Ismaelites and Egyptians, the latter three of these groups demanding of Alexander to adjudicate in cases involving themselves and the nation of Israel, from whom they had traditionally collected the public tax. When Alexander heard their arguments and saw that they had no real basis of merit, he released the nation of Israel from having to pay monies (taxes) to these public officials.] "On the fourteenth day of [the lunar month of] Tammuz, the book of decrees had been taken away, [a day on which] it is prohibited to mourn" [Original Aramaic: ] [Excursus: On the 14th day of the lunar month Tammuz, a book of decrees relayed by the Sadducees and the Boethusians had been taken away, who would, in all cases, show proof from a written text concerning the four modes of capital punishment, rather than from an orally transmitted tradition and which tradition had previously prevailed and been received by the people, as evinced by the Pharisees. Some have explained here that the Sadducees had formerly possessed a book of decrees outlining which punishments are to be inflicted for the various offences and which thing was not permitted to have transcribed in writing, since the matter was wholly committed to oral tradition. The vindication of the Pharisees over the Sadducees and Boethusians gave rise to this date being held in honor, until the Scroll of Fasting was cancelled altogether.] "On the twenty-fourth day thereof (i.e. the lunar month of Av) we returned to our former judgment" [Original Aramaic: ] [Excursus: This date is explained by Rashi in the Babylonian Talmud (Baba Bathra 115b–116a), although with the variant lunar month of Tevet, as well as alluded to in the Jerusalem Talmud (Baba Bathra 8:1 [21b–22a), and revolves around the Jewish laws of inheritance, where the property of a deceased man is inherited by his sons, but if the man had only daughters, his property is inherited by his daughters upon his death (). The Sadducees, however, in defiance of Jewish tradition, whenever dividing the inheritance among the relatives of the deceased, such as when the deceased left no issue, would perfunctorily seek for familial ties, regardless and irrespective of gender, so that the near of kin to the deceased and who inherits his property could, hypothetically, be his paternal aunt. The Sadducees would justify their practice by A fortiori, an inference from minor to major premise, saying: "If