Avot272

24:
Before we leave the biography of Elisha ben-Avuyah and proceed to discuss the teaching which is attributed to him in our present mishnah we should make an attempt to understand the nature of his apostasy. Many suggestions have been put forward over the centuries, some of them more convincing than others. But we must be prepared for the simple fact that no suggestion is any more than that: just an unprovable hypothesis.

25:
Nevertheless, it seems to me that there is one suggestion that can be offered that best fits all the evidence that is available to us (and that has been presented in the preceding shiurim). We noted [Avot 267] how Elisha became disenchanted with esoterical speculation and its attempts to catalogue the heavenly host. We also paid attention to Elisha's embracing of Hellenistic philosophy and poetry [Avot 268] and his complete distancing from the bar-Kokhba revolt [Avot 267] against the Romans. We also pointed out his negative attitude to the niceties of the halakhah which had been so dear to him heretofore [Avot 271]. And, perhaps most importantly, we noted what seems to have been the pivotal point in the change that came over him: his abandonment of any belief in the hereafter and in retribution [Avot 270].

26:
It seems to me that all these developments point in one and the same direction. Of all the possible suggestions that have been offered it seems to me the most cogent suggestion is that Rabbi Elisha ben-Avuyah left Pharisaic Judaism and became a Sadducee! It seems to me that there is one piece of evidence that precludes all the other possibilities. We carefully noted [Avot 271] that his erstwhile student, Rabbi Me'ir, remained faithful to him right up to the end and never gave up hope of Elisha's return to the fold. Rabbi Me'ir showed Elisha honour and was seen in his company even after Elisha had bolted the Pharisaic camp. Had Elisha given up Judaism altogether and adopted paganism (as possibly Yosef ben-Matityahu had done a generation earlier) Rabbi Me'ir would not have dared to be seen in Elisha's presence nor would he have been able to bring himself to show him any honour at all. But if 'all' that Elisha had done was to leave the Pharisees and join the Sadducees there was always hope that he would return.

27:
I think that the best thing I could do now is to present a brief account of the main beliefs and ideology of the Sadducees, as far as these are known to us, and leave the reader to draw conclusions as to the probability of what I have said so far. In order that my own thoughts not be permitted to colour the presentation I have decided to quote directly from the article on the Sadducees in the Encyclopedia Judaica (first edition):

28:
Please note what has been said here: a rejection of the Unwritten Torah [Torah she-b'al-Peh], a rejection of any belief in angels, a rejection of the belief in the resurrection and the eternity of the soul, a rejection of the commandments (such as the Sabbath prohibitions) which had been derived by midrash. I would add but one further historical note: the Sadducees were adamant opponents of the rebellion against Rome in 66 CE. While the party lost its main plank when the Bet Mikdash was destroyed its ideology could not have died out so quickly. Sadduceanism persisted in the generations that followed and, no doubt, they opposed the bar-Kokhba revolt just as they had opposed the earlier one. Eventually, many centuries later, some of the main elements of Sadducean philosophy and ideology would find their way into Karaite Judaism.

To be continued.