Sources: 1 Maccabees 2:42, 7:13; 2 Maccabees 14:6; Psalm 149:1 (hasidim as worshipping community).

The Hasidim (Pious Ones, from hesed — lovingkindness/covenant loyalty) were a pietist movement of the 2nd century BC who became the shock troops of the Maccabean resistance. First Maccabees describes them as “mighty warriors of Israel, every one who offered himself willingly for the law” (2:42). They were willing to die rather than violate the Sabbath (1 Macc 2:37–38 — they refused to fight on the Sabbath and were killed, until Mattathias ruled that self-defense on the Sabbath was permissible). The Hasidim are the probable ancestors of two very different Second Temple groups: the Pharisees (who emphasized oral law and popular piety) and the Essenes (who emphasized priestly purity and withdrawal from corrupt society). The split likely occurred when the Hasidim accepted the Hasmonean compromise — non-Davidic priests becoming kings — which the purists who became the Essenes refused. The Psalms of Solomon (~63 BC) and some of the Dead Sea Scrolls may reflect Hasidic or proto-Essene sensibilities. The later medieval Hasidei Ashkenaz (German Pietists, ~12th century) consciously revived the Hasidim name and ethos.