Pharisees

From the Hebrew 'perushim', which means separatists.

A Jewish religious party composed of the synagogue rabbis and their followers. They formed one of about two dozen Jewish religious groups from around 200 BC to 200 AD.

The Pharisees maintained that, in addition to the written Torah, God had handed down an Oral Tradition at Mount Sinai. The Pharisees claimed divine authority for this Oral Tradition. The Pharisees believed that the soul was immortal; there was a divine reward and punishment system that began at a person's death. All actions in this world affected the person's future in the World to come.

It was the Pharisees who were involved with the people in the synagogues, teaching and encouraging study and prayer as Jewish forms of worship. Although apparently supported by most Jews, the Pharisees did not enjoy real political power during the Hasmonean period. However, their representatives did eventually write down a great deal of material that provides us with our historical understanding of that period and forms the core of rabbinic Judaism.