The End of the (Jewish) World

by fulltimestudent 2 Replies latest jw friends

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  fulltimestudent

  It really wasn't the END of the Jewish World in70 CE, when the Romans laid siege to Jerusalem. Jewish thought, since it had developed a philosophical (i.e. fictional) foundation, survived until today. I wanted to play with significant words, so used that title. Some readers of this site may be interested in the post.

  The article I'm posting (from a site called Heritage Daily) has a tidbjt of information about the way the Romans knocked down old YHWH's defensive walls around his sanctuary, and used this painting by David Roberts to illustrate the article.

  

  The article was headed: AN ARCHAEOLOGIST FROM THE ISRAEL ANTIQUES AUTHORITY HAS IDENTIFIED THE POSITION OF THE ROMAN SIEGE ENGINES USED IN THE ATTACK ON JERUSALEM DURING THE JEWISH–ROMAN WARS.

  If you're interested here's the link: https://www.heritagedaily.com/2022/08/archaeologist-identifies-position-of-roman-siege-engines-used-during-attack-on-jerusalem/144375
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  Vanderhoven7

  It really wasn't the END of the Jewish World in70 CE

  Well it certainly spelled the end of the Jewish system of things when their temple was destroyed and their priesthood records lost, their sacrificial system ended.
  

  Yoni Friedman writes:

  How did the practice of Judaism change following the destruction of the second temple in 70 AD?

  1. All commandments pertaining to the temple and the proper ways to worship G-d via the temple became irrelevant, of course.

  2. Many additional prayers were added in order to replace the sacrificial offerings that were regularly performed at the temple. The synagogues became the central places of worship instead of the temple, and the Rabbis became the sole representatives of the Jewish people once most of the tasks given to the priests ('kohanim') became irrelevant.

  3. Much more emphasis was placed on the study of Torah (=the Old Testament) as well as the Oral Law presented in the Mishna and Talmud, and became the most important religious act in Jewish practice.
  An excellent source: After the Destruction of the Second Temple.
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  Fisherman

  Nice post and link!

  Regarding the end of the Jewish world, this refers to the end of the Jewish religious system of worship based on the Temple and the priests who were descendants of divinely appointed Aaron. That Jewish system originated with ( according to tye Bible) God: “..we worship what we know because salvation originates with the Jews.” Whereas the rabbinical judaism that developed in Javneh after 70 which survived until present —like the Samaritans and all the other nations that are still around— show zero evidence of divine appointment or approval. Besides that, 70 marked the end of Jewish society in the land of Israel until modern times when the republic of Israel was formed in the land of palestine which is mostly secular. Another difference is that prior to 70, a Jew good or bad was described by his tribe or race. Today a Jew is usually defined as someone who belongs to the religion that practices rabbinical Judaism or even a Karaite but no Jew today can document his lineage to any of the 12 tribes. So does that make a person a Jew according to Bible standards because he practices a form of modern day Judaism and can we conclude that the Jewish world did not end in 70??