Was or was not Judaism multi cultural?
I think we need to be a bit careful with this line of questioning. Yes, Judaism was multi-cultural. But what does that really mean? Judaism was multi-cultural because Jews were multi-cultural. They were influenced, as everyone is, by a variety of cultures. There were Jewish populations in diverse areas as well. So yes, they were multi-cultural, but what does it really mean.
Were there not factual divisions in Judaism. "Sects"
There were divisions. And most did not fall into any of the "major" divisions, as mentioned by Josephus.
And within each division, there were more divisions. Judaism was somewhat fluid, and often entertained a great deal of interfaith debate and dialogue.
Does the bible not mention divisions of more Hellenistic sects from more traditional sects?
Is the Bible a good source for this though? The Hebrew Bible has a tendency to try to make Judaism look as if it was a unified whole, when it clearly was not. The authors also were not above polemics.
In the NT, only twice are "Hellenists" mentioned, as in Hellenistic Jews, and both times it is within a polemic. So it is not a credible source of information. Especially when the term seems to really serve no purpose but to be derogatory.
If we use the definition of Hellenist, as Legion gave, it was a Jew who spoke Greek. But clearly, in this instance, even those who were against the "Hellenists" (the "Hebrews" in Acts), knew Greek enough to converse with them. So it seems, again, to be useless.
The NT simply is not a good source to really delve into the idea of different divisions of Judaism, as it really is full of polemic. The description we get of Pharisees, for instance, is quite incompatible with what we actually know.
Were Galilean Jews, Zealots who did not use Greek, less Hellenized then those in Jerusalem and Sepphoris who spoke Greek?
Zealots, from what can be known about them, were not from Galilee. They functioned in Judea.
We don't know if they used Greek or not. There is no reason to think they didn't though. It wasn't against Hellenism that they were rebelling. It was against Rome, and those who collaborated with the Romans. The Roman language was Latin.
It also appears that the Zealots were often located in Jerusalem, as that is where much of their activity is seen. Where they less Hellenized than some other Jews? Sure, but they were still Hellenized.
Did most Jews hate the Saducees?
I wouldn't say so. Yes, there was disputes, and differences, but that does not translate to hate.
And that is neither here nor there. Would it matter if people hated the Sadducees? No. Because people hate the social elite and people in charge today as well. It doesn't distinguish who they actually were.
Did Galileans hate them more?
Who knows. That answer really can't be answered as we don't have much writing about the Sadducees to make a rational conclusion, nor do we have much writing about Galileans either. To make a conclusion would be hasty.
