I figure if Geza Vermes couldn’t even decide who it was, then it’s going to be a hard slog for us mortals to figure out! I have no idea. The inspirational leader of the Qumran Essenes. That’s about as far as I’ll go. I’m about 3/4 of the way through Vermes’ English translation at the moment. I have to say, I’m amazed at the similarities between their theology/language and those of the Synoptic Jesus. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if there was some connection between them. But I also think it’s dangerous to divide 2nd Temple Judaism into the rigid “Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Zealots” groupings. While these are useful terms, I suspect there was a lot more grey area and subgroups between them. Anyway, I think it’s a stretch to say that Jesus (or his brother James, according to Eisenman) was the Teacher of Righteousness, if that’s where you wanted to go in this thread!