Broadly speaking one could trace the history of Judaism back to the early religion of Israel, the religion that produced the Hebrew Scriptures that are known to Christians as the Old Testament. Here, however, we take Judaism to refer to the religion that was known to Jesus and his contemporaries, and that was later developed and formulated by the Rabbis. A key date in the development of Judaism was 70 C.E. the year in which the Jerusalem Temple was destroyed by the Romans. Judaism of the pre-70 period is known to us from the New Testament and from other sources. It was a Judaism in which the Temple and its elaborate sacrificial system held a central place. Pilgrims from all over the Jewish world converged on the Temple on the occasion of the great Jewish festivals (see Exod. 23:14-17; Acts 2:1-11). Judaism of the first century C.E. included several groups that were often antagonistic to each other. Some of those groups, such as the Pharisees, the Sadducees and the Scribes, are known to us from the New Testament, while other documents reveal the existence of other groups. The Dead Sea Scrolls, for example, have detailed information on the Qumran sect.
Rabbis
After the destruction of Jerusalem which brought the Temple worship to an end, the Rabbis began to develop a Judaism that suited the changed circumstances. ?Rabbi' is a term which in Hebrew and Aramaic (the language of Jesus) means ?my teacher'. The rabbis were teachers who studied the Scriptures and the religious traditions that had developed over the centuries (see Mark 7:5.8.13). They formulated norms which governed every aspect of Jewish life. The Judaism they taught became known as Rabbinic Judaism, and all forms of contemporary Jewish religion are ultimately derived from t ...