Page "Essenes" Paragraph 18

According to a Jewish legend, one of the Essenes, named Menachem, had passed at least some of his mystical knowledge to the Talmudic mystic Nehunya ben HaKanah, to whom the Kabbalistic tradition attributes Sefer HaBahir and, by some opinions, Sefer HaKanah, Sefer HaPeliah and Sefer HaTemunah.

Some Essene rituals, such as daily immersion in the mikveh, coincide with contemporary Hasidic practices ; some historians had also suggested, that name " Essene " is a Hellenized form of the word " Hasidim " or " Hasid " (" pious ones ").

However, the legendary connections between Essene and Kabbalistic tradition are not verified by modern historians.