B"H

Abstract

Hidden Theophoric Names and Angelology in the
"War Scroll"


The "War Scroll", 1Q33 (1QM[ilhamah] = 1QWar Scroll [Rule]), is perhaps the most ignominious, and certainly the least understood, of the Dead Sea Scrolls .The "War Scroll" is a mistitling foisted upon the scroll by those who edited and attempted to translate it, despite their ignorance of the depths of the Holy Language. This author takes exception with the Gentile and Jewish researchers alike who are not initiates in the depths of the Hebrew language in their assuming that they know what they do not and who irresponsibly go to press with their conclusions, to much fanfare, leaving immeasurable moral/spiritual and Jewish cultural damage in their wake. It will require decades for Jewish researchers who are truly fluent in Hebrew and familiar with Jewish sources to repair the damage that has been done to the correct understanding of the scrolls. Needing funds as they do, Jewish researchers cannot exclude Gentile interests from the enormous and enormously costly enterprise of editing and researching the Scrolls, some Jewish researchers are not of a mind to do so, and so the damage is ongoing.

Not knowing that the word מלחמה is an anagram/perfect permutation1 for the word מחמלה, the expression חמלה לי and the word חלפה (see Col. XVI, Verse 12), as well as a חלוף for the heart rending prayer כפר נא על כל הדורות, the Gentile researchers were led astray by the little of the Holy Tongue that their eyes can see and arrived at spurious conclusions about that which is written in the scrolls. They yclept the scroll, so lovingly and painstakingly composed and constructed for the sake of bringing peace to the world, סרך המלחמה. This work comes to redeem the honor of the scroll and ransom it from those who keep it imprisoned in Gentile mind-set.

1 By perfect permutation the author intends a result of the performance of a חלוף or חלופים that is an anagram the value of which is exactly equal to the original letter, word, expression, sentence etc. that the חלוף or חלופים was/were performed on. If the חלוף or חלופים was/were performed on letters, words, phrases, etc., that are not themselves nor do they contain any letters that have a סופית form, the anagram will always be a perfect permutation. If however, we perform a חלוף or חלופים on letters that do have a סופית form, or on words, phrases etc., that contain a letter or letters that have a סופית form, and thus the value of the letter or letters may change if it/they is/are placed at the end of a word (and sometimes elsewhere in a word, as we find in the hapax legomenon the word לםרבה, which begins Chapter 9, Verse 6 of the Book of ישעיהו, and is found quite often in the Dead Sea scrolls), the resulting anagram will be either a perfect or an imperfect permutation. An imperfect permutation is the result of performing a חלוף or חלופים in which a regular letter or regular letters have become a סופית or סופיות or a סופית or סופיות have become a regular letter or regular letters after the חלוף or חלופים was/were performed, and thus the value of the resulting value of the anagram is not that of the original letter, word, expression, sentence, etc.

There are Names of Angels that are written quite explicitly, and repeatedly mentioned in the "War Scroll". What, then, is the intent of the author of a work which posits that there are also hidden theophoric Names and Names of Angels in the War Scroll?

בע"ה, we will prove that not only are there hidden Holy Names in the War Scroll, we will demonstrate a more accurate understanding of what the appellation מלאך means than the definition proposed by the Ramba"m and other Pharisaic/Rabbinic commentators.

Most importantly, we will demonstrate that far from being a call to an eschatological war and a description of that war, the "War Scroll" is, in fact, a meditation on Holy Names for the purpose of protecting
כנסת ישראל from the impending disaster that they had brought upon themselves as a result of interpreting תורה in a compromising manner and contaminating בית המקדש השני.

It should always be borne in mind that היחד was founded and led by
בני צדוק and that they lived in accordance with the understanding of תורה of בית צדוק as passed down generation to generation since the time of the first כהן ראש אהרן. The task of כהנים in this world, most especially that of הכהן הראש, is to love peace and pursue peace. How can it be said that היחד were warmongers or that they, G-d forbid, relished the idea of their brethren being slain en masse? Truly, such interpretation of the scroll is in the eye of the interpreter, not in what the Holy Language says. It was, moreover, the task of הכהנים to bring about expiation for עם ישראל and for the Nations. היחד never desisted from this task, even when they could not touch the Temple physically, they called to the Jewish Soul relentlessly and with much personal exertion.

Having had to separate themselves from המקדש because of the impurities that were introduced into המקדש by the Pharisees and the Hellenized Sadducees in Yerushalayim, both of whom colluded with the Gentile government each to their own extent to the detriment of the Jewish People and who monopolized the Temple Service by brute force and bribery; the כהנים who founded היחד, and continued to serve as the moral and spiritual mentors of the society, were unable to perform the physical aspects of העבודה. However, they were able to perform the חלופים, i.e., the internal, moral/spiritual aspect of העבודה, and they did - masterfully.

Far from being an eschatological document written by a group that had become increasingly separatist, disenfranchised and extreme, as is commonly thought, ר"ל, the "War Scroll" is actually a last-ditch effort on the part of היחד to save the Jewish People from disaster. Beneath what appears to be the text to those who merely skim the surface of the text are profound prayers and invocations of Divine Names for the sake of trying to protect the Jewish People.

For instance: in Column XIV, Verse 14 we find the contiguous words:

כיא גדולה מ[חשבת כבו]דכה ורזי נפלאותיכה במרומי[כה

Before discovering the theophoric Names in the above words, let it be understood that the praises of ישראל to ה יתברך in their prayers are mirrored by the praises of ה יתברך of ישראל. The above passage is not only a praise of HaShem, it is meant to remind ישראל of her greatness as a People. The Jews had forgotten that they are an aspect of HaShem in creation and to what purpose they, as a People, had come into creation. The words above were meant to arouse them from their slumber and delusions and bring them back.

Within the words above we find the overlapping theophoric Names:

אהיה, י-ה, הויה, א-ל, א-לה, א-לוה, א-להימ, א-דני, מיכאל, גדליהו, רפאל, רזיאל, אוריאל, פניאל, פנואל, דניאל, נוריאל

If we accept the reconstruction of the text, we can add the Names:

שד-י, גבריאל, ומישאל

to the list of theophoric Names to be found in the passage above as well.

Lest it be thought that the passage above was chosen because it alone contains many theophoric Names, but that this is atypical of the "War Scroll" as a whole, I invite the reader to reread the scroll with an open mind and heart.

The theophoric names in the "War Scroll" are written into the text on various levels of conspicuity. In Column III, Verse 9 the name רזיאל is quite apparent in the form of the expression רזי אל. Discovering the name רזיאל in the passage from Column XIV, Verse 14 shown above requires greater attention and ability to discern names woven into the text. Still greater attention to the internal structure of the text and knowledge of גימטריאות is required to see that the name רזיאל is equal to the Name א-ל taken eight times. The value 248, the value of the name רזיאל, equals the value of the Name א-ל, which is 31, times 8.

If it is true that the name רזיאל is equal to the Name א-ל taken eight times, then it is necessarily true that the word רזי, equaling 217, is equal to the Name א-ל, which equals 31 x 7. The word רזי is equal to the following:

רזי = 217 = מכפר על עון = 1216 = 217 = ישראל מכפרים על הגוים 2215 = 217 = הזהר = יוצא מההיכל = אטהר אתם = שמחת בנותי =
ברירתם החפשית = יכפרו על עצמם

Among the infinity of חלופים for the Name א-ל one is particularly significant in regard to the "War Scroll":

א-ל = 31 = תחית עם ישראל = 2029 = 31

Saying the word רזי and invoking the name רזיאל is praying for
תחית עם ישראל seven (שבע) and eight (שמנה) times respectively.

It should be noted that the name of the number שבע is itself equal to
31 x 12, or the Name א-ל taken 12 times. The name of the number שמֹנה is an anagram/perfect permutation of the word נשמה. The words שמנה and נשמה are equal to the expression יודע כפרה.

חלופים for the name א-היה found in the passage above reveal similar intentions:

א-היה = 21 = קדושים = 1020 = 21 = לכפר למענך

רפאל = 311 = הכפור = שם קדשו = 1310 = 311
עצרת כל הצדיקים מכל זמן ומכל מקום = 3308 = 311

We see from the חלופים demonstrated that the matter of כפרה figures prominently in the "War Scroll". We see that in addition to the many times that the Name א-ל is written apparently in the scroll, there are many times that the Name א-ל appears in the form of words the values of which are multiples of the value of the Name א-ל. We have seen that a חלוף for the Name א-ל is תחית עם ישראל.

Truly, it was the intention of the author/s of the "War Scroll" to bring about expiation for ישראל and to protect their lives, not to bring war upon them.

My work elucidating many more examples will be ready for public viewing sometime next year, אי"ה.

I will have accomplished my task when this majestic scroll is renamed
סרכ השלום.

סרכ = 280 = עיר

שלום = 936 = שם א-לה = עולם צדק א-לה
לב כל בית ישראל עולם צדק = 1935 = 936 = א-לה כל כ"ז אותיות =
א-לה יחודים כל עם ישראל = א-לה יחוד כל האדם עם ישראל


Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
קיץ ה'תשס"ד
DoreenDotan@gmail.com