The Hasideans were a Jewish religiousparty which played an important role in political life only during the time of the Maccabean wars, although it had existed for quite some time previous. The Hasideans are mentioned only three times in the books of the Maccabees. As a result, they have been the object of much scholarly speculation. Opinions are divided as to whether the Hasideans were the predecessors of the Pharisees, the Essenes or both.
The term Hasid
The Hebrew wordhasid, meaning "pious", was a natural title for pious individuals in every generation. The name "Hasidim" occurs frequently in Psalms in the sense of "the pious". In Talmudicsources the Hasideans appear as martyrs to their faith, as unselfish and long-suffering, as the "saints of former times", as those who compose themselves inwardly for an hour before prayer and enjoy special honor on Sukkot, on the day of the drawing of water. To their party, which died out with Joshua Kaṭnuta, Jose ben Joezer probably belonged. In the Amidah, God's blessing is called down upon them immediately after the Tzadikkim, and in later times they appear in general as the ideal representatives of Judaism, so that "Hasid" has come to be a title of respect. In addition, hasidim became a title for three organized movements in Jewish history. In addition to the Hasidean movement of Maccabean times, these include the Ashkenazi Hasidim and the Hasidic movement. It is unclear if the Talmudic sources above refer to followers of the Hasidean movement, or to individual pious people of no particular affiliation.
Hasidean movement in Maccabees
Analysis
From these sources have been developed the opinions, generally prevalent among scholars, that the Hasideans were strongly religious ascetics, who held strictly to halachah and loved quiet; who founded a society or sect that exercised considerable power and authority among the people; who began the war against the Syrian Greeks after being provoked into rebellion by Antiochus IV, and carried it to a triumphant conclusion. The Hasideans thus became the chief impelling force in the Jewish struggle for independence. Concerning the political role of the Hasideans in this war, Wellhausen has endeavored to prove that it was almost insignificant. According to him they formed an independent association existing apart from the teachers of the Law, which attached itself to the Maccabeans after the latter had won their first success, but which seized the first opportunity to make peace with Alcimus and thus left the Maccabeans in the lurch. The contradictorypassage in II Maccabees, according to which the Hasideans were the chief force throughout the war, Wellhausen regards as a violently interjected protest against the true representation of them as found in I Maccabees. Several modern scholars have agreed to this view, which had already been adopted in part by Georg Heinrich August von Ewald. But even if the justice of this view were admitted, the origin and tenets of the Hasideans would be no less obscure than before. Heinrich Grätz supposes that after the Maccabean victories, they retired into obscurity, being plainly dissatisfied with Judas Maccabeus, and appeared later as the order of the Essenes—a theory which is supported by the similarity in meaning between Ἐσσηνοά or Ἐσσαῖοι and "Ḥasidim", and which has as many advocates as opponents. Others think that the Pharisees were developed from the Ḥasidim. Scholars have until recently started with the assumption that Hellenism "took root only in the upper classes of society, the main body of the nation being wholly untouched by it" and distinguished between the pious, law-abiding majority of the people and the Hasideans as a society of "extra-pious" Jews. However, the sources mentioned do not justify such a view. The συναγωγ σιδαίων of the books of the Maccabees, upon which so much emphasis is laid, corresponds, as has already long been known, to the קהל חסידים of the Psalms, which means neither "sect" nor "society", but only "congregation", with no idea of party. The piety attributed to Ḥasidim in the Talmudic sources is not in any way suggestive of a sect. The supposition that they were a sect closely associated with the scribes, and related to them, rests only on the fact that the two classes are mentioned together in I Maccabees 7:12,13; the genuineness of verse 13, however, has been questioned by Hitzig.
