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Transformations in Jewish Life

In 131 CE, the Romans began to build a temple to one of their gods on the ruins of the Jewish Temple that they destroyed in 70 CE. This not only dashed Jewish hopes that they would be able to rebuild their most sacred site, but also was seen as extremely offensive to the Jewish religion. Jews revolted again. This is called the Second Roman-Jewish War or the Bar Kochba revolt (after the name of its leader). The revolt was well planned and well executed. For a time, the Jews succeeded in restoring their independence.

While independent, the Jewish government minted its own coins. Above are images of one of those coins. The front shows a picture of the Jewish Temple that was destroyed in 70 (and that Jews hoped would be rebuilt). The reverse has text that reads “To the freedom of Jerusalem.” Why is the ability for a group to mint their own coins significant?

The Roman Emperor Hadrian was determined to win the war. He sent a tremendous number of troops into the area and eventually crushed the Jewish revolt. According to the Roman historian Cassius Dio, 580,000 Jews were killed and 985 Jewish villages were destroyed. Jewish sources put the number of casualties even higher. After the war was over, the majority of Jews in the province were dead, exiled, or sold into slavery. In order to wipe out the Jewish connection to the province, the Roman emperor ordered that its name be changed from Judea to Syria Palaestina which was eventually shortened to Palestine.

Hadrian also tried to eliminate Judaism from the area because he blamed the religion for the Jewish attempts to regain independence. As a result he banned Jewish religious practices in the area, forbade the use of the Jewish calendar, and executed Jewish scholars. Over time these harsh measures were relaxed and Jews were able to purchase the freedom of many of their countrymen who had been enslaved. Still, the challenges the Jewish community faced were tremendous. Yet, despite Hadrian’s persecution, the huge numbers of casualties during the war, the earlier destruction of their Temple, and the devastation of their homeland, Judaism and the Jewish people survived.

Judaism and the Jewish people were able to survive for a number of reasons. They benefitted from

• a strong sense of community.
• deeply held beliefs.
• a connection to their ancestors.
• a unique identity which they valued highly.
• the ability to build upon tradition to adapt to new realities.

Examples of adapting to new realities by building on tradition include the increased importance of synagogue worship after the destruction of the Temple. Jewish worship had been focused on the rituals of the Temple in Jerusalem for approximately 1,000 years. But the Romans destroyed the Temple during the First Roman-Jewish War. Jews were able to adapt to this reality by placing greater emphasis on other traditions. Communal prayer in synagogues, which was a feature of Jewish life before the Temple was destroyed, became the main form of Jewish worship after the destruction of the Temple.

Likewise, for thousands of years the center of Jewish life and the most important Jewish community was in the Land of Israel. But other Jewish communities had existed in the Diaspora (the area outside of the Land of Israel) since the Babylonian Exile or earlier. These communities provided a base on which Jews were able to build after their homeland was devastated in the Second Roman-Jewish War and the Jewish community there became less influential. Vibrant Jewish life developed in cities throughout Asia, North Africa, and Europe.

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Yavneh became a center of Jewish scholarship which preserved the Jewish teachings that shaped Rabbinic Judaism. Rabbinic Judaism teaches that in addition to the written teachings that God gave the Israelites through Moses during the Exodus, there were other teachings that Moses transmitted orally. According to tradition, the sages at Yavneh recorded these teachings because they feared they were in danger of being lost as a result of Roman persecution.

Jewish sages, called rabbis, also recorded debates on how to interpret this “Oral Law” and the “Written Law” in the Hebrew Bible. This involved discussing how to apply general principles to everyday reality. For example, the Oral Law mandates that Jews pray first thing in the morning. The rabbis discussed what “first thing in the morning” means (does it mean when the sun comes up, does it mean when a person wakes up, etc.). These legal discussions, or Commentaries, along with the Oral Law, are recorded in a text called the Talmud. The Talmud also includes Jewish history from the period and teachings of the early rabbis. These include some of the most famous Jewish quotations such as “The highest form of wisdom is kindness,” “Whoever saves a single life, it is as if he saved an entire world,” and “Do not scorn anyone and do not think anything is useless. Everyone has his hour and everything has its place.” The Talmud, along with the Hebrew Bible, forms the foundation of Jewish practice, ethics, and philosophy.

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Following the revolt, some Jews continued to live in the Roman province of Syria Palaestina, but the majority were forced to leave. Most Jews now lived in the Diaspora, the area outside of their ancient homeland. But they did not lose their connection to the area, which they continued to refer to as the Land of Israel. They expressed their connection to this land and their hope to be able to return in the future through prayer, reciting from the Bible, folktales, artwork, and song.

For example, they quoted Psalm 137 from the Hebrew Bible: “If I forget you, Jerusalem, let my right hand wither; let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I stop thinking of you.” They were reminded of the importance of this area every day during their prayers, which addressed the importance of the Land of Israel to the Jewish past and future. They also faced the direction of the Land of Israel (specifically towards the site of the Temple in Jerusalem) when they prayed.

Most Jews in the Diaspora believed that they or their descendents would one day return to their homeland. But most felt that this could not happen until God led them back to the area and reestablished their independence. This belief was especially important because it gave people hope; almost everywhere Jews lived they were subject to discriminatory laws and were vulnerable to harsh persecution.