B"H

Told You That Contentious Questions Are A Fine Opportunity to Explicate

My interlocutor asked/stated:

So apart from going with your hair uncovered in public ,
(http://members.aol.com/LazerA/headcovering.htm) would you say that
your physical observance of the mitzvos is indistinguishable from
your Orthodox (ie "Rabbinic-Pharisaic") neighbours? Kol Hakavod.

I answered:

06:36 18 Apr 2004
B"H

Virtually indistinguishable.

Anyone who reads the scrolls will see just how similar the Judaism of
the Isi'im was to that of the Prushim. Reading the scrolls feels like
home. They entertained the very same issues that the Prushim did.
It's all so familiar.

The difference resides in their integrity, the clarity of their
thought and their uncompromising stance in observance and against
evil.

It is also evident that they held secrets to the inner Torah that
were not known to the Prushim. They speak about time in a way that is
unknown in the Pharisaic tradition.

There are other matters that they were privy to that the Prushim were
not. It was at Qumran that 600 kilos of ketoret was found and a vial
with shemen meshichah as well.

Truly they were the guardians of the true way. This is evident to
anyone who reads the scrolls with a pure heart and open mind.

Those who don't are doomed to remain in the galut endlessly for
reasons that I will, with God's help, explain in an essay.

Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat