Note 6 — Chapter I · HEBRAISM AND HELLENISM

I am referring here to what seems to me characteristic of Hebraism in the earlier periods when it came into contact and conflict with Hellenism. In its subsequent development Pharisaism (which gradually absorbed the whole of the Jewish people) avoided undue asceticism and laid stress on the joy of living. “Joyous service” became the keynote of Judaism and Jewish life in the Middle-ages, as it was the keynote of many Pharisees in the first centuries of the Christian era. The Essenes, though highly important in the history of primitive Christianity, had less influence on the main development of Rabbinic Judaism.