In Which Yochanan Ben Zakai Views the Present & Ponders the Future | |||||||||||||||
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Jerusalem Journeys, (excerpt from Chapter 6) |
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Background Discussion Strategies for SurvivalThe Destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem meant the need for major change in the structure of the Jewish People. The whole organization of the Jewish world from now on would have to be radically different. As the scholars and the would-be leaders of the Jewish world congregated at Yavneh, they had to come up with a rescue plan. It was not enough to try and create a new center. The new center had to start to formulate a new direction for the People to enable the transition to a post-Temple reality. In the ensuing generations the Yavneh option started to emerge clearly and the basis of a new form of Judaism with new emphases and new strategies was formed. This option would become the basis of what would be called Rabbinic Judaism. To put it briefly, it was based on a number of major ideas. 1. The Torah Would Be Understood in a Very Broad Way.In the last part of the second Temple period there had been different ways of understanding the Torah. Some saw it as the be-all and end-all of Jewish life. Whatever was in the Torah from a legal point of view was binding on all Jews. This group, principally the group called the Sadducees, saw the Torah in very literal terms. They downplayed other traditions seeing that a Jew was bound only by what was actually written in the Torah. Since the two spheres of activity which receive the most detailed treatment in the Torah are concerned either with sacrifices or purity laws, these became the central elements in this version of Judaism. However there were other groups, specifically the group called Pharisees who saw the Torah very differently. They saw the Torah as a series of guidelines which should be interpreted in order to bring all spheres of life under the mantle of holiness prescribed by the Torah. The Torah should be pushed outwards into every aspect of life. In this respect, the Rabbis of Yavneh were the heirs of the Pharisees. From now on the Torah would govern all of life. 2. The Scholar, the Expert in the Torah Text Would Be the Guide to Jewish Life.From now on the text would become the basis of Jewish life. In order to understand the way that God wanted the world to be run, there was a need to interpret the text. The scholars would be the leaders of the Jewish world. 3. Jewish Life Would Be Organized According to a Highly Detailed Legal or Halachic System.The scholars would undertake a detailed study of the text in order to uncover the legal basis for the highly structured way of life that would now bind the Jewish People. The plain word of the Torah, they believed, revealed only part of its meaning. It was clear that the text was meant to provide a comprehensive guideline to all aspects of human activity, including all those new situations that a changing lifestyle or a developing technology were always creating. The text would be rigorously searched for hints, so that regulations for all aspects of life and all situations could be made. 4. Prayer Would Replace Sacrifice; the Synagogue Would Replace the Temple.The main way of reaching God would be through the medium of prayer. Prayer would develop and be standardized so that Jews throughout the world would say the same things at the same times. The synagogue, up to now secondary to the Temple, would become the central institution around the Jewish world, until such time as the Temple would be rebuilt. Rituals and other aspects of Temple life would be moved out into the synagogue. However, there would be no sacrifice anywhere in the Jewish world until the rebuilding of the Temple. All of these principles, together would become the basis of the new way that would emerge very strongly from the Rabbis of Yavneh and their successors. Activity Survival Strategies: Values ClarificationSuitable for middle school and older groups We suggest a values clarification exercise to open up this question.
Notes for the educator:Generally it can be said that ideas #3, 4, 6, 7, 10, 12, 14, 15 and indirectly at least 13, were important aspects of the system already from Rabbinic times. It should moreover be explained to the group that many of these items did, in time, become part of the Jewish survival plan. They were not all implemented at once, and some only evolved in the course of many centuries. The only ones that never really developed at all were ideas #1, 5 and 11, although there were plenty of individuals who at different times supported numbers #1 and 5. Number #11 tended to develop in many areas for totally different reasons; either anti-Jewish laws made it difficult for Jews to own land, or Anti-semitism, plus the understanding that it might be advisable at some point to flee the country at short notice, made Jews reluctant to invest in landed property. Number 8 was certainly a central platform, but not necessarily in order to discourage socialization, although it certainly had that effect. Number 9 tended to develop in many places, although not out of an ideology of separation, even if some eventually saw it in those terms. Review:- Finally, the question should be asked:
For younger groups we suggest a similar exercise, but with easier categories such as:
Activity Crisis Solving – Then and Now Suitable for middle school and older groups We suggest a discussion on the similarities between the situation of the Jewish world today and the situation after the Destruction. Clearly, there are enormous differences, but there are those who maintain that the Jews are once more experiencing crisis and that they need once again a common agenda similar to the rescue plan that the Yavneh Sanhedrin tried to implement. The group will address this question.
One resource that should be mentioned is the wonderful novel of life in the Yavneh generation, Like a Driven Leaf, by Milton Steinberg. |
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