For the synthetic thrust of the rabbinic movement, see Shaye J.D. Cohen, “The Significance of Yavneh: Pharisees, Rabbis, and the End of Jewish Sectarianism,” Hebrew Union College Annual 55 (1984), pp. 27–53. The loss of the Temple leadership against which sects often reacted and the constant need to guard the community’s integrity probably encouraged unity. Even so, the emergence of a relatively united rabbinic Judaism as a dominant community influence took several centuries.