From:    heb_roots_chr@mail.geocities.com
To:      "Hebraic Heritage Newsgroup"<heb_roots_chr@geocities.com>
Date:    Wed, 17 Dec 1997 02:51:29 +0000
Subject: Sanhedrins in the First Century

To:            heb_roots_chr@geocities.com
From:          James Trimm 
Subject:       Sanhedrins in the First Century

All,

It appears that the Pharisees had their own Sanhedrin.  This
Sanhedrin was the topic of tractate Sanhedrin in the Mishna, Tosefta and
Talmuds.  This Sanhedrin was a council of seventy elders presided over by a
nasi.  Second in command was one of the seventy designated as the AV BEIT
DIN.  This Sanhedrin was presided over by Hillel and his descendants until
the 5th century.  It was made up exclucively of Pharisees and determined
matters of Pharisee Halacha as well as civil maters between Pharisees.

Apart from this Sanhedrin was another one.  This one is mentioned
by Josephus.  This Sanhedrin was a political body which was an instrument
of Rome.  This Sanhedrin was presided over by the High Priest and made up
of Pharisees and Saduceees (but not Essenes or Nazarenes).

I submit that it was the second of these two that condemned Yeshua
and Ya'akov HaTzadik.

This is also important that we realize that the Halachic body
described in Rabbinic literature was only regarded as authoritative by
Pharisees.  The confusion of these two Seanhedrins has resulted in the
false presumption by some in modern Rabbinic Judaism that ALL Judaism must
submit to the Chief Rabbinate of Rabbinic Judaism just as ALLEGEDLY all
Jews did in the first century.

The truth is that the Pharisees, Sadducees, Nazarenes and Essenes
all had their own halachic courts which determined their own Halacha.

In the case of the Qumran community, the "sons of light" did not
run to the "sons of darkness" in Jerusalem to determine their halacha.  In
fact their halacha was unique, and they had their own court.  They
maintained that only the teacher of righteousness could interpret Torah, so
they could not submit to an outside authority.

In the case of the Pharisees, they had their own Sanhedrin which
determined their halacha.  It is the one discussed in Rabbinic literature.
The Pharisees also participated in the political Sanhedrin which the
Sadduceean High Priest presided over, but it was a political and not a
halachic court to them.

In Acts 15 it appears that the Nazarenes ALSO had an independant
halachic Sanhedrin with Ya'akov HaTzadik as Nasi (and perhaps Kefa as AV
BEIT DIN).

Now the modern Chief Rabbinate of Rabbinic Judaism are the
descendant of the Pharisaic Sanhedrin which only Pharisees submitted to.
They are not descendants of the political instrument of Rome (which
Nazarenes and Essenes likely did  not participate in anyway).  Thus
Nazarenes are free to have their OWN independant halachic body appart from
that of the modern chief Rabbinate.

It is also significant that the "conspiracy" to kill Yeshua nad
later Ya'akov HaTzadik was primarily an act of the Political Sanhedrin and
likely spearheaded by Saducees (which sect no longer exists) not by the
Pharisee court which is representative of modern Rabbinic Judaism.

James Trimm

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