From The New York Times, July 27, 1997
By Serge Schmemann
JERUSALEM, July 26—In about 30 B.C., the Maskil, the leader of a strict and ascetic Jewish sect known as the Essenes, emerged from his desert compound to address the Sons of Dawn, disciples who were serving a two-year novitiate before they would be accepted as full-fledged Sons of Light and allowed to enter the community.
The Maskil was taking a risk. He was the bearer of doctrine, the interpreter of God’s purpose, and he could not allow his words to fall into the profane hands of the Sons of Darkness outside the compound.
So when he wrote his speech down on a small, traveling scroll, he encrypted it, using a special set of letters known only to himself and perhaps a group of elders. Only the title, "Words of the Sage to the Sons of Dawn," was in a regular script, presumably so that if the scroll was misplaced, a friendly soul would know to whom to return it.
That, at least, is a possible explanation devised by Stephen J. Pfann, director of the Center the Study of Early Christianity, in Jerusalem, who has spent the last five years deciphering a few documents among the more than 800 Dead Sea Scrolls that were written in unknown scripts.
Mr. Pfann presented his findings at a conference in Jerusalem this week dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the discovery, by a Bedouin shepherd, of scrolls hidden or stored by the Essenes in caves in the Judean Desert, near the Dead Sea.
That great discovery was followed by a complex and stormy history in which more scrolls were discovered, control over the documents changed hands many times, access to the scrolls was bitterly contested, and the caves themselves passed from Jordanian to Israeli control.
To the 300 scholars gathered for the international conference at the Israel Museum, one major satisfaction was that these battles were now behind them and that their conference could concentrate on more familiar academic pastimes of listening to learned papers, comparing findings, and debating interpretations of the desert sect and its impact on both Judaism and Christianity.
"The most significant things about the conference, to my mind, is that a field that was in total disarray a few years ago has seen a complete revolution," said Lawrence H. Schiffman, a scholar of Jewish history at New York University. "The publication of the Scrolls has been a complete success, the materials are getting out to the public, the level of scholarship is at a level never seen before."
Mr. Pfann’s work dealt with one of the last pieces of the scrolls that remained a mystery. Only one more fragment, known as "Undeciphered Cryptic B," remained to be decoded, he said, and the work was almost done. Perhaps following the precepts of the Maskil, he declined to give any hint of what was in it.
Mr. Pfann said his work continued the deciphering efforts begun by Josef T. Milik in 1954.
Using the painstaking technique of counting letters and comparing their frequency in the text to known Hebrew texts, Mr. Pfann unraveled the "Words of the Sage" and several other texts. One, dating to the second century B.C., was an explication of the Book of Moses, followed by a discourse about the need to destroy a house if mildew appears. Another, from the same period, was a calendar setting out a system for following the phases of the moon.
Mr. Pfann’s conclusion was that these texts were basically early drafts of fundamental teachings and that they had been encoded for the exclusive use of the Maskil and other sages until they were fully authorized as doctrine.
"The Essenes held sacred sessions every night to study sacred texts and find their meanings," Mr. Pfann said. "They believed they were called into the wilderness to discern divine revelation in the Torah. So the early stages of their discussion was recorded in code until a final version was prepared by the Maskil.
"He was the visionary. He floated between heaven and earth. He sought revelation in nature, in the movement of the sun, moon and stars."
The calendar, Mr. Pfann said, also seemed to be a draft. It appeared to be an attempt to find a pattern between lunar months and the solar year, with many corrections and changes. "The many corrections in the manuscript indicate that it was an experimental work and a work in progress," he said.
A precise calendar was crucial to the Essenes because the regular movement of the heavenly bodies was believed to be a divine sign that, if properly understood, enabled man to live in step with the designs of the heavens above.
"The Divine was under no obligation to participate in a liturgy that was celebrated according to someone else’s datebook," he said.
But the "Words of the Sage to the Sons of Dawn," is perhaps the most haunting and evocative of the secret texts. Concealed for 2,000 years in a desert cave hidden behind the Maskil’s own private code, the sermon rings with the power of the master emerging from the desert to impress the Essene way on new recruits.
"Lend your ears to me, all sons of understanding, and you who pursue righteousness, do understand my words, and you who seek truth, listen to my words, in all that issues from my lips, for those who know have pursued these things, and have turned to the source of life and to eternal peace without measure," declared the Maskil.
He spoke of the wisdom in the creation of the universe, how its branches reach to the heavens and its roots to the abyss below. He spoke of man, created from the dust of the earth, whose path can be discerned from nature and the Bible.
"Even as the sun and moon and stars have remained in their place, so man should not lift himself up or lower himself below the level to which he is ordained," taught the Maskil.
"Give ear, O wise men, and know how to listen. Men of understanding, increase your learning. You who seek justice, add modesty, and you who know wisdom, add strength and men of truth, pursue righteousness, and you who love kindness, add humility."
