Rabbinic Judaism In Late Antiquity

Words: 1360
Pages: 6

Sharytte Vendiola
Rabbinic Judaism in Late Antiquity
Rabbinic Judaism had flourished throughout 70-640 CE. Rabbinic, named after an extramundane sage called rabbi, was a kind of Judaism that emerged in the late antiquity, 100-600 CE. Meanwhile, Judaism was a religion developed among Israelites as the product of great messianic wars, such as against the Babylonians and Assyrians (Jones, 7583). These words merged and together renowned to as, “the worldview and way of life applied to the Jewish nation by rabbis” (Jones, 7585). Rabbinic Judaism was also acknowledged in documents created during this period; such as the two Talmuds (Babylonian and Palestinian Talmuds), Hebrew Scriptures, each for the five books in the Torah and Siddur, prayer book
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These frameworks were the focal idea that surrounded this kind of Judaism and comprised of three constituents: scripture as the justification of truth, rabbi as a mystical personage, and the notion of salvation among Jewish people (Jones, 7584). These structures came to be the rabbinical synthesis of Mishnah holding the truth and considered as the entire Torah of Rabbi Moses by Israelites up to this day. Firstly, the centre of rabbinic Judaism’s structures was mainly concerned about the Holy Scriptures as the reference of truth with its incorporation to the divine revelation of God to Moses (Jones, 7584). At Mt Sinai, God handed Moses a dual revelation, the written and oral Torah. The written Torah was acknowledged by all but the oral is acknowledge only by those whom were rabbis, “passed on by prophets to various ancestors in the obscure past, and finally, and most openly, handed down to the rabbis…” (Jones, 7584). This idea of divine revelation, respected and abided by all, was preserved and anticipated to lead people to salvation. Another emphasis made to have arisen in rabbinic Judaism was the consideration of a rabbi as a mystical personage. During 100-200 CE, rabbi merely meant “My Lord” (Jones, 7584) and not deemed to be an extraordinary figure in the society, though they were considered sages. However, their title changed as the commencement of 300 CE. They were …show more content…
The old and new concepts of Mishnah had the same emphasis on the history of Israelites, role of rabbis and concept of salvation. However, the propositions that embodied these two forms contrast each other. In fact, the first version did not focus on Israelite’s history, did not regard sages as extraordinary amongst others, and did not consider the end days and coming of the Messiah. Conversely, the newly formed Mishnah focused on the negation of the old Mishnah. It focused on the Israelite’s history, view sage as supernatural beings, and surmised to the coming of the Messiah. Nonetheless, for the next four centuries, rabbis focused on constructing Mishnah and eventually, they had considered combining these two to form a “one whole Mishnah”. By the end, they had manipulated its content and the beliefs of people to it. They had decided that the two propositions solely focus on the idea that surrounds the new Mishnah. So then, they had successfully managed changing it and preserved up to this