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The Second Temple and Its Discontents

June 27 2016

Completed in 515 BCE, the Second Temple in Jerusalem was the focal point of Judaism until its destruction nearly six centuries later. Lawrence Schiffman provides an introduction to the Temple’s history, its significance in Judaism and Christianity, and the conflicts surrounding it in the latter part of its existence:

The Second Temple and its rituals were a point of contention between various Jewish groups, with numerous [ancient] texts criticizing the Temple for violating the laws of the Torah. The Pharisees’ and Sadducees’ disagreement led to inconsistent control of Temple rituals. Sadducean views held sway until the Pharisaic approach came to dominate after the Maccabean revolt [in 160 BCE], but the Sadducees regained control later in the Hasmonean period. The Dead Sea sectarians [associated with the Dead Sea Scrolls], who believed Temple ritual was being conducted illegitimately, abstained completely. Josephus reports that the Essenes processed offerings in their own area of the Temple in order to fulfill their special ritual-purity requirements. The Temple Scroll from Qumran, like the end of the book of Ezekiel, looked forward to a vastly expanded Temple complex.

Josephus records numerous events around the Temple during pilgrimage festivals, often related to the deteriorating relationship between the Jews and their Roman rulers. Huge numbers of Jews from all over the world attended the pilgrimage festivals. According to [the Jewish-Roman historian] Josephus, 256,500 lambs were sacrificed to accommodate more than 2.7 million people at the Passover celebration of 66 CE. While this may be an exaggeration, Josephus also reports that during that Passover, right before the outbreak of the great revolt [that culminated in the Romans’ destruction of the Temple], a massive protest erupted against the actions of the Roman procurator Florus.

Read more at Bible Odyssey

More about: Ancient Israel, ancient Judaism, Dead Sea Scrolls, Ezekiel, History & Ideas, Josephus, Pharisees, Second Temple

The Summary: 10/7/20

Two extraordinary events demonstrate something important about Israel’s most fervent adversaries. One was a speech given at something called The People’s Forum (funded generously by Goldman Sachs), which stated, “When the state of Israel is finally destroyed and erased from history, that will be the single most important blow we can give to destroying capitalism and imperialism.”

The suggestion that this tiny state is the linchpin of a global, centuries-old phenomenon like capitalism goes well beyond anything resembling rational criticism. Even if Israel were guilty of genocide, apartheid, and oppression—which of course it is not—it would not follow that its destruction would help end capitalism or imperialism.

The other was an anti-Israel protest that took place in front of New York City’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, deemed “complicit” in Israel’s evils. At organizers’ urging, participants shouted their slogans at kids in the cancer ward, who were watching from the windows. Given Hamas’s indifference toward the lives of Gazan children, such callousness toward non-Palestinian children from Hamas’s Western allies shouldn’t be surprising. The protest—like the abovementioned speech—deliberately conveyed the message that Israel is the ultimate evil and its destruction the ultimate good, cancer patients be damned.

The fact that Israel’s adversaries are almost comically perverse does not mean that they can be dismissed. If its allies fail to understand the obsessive and irrational hatred that it faces, they cannot effectively help it defend itself.

Read more at Mosaic