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Who was the Teacher of Righteousness in the Qumran community's writings?
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Dead Sea Scrolls
Chapter 49 of the Isaiah Scroll from the Dead Sea Scrolls; in the Shrine of the Book, D. Samuel and Jeane H. Gottesman Centre for Biblical Manuscripts, the Israel Museum, Jerusalem.
In the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Teacher of Righteousness is described as a religious genius who founded the Qumran community, a group most scholars identify as the Essenes.12
Despite his central role in the sect's literature, the specific identity of the Teacher of Righteousness remains unknown, and scholars have not been able to definitively identify him. The scrolls depict him as a leader who was persecuted and exiled by an opponent referred to as the Wicked Priestāa figure possibly associated with the Hasmonean dynasty, such as Jonathan or Alexander Jannaeus. The community held the belief that a messianic age would begin 40 years following the death of this teacher.1