Page "Sadducees" Paragraph 36

The Rabbis, who are traditionally seen as the descendants of the Pharisees, describe the similarities and differences between the two sects in Mishnah Yadaim.

The Mishnah explains that the Sadducees state, “ So too, regarding the Holy Scriptures, their impurity is according to ( our ) love for them.

But the books of Homer, which are not beloved, do not defile the hands .” The Sadducees thus accuse the Pharisees as the opponents of traditional Judaism because of their susceptibility and assimilation into the Hellenistic world.

When synthesized, one can discern that the Pharisees represented mainstream Judaism in the Hellenistic world, while the Sadducees represented a more aristocratic elite.

Despite this, a passage from the book of Acts suggests that both Pharisees and Sadducees collaborated in the Sanhedrin, the high Jewish court.