Editing Pharisees (section)

=== A kingdom of priests ===
Fundamentally, the Pharisees continued a form of Judaism that extended beyond the Temple, applying Jewish law to mundane activities in order to sanctify the everyday world. This was monumental as a practice during this era, as it helped the Jews of the time to truly align themselves with the law, applying even to the mundanities of life. This was a more participatory (or "democratic") form of Judaism, in which rituals were not monopolized by an inherited priesthood, but rather could be performed by all adult Jews individually or collectively, whose leaders were not determined by birth but by scholarly achievement.{{citation needed|date=January 2021}}

Many, including some scholars, have characterized the Sadducees as a sect that interpreted the Torah literally, and the Pharisees as interpreting the Torah liberally. R' [[Yitzhak Isaac Halevy Rabinowitz|Yitzhak Isaac Halevi]] suggests that this was not, in fact, a matter of religion. He claims that the complete rejection of Judaism would not have been tolerated under the Hasmonean rule, and therefore Hellenists maintained that they were rejecting not Judaism but Rabbinic law. Thus, the Sadducees were in fact a political party, not a religious sect.<ref name="Dorot Ha'Rishonim"/> However, according to Neusner, this view is a distortion. He suggests that two things fundamentally distinguished the Pharisaic from the Sadducean approach to the Torah. First, Pharisees believed in a broad and literal interpretation of Exodus (19:3–6), "you shall be my own possession among all peoples; for all the earth is mine, and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation,"<ref name=inv>Neusner, Jacob ''Invitation to the Talmud: a Teaching Book'' (1998)</ref>{{rp|40}} and the words of [[2 Maccabees]] (2:17): "God gave all the people the heritage, the kingdom, the priesthood, and the holiness."

The Pharisees believed that the idea that all of the children of Israel were to be like priests was expressed elsewhere in the Torah, for example, when the Law was transferred from the sphere of the priesthood to every man in Israel.<ref>{{bibleverse|Exodus|19:29–24}}; {{bibleverse|Deuteronomy|6:7}}, {{bibleverse|Deuteronomy|11:19}}; compare {{bibleverse|Deuteronomy|31:9}}; {{bibleverse|Jeremiah|2:8}}, {{bibleverse|Jeremiah|18:18}}</ref> Moreover, the Torah already provided ways for all Jews to lead a priestly life: the [[Kosher|laws of kosher animals]] were perhaps{{Citation needed|date=March 2022}} intended originally for the priests, but were extended to the whole people;<ref>{{bibleverse|Leviticus|11}}; {{bibleverse|Deuteronomy|14:3–21}}</ref> similarly, the prohibition of cutting the flesh in mourning for the dead.<ref>{{bibleverse|Deuteronomy|14:1–2}}, {{bibleverse|Leviticus|19:28}}; compare {{bibleverse|Leviticus|21:5}}</ref> The Pharisees believed that all Jews in their ordinary life, and not just the Temple priesthood or Jews visiting the Temple, should observe rules and rituals concerning purification.{{citation needed|date=January 2021}}