History

The Second Temple period of Judaism began with a paradigmatic experience and a fundamental question. The experience was “defeat followed by restoration, loss of political standing and exile from the land, then recovery of politics and renewed possession of the land.”¹? Specifically, the Jewish people experienced the destruction of the first temple, exile and diaspora in 586 B.C. then a return to the land accompanied by the rebuilding of the temple.² The fundamental question that followed such an experience was “What had happened?”³ To which the formation of the Jewish canon under the guidance of the priests gave the answer in the form of the Pentateuch. The priestly Pentateuch explained who Israel was, their relationship to the land, and the land and Israel’s relationship to God. The Temple was the key to these answers as it was shown in the Pentateuch as the “center of life.”⁴ From the Temple came the way in which Jews were to identify themselves by separating themselves from others in cultic, moral and ethical practices.⁵ All other sects of Judaism would draw from these answers in some way thus making the Torah normative.

The Second Temple period spanned a great deal of Judaic history and it is sufficient to simply note that, through this period, Judaism experienced various political and military conflicts (Persian, Greek and Roman) which led them back to the answers of the priestly Pentateuch. This period also experienced the development of various sects of Judaism such as the Pharisees, Sadducees, scribes, sages and Essene to name a few.⁶? Each of these forms of Judaism continued to draw from the priestly Pentateuch but emphasizing different parts of the answers given.

There were also developments in education which produced a couple of the groups in Judaism. In the later part of the Second Temple period (2^nd century B.C.), the Second Commonwealth of Judea was established and the leaders of the state where a pair (zugot) which led the Sanhedrin.⁷ This dual rule lasted until the early part of the 1^st century A.D. The last zugot, Hillel and Shammai, where the most well known of the Sanhedrin leaders and would be included in the Mishnah’s list of “rabbi”.⁸?  Hillel and Shammai produced two groups of followers or disciples which studied their interpretation of Torah.  At the end of this period, the Pharisees came out of the school of Hillel and the Sadducees came from the school of Shammai.  The educational developments of rabbi and disciple with development of an oral tradition of teaching called the “tanna” would be the means by which the faith of Judiasm would sustain the fall of the 2nd Temple. The Second Temple period ended in 70 A.D. with the destruction of the Temple by Roman forces.

Just as Second Temple Judaism started with a paradigmatic experience and a fundamental question, so it ended. The end of the period came with the destruction of the 2^nd Temple which, as noted above, had been central to Judaism. The fundamental question remained “What had happened?”  To this question would come the counterpart of the priestly answers of the Pentateuch. Jacob Neusner describes it this way:

It emerged as a Judaism in which each of the elements of the Judaism of Temple and cult would find a counterpart: (1) in place of the Temple, the holy people, in whom holiness endured even outside of the cult, as the Pharisees had taught; (2) in place of the priesthood, the sage, the holy man qualified by learning, as the scribes had taught; (3) in place of sacrifices of the altar, the holy way of life expressed through the carrying out of religious duties (mitzvot, “commandments”), and acts of kindness and grace beyond those commanded (maasim tovim, “good deeds”), and, above all, through studying the Torah.⁹?

These counterparts were the development of Rabbinic Judaism which emerged after the destruction of the 2^nd Temple. It is important to restate that Rabbinic Judaism did not begin with the destruction of the 2^nd Temple but rather emerged out of the ashes.¹⁰ It was the Pharisees and scribes, with their emphasis on the Torah and living the Torah, which preserved and emerged as the principle shapers of Rabbinic Judaism.

Following from the overview of the crisis of identity and way of life for the Jews during Second Temple Judaism and Rabbinic Judaism, it can be observed that the educational developments are integral to the developments of the faith. So learning from the developments of these two educational periods in the context of the story of Judaism can help contemporary Christianity. For as 21^st Century Christianity stands in the ashes of “Christendom”, we are asking an old question “What happened?”  If we have eyes to see and ears to hear then we might be able to glean, from the transition of these two periods, truths that can help us navigate our own crisis of identity and way of life, today.