In regard to criminal jurisdiction they were so rigorous that the day on which their code was abolished by the Pharisaic Sanhedrin under Simeon b. Shetaḥ's leadership, during the reign of Salome Alexandra, was celebrated as a festival (Meg. Ta'an. iv.; comp. Ket. 105a). They insisted on the literal execution of the law of retaliation: "Eye for eye, tooth for tooth" (Ex. xxi. 24; Meg. Ta'an. iv.; B. Ḳ. 84a; comp. Matt. v. 38). On the other hand, they would not inflict the death penalty on false witnesses in a case where capital punishment had been wrongfully carried out, unless the accused had been executed solely in consequence of the testimony of such witnesses (Mak. i. 8; Tosef., Sanh. vi. 6, where "Bocthusians" stands for "Sadducees").
• (6) They held the owner of a slave fully as responsible for the damage done by the latter as for that done by the owner's ox or ass; whereas the Pharisees discriminated between reasonable and unreasonable beings (Yad. iv. 7).
• (7) They also insisted, according to Meg. Ta'an. iv., upon a literal interpretation of Deut. xxii. 17 (comp. Sifre, Deut. 237; Ket. 46; see also the description of the custom still obtaining at weddings among the Jews of Salonica, in Braun-Wiesbaden's "Eine Türkische Reise," 1876, p. 235), while most of the Pharisaic teachers took the words figuratively. The same holds true in regard to Deut. xxv. 9: "Then shall his brother's wife . . . spit in his [her deceased husband's brother's] face," which the Pharisees explained as "before him" (Yeb. xii. 6; see Weiss, "Dor," i. 117, note).
• (8) They followed a traditional practise of their own in granting the daughter the same right of inheritance as the son's daughter in case the son was dead (Meg. Ta'an. v.; Tos. Yad. ii. 20; B. B. viii. 1, 115b).
• (9) They contended that the seven weeks from the first barley-sheaf-offering ("'omer") to Pentecost should, according to Lev. xxiii. 15-16, be countedfrom "the day after Sabbath," and, consequently, that Pentecost should always be celebrated on the first day of the week (Meg. Ta'an. i.; Men. 65a). In this they obviously followed the old Biblical view which regards the festival of the firstlings as having no connection whatsoever with the Passover feast; whereas the Pharisees, connecting the festival of the Exodus with the festival of the giving of the Law, interpreted the "morrow after the Sabbath" to signify the second day of Passover (see Jubilees, Book of).
• Views on Temple Practises.
  • (10) Especially in regard to the Temple practise did they hold older views, based upon claims of greater sanctity for the priesthood and of its sole dominion over the sanctuary. Thus they insisted that the daily burnt offerings were, with reference to the singular used in Num. xxviii. 4, to be offered by the high priest at his own expense; whereas the Pharisees contended that they were to be furnished as a national sacrifice at the cost of the Temple treasury into which the "she-ḳalim" collected from the whole people were paid (Meg. Ta'an. i. 1; Men. 65b; Sheḳ. iii. 1, 3; Grätz, l.c. p. 694).
  • (11) They claimed that the meal offering belonged to the priest's portion; whereas the Pharisees claimed it for the altar (Meg. Ta'an. viii.; Men. vi. 2).