From One Exile to Another: The First Millennium

Beware, the End is Nigh! While Jews were allowed to remain Jewish and were allowed to live in Palestine, they were charged a special tax for the privilege. However, ultimately, the destruction of the Second Temple had much less impact on the reaming Jews than it did on Judaism itself. Sacrifices could no longer be offered at the Temple. High Priests were no longer available to decide how Jewish law should be interpreted.

This was a major turning point for Judaism. The Pharisees, who believed in the study of the written and oral Torah and downplayed the importance of the priestly sacrifices, were in position to revitalize Judaism because their practices weren't dependent on the physical location of the Temple. While the Temple had long been the central focus of worship, a few synagogues had been established around Palestine, where smaller, more prayer-and-study based groups had met. The sages of the Pharisees, who tended to be middle-class merchants or scribes, took the title “Rabbi” (meaning “teacher”), in order to help other Jews learn to study and practice a new kind of Judaism not dependent on the Temple.

Resolutions and messiahs Many scholars suggest that the intense Roman oppression led many Jews to remember the apocalyptic teachings of earlier prophets One well known movement was led by Nazarenes, a group of Jews who were no different than any other Jews of the time, except that they believed that Jesus of Nazareth was the appointed one. Because the Greek word for “messiah” was Christos, these adherents later became known as Christians.

The second revolutionary movement was the second war that was led by a man known as Simon bar Kochba (son of a star) from 132 to 135 CE, who was also considered a messiah by his followers. The Bar Kochba rebellion, as it is known, may have reflected an outpouring of messianic zeal, as well as a reaction to increased persecution by the Roman Emperor Hadrian, who had forbidden circumcision.

Even though this rebellion was much better organized, it was quickly squashed by the immense power of the Roman army. Not only were the leaders killed, but Hadrin also deported almost every remaining Jew from the country, selling most of them as slaves. Around the time of the war, Hadrian renamed Jerusalem Aelia Capitolina and forbid any Jew from entering the city.

The raising of the Talmund Fortunately, many rabbis and their students ended up in Galilee, north of what was Judea. Without their homeland or the Temple, they focused on studying the Torah- both the written and the oral. The first section of the ‘oral’ Torah was finally written down around 200 CE by Yehuda haNasi (Judah the Price). This work, which became known as the Mishnah (that which is taught by repetition), became the cornerstone of rabbinic thought and came to define the new non Temple based Judaism

Exile to Go The Romans were pretty miserable when it came to tolerating minorities. In the first few centuries of the CE, the Romans persecuted both the Christians and the Jews, but then a really extraordinary thing happened. The fourth century Roman Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity, brining much of the Roman Empire with him. (Think of this as Hitler suddenly converting all Germans to Judaism!!)

Unfortunately, while Christianity and Judaism have always basically agreed on morality, monotheism, and so on, Christians have historically been antagonistic to Jews. The Christians in power felt it would be better if Judaism had as little influence as possible. Jews who had been granted Roman citizenship under more- tolerant emperors now found both their religious and civil rights threatened by and Jewish laws – laws instituted to make Christianity more appealing and Judaism less appealing. Example: no more building, rebuilding or repair of synagogues and interfaith marriage was punishable by death.

However, just as Jewish life was becoming really difficult, the Roman Empire pitched deeply into decline. Later in the 4 th century, the vast empire split into two parts: The Western World (centered on Rome) The Eastern World which was renamed Byzantine Empire and centered in Constantinople (what is now called Istanbul) *show video*

As the two empires fought each other and other invaders, many Jews chose to leave Palestine for better economic waters in Babylonia, Italy, Spain, and even as far away as Germany. The Jews who stayed in Palestine compiled a set of commentaries and discussions based on the Mishnah, which became the Palestinian Talmud. At the same time, the great schools in Babylonia were compiling the Babylonian Talmud.