They’re good answers (and good questions)! We should also add what the Pharisees (and Sadducees) thought.

Here is a summary of the most important points I see in Wikipedia. Jump off as you like. These are important notes that Christian pastors often prefer to avoid.

• The Pharisees (/ˈfærəsiːz/; Hebrew: פְּרוּשִׁים, romanized: Pərūšīm, lit. 'separated ones')
• social movement and school of thought in the Levant during Second Temple Judaism (600BC-70AD).
• became the foundational, liturgical, and ritualistic basis for Rabbinic Judaism.
• One conflict was cultural, between those who favored Hellenization (the Sadducees) and those who resisted it (the Pharisees).
• Another was juridical-religious, between those who emphasized the importance of the Temple with its rites and services, and those who emphasized the importance of other Mosaic Laws. (who was who?)
• A specifically religious point of conflict involved different interpretations of the Torah and how to apply it to current Jewish life, with Sadducees recognizing only the Written Torah and rejecting Prophets, Writings, and doctrines such as the Oral Torah and the resurrection of the dead.. Doth I detect a Pre-Hegelian Hegelian Dialect?
• Pharisees claimed Mosaic authority for their interpretation[5] of Jewish religious law, while Sadducees represented the authority of the priestly privileges and prerogatives established since the days of Solomon, when Zadok, their ancestor, officiated as high priest.
• While the writers record hostilities between the Pharisees and Jesus, they also reference Pharisees who believed in him, including Nicodemus, who said it is known that Jesus is a teacher sent from God,[6] Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple,[7] and an unknown number of "those of the party of the Pharisees who believed",[8] among them the Apostle Paul – a student of Gamaliel,[9] who warned the Sanhedrin that opposing the disciples of Jesus could prove to be tantamount to opposing God
• Yitzhak Isaac Halevi characterizing the Sadducees (Elites) and Pharisees (Commoners) as political sects, not religious ones.
• Talmud-expert Louis Finkelstein suggest that "Pharisee" derives from the Aramaic words pārsāh or parsāh, meaning "Persian" or "Persianizer". Harvard University scholar Shaye J. D. Cohen denies this, stating: "Practically all scholars now agree that the name "Pharisee" derives from the Hebrew and Aramaic parush or persushi." (There is a famous saying in Judaism, “ask two Rabbis their opinion, get three responses”)
• 1 and 2 Maccabees, two deuterocanonical books in the Bible, focus on the Jews' revolt against the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes and concludes with the defeat of his general, Nicanor, in 161 BCE by Judas Maccabeus, the hero of the work. It included several theological points - prayer for the dead, the last judgment, intercession of saints, and martyrology. The non-canonical text known as the Gospel of Peter also alludes to the Pharisees.
• While most Jews could not regularly attend the Temple service, they could meet at the synagogue for morning, afternoon and evening prayers. On Mondays, Thursdays and Shabbats, a weekly Torah portion was read publicly in the synagogues, following the tradition of public Torah readings instituted by Ezra. Hardcore!
• One of the factors that distinguished the Pharisees from other groups prior to the destruction of the Temple was their belief that all Jews had to observe the purity laws (which applied to the Temple service) outside the Temple. The major difference, however, was the continued adherence of the Pharisees to the laws and traditions of the Jewish people in the face of assimilation. As Josephus noted, the Pharisees were considered the most expert and accurate expositors of Jewish law.
• An example of this differing approach is the interpretation of, "an eye in place of an eye". The Pharisaic understanding was that the value of an eye was to be paid by the perpetrator.[33] (Those jerks!) In the Sadducees' view the words were given a more literal interpretation, in which the offender's eye would be removed.
• Later texts like the Mishnah and the Talmud record a host of rulings by rabbis, some of whom are believed to be from among the Pharisees, concerning sacrifices and other ritual practices in the Temple, torts, criminal law, and governance. (This relates to something I noted about the Talmud a few days ago. It is partly, effectively, a recording of “Common Law” rulings against the written Torah. Think of our common law precedent today. There are certainly many precedents in our law that are total crap and need to be overturned. Very certainly many Talmudic rulings as well, especially as it is much older, among other issues.)
• Pharisees also opened Jerusalem's gates to the Romans, and actively supported them against the Sadducean faction. (!!!)

I’m going to dig more on this. There’s a reason these things are surfacing now.

They’re good answers (and good questions)! We should also add what the Pharisees (and Sadducees) thought.

Here is a summary of the most important points I see in Wikipedia. Jump off as you like. These are important notes that Christian pastors often prefer to avoid.

• The Pharisees (/ˈfærəsiːz/; Hebrew: פְּרוּשִׁים, romanized: Pərūšīm, lit. 'separated ones')
• social movement and school of thought in the Levant during Second Temple Judaism (600BC-70AD).
• became the foundational, liturgical, and ritualistic basis for Rabbinic Judaism.
• One conflict was cultural, between those who favored Hellenization (the Sadducees) and those who resisted it (the Pharisees).
• Another was juridical-religious, between those who emphasized the importance of the Temple with its rites and services, and those who emphasized the importance of other Mosaic Laws. (who was who?)
• A specifically religious point of conflict involved different interpretations of the Torah and how to apply it to current Jewish life, with Sadducees recognizing only the Written Torah and rejecting Prophets, Writings, and doctrines such as the Oral Torah and the resurrection of the dead.. Doth I detect a Pre-Hegelian Hegelian Dialect?
• Pharisees claimed Mosaic authority for their interpretation[5] of Jewish religious law, while Sadducees represented the authority of the priestly privileges and prerogatives established since the days of Solomon, when Zadok, their ancestor, officiated as high priest.
• While the writers record hostilities between the Pharisees and Jesus, they also reference Pharisees who believed in him, including Nicodemus, who said it is known that Jesus is a teacher sent from God,[6] Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple,[7] and an unknown number of "those of the party of the Pharisees who believed",[8] among them the Apostle Paul – a student of Gamaliel,[9] who warned the Sanhedrin that opposing the disciples of Jesus could prove to be tantamount to opposing God
• Yitzhak Isaac Halevi characterizing the Sadducees (Elites) and Pharisees (Commoners) as political sects, not religious ones.
• Talmud-expert Louis Finkelstein suggest that "Pharisee" derives from the Aramaic words pārsāh or parsāh, meaning "Persian" or "Persianizer". Harvard University scholar Shaye J. D. Cohen denies this, stating: "Practically all scholars now agree that the name "Pharisee" derives from the Hebrew and Aramaic parush or persushi." (There is a famous saying in Judaism, “ask two Rabbis their opinion, get three responses”)
• 1 and 2 Maccabees, two deuterocanonical books in the Bible, focus on the Jews' revolt against the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes and concludes with the defeat of his general, Nicanor, in 161 BCE by Judas Maccabeus, the hero of the work. It included several theological points - prayer for the dead, the last judgment, intercession of saints, and martyrology. The non-canonical text known as the Gospel of Peter also alludes to the Pharisees.
• While most Jews could not regularly attend the Temple service, they could meet at the synagogue for morning, afternoon and evening prayers. On Mondays, Thursdays and Shabbats, a weekly Torah portion was read publicly in the synagogues, following the tradition of public Torah readings instituted by Ezra. Hardcore!
• One of the factors that distinguished the Pharisees from other groups prior to the destruction of the Temple was their belief that all Jews had to observe the purity laws (which applied to the Temple service) outside the Temple. The major difference, however, was the continued adherence of the Pharisees to the laws and traditions of the Jewish people in the face of assimilation. As Josephus noted, the Pharisees were considered the most expert and accurate expositors of Jewish law.
• An example of this differing approach is the interpretation of, "an eye in place of an eye". The Pharisaic understanding was that the value of an eye was to be paid by the perpetrator.[33] (Those jerks!)In the Sadducees' view the words were given a more literal interpretation, in which the offender's eye would be removed.

I’m going to dig more on this. There’s a reason these things are surfacing now.

They’re good answers (and good questions)! We should also add what the Pharisees (and Sadducees) thought.

Here is a summary of the most important points I see in Wikipedia. Jump off as you like. These are important notes that Christian pastors often prefer to avoid.

• The Pharisees (/ˈfærəsiːz/; Hebrew: פְּרוּשִׁים, romanized: Pərūšīm, lit. 'separated ones')
• social movement and school of thought in the Levant during Second Temple Judaism (600BC-70AD).
• became the foundational, liturgical, and ritualistic basis for Rabbinic Judaism.
• One conflict was cultural, between those who favored Hellenization (the Sadducees) and those who resisted it (the Pharisees).
• Another was juridical-religious, between those who emphasized the importance of the Temple with its rites and services, and those who emphasized the importance of other Mosaic Laws. (who was who?)
• A specifically religious point of conflict involved different interpretations of the Torah and how to apply it to current Jewish life, with Sadducees recognizing only the Written Torah and rejecting Prophets, Writings, and doctrines such as the Oral Torah and the resurrection of the dead.. Doth I detect a Pre-Hegelian Hegelian Dialect?
• Pharisees claimed Mosaic authority for their interpretation[5] of Jewish religious law, while Sadducees represented the authority of the priestly privileges and prerogatives established since the days of Solomon, when Zadok, their ancestor, officiated as high priest.
• While the writers record hostilities between the Pharisees and Jesus, they also reference Pharisees who believed in him, including Nicodemus, who said it is known that Jesus is a teacher sent from God,[6] Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple,[7] and an unknown number of "those of the party of the Pharisees who believed",[8] among them the Apostle Paul – a student of Gamaliel,[9] who warned the Sanhedrin that opposing the disciples of Jesus could prove to be tantamount to opposing God
• Yitzhak Isaac Halevi characterizing the Sadducees (Elites) and Pharisees (Commoners) as political sects, not religious ones.
• Talmud-expert Louis Finkelstein suggest that "Pharisee" derives from the Aramaic words pārsāh or parsāh, meaning "Persian" or "Persianizer". Harvard University scholar Shaye J. D. Cohen denies this, stating: "Practically all scholars now agree that the name "Pharisee" derives from the Hebrew and Aramaic parush or persushi." (There is a famous saying in Judaism, “ask two Rabbis their opinion, get three responses”)
• 1 and 2 Maccabees, two deuterocanonical books in the Bible, focus on the Jews' revolt against the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes and concludes with the defeat of his general, Nicanor, in 161 BCE by Judas Maccabeus, the hero of the work. It included several theological points - prayer for the dead, the last judgment, intercession of saints, and martyrology. The non-canonical text known as the Gospel of Peter also alludes to the Pharisees.
• While most Jews could not regularly attend the Temple service, they could meet at the synagogue for morning, afternoon and evening prayers. On Mondays, Thursdays and Shabbats, a weekly Torah portion was read publicly in the synagogues, following the tradition of public Torah readings instituted by Ezra. Hardcore!

I’m going to dig more on this. There’s a reason these things are surfacing now.

They’re good answers (and good questions)! We should also add what the Pharisees (and Sadducees) thought.

Here is a summary of the most important points I see in Wikipedia. Jump off as you like. These are important notes that Christian pastors often prefer to avoid.

• The Pharisees (/ˈfærəsiːz/; Hebrew: פְּרוּשִׁים, romanized: Pərūšīm, lit. 'separated ones')
• social movement and school of thought in the Levant during Second Temple Judaism (600BC-70AD).
• became the foundational, liturgical, and ritualistic basis for Rabbinic Judaism.
• One conflict was cultural, between those who favored Hellenization (the Sadducees) and those who resisted it (the Pharisees).
• Another was juridical-religious, between those who emphasized the importance of the Temple with its rites and services, and those who emphasized the importance of other Mosaic Laws. (who was who?)
• A specifically religious point of conflict involved different interpretations of the Torah and how to apply it to current Jewish life, with Sadducees recognizing only the Written Torah and rejecting Prophets, Writings, and doctrines such as the Oral Torah and the resurrection of the dead.. Doth I detect a Pre-Hegelian Hegelian Dialect?
• Pharisees claimed Mosaic authority for their interpretation[5] of Jewish religious law, while Sadducees represented the authority of the priestly privileges and prerogatives established since the days of Solomon, when Zadok, their ancestor, officiated as high priest.
• While the writers record hostilities between the Pharisees and Jesus, they also reference Pharisees who believed in him, including Nicodemus, who said it is known that Jesus is a teacher sent from God,[6] Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple,[7] and an unknown number of "those of the party of the Pharisees who believed",[8] among them the Apostle Paul – a student of Gamaliel,[9] who warned the Sanhedrin that opposing the disciples of Jesus could prove to be tantamount to opposing God
• Yitzhak Isaac Halevi characterizing the Sadducees (Elites) and Pharisees (Commoners) as political sects, not religious ones.
• Talmud-expert Louis Finkelstein suggest that "Pharisee" derives from the Aramaic words pārsāh or parsāh, meaning "Persian" or "Persianizer". Harvard University scholar Shaye J. D. Cohen denies this, stating: "Practically all scholars now agree that the name "Pharisee" derives from the Hebrew and Aramaic parush or persushi." (There is a famous saying in Judaism, “ask two Rabbis their opinion, get three responses”)
• 1 and 2 Maccabees, two deuterocanonical books in the Bible, focus on the Jews' revolt against the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes and concludes with the defeat of his general, Nicanor, in 161 BCE by Judas Maccabeus, the hero of the work. It included several theological points - prayer for the dead, the last judgment, intercession of saints, and martyrology. The non-canonical text known as the Gospel of Peter also alludes to the Pharisees.

I’m going to dig more on this. There’s a reason these things are surfacing now.

They’re good answers! We should also add what the Pharisees (and Sadducees) thought.

Here is a summary of the most important points I see in Wikipedia. Jump off as you like. These are important notes that Christian pastors often prefer to avoid.

• The Pharisees (/ˈfærəsiːz/; Hebrew: פְּרוּשִׁים, romanized: Pərūšīm, lit. 'separated ones')
• social movement and school of thought in the Levant during Second Temple Judaism (600BC-70AD).
• became the foundational, liturgical, and ritualistic basis for Rabbinic Judaism.
• One conflict was cultural, between those who favored Hellenization (the Sadducees) and those who resisted it (the Pharisees).
• Another was juridical-religious, between those who emphasized the importance of the Temple with its rites and services, and those who emphasized the importance of other Mosaic Laws. (who was who?)
• A specifically religious point of conflict involved different interpretations of the Torah and how to apply it to current Jewish life, with Sadducees recognizing only the Written Torah and rejecting Prophets, Writings, and doctrines such as the Oral Torah and the resurrection of the dead.. Doth I detect a Pre-Hegelian Hegelian Dialect?
• Pharisees claimed Mosaic authority for their interpretation[5] of Jewish religious law, while Sadducees represented the authority of the priestly privileges and prerogatives established since the days of Solomon, when Zadok, their ancestor, officiated as high priest.
• While the writers record hostilities between the Pharisees and Jesus, they also reference Pharisees who believed in him, including Nicodemus, who said it is known that Jesus is a teacher sent from God,[6] Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple,[7] and an unknown number of "those of the party of the Pharisees who believed",[8] among them the Apostle Paul – a student of Gamaliel,[9] who warned the Sanhedrin that opposing the disciples of Jesus could prove to be tantamount to opposing God
• Yitzhak Isaac Halevi characterizing the Sadducees (Elites) and Pharisees (Commoners) as political sects, not religious ones.
• Talmud-expert Louis Finkelstein suggest that "Pharisee" derives from the Aramaic words pārsāh or parsāh, meaning "Persian" or "Persianizer". Harvard University scholar Shaye J. D. Cohen denies this, stating: "Practically all scholars now agree that the name "Pharisee" derives from the Hebrew and Aramaic parush or persushi." (There is a famous saying in Judaism, “ask two Rabbis their opinion, get three responses”)
• 1 and 2 Maccabees, two deuterocanonical books in the Bible, focus on the Jews' revolt against the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes and concludes with the defeat of his general, Nicanor, in 161 BCE by Judas Maccabeus, the hero of the work. It included several theological points - prayer for the dead, the last judgment, intercession of saints, and martyrology. The non-canonical text known as the Gospel of Peter also alludes to the Pharisees.