Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

In the history of the struggle to free the Dead Sea Scrolls, the document known as MMT holds a special place. MMT (Miqsat Ma‘ase Ha-Torah, “Some Precepts of the Law”) is critical to the study of Jewish law at the turn of the era. It reveals the basis of the schism between the Dead Sea Scroll sectarians and the dominant Jewish authorities who controlled the Jerusalem Temple. It also helps explain a number of other major Dead Sea Scrolls. And it is important to the study of the development of the Hebrew language.