The opening columns of the Community Rule describe a yearly covenant renewal ceremony that reads like a cross between a monastic initiation and an ancient Israelite oath of allegiance. Every year, the members of the community would gather to recommit themselves to the Torah as their community understood it—and to curse, publicly and formally, anyone who refused to join them.
The ceremony begins with the priests reciting God's acts of mercy and faithfulness. Then the Levites recite the sins of Israel under the dominion of Belial, the angel of hostility. The members respond together: "Amen, Amen." It is a liturgical drama—a ritual reenactment of the choice between light and darkness laid out in the Two Spirits doctrine.
New members enter the covenant "in the order of their spirit"—the more righteous ranked higher. But there is a warning for anyone who enters the covenant while harboring secret sins: "He shall not be purified by atonement, nor cleansed by purifying waters, nor sanctified by seas and rivers." The text is blunt. Going through the motions means nothing. Internal transformation is the only currency that matters.
The community called themselves the Yachad (יחד), meaning "together" or "unity." They pooled their property, ate communal meals, studied Torah day and night in rotating shifts, and submitted to a strict hierarchy. The penalty for lying about finances was exclusion for one year. The penalty for falling asleep during a communal assembly was thirty days of reduced rations. These people were serious about holiness.