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While the writings from Qumran mentioned so far might be understood as addressing all Jews or their leaders, a significant body of literature among the Dead Sea Scrolls was produced by and for a particular group of Jews which named itself the Yahad, the “Union” or “Community” (Collins 2010). This group is often presented as a “sect” within Judaism; but whether such terminology might properly be applied to it is currently disputed (Jokintara 2010). The Yahad was a highly organized group, admission to which was strictly controlled and activated in stages: members were required to observe stringent rules of purity; to keep the commandments of the Torah exactly as the Yahad interpreted them; and scrupulously to follow regulations set out by the Yahad, or to suffer penalties for non-compliance. The group apparently regarded itself as Israel tout court. Texts which may be described as “codes” or “rules” for conduct in general and in particular situations are characteristic of this Yahad, and include “the Rule of the Community” (1QS and corresponding documents from 4QS); the “Messianic Rule” (1QS^a); the “War Scroll” (1QM); and “Some of the Observances of the Torah” (4QMMT). The many poetic compositions included in the collection known to scholars as Hodayot (Thanksgiving Hymns) are very probably for the most part products of the Yahad. The lengthy “Temple Scroll” (11QTemp) is not usually regarded as a Yahad document, but it bears some kind of family resemblance to the “codes” mentioned here (Schiffman 1995; VanderKam and Flint 2002). These collections of rules strongly suggest that the Yahad had some greater or lesser affinity in organization, ritual practice, and belief with the Essenes described in the writings of Philo and Josephus. Indeed, some scholars identify the two groups, whereas others are more cautious, arguing that the “rules” may be better understood as witnessing to a number of different, though closely related groups or associations which shared a common vision of what constitutes Israel as a nation, the ways in which she should maintain purity and ensure that she was a holy nation, and her hopes for the future. This is especially so when the evidence of the Damascus Document is scrutinized: this does not mention Yahad, but legislates for a group (or possibly groups) broadly similar in outlook, but differing in several key details from the group described in the Community Rule (Hempel 1998; Collins 2010).