Judaism - Talmud, Halakhah, Kabbalah

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With Jerusalem off-limits to the Jews, rabbinic ideology and practice, which were not dependent on the Temple, priesthood, or political independence for their vitality, provided a viable program for autonomous community life and thus filled the vacuum created by the suppression of all other Jewish leadership. 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border-right-sm border-left-sm open"> <div class="drawer d-flex flex-column open"> <div class="left-rail-section-content"> <div class="topic-left-rail-header text-truncate bg-gray-50 position-relative text-right d-flex align-items-center"> <div class="tlr-title px-20 py-15 text-left"> <em class="material-icons text-gray-400 d-lg-none" data-icon="toc"></em> <a class="font-serif font-weight-bold text-black link-blue" href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Judaism">Judaism</a> </div> <button aria-label="Close" class="js-sections-close-button btn-link btn-sm btn d-lg-none position-absolute top-0 p-10 right-0" > <em class="material-icons font-26" data-icon="close"></em> </button> </div> <div class="section-content pl-10 pr-20 pl-sm-50 pr-sm-60 pl-lg-5 pr-lg-10 pt-10 pt-lg-0 bg-gray-50 clear-catfish-ad"> <div class="toc mb-20"> <div class="font-serif font-14 font-weight-bold mx-15 mb-15 mt-20"> Table of Contents </div> <ul class="list-unstyled my-0" data-level="h1"><li data-target="#ref1"><div class="pl-25"><a class="link-gray-900 w-100" href="/topic/Judaism">Introduction</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li><li data-target="#ref35164"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism#ref35164">The history of Judaism</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref35165"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism#ref35165">General observations</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35166"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism#ref35166">Nature and characteristics</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35167"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism#ref35167">Periodization</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref35168"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Biblical-Judaism-20th-4th-century-bce">Biblical Judaism (20th–4th century <span class="text-smallcaps">bce</span>)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35169"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Biblical-Judaism-20th-4th-century-bce#ref35169">The ancient Middle Eastern setting</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35170"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Biblical-Judaism-20th-4th-century-bce#ref35170">The pre-Mosaic period: the religion of the patriarchs</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35171" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Biblical-Judaism-20th-4th-century-bce#ref35171">The Mosaic period: foundations of the Israelite religion</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35172"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Biblical-Judaism-20th-4th-century-bce#ref35172">The Egyptian sojourn</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35173"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Mosaic-religion">Mosaic religion</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35174"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Mosaic-religion#ref35174">The period of the conquest and settlement of Canaan</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35175" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Mosaic-religion#ref35175">The period of the united monarchy</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35176"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Mosaic-religion#ref35176">The religious and political problem</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35177"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Davidic-monarchy">The Davidic monarchy</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35178"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Davidic-monarchy#ref35178">The period of the divided kingdom</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35179" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-period-of-classical-prophecy-and-cult-reform">The period of classical prophecy and cult reform</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35180"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-period-of-classical-prophecy-and-cult-reform#ref35180">The emergence of the literary prophets</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35181"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-period-of-classical-prophecy-and-cult-reform#ref35181">Prophecy in the southern kingdom</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35182"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-period-of-classical-prophecy-and-cult-reform#ref35182">Reforms in the southern kingdom</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35183"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Babylonian-Exile">The Babylonian Exile</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35184"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Babylonian-Exile#ref35184">The period of the restoration</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref35185"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Hellenistic-Judaism-4th-century-bce-2nd-century-ce">Hellenistic Judaism (4th century <span class="text-smallcaps">bce</span>–2nd century <span class="text-smallcaps">ce</span>)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35186" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Hellenistic-Judaism-4th-century-bce-2nd-century-ce#ref35186">The Greek period (332–63 <span class="text-smallcaps">bce</span>)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35187"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Hellenistic-Judaism-4th-century-bce-2nd-century-ce#ref35187">Hellenism and Judaism</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35188"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Hellenistic-Judaism-4th-century-bce-2nd-century-ce#ref35188">Social, political, and religious divisions</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35189"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Religious-rites-and-customs-in-Palestine-the-Temple-and-the-synagogues">Religious rites and customs in Palestine: the Temple and the synagogues</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35190"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Religious-rites-and-customs-in-Palestine-the-Temple-and-the-synagogues#ref35190">Religious and cultural life in the Diaspora</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35191"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Religious-rites-and-customs-in-Palestine-the-Temple-and-the-synagogues#ref35191">Egyptian Jewish literature</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35192"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Religious-rites-and-customs-in-Palestine-the-Temple-and-the-synagogues#ref35192">Palestinian literature</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35193" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Roman-period-63-bce-135-ce">The Roman period (63 <span class="text-smallcaps">bce</span>–135 <span class="text-smallcaps">ce</span>)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35194"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Roman-period-63-bce-135-ce#ref35194">New parties and sects</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35195"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Roman-period-63-bce-135-ce#ref35195">Origin of Christianity: the early Christians and the Jewish community</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35196"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Roman-period-63-bce-135-ce#ref35196">Judaism under Roman rule</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref35197"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Rabbinic-Judaism-2nd-18th-century">Rabbinic Judaism (2nd–18th century)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35198" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Rabbinic-Judaism-2nd-18th-century#ref35198">The age of the <em>tannaim</em> (135–c. 200)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35199"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Rabbinic-Judaism-2nd-18th-century#ref35199">The role of the rabbis</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35200"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Rabbinic-Judaism-2nd-18th-century#ref35200">The making of the Mishna</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35201" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Rabbinic-Judaism-2nd-18th-century#ref35201">The age of the <em>amoraim</em>: the making of the Talmuds (3rd–6th century)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35202"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Rabbinic-Judaism-2nd-18th-century#ref35202">Palestine (c. 220–c. 400)</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35203"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Babylonia-200-650">Babylonia (200–650)</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35204" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Babylonia-200-650#ref35204">The age of the <em>geonim</em> (c. 640–1038)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35205"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Babylonia-200-650#ref35205">Triumph of the Babylonian rabbinate</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35206"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Babylonia-200-650#ref35206">Anti-rabbinic reactions</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35207"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Babylonia-200-650#ref35207">The gaonate of Saʿadia ben Joseph</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35208" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Medieval-European-Judaism-950-1750">Medieval European Judaism (950–1750)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35209"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Medieval-European-Judaism-950-1750#ref35209">The two major branches</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35210"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Medieval-European-Judaism-950-1750#ref35210">Sephardic developments</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35211"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Medieval-European-Judaism-950-1750#ref35211">Ashkenazic developments</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref260811"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Marginalization-and-expulsion">Marginalization and expulsion</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35212"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Marginalization-and-expulsion#ref35212">Conflicts and new movements</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref35213"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Modern-Judaism-c-1750-to-the-present">Modern Judaism (c. 1750 to the present)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35214"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Modern-Judaism-c-1750-to-the-present#ref35214">The new situation</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35215" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Modern-Judaism-c-1750-to-the-present#ref35215">The Haskala, or Enlightenment</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35216"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Modern-Judaism-c-1750-to-the-present#ref35216">In central Europe</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35217"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Modern-Judaism-c-1750-to-the-present#ref35217">In eastern Europe</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35218"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Religious-reform-movements">Religious reform movements</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35219" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Religious-reform-movements#ref35219">Orthodox developments</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35220"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Religious-reform-movements#ref35220">In western and central Europe</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35221"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Religious-reform-movements#ref35221">In eastern Europe</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35222"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Religious-reform-movements#ref35222">Developments in scholarship</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35223"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-Christian-relations">Jewish-Christian relations</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35224"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-Christian-relations#ref35224">Zionism</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35225"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-Christian-relations#ref35225">American Judaism</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35226"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-Christian-relations#ref35226">Judaism in other lands</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35227"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-Christian-relations#ref35227">Contemporary Judaism</a></li></ul></li></ul></div></li><li data-target="#ref35228"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Judaic-tradition">The Judaic tradition</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref35229"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Judaic-tradition#ref35229">The literature of Judaism</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35230"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Judaic-tradition#ref35230">General considerations</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35231" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Judaic-tradition#ref35231">Sources and scope of the Torah</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35232"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Judaic-tradition#ref35232">Prophecy and religious experience</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35233"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Judaic-tradition#ref35233">Modern views of Torah</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref35234"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Basic-beliefs-and-doctrines">Basic beliefs and doctrines</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35235" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Basic-beliefs-and-doctrines#ref35235">God</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35236"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Basic-beliefs-and-doctrines#ref35236">Unity and uniqueness</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35237"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Basic-beliefs-and-doctrines#ref35237">Creativity</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35238"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Basic-beliefs-and-doctrines#ref35238">Activity in the world</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35239"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Basic-beliefs-and-doctrines#ref35239">Otherness and nearness</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35240"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Basic-beliefs-and-doctrines#ref35240">Modern views of God</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35241" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Israel-the-Jewish-people">Israel (the Jewish people)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35242"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Israel-the-Jewish-people#ref35242">Choice and covenant</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35243"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Israel-the-Jewish-people#ref35243">Israel and the nations</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35244"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Israel-the-Jewish-people#ref35244">The people and the land</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35245"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Israel-the-Jewish-people#ref35245">Modern views of the people Israel</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35246" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Humanity">Humanity</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35247"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Humanity#ref35247">The image of God</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35248"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Humanity#ref35248">The earthly-spiritual creature</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35249"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Humanity#ref35249">The ethically bound creature</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35250"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Humanity#ref35250">Medieval and modern views of man</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35251" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Ethics-and-society">Ethics and society</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35252"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Ethics-and-society#ref35252">The ethical emphasis of Judaism</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35253"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Ethics-and-society#ref35253">Interpenetration of communal and individual ethics</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35254"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Ethics-and-society#ref35254">The key moral virtues</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35255"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Ethics-and-society#ref35255">The relation to non-Jewish communities and cultures</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35256"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Ethics-and-society#ref35256">The formulation of Jewish ethical doctrines</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35257" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Ethics-and-society#ref35257">The universe</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35258"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Ethics-and-society#ref35258">Creation and Providence: God’s world</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35259"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Humanitys-place-in-the-universe">Humanity’s place in the universe</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35260"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Humanitys-place-in-the-universe#ref35260">Intermediary beings: angels and demons</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35261" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Humanitys-place-in-the-universe#ref35261">Eschatology</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35262"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Humanitys-place-in-the-universe#ref35262">The future age of humankind and the world</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35263"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Humanitys-place-in-the-universe#ref35263">The king-messiah and his reign</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35264"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Humanitys-place-in-the-universe#ref35264">Secularization of messianism</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref35265"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Basic-practices-and-institutions">Basic practices and institutions</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35266"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Basic-practices-and-institutions#ref35266">The hallowing of everyday existence</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35267"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Basic-practices-and-institutions#ref35267">The traditional pattern of individual and familial practices</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35268"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Basic-practices-and-institutions#ref35268">The traditional pattern of synagogue practices</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35269"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Basic-practices-and-institutions#ref35269">Ceremonies marking the individual life cycles</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35270"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Holy-places-the-land-of-Israel-and-Jerusalem">Holy places: the land of Israel and Jerusalem</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35271"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Holy-places-the-land-of-Israel-and-Jerusalem#ref35271">The sacred language: Hebrew and the vernacular tongues</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35272" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Holy-places-the-land-of-Israel-and-Jerusalem#ref35272">The rabbinate</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35273"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Holy-places-the-land-of-Israel-and-Jerusalem#ref35273">Legal, judicial, and congregational roles</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35274"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Holy-places-the-land-of-Israel-and-Jerusalem#ref35274">Chief rabbinates</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35275"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Holy-places-the-land-of-Israel-and-Jerusalem#ref35275">General councils or conferences</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35276"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Holy-places-the-land-of-Israel-and-Jerusalem#ref35276">Modern variations</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref260812"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Jewish-religious-year">The Jewish religious year</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref260813"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Jewish-religious-year#ref260813">The cycle of the religious year</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref260814" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Jewish-religious-year#ref260814">The Jewish calendar</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref260815"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Jewish-religious-year#ref260815">Lunisolar structure</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref260816"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Jewish-religious-year#ref260816">Months and notable days</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref260817"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Jewish-religious-year#ref260817">Origin and development</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref260818" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Sabbath">The Sabbath</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref260819"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Sabbath#ref260819">Importance</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref260820"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Sabbath#ref260820">Observances</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref260821" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Sabbath#ref260821">The Jewish holidays</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref260822"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Sabbath#ref260822">Pilgrim Festivals</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref260823"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Ten-Days-of-Penitence">Ten Days of Penitence</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref260824"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Ten-Days-of-Penitence#ref260824">Minor festivals: Hanukkah and Purim</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref260825"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Ten-Days-of-Penitence#ref260825">The five fasts</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref260826"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Ten-Days-of-Penitence#ref260826">The lesser holidays</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref260827"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Ten-Days-of-Penitence#ref260827">The situation today</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref35277"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Art-and-iconography">Art and iconography</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35278"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Art-and-iconography#ref35278">The anti-iconic principle and its modifications</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35279"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Art-and-iconography#ref35279">Ceremonial objects and symbols</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35280"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Art-and-iconography#ref35280">Architecture</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35281"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Art-and-iconography#ref35281">Paintings and illustrations</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35282"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Art-and-iconography#ref35282">Music</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35283"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Art-and-iconography#ref35283">Literature</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref35284"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-philosophy">Jewish philosophy</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35285" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-philosophy#ref35285">Pre-Hellenistic and Hellenistic thought</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35286"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-philosophy#ref35286">Bible and Apocrypha</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35287"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-philosophy#ref35287">Philo Judaeus</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35288"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-philosophy#ref35288">Other ancient sources</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35289" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-philosophy#ref35289">Medieval philosophy</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35290"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-philosophy#ref35290">Jewish <em>kalām</em></a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35291"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-philosophy#ref35291">Saʿadia ben Joseph</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35292"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-philosophy#ref35292">The Karaites</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35293"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-philosophy#ref35293">Jewish Neoplatonism</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35294"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-philosophy#ref35294">Isaac Israeli</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35295"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Solomon-ibn-Gabirol">Solomon ibn Gabirol</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35296"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Solomon-ibn-Gabirol#ref35296">Judah ha-Levi</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35297"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Solomon-ibn-Gabirol#ref35297">Other Jewish thinkers, c. 1050–c. 1150</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35298"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Solomon-ibn-Gabirol#ref35298">Jewish Aristotelianism</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35299"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Solomon-ibn-Gabirol#ref35299">Abraham ibn Daud</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35300"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Maimonides">Maimonides</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35301"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Maimonides#ref35301">Averroists</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35302"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Maimonides#ref35302">Gersonides</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35303"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Hasdai-Crescas">Ḥasdai Crescas</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35304"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Hasdai-Crescas#ref35304">Joseph Albo</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35305" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Hasdai-Crescas#ref35305">Modern philosophy</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35306"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Hasdai-Crescas#ref35306">The Iberian-Dutch philosophers</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35307"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Hasdai-Crescas#ref35307">Uriel Acosta</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35308"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Benedict-de-Spinoza">Benedict de Spinoza</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35309"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Benedict-de-Spinoza#ref35309">German philosophers</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35310"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Benedict-de-Spinoza#ref35310">Moses Mendelssohn</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35311"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Benedict-de-Spinoza#ref35311">Solomon Formstecher</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35312"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Samuel-Hirsch">Samuel Hirsch</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35313"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Samuel-Hirsch#ref35313">Nachman Krochmal</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35314"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Samuel-Hirsch#ref35314">Solomon Steinheim</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35315"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Samuel-Hirsch#ref35315">Hermann Cohen</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35316"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Samuel-Hirsch#ref35316">Franz Rosenzweig</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35317"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Samuel-Hirsch#ref35317">Martin Buber</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref260828"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Samuel-Hirsch#ref260828">Emmanuel Lévinas</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref35318"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-mysticism">Jewish mysticism</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35319" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-mysticism#ref35319">Nature and characteristics</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35320"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-mysticism#ref35320">The Judaic context</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35321"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-mysticism#ref35321">Three types of Jewish mysticism</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35322" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-mysticism#ref35322">Main lines of development</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35323"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-mysticism#ref35323">Early stages to the 6th century <span class="text-smallcaps">ce</span></a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35324"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Sefer-yetzira"><em>Sefer yetzira</em></a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35325"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Sefer-yetzira#ref35325">The Arabic-Islamic influence (7th–13th century)</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35326"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Sefer-yetzira#ref35326">The making of Kabbala (c. 1150–1250)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35327"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Sefer-yetzira#ref35327"><em>Sefer ha-bahir</em></a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35328"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Sefer-yetzira#ref35328">School of Isaac the Blind</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35329"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Sefer-yetzira#ref35329">The 10 <em>sefirot</em></a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35330"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/School-of-Gerona-Catalonia">School of Gerona (Catalonia)</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35331"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/School-of-Gerona-Catalonia#ref35331"><em>Sefer ha-temuna</em></a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35332"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/School-of-Gerona-Catalonia#ref35332">Medieval German (Ashkenazic) Hasidism</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35333"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/School-of-Gerona-Catalonia#ref35333">The making of the <em>Zohar</em> (c. 1260–1492)</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35334"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Lurianic-Kabbala">The Lurianic Kabbala</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35335"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Lurianic-Kabbala#ref35335">Shabbetaianism</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35336"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Lurianic-Kabbala#ref35336">Modern Hasidism</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35337"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Modern-Jewish-mysticism">Modern Jewish mysticism</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref35338"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Modern-Jewish-mysticism#ref35338">Jewish myth and legend</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35339"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Modern-Jewish-mysticism#ref35339">Significance and characteristics</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35340" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Modern-Jewish-mysticism#ref35340">Sources and development</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35341"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Modern-Jewish-mysticism#ref35341">Myth and legend in the Bible</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35342"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myths">Myths</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35343"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myths#ref35343">Legends and other tales</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35344"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myths#ref35344">Contemporary interpretations</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35345"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myths#ref35345">Myth and legend in the Persian period</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35346"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-Hellenistic-period">Myth and legend in the Hellenistic period</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35347"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-Hellenistic-period#ref35347">Historiated Bibles and legendary histories</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35348"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-Hellenistic-period#ref35348">Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35349"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-Hellenistic-period#ref35349">Myth and legend in the Talmud and Midrash</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35350"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-Hellenistic-period#ref35350">Midrash and Haggada</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35351"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-Hellenistic-period#ref35351">Fables and animal stories</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35352"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-Hellenistic-period#ref35352">Contribution of Haggada to Christian and Islamic legends</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35353"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-medieval-period">Myth and legend in the medieval period</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35354"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-medieval-period#ref35354">Jewish contributions to diffusion of folktales</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35355"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-medieval-period#ref35355">Hebrew versions of medieval romances</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35356"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-medieval-period#ref35356">Jewish contributions to Christian and Islamic tales</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35357"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-medieval-period#ref35357">Major medieval Hebrew collections</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35358"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-medieval-period#ref35358">Medieval legendary histories and Haggadic compendiums</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35360"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-modern-period">Myth and legend in the modern period</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35361"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-modern-period#ref35361">Kabbalistic tales</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35362"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-modern-period#ref35362">Judeo-German (Yiddish) tales</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35363"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-modern-period#ref35363">Judeo-Persian and Judeo-Spanish (Ladino) tales</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35364"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-modern-period#ref35364">Hasidic tales</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35365"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-modern-period#ref35365">Droll stories</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35366"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-modern-period#ref35366">Modern Israeli folktales</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref35367"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Judaism-in-world-perspective">Judaism in world perspective</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35368" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Judaism-in-world-perspective#ref35368">Relation with non-Judaic religions</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35369"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Judaism-in-world-perspective#ref35369">Exclusivist and universalist emphases</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35370"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Judaism-in-world-perspective#ref35370">Relation to Christianity</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35371"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Judaism-in-world-perspective#ref35371">Relation to Islam</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35372"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Judaism-in-world-perspective#ref35372">Relations with other religions</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35373" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-role-of-Judaism-in-Western-culture-and-civilization">The role of Judaism in Western culture and civilization</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35374"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-role-of-Judaism-in-Western-culture-and-civilization#ref35374">Its historic role</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35375"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-role-of-Judaism-in-Western-culture-and-civilization#ref35375">Its present role</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35376"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-role-of-Judaism-in-Western-culture-and-civilization#ref35376">Future prospects</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></div></li></ul> <a class="toc-extra-link link-gray-900" href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Judaism/additional-info">References & Edit History</a> <a class="toc-extra-link link-gray-900" href="/facts/Judaism">Related Topics</a> </div> <div class="tlr-media-slider pb-10 mb-30"> <a 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They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link font-12 "> The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</span></div> <div class="last-updated font-12 font-serif"> <span class="text-gray-700"> Last Updated: <time datetime="2024-11-27T00:00:00CST" >Nov 27, 2024</time> •</span> <a class="byline-edit-history" href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Judaism/additional-info#history" rel="nofollow">Article History</a> </div></div> </div> <button class="d-flex d-lg-none btn btn-outline-blue border rounded-sm shadow-sm mobile-toc-button gtm-mobile-toc-inline-button d-none d-sm-block js-sections-inline-button module-spacing btn d-lg-none"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="toc"></em> Table of Contents </button> <div class="d-flex d-sm-none flex-row"> <button class="d-flex d-lg-none btn btn-outline-blue border rounded-sm shadow-sm 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See all related content </a> </div> </div> </div> </div><div class="bg-gray-50 p-15 rounded module-spacing recent-news d-flex flex-column float-false"> <div> <h2 class="font-weight-bold font-14 m-0 d-inline"> News <span class="text-gray-600">•</span> </h2> <div class="recent-news-item first-recent-news-item d-inline"> <a class="font-14 gtm-ap-news-link" href="https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/article-830938" rel="nofollow">'Jews kill babies': Chabad facilities in Melbourne targeted by vandalism</a> <span class="font-14 text-gray-600"> <span>•</span> Nov. 26, 2024, 7:44 PM ET (Jerusalem Post) <button class="btn btn-link d-inline p-0 font-12 js-toggle-recent-news"> <span class="text-gray-500">...</span><span>(Show more)</span> </button> </span> </div> </div> <div class="rest-of-recent-news-items"> <div class="recent-news-item mt-5"> <a class="font-14 gtm-ap-news-link" href="/news/307197/52b74577982b34ce2607b693bd51cae7" rel="nofollow">Texas education board approves optional Bible-infused curriculum for elementary schools</a> <span class="font-14 text-gray-600"> <span>•</span> Nov. 22, 2024, 5:39 PM ET (AP) </span> </div> <button class="js-toggle-recent-news d-flex btn btn-unstyled font-14 pr-10 rounded-sm mt-10" aria-label="Toggle additional news items"> Show less <em class="material-icons" data-icon="expand_less"></em> </button> </div> </div><span class="marker before-article"></span><section data-level="2" id="ref35197">  <section data-level="3" id="ref35198"> <h2 class="h3">The age of the <span id="ref299269"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/tanna-Judaic-scholar" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true"><em>tannaim</em></a> (135–c. 200)</h2> <section data-level="4" id="ref35199"> <h2 class="h4">The role of the <span id="ref299268"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/rabbi" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">rabbis</a></h2> <span class="marker PREMOD1 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">After the defeat of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Bar-Kokhba-Jewish-leader" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Bar Kokhba</a> and the ensuing collapse of active Jewish resistance to Roman rule (135–136), politically moderate and quietist rabbinic elements remained the only <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="cohesive" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cohesive" data-type="MW">cohesive</a> group in Jewish society. With <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Jerusalem" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Jerusalem</a> off-limits to the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Jew-people" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Jews</a>, rabbinic <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="ideology" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ideology" data-type="MW">ideology</a> and practice, which were not dependent on the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Temple-of-Jerusalem" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Temple</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/priesthood" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">priesthood</a>, or political independence for their vitality, provided a viable program for <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="autonomous" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/autonomous" data-type="MW">autonomous</a> <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="community" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/community" data-type="MW">community</a> life and thus filled the vacuum created by the suppression of all other Jewish leadership. The <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Roman-Empire" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Romans</a>, confident that the will for insurrection had been shattered, soon relaxed the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hadrian" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Hadrianic</a> prohibitions of Jewish <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/ordination" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">ordination</a>, public assembly, and regulation of the calendar and permitted <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/rabbi" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">rabbis</a> who had fled the country to return and reestablish an academy in the town of Usha in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Galilee-region-Israel" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Galilee</a>.</p><span class="marker MOD1 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD2 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The strength of the rabbinate lay in its ability to represent simultaneously the interests of the Jews and the Romans, whose religious and political needs, respectively, now chanced to coincide. The rabbis were regarded favourably by the Romans as a politically submissive class, which, with its wide influence over the Jewish masses, could translate the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Pax-Romana" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Pax Romana</a> (the peace imposed by Roman rule) into Jewish religious precepts. To the Jews, on the other hand, the rabbinic ideology gave the appearance of <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="continuity" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/continuity" data-type="MW">continuity</a> to Jewish self-rule and freedom from alien interference. The rabbinic program fashioned by <span id="ref299271"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Johanan-ben-Zakkai" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Johanan ben Zakkai</a> and his circle replaced <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/sacrifice-religion" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">sacrifice</a> and pilgrimage to the Temple with the study of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/scripture" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Scripture</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/prayer" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">prayer</a>, and works of piety, thus eliminating the need for a central sanctuary (in Jerusalem) and making Judaism a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/religion" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">religion</a> capable of practice anywhere. Judaism was now, for all intents and purposes, a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Diaspora-Judaism" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Diaspora</a> religion, even on its home soil. Any sense of real break with the past was <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="mitigated" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mitigated" data-type="MW">mitigated</a> by continued <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="adherence" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/adherence" data-type="MW">adherence</a> to purity laws (dietary and bodily) and by <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="assiduous" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/assiduous" data-type="MW">assiduous</a> study of Scripture, including the legal elements that historical developments had now made inoperable. The reward held out for scrupulous study and fulfillment was the promise of messianic deliverance—i.e., the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/sacred" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">divine</a> restoration of all those institutions that had become central in Jewish notions of national independence, including the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/David" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Davidic monarchy</a>, Temple service, and the ingathering of <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="Diaspora" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Diaspora" data-type="MW">Diaspora</a> Jewry. Above all these rewards was the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="assurance" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/assurance" data-type="MW">assurance</a> of personal resurrection and participation in the national rebirth.</p><span class="marker MOD2 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD3 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Apart from the right to teach Scripture publicly, the most pressing need felt by the surviving rabbis was for the reorganization of a body that would revive the functions of the former <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/sanhedrin" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Sanhedrin</a> and pass judgment on disputed questions of law and <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="dogma" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dogma" data-type="MW">dogma</a>. Accordingly, a high court was organized under the leadership of <span id="ref299272"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Simeon-ben-Gamaliel" class="md-crosslink ">Simeon ben Gamaliel</a> (reigned c. 135–c. 175), the son of the previous patriarch (the Roman term for the head of the Palestinian Jewish community) of the house of Hillel, in association with rabbis representing other schools and interests. In the ensuing struggle for power, Gamaliel managed to concentrate all communal authority in his office. The reign of Gamaliel’s son and successor, <span id="ref299273"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Judah-ha-Nasi" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Judah the Prince</a>, marked the climax of this period of rabbinic activity, otherwise known as the “age of the <em>tannaim</em>” (teachers). Armed with wealth, Roman backing, and dynastic legitimacy (which the patriarch now traced to the house of David), Judah sought to standardize Jewish practice through a corpus of legal norms that would reflect accepted views of the rabbinate on every aspect of life. The <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Mishna" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Mishna</a> that soon emerged became the primary reference work in all rabbinic schools and <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="constituted" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/constituted" data-type="MW">constituted</a> the core around which the Talmud was later compiled (<em>see</em> <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Talmud" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Talmud and Midrash</a>). It thus remains the best single introduction to the complex of rabbinic values and practices as they evolved in Roman Palestine.</p><span class="marker MOD3 mod-inline"></span> </section> <section data-level="4" id="ref35200"> <h2 class="h4">The making of the <span id="ref299274"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Mishna" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Mishna</a></h2> <span class="marker PREMOD4 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Although the promulgation of an official corpus represented a break with rabbinic precedent, Judah’s Mishna did have <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="antecedents" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/antecedents" data-type="MW">antecedents</a>. During the 1st and 2nd centuries <span class="text-smallcaps">ce</span>, rabbinic schools had compiled for their own use collections of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Midrash" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Midrashim</a> (singular <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Midrash" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Midrash</a>, meaning “investigation” or “interpretation”), in which the results of their <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/exegesis" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">exegesis</a> and application of Scripture to problematic situations were recorded in terse legal form. By 200 <span class="text-smallcaps">ce</span> several such <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="compilations" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/compilations" data-type="MW">compilations</a> were circulating in Jewish schools and were being utilized by judges. While adhering to the structural form of these earlier collections, Judah compiled a new one in which universally accepted views were recorded alongside those still in dispute, thereby largely reducing the margin for individual discretion in the interpretation of the law. Although his action aroused opposition and some rabbis continued to <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="invoke" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/invoke" data-type="MW">invoke</a> their own collections, the authority of his office and the obvious advantages of a unified system of law soon outweighed centrifugal tendencies, and his Mishna attained quasi-canonical status, becoming known as “The Mishna” or “Our Mishna.” Yet, for all its clarity and comprehensiveness, its phraseology was often obscure or too terse to satisfy all needs, and a companion work known as the <span id="ref299275"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tosefta" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Tosefta</a> (“Additions”), in which omitted traditions and explanatory notes were recorded, was compiled shortly thereafter. Neither <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="compilation" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/compilation" data-type="MW">compilation</a> elucidated the processes by which decisions had been elicited, and various authorities therefore set about collecting the Midrashic discussions of their schools and recording them in the order of the verses of Scripture. During the 3rd and 4th centuries, Midrashim on the Pentateuch were compiled and introduced as school texts.</p><span class="marker MOD4 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD5 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Fundamentally legal in character, this literature regulated every aspect of life; the six divisions of the Mishna—on agriculture, festivals, family life, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/civil-law-Romano-Germanic" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">civil law</a>, sacrificial and dietary laws, and purity—encompass virtually every area of Jewish experience. Accordingly, the Mishna also recorded the principal Pharisaic and rabbinic definitions and goals of the religious life. One tract, <em><span id="ref299276"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Ethics-of-the-Fathers" class="md-crosslink ">Pirqe Avot</a></em> (“Sayings of the Fathers”), treated the meaning and posture of a life according to the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Torah" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Torah</a>, while other passages made reference to the mystical studies into which only the most advanced and religiously worthy were initiated—e.g., the activities of the <span id="ref299277"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Merkava-Jewish-mysticism" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true"><em>Merkava</em></a>, or divine “Chariot,” and the doctrines of creation. The rabbinic program of a life dedicated to study and fulfillment of the will of God was thus a graded structure in which the canons of <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="morality" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/morality" data-type="MW">morality</a> and piety were attainable on various levels, from the popular and practical to the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="esoteric" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/esoteric" data-type="MW">esoteric</a> and <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="metaphysical" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/metaphysical" data-type="MW">metaphysical</a>. Innumerable sermons and homilies preserved in the Midrashic collections, liturgical <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="compositions" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/compositions" data-type="MW">compositions</a> for daily and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/feast-religion" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">festival</a> services, and mystical tracts circulated among initiates all testify to the deep <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/spirituality" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">spirituality</a> that informed Rabbinic Judaism.</p><div class="module-spacing"> </div><span class="marker MOD5 mod-inline"></span> </section> </section> <section data-level="3" id="ref35201"> <h2 class="h3">The age of the <em><span id="ref299278"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/amora" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">amoraim</a></em>: the making of the Talmuds (3rd–6th century)</h2> <section data-level="4" id="ref35202"> <h2 class="h4">Palestine (c. 220–c. 400)</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD6 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The promulgation of the Mishna initiated the period of the (lecturers or interpreters), teachers who made the Mishna the basic text of legal <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="exegesis" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/exegesis" data-type="MW">exegesis</a>. The curriculum now centred on the elucidation of the text of the standard compilation, harmonization of its decisions with extra-Mishnaic traditions recorded in other collections, and the application of its principles to new situations. Amoraic studies have been preserved in two running commentaries on the Mishna, known as the <span id="ref299279"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Jerusalem-Talmud" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Palestinian</a> (or Jerusalem) Talmud and the <span id="ref299280"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Bavli" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Babylonian Talmud</a>, reflecting the study and legislation of the academies of the two principal Jewish centres in the Roman and Persian empires. (Talmud is also the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="comprehensive" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/comprehensive" data-type="MW">comprehensive</a> term for the whole collections, Palestinian and Babylonian, containing Mishna, commentaries, and other matter.)</p><span class="marker MOD6 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD7 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The schools were the primary agencies through which the rabbinic way of life and literature was communicated to the masses. The types of schools ranged from the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/primary-school" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">primary school</a> to the advanced “house of study” and more formal academy (<a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/yeshiva" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">yeshiva</a>), the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/synagogue" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">synagogue</a>, and the Jewish court. Primary schools had long been available in the villages and cities of Palestine, and tannaitic law made education of male children a religious duty. Introduced at the age of five or six to Scripture, the student advanced at the age of 10 to Mishna and finally in midadolescence to Talmud, or the processes of legal reasoning. Regular reading of Scripture in the synagogue on Mondays, Thursdays, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sabbath-Judaism" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Sabbaths</a>, and festivals, coupled with <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="concurrent" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/concurrent" data-type="MW">concurrent</a> translations into the Aramaic <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="vernacular" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vernacular" data-type="MW">vernacular</a> and frequent sermons, provided for lifelong instruction in the literature and the various teachings elicited from it. The amoraic emphasis on the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="moral" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/moral" data-type="MW">moral</a> and spiritual aims of Scripture and its <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/ritual" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">ritual</a> is reflected in their Midrashic collections, which are predominantly homiletical rather than legal in character.</p><span class="marker MOD7 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD8 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">An amoraic sermon conceded that, of every 1,000 beginners in primary school, only one would be expected to continue as far as Talmud. In the 4th century, however, there were enough advanced students to warrant academies in Lydda, Caesarea, Sepphoris, and Tiberias (in Palestine), where leading scholars trained <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="disciples" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disciples" data-type="MW">disciples</a> for communal service as teachers and judges. In <span id="ref927726"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Caesarea" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Caesarea</a>—the principal port and seat of the Roman administration of Palestine, where pagans, Christians, and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Samaritan" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Samaritans</a> maintained renowned cultural institutions—the Jews too established an academy that was singularly free of patriarchal control. The outstanding rabbinic scholar there, <span id="ref299281"></span>Abbahu (c. 279–320), wielded great influence with the Roman authorities. Because he combined learning with personal wealth and political power, he attracted some of the most gifted students of the day to the city. About 350 the studies and decisions of the authorities in Caesarea were compiled as a tract on the civil law of the Mishna. Half a century later, the academy of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Tiberias" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Tiberias</a> issued a similar collection on other tracts of the Mishna, and this compilation, in conjunction with the Caesarean material, constituted the Palestinian Talmud.</p><span class="marker MOD8 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD9 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Despite increasing tensions between some rabbinic circles and the patriarch, his office was the agency that provided a basic unity to the Jews of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Roman-Empire" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Roman Empire</a>. Officially recognized as a Roman prefect, the patriarch at the same time sent representatives to Jewish <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="communities" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/communities" data-type="MW">communities</a> to inform them of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Jewish-religious-year" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Jewish calendar</a> and other decisions of general concern and to collect an annual tax of a half shekel, paid by male Jews for his treasury. As titular head of the Jewish community of Palestine and as a vestigial heir of the Davidic monarchy, the patriarch was a reminder of a glorious past and a symbol of hope for a brighter future. How enduring these hopes were may be seen from the efforts to gain permission to rebuild the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Temple-of-Jerusalem" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Temple in Jerusalem</a>. Although reconstruction of the Temple was authorized by the emperor <span id="ref299282"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Julian-Roman-emperor" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Julian</a> (reigned 361–363), it came to naught because of a disastrous fire on the sacred site and the emperor’s <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="subsequent" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/subsequent" data-type="EB">subsequent</a> death.</p><span class="marker MOD9 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD10 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The adoption of <span id="ref299283"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Christianity" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Christianity</a> as the religion of the empire had no direct effect on the religious freedom of the Jews. The ever-mounting hostility between the two religions, however, resulted in severe curtailment of Jewish disciplinary rights over their coreligionists, interference in the collection of patriarchal taxes, restriction of the right to build <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/synagogue" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">synagogues</a>, and, finally, upon the death of the patriarch Gamaliel VI about 425, the abolition of the patriarchate and the diversion of the Jewish tax to the imperial treasury. Mediterranean Jewry was now fragmented into disjointed communities and synagogues. But the principles of the regulation of the Jewish calendar had been committed to writing in approximately 359 by the patriarch <span id="ref299284"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hillel-II" class="md-crosslink ">Hillel II</a>, and this, coupled with the widespread presence of rabbis, ensured the continuity of Jewish adherence. Even the restrictions on synagogal <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/worship" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">worship</a> and preaching imposed by the Eastern emperor <span id="ref299285"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Justinian-I" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Justinian I</a> (reigned 527–565) apparently had no devastating effect. A new <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="genre" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/genre" data-type="MW">genre</a> of liturgical poetry, combining ecstatic prayer with <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="didactic" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/didactic" data-type="MW">didactic</a> motifs, developed in this period of political decline and won acceptance in synagogues in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Anatolia" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Asia Minor</a> as well as beyond the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Euphrates-River" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Euphrates</a>.</p><span class="marker MOD10 mod-inline"></span> </section> </section></section><span class="marker end-of-content"></span><span class="marker after-article"></span></div> <div id="chatbot-root"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="ai-dialog-placeholder"></div> </div> </div> <aside class="col-md-da-320"></aside> </div> </div> </div> </div> </article></div> </div></div> </div> </main> <div id="md-footer"></div> <noscript><iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-5W6NC8" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript> <script type="text/javascript" id="_informizely_script_tag"> var IzWidget = IzWidget || {}; (function (d) { var scriptElement = d.createElement('script'); scriptElement.type = 'text/javascript'; scriptElement.async = true; scriptElement.src = "https://insitez.blob.core.windows.net/site/f780f33e-a610-4ac2-af81-3eb184037547.js"; var node = d.getElementById('_informizely_script_tag'); node.parentNode.insertBefore(scriptElement, node); } )(document); </script>  <script> window.ap3c = window.ap3c || {}; var ap3c = window.ap3c; ap3c.cmd = ap3c.cmd || []; ap3c.cmd.push(function() { ap3c.init('ZO4siT4cLwnykPnzZWJtd3Byb2Q', 'https://engage.email.britannica.com/'); ap3c.track({v: 0}); }); ap3c.activity = function(act) { ap3c.act = (ap3c.act || []); ap3c.act.push(act); }; var s, t; s = document.createElement('script'); s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.src = "https://engage.email.britannica.com/app.js"; t = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; t.parentNode.insertBefore(s, t); </script> <script class="marketing-page-info" type="application/json"> {"pageType":"Topic","templateName":"DESKTOP","pageNumber":10,"pagesTotal":45,"pageId":307197,"pageLength":1908,"initialLoad":true,"lastPageOfScroll":false} </script> <script class="marketing-content-info" type="application/json"> [] </script> <script src="https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/js/libs/jquery-3.5.0.min.js?v=3.130.14"></script> <script type="text/javascript" data-type="Init Mendel Code Splitting"> (function() { $.ajax({ dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: 'https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/dist/topic-page.js?v=3.130.14' }); })(); </script> <script class="analytics-metadata" type="application/json"> {"leg":"B","adLeg":"B","userType":"ANONYMOUS","pageType":"Topic","pageSubtype":null,"articleTemplateType":"PAGINATED","gisted":false,"pageNumber":10,"hasSummarizeButton":false,"hasAskButton":false} </script> <script type="text/javascript"> EBStat={accountId:-1,hostnameOverride:'webstats.eb.com',domain:'www.britannica.com', json:''}; </script> <script type="text/javascript"> ( function() { $.ajax( { dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: '//www.britannica.com/webstats/mendelstats.js?v=1' } ) .done( function() { try {writeStat(null,EBStat);} catch(err){} } ); })(); </script> <div id="bc-fixed-dialogue"></div> </body> </html>

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