effort, it is likely that the Pharisees were involved with the divisive split between the hasidim and the Hasmonaeans. It is at this time that the Pharisees begin to play a distinctive part in the historical record; according to the usual reconstruction of events, they are the hasidim who broke with John Hyrcanus, and one explanation of the name Pharisees (Heb. perusim, Aram. perisayya, “separatists”) derives it from this separation or withdrawal from the Hasmonaean alliance.14 It should not be suggested