Returning, the Land of Israel as a Focus in Jewish History
By Benjamin J. Segal
SECTION II THE RABBINIC PERIOD
Overview and Chronology
SECTION TWO – OVERVIEW AND CHRONOLOGY
The Rabbinic Period
In the fifth century B.C.E., Ezra and Nehemiah reestablished a spiritual
and political base for the fledgling community which had returned to Israel
from the Babylonian exile. For more than a thousand years there-following,
the Jews would engage in reinterpretation and redefinition of their culture.
By the time those centuries had passed, all the basic concepts of post-Biblical
Judaism were set. They remained basically unchanged until the nineteenth
century.
Judaism even as we know it today is primarily the rabbinic Judaism formed
during that period. The millennium which witnessed this growth was marked
by a new type of leader and a unique collection of literature. At the same
time, the political history of the period was in constant flux.
The new leaders were the rabbis. Scholarship was the basis of their position
and they saw themselves primarily as students and teachers, interpreters
of the tradition as it was handed down. Unlike the Biblical priests, the
rabbis inherited neither title nor glory. Each student had to earn the title
“rabbi,” which was granted only after much study and proof of
knowledge, acumen and understanding. Unlike the Biblical prophets, who were
understood to be inspired individuals, the rabbis banded together in a group
leadership centered in the academies. Outstanding individuals of course
gained prominence among their colleagues, but the foremost characteristic
of the age was the excitement of deliberation, and the great challenge of
the period was interpretation: understanding and refining the differences
of approach and of substance while maintaining a workable, unified system.
The literature which preserves the essence of those years of learning and
deliberation is the Talmud. In its two sections (the Mishna—collected
statements edited circa 200 C.E.; and the much longer Gemara—collected
statements completed in the fifth-sixth centuries) one finds an ever fascinating
mixture of law, lore, beliefs, practices, customs, ideas, and ideals of
those times. Additional material from the mouths of these same rabbis is
found in the early Midrashim (singular, “Midrash”)— collections
of primarily homiletical material based on the Biblical text.
While rabbinic leadership and literature demonstrate coherence and cohesiveness,
the political history of that millennium is extremely diverse. Although
the first exile ended in 537 B.C.E., the Jews never all returned to Israel.
The Diaspora, the Jewish dispersion, was a fact. Indeed, even within Israel
the periods of actual Jewish control of the Land were few. A brief period
of independence and power began with the Hasmonean dynasty in the mid-second
century B.C.E. However, from Pompei’s conquest of the Middle East
in the mid-first century B.C.E., Rome held effective political control,
and all pretense of independence was lost with the destruction of the Second
Temple in 70 C.E. The messianically oriented Jewish revolt of 132 C.E. was
crushed in just over three years.
Culturally, isolation was nonexistent. Given the political circumstances,
Judaism had to struggle with varied cultural influences, first Greek and
then Roman. Demographically, too, a basic change was taking place. Gradually,
the numerical center of the Jewish people shifted from Israel to Babylonia.
Perhaps more important, as the period ended, the intellectual center also
moved with the people, away from the land.
This was a millennium more basic to the formation of Judaism as we now know
it than the Biblical era. The rabbinic period began with the reestablished
presence of the Jews in Israel after the first exile, and ended with the
reestablished centrality of the Diaspora. The central event—the destruction
of the second Temple and the beginning of the second exile, which would
last nearly two thousand years—naturally forms the focus of concern
about the Land. It is to that millennium, to that literature and to those
rabbis that we now turn to continue tracing the relationship of the people
and the Land of Israel.
The Rabbinic Period—A Chronology
BEFORE COMMON ERA |
EVENT |
-333 |
Alexander the Great’s conquest of mid-east. |
-166 |
Successful Hasmonean rebellion against Syrian domination and oppression. |
-165 to -65 |
Century of Hasmonean rule, including brief period of military domination
over entire area. |
-63 |
Beginning of Roman domination (Pompei conquers Temple Mount). |
-37 to -4 |
Reign of Herod as “king” (under Rome), including massive
rebuilding of the Temple Mount, 19 B.C.E. |
66 C.E. |
Beginning of the great revolt against Rome. |
70 |
Seige of Jerusalem, destruction of the Temple. |
132 to 135 |
Revolt led by Bar Kokhba. Brief independence. Following defeat, Jews
are barred from Jerusalem. |
c. 210 |
Redaction of the Mishna. |
220 to 260 |
Founding of the leading academies in Babylonia. |
c. 390 |
Completion of the Palestinian Talmud. |
425 |
Patriarchate in Israel abolished. |
c. 500 |
Completion of the Babylonian Talmud |
Returning: The Land of Israel as a Focus in Jewish
History / Benjamin J. Segal.
Jerusalem, Israel : Dept. of Education and Culture of the World Zionist
Organization, 1987. xiii, 320 p.; 22 cm.