Following the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, Judaism underwent a radical transformation. In the wake of the crisis, a new question loomed large: How were people to express devotion to the God of Israel without the Temple? Ultimately, a reimagined form of Judaism (“rabbinic Judaism”) would take shape in small informal disciple circles centered around Torah study. Although hundreds of rabbis contributed to this development, four figures represent key aspects of the transition. To be clear, our highlighting these four figures does not imply that we know who they were as historical figures. Scholars are skeptical about […]
