GEZA VERMES responds to Rachel Elior's response to his article:

In connection with Rachel Elior’s rejoinder to my essay, The Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls, may I contradict her claim that the classical sources of the Essenes ignore “the priestly context” of the sect. In fact, Josephus, although he wrote for a largely non-Jewish readership unfamiliar with Jewish customs, felt it necessary to allude to the importance of the priests in Essene life. He reported that the Essene food was prepared by priests and that their leaders were priests who presided over the common table and recited the prayer before and after each meal. This is echoed in the Qumran Community Rule where even the smallest congregation of ten men was to be headed by a priest who was “the first to stretch out his hand to bless the firstfruit of the bread...” More indirectly the white garment which, according to Josephus, constituted the Essene uniform was called by him a “sacred robe”. This corresponds to the ceremonial “linen” vestment or “fine white linen”, prescribed for the priests by the Bible as well as by the Qumran War Scroll.