Below is an essay I wrote on the Women of Qumran.
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In the ancient sites of Qumran where thousands of scrolls were discovered over the span of the twentieth century that dated all the way back to a sect in the first century, there lies a story; a story of a sect, perhaps as many sects that lived in seclusion and isolation from the rest of the world, following their own self-proclaimed leader, following their own interpretation of the law, living by their own rules. Yet those people, so alone, proclaimed righteousness over the rest of the world. They viewed themselves as the small jug of oil that had to remain preserved in its pure state stored away in the lowest corner on earth, right by the Dead Sea, in the desert, in the village of Qumran.
The finding of the scrolls stored in the caves of Qumran and the work of archeologists gave contemporary man insight into the lives of the people living in Qumran. The problem with speculating about people who lived over two thousand years earlier is that all one can have is merely speculations. The documents that are readable by humans today might have not been kept by all then, most items and carcasses of the people who lived there have disintegrated into the dust and air that disappeared without a trace.
Were there women who lived in Qumran? Although this might sound as an odd question when heard at first, it is quite substantial based on certain evidence and findings. It is evident from the writings on the scrolls and of ancient historians such as Josephus, Pliny and Philo that the dwellers of Qumran were ascetics, who did not see value in physical pleasures, did not own property and according to some, did not own wives. Besides for the accounts of historians, the attitude towards women in the scrolls found near the Dead Sea seems to speak in a denigrating tone towards the female gender. Women are looked down upon as unworthy of trust, as despicable and adulterous creatures that were put into this world. In addition, the graves that were excavated at the main cemetery of Qumran, Chirbet Qumran, seem to be predominantly filled with male body remnants. Although some female carcasses were found along the margins of the cemetery, due to the fact that they were buried with jewelry, and to the fact that their carcasses are only approximately five hundred years old, historians assume that the female bodies once belonged to Bedouin women who have no practical connection to the Jews who lived at Qumran. From what archeologists found in terms of the public dining rooms, the libraries, the tight living courters, it would appear that the members of Qumran lived a communal lifestyle that was almost communist had Marx come a few years earlier, with a single sex population dwelling together in an ascetic life of supposed purity.
Wonderful. It seems clear now that all the members of the Yahad sect living in Qumran were male chauvinist pigs, perhaps not the latter part, but there is definitely sufficient evidence for scholars to make a claim that women were not a part of the structure of the Yahad sect and that they did not reside in Qumran.
If one is to accept the position mentioned above as fact that cannot be refuted, then there is no point in further discussion. Women were not present at Qumran, members of the Yahad sect never married women. And the means Yahad members used to keep their sect filled with live people would be by kidnapping, or kindly soliciting and collecting capable and appropriate young men from bigger cities. There is quite a strong possibility that their philosophy in life was: Why bother having children if others can have them for you?
Except for the Rule of the Community, every single document that was found regarding laws and rules of the community, i.e. the Damascus Covenant, the Rule of the Congregation, the Halachik Letter and the Temple scroll all included reference to women, or to family and seemed to include women within the larger picture of the community. Because of this, some scholars divide the dwellers of Qumran into the Yahad members, which would refer to the more stringent congregants and might be similar to the Priests in Catholicism who engage in a more ascetic lifestyle than the rest of their community, and that the other documents applied to a wider variety of smaller sects that were somehow connected to Yahad. They were the Essenes, perhaps, in contemporary terminology they could be referred to as Modern Yahadox.
Jodi Magness takes the position that female presence in Qumran at the times of the Essenes was minimal: “…This evidence corresponds with that from the cemetery, which attests to the presence of women, but only very minimally.”
Dr. Lawrence Schiffmann gives a tremendous amount of attention to the way women were described in the scrolls, the laws that pertained to them. He uses the written letter of the law to learn about their day to day life, occupation, hobbies, marriages and places in society.
The Damascus Document talks of celibacy as the ideal form of life: "But [emphasis on the but] if they live [in] camps according to the rule of the land, and take wives and beget children, then they shall walk according to the rule of the Torah." (Damascus Document 7; 9-6) The Damascus Document permits marriage, but only as a 'but', as an afterthought, as a second choice. If one stoops so low that he would have to take a wife, at least he should do so according to the laws of the Torah.
Most of the Halachik reference to women is found in the sectarian texts in laws regarding menstrual cycles and therefore, women's purity and impurity, similarly to the mainstream Halachik texts of Pharisees.
Since the Torah often uses masculine language to apply to the female inclusively, or in some cases even exclusively, as the law of not killing a calf with his mother on the same day is referred to as Oto Veet Bno, all written in the masculine. The writer of the Damascus document applies this concept to other areas of the Torah as well, including marrying ones aunt, and he prohibits women from marrying their uncles as well. Quite often, and as will be explained in more examples in this essay, the sectarians take on a most stringent take on the law, making it seem exceedingly difficult to fulfill.
Just because the Damascus document applies laws of men to women, one shall not be carried away by the notion that the dwellers of Qumran were progressive thinkers who preempted feminism and women's lib. The truth is far from it. In fact, the roles of the women as described in the scrolls were extremely traditional. The woman's role is clearly defined as the mother, wife and in the best case scenario, the witness for virgin proof. Dr. Lawrence Schiffman emphasizes the role of the woman in Reclaiming, Chapter “Women in Scrolls”, page 143:
“The Qumran scrolls envisioned women in many guises—as wives, mothers, temptresses, and beautiful captives—and as possessing purity or impurity, wisdom or guile. The texts portray women variously as the embodiment of sexuality, the desired bride, the woman in childbirth. They mandate laws regulating women’s ritual purity. In all cases, we can see that women were very much a part of the lives of most Second Temple Men, who indeed expected to marry and build families. In the same way, I would argue, they were part of the life of the Dead Sea sect.”
In terms of family hierarchy, the mother is given respect. One who wrongs her is punished for ten days. However, the father is on higher pedestal than the mother since one who does not respect him is excommunicated for eternity and not a mere ten days. As the Manual Discipline of the Damascus Document writes: “Whoever complains about the fathers shall be expelled from the community and never return. And if he complains about the mothers, he shall be punished for ten days, because the mothers have no roqmah within the community.”
The entire judicial system, from judges to warriors was entirely in the hands of men. Women were not allowed in many public places and were not able to serve as judges. However, there was one “female” area of law, where they allowed a woman to serve as a witness. In a case of slander against a woman by a man that she is not virgin, women who understood the look of virginity would testify if the rumors are true or not. The life of the woman in question hung in their hands. 4Q159 in the Damascus Document describes these female witnesses as “trustworthy and knowledgeable women chosen by the word of the Overseer.” That is the only referral we have to women being involved in the public arena, and ironically, it is only in a case where a woman is defiled based on ‘female’ issues.
From all the Mikvaot in Qumran and all the descriptions of the obsession Yahad members had with the laws of purity and impurity, one only has to imagine how hard they would come down on the women, who have impure discharges monthly and heavily after giving birth to their child. The Torah commands us to set aside impure people. Bamidbar 5:2-3 “And they shall send from the camp all those who are leprous, have discharges, or have become impure from contact with the dead. Man or woman, they shall be sent outside the camp; send them out that they not cause impurity to the camp, where I dwell in their midst.” Rabbinic interpretation commands that the impure are people of Metzora nature rather than the average person, while the dwellers of Qumran take the verse extremely literally, thereby making women leave secluded lifestyles on the outskirts of the city for at least half of their lifetime! “In every city, you shall set aside places for those afflicted with leprosy and with sores and with scabies so that they do not enter your cities and defile them; and also for those who have flux and for women in the time of their menstrual impurity or after childbirth, so that they do not defile in their midst with their menstrual impurity” (T.S 48:14–17). Not only did they make the mother move away as soon as she gave birth; they took her child away as well! Giving it to a nurse for feeding who was pure, so that the spiritual cleanliness of the baby is preserved: Damascus Covenant scrolls from Cave 4 (4Q226, 6, 2): “[she will] give the child to a pure nurse.”
Maimonides would probably be quite disappointed and misinterpreted if he heard a woman say this, however, I consider myself to be a Maimonidean thinker. I like to think that I live by the Shvil Hazahav, the golden mean. And therefore, I try not to take extreme positions on things in life unless it is an imminent matter of life and death. Considering the fact that my opinion on the women of Qumran will not change much in the world, nor will it affect anyone greatly, I do not feel a need to side with either side of the argument. I was not at Qumran two thousand years ago and therefore do not and cannot know for sure if women were part of the community at all and if they were what role they played. I think I am most comfortable with a position proposed by Dr. Lawrence Schiffman. He says that most men in Qumran were fathers and husbands, who possibly lived elsewhere. They came to Qumran as to a sort of Yeshiva, to commune, and spend time with other members of the sect. After time, they returned home to Jerusalem, or the Galilee, to their homes, wives and children and resumed a somewhat normal way of life.
Bibliography
1)Aharon Shemesh, Qumran
(http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/qumran)
2) Dr. Lawrence Schiffman, Reclaiming
http://scrolls.teachtorah.org/Schiffman%20-%20Women%20in%20Reclaiming.pdf
3) Jodi Magness, The Archeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls, Chapter 8, Women and the cemetery at Qumran.
http://scrolls.teachtorah.org/Magnes%20-%20Women.pdf
