The Rabbinic Movement

Abstract

The rabbinic movement was made up of circles of pious, learned men who lived in Palestine and Mesopotamia between the second and the seventh centuries CE. The Rabbis first emerged in Palestine after two revolts against Rome (66–73 or 74 CE and 132–135 CE) whose consequences included the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in 70 CE. Although the centuries under consideration are commonly referred to as the “rabbinic period,” the label is misleading. While this era was formative for the rabbinic movement, during much of it the Rabbis had little impact on the lives of the vast majority of Jews. It is only in the last third of this period that we can begin to see an extension of rabbinic visibility and authority beyond a limited circle of disciples and adherents. This chapter addresses its complex topic through separate historical overviews of Jewish life in Roman Palestine and in Sassanian Mesopotamia, a discussion of the foundational texts of rabbinic literature, and an analysis of the development, nature, and impact of the rabbinic endeavor. ROMAN PALESTINE Politically, the most significant events in Palestine in the period immediately preceding the emergence of the Rabbis were the suppression of the two revolts and with them the annexation of Palestine as a Roman province, garrisoned by first one and then two legions (X Fretensis and VI Ferrata). The ultimate incorporation of the Hasmonean and Herodian kingdom into the Roman Empire as a province is a story that unfolds in two registers.