What effect did the ancient Pharisees have on the Jewish people?

Answer 1

While the Sadducees were the Jewish sect of the rich and powerful, the Pharisees helped and supported the lower classes in society. Their openness to new ideas brought about changes in Judaic belief. The Rabbinic Judaism that developed after the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE had its foundations in the Pharisees.

Answer 2

The Jewish group that concentrated on the study, teaching and application of the Torah in everycentury was and is the Torah-sages and their many disciples, from Abraham down to today.
The word "Pharisees," which is based on a Greek misspelling used by Josephus, doesn't convey the meaning which it should. It actually refers to the Sages of the Talmud. (The Hebrew word "p'rushim," to which he referred, means people of temperance; the opposite of epicurean.)
Josephus talks of three groups among the Jews in late Second-Temple times: Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes. This may convey the mistaken impression that the Pharisees were just one "sect" among others, when in fact Josephus himself admits that the Pharisees (Torah-sages) with their disciples constituted the majority of the Jewish people.
Although the Christian Testament portrays them poorly, in fact the Pharisees were very egalitarian. They believed that all men were created in God's image and that all had the same rights, and the same right to an education, etc. They were devoted to the study and teaching of Torah and the education of all people, regardless of status in society. They detested hypocrisy and actively sought it out and criticized it whenever they encountered it. The Pharisees were the only movement to survive the destruction of the Second Temple and were the ancestors of modern Judaism.
Our traditional Jewish beliefs today, including the afterlife and the resurrection, are traditions continuing from the Prophets and the Sages of the Talmud ("Pharisees").

Answer 3

The Jewish group that concentrated on the study, teaching and application of the Torah in every century was and is the Torah-sages and their many disciples, from Abraham down to today.

The word "Pharisees," which is based on a Greek misspelling used by Josephus, doesn't convey the meaning which it should. It actually refers to the Sages of the Talmud. (The Hebrew word "p'rushim," to which he referred, means people of temperance; the opposite of epicurean.) People get the mistaken impression from Josephus that the Pharisees were just a "sect" among others, when in fact Josephus himself admits that they with their disciples constituted the majority of the Jewish people.

Although the Christian Testament portrays them poorly, in fact the Pharisees were very egalitarian. They believed that all men were equal and that all had the same rights, and the same right to an education, etc. They were devoted to the study of Torah and the education of all people, regardless of status in society. They detested hypocrisy and actively sought it out and criticized it whenever they encountered it. The Pharisees were the only movement to survive the destruction of the Second Temple and were the ancestors of modern Judaism.

Our traditional Jewish beliefs today, including the afterlife and the resurrection, are traditions continuing from the Prophets and the Sages of the Talmud ("Pharisees").

The Sadducees, who abandoned various parts of Judaism, claimed no earlier source for their attitudes; and they (like the miniscule group called Essenes) disappeared at the time of the Second Destruction, just like the earlier Jewish idolaters had disappeared at the time of the First Destruction.