Can someone explain this phrase:
During the Second Temple period a rival religious elite gradually formed. Due partly to Persian and Greek influences. Jewish
scholars who wrote and interpreted texts gained increasing prominence. These scholars eventually came to be known as rabbis.
and the texts they compiled were christened the Bible'. Rabbin-
ical authority rested on individual intellectual abilities rather than
on birth. The clash between this new literate elite and the old
priestly families was inevitable. Fortunately for the rabbis, the
Romans torched Jerusalem and its temple in AD 70 while sup-
pressing the Great Jewish Revolt. With the temple in ruins, the
priestly families lost their religious authority, their economic
power base and their very raison d'être. Traditional Judaism - a
Judaism of temples, priests and head-splitting warriors -
disappeared. In its place emerged a new Judaism of books, rabbis
and hair-splitting scholars. The scholars' main forte was interpre-
ion. They used this ability not only to explain how an almighty
allowed His temple to be destroyed, but also to bridge the
between the old ludaism described in biblical sto
the very different Judaism they created."
Answers
Rabbinic Judaism or Rabbinism has been the mainstream form of Judaism since the 6th century, after the codification of the Talmud. Rabbinic Judaism gained predominance within the Jewish diaspora between
During the Second Temple period a rival religious elite was formed. Due partly to Persian and Greek influences, Jewish scholars who wrote and interpreted texts gained ... The scholars' main forte was
Due partly to Persian and Greek influences. Jewish. scholars who wrote and interpreted texts gained increasing prominence. These scholars eventually came to be known as rabbis.
This thesis examines the ancient Jewish text the Book of Enoch, the scholarly ... 2. THE HISTORY OF THE SECOND TEMPLE PERIOD . ... Period. It also played an influential role in the formation of early Christian ...