Menahem and Menahem?

[StephenGoranson]

Is Menahem the Essene (Josephus, Ant. 15.10.5, #373-379) identical with Menahem who split from Hillel (m.Hagigah 2.2)?

[Secret Alias]

Unlikely. I don't think any argument can be made for an association between the school of Hillel and the Essenes. The rabbinic reports are difficult to take seriously.

[StephenGoranson]

If the two were identical, it would have to do with a split or dis-association between Menahem and Hillel. Though the name was common then, these were contemporaries, religious leaders, approved by some, disapproved by others. Among those who think they are identical (or plausibly so) are H. Graetz, Geschichte der Juden (1863) 3, 178; K. Kohler, Jewish Encyclopedia; Louis Ginzberg, On Jewish Law and Lore (1955) 101; Israel Knohl; Emile Puech; Nahum Glatzer. Danby, Mishna: "According to another tradition he [Menahem, former Hillel associate] became an Essene."

[Secret Alias]

You also have to factor in the importance of menahem as a messianic title too which makes matters even more difficult. The source for the title is Lamentations

Over these things I weep; my eyes run with water because a comforter to revive my spirit is far from me... Because Menachem is far from me returner of my soul.

So you start with a wide prevalence for the name. You add to that the reference as a title in Lamentations and then let's not forget the gematria associated with another messianic title (Menachem – מנחם = Tzemach – צמח) and the situation is hopeless. For instance while white (Greek) Christians take 'the comforter' to be a name of the Holy Spirit those in Semitic speaking centers influenced by 'heretics' (= cf. Acts of Archelaus, Origen Homilies on Luke) know that the comforter spoken of in John was the name or title of a person. A possible example in antiquity that often gets overlooked is Mani as the common Hebrew dimunitive of menachem (note that the Acts of Archelaus make explicit that Mani claims to be the paraclete and that 'Mani' is a title not Mani's birth name). The argument is a hopeless one then because anyone could have claimed to be the historical 'comforter' assumed the title and went forward. The assumption of names which weren't birth names for vague symbolic or messianic significance seems to be quite common. It has been postulated that Muhammad was not Muhammad's birth name. Paul was not Paul's birth name nor Peter Peter's birth name not Thomas Thomas's birth name etc.

[Secret Alias]

The clearest proof that Mani = paraclete is found in Sulipicius Severus "Manes hic appellatur; eodem quo Manes vel Manichaeus haeresiarcha nomine. Utriusque vero nomen paracletum, sive consolatorem significat." That Mani is a common diminutive for someone named Menachem - make friends with Hebrew speaking Jews who have a friend named Menachem ... or go to these links http://elyon1.court.gov.il/heb/cv/fe_ht ... 499364.htm http://www.izkor.mod.gov.il/HalalKorot.aspx?id=514811 http://www.woodstockfilmfestival.com/fe ... p?id=20592 http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340 ... 11,00.html

Also this inscription at the Meroth synagogue which has the name "Yodan bar Shimeon Mani " where some "suggest Mani is a short form of Menachem" http://cojs.org/meroth_synagogue-_4th-5th_century_ce/

On scholarly studies *in Hebrew) of the origin of the title for the Christian heretic cf. S Rubin's Menahem the Babylonian is Mani the Persian, suppl. to Hashahar, 4 (1873). Interestingly there was an important Jewish family name 'Mani' was was further connected as a messianic title by identifying as an acronym "Min Netzer Ishai" or "descendant of Ishai (Jesse)." I think you get the idea.

[Secret Alias]

On the root of the gospel title 'paraclete' from menahem:

Lamentations 1:2

בָּכוֹ תִבְכֶּה בַּלַּיְלָה, וְדִמְעָתָהּ עַל לֶחֱיָהּ--אֵין-לָהּ מְנַחֵם, מִכָּל-אֹהֲבֶיהָ: כָּל-רֵעֶיהָ בָּגְדוּ בָהּ, הָיוּ לָהּ לְאֹיְבִים

Κλαίουσα ἔκλαυσεν ἐν νυκτί, καὶ τὰ δάκρυα αὐτῆς ἐπὶ τῶν σιαγόνων αὐτῆς, καὶ οὐχ ὑπάρχει ὁ παρακαλῶν αὐτὴν ἀπὸ πάντων τῶν ἀγαπώντων αὐτήν· πάντες οἱ φιλοῦντες αὐτὴν ἠθέτησαν ἐν αὐτῇ, ἐγένοντο αὐτῇ εἰς ἐχθρούς.

In Lamentations 1.16:

עַל-אֵלֶּה אֲנִי בוֹכִיָּה, עֵינִי עֵינִי יֹרְדָה מַּיִם--כִּי-רָחַק מִמֶּנִּי מְנַחֵם, מֵשִׁיב נַפְשִׁי; הָיוּ בָנַי שׁוֹמֵמִים, כִּי גָבַר אוֹיֵב

῾Ο ὀφθαλμός μου κατήγαγεν ὕδωρ, ὅτι ἐμακρύνθη ἀπ' ἐμοῦ ὁ παρακαλῶν με, ὁ ἐπιστρέφων ψυχήν μου· ἐγένοντο οἱ υἱοί μου ἠφανισμένοι, ὅτι ἐκραταιώθη ὁ ἐχθρός

[Secret Alias]

And there are examples of people named Nahum being identified as Menahem cf. Nahum Ben Simai (3rd century) cited as “Menahem ” in Pes. 104a and in M. K. 25b. It is entirely problematic to connect two people by just the name Menahem.

[StephenGoranson]

The proposal that they are identical is not based solely on the shared name. I gave some reasons in my second post. The seven named scholars (and others I could add) give reasons.

[John2]

Stephen Goranson wrote:

"If the two were identical, it would have to do with a split or dis-association between Menahem and Hillel."

If so, I wonder if it could tie in to the idea that the Pharisees and Essenes were offshoots of the Hasideans.

Some scholars attribute the origins of the Pharisees and the Essenes to the Hasideans ... The Essenes and the Pharisees then grow out of a split in the Hasidic movement.

https://books.google.com/books?id=P9sYI ... es&f=false

[StephenGoranson]

I don't suppose that ancient Hasidim were an organized group that had offshoots. I think Menahem became an Essene and that his beliefs and practices made him unacceptable to Pharisees, no longer a tradent of oral Torah.
Before Menahem the Essene was Judah the Essene. Some scholars have suggested that Judah the Essene may be identical with Judah ben Gedidiah (or Gudgeda) who spoke against Alexander Jannaeus at a dinner at which sectarian controversy arose, according to b. Qiddushin 66b. That might make sense if Judah was the Teacher of Righteousness and Jannaeus was the Wicked Priest (as I propose in "Jannaeus, His Brother Absalom, and Judah the Essene"). A detailed study of that baraita recently appeared: Vered Noam, "The Story of King Jannaeus (b. Qiddusin 66a): A Pharisaic Reply to Sectarian Polemic," Harvard Theological Review 107 (2014) 31-58.