The
destruction of the Temple in 70 C.E. might easily have meant the death of
Judaism. As we have seen again and again in the Talmud, the Temple was the
center of Jewish belief and practice in a way that we can hardly imagine today.
It was the only place where Jews could sacrifice to God, the only place where
God’s spirit dwelled on Earth—not to mention a powerful symbol of Jewish
sovereignty. The fact that Judaism managed to survive after the Temple was
burned to the ground is the most remarkable of the many acts of renewal and
transformation that have preserved Jewish life over thousands of years.
The
legend of Yochanan ben Zakkai is a vivid parable of how Judaism managed to
endure that trauma. According to tradition, Yochanan, the leading rabbinic sage
of his generation, was trapped in Jerusalem during the Roman siege. . . The dead, however, could be taken
out of Jerusalem for burial. So, Yochanan pretended to be a corpse and had
himself smuggled out of the city in a coffin. Once he made it to the Roman
lines, he pleased the general Vespasian by prophesying that he would one day
become emperor—a prediction that indeed came true. In exchange, Vespasian
granted Yochanan’s request to set up a new Jewish academy and court in Yavneh.
In this way, Yochanan and Judaism itself passed through death into a new,
different kind of life. From then on, Judaism would no longer be a
Temple-centered religion but a religion of laws. The Talmud itself would
replace the Temple as the “structure” at the heart of Jewish life.
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