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Rabbinic Judaism

t the formative period of Rabbinic Judaism the Jews lived primarily under Roman or Byzantine rule in Erets Yisra'el (Palestine) or in Bavel (Babylon) under, successively, the Parthians, Sasanids, and Muslims. This general displacement and lack of self-rule significantly increased the appeal of early rabbinism.

After the destruction of the Temple there had still been hope for its restoration. But after 135 the denial of Jerusalem to the Jews and the plowing over of the Temple mount left little hope that rebuilding would take place in the foreseeable future. Thus "the real work of framing a system in response to the final end of a thousand-year-old mode of social organization fell upon the survivors after 135" (Neusner, Formative 24). There were two factors to which the rabbis had to respond in order to be in a position to direct the construction of a new system. First, in sixty-five years the Jews had gone from being "a polity centered on Temple and state" to a "conglomeration of communities" dispersed to various points throughout the Middle East (Cohen 2). Thus unifying principles were needed that would function well in the specific context of the Diaspora. Second, the rule of Israel by its long line of kings and priests was ended and their place could only

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Rabbinic Judaism. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 12:34, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1708044.html