From Text to Tradition : A History of Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism

by Lawrence H. Schiffman

From Text to Tradition examines the history of Judaism as it developed from the religion on the biblical Israel to the Judaism of the talmudic rabbis. Each step in this process is discussed from the historical, literary and religious points of view and the context of the political history of the Jews. Among the topics covered in this connection are the biblical heritage which underlies all later Judaism, the importance of the Persian period for laying the groundwork for post biblical Judaism, the confrontation of Judaism with Hellenism, apocrypha, pseudepigrapha and the Dead Sea Scrolls, Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes, the Jewish-Christian schism, the impact of the Jewish revolts against Rome and the destruction of the Temple, the rise of Rabbinic Judaism, and the development of the Mishnah, Talmud and Jewish Law. One of the book's major theses is that the various approaches to Judaism shared sufficient common ground as to be classified as one, albeit variegated, religious tradition. Diverging trends may be - and are - traced during this period, as is the question of the role of interpretation, the impact of external influences, and the process by which the competing approaches were eventually supplanted by the rabbinic tradition, which became the basis for medieval and modern Judaism. In this way, Judaism is shown to have traveled the long road from the textual heritage of the Hebrew Bible to the oral tradition of the rabbis.

Genres: History, Judaism, Judaica, Nonfiction, Religion, Ancient History, Philosophy

299 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1991

Reviews

[[Name Redacted] · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, this is an excellent review of Jewish history from the beginning of the Second Temple period to the Rabbinic period of the middle ages. It is exceptional for its focus on the Jewish perspective of history and for its focus on the Jewish people. Schiffman is a devout Rabbinic Jew himself, but where his prejudices are evident (which is very infrequently) he is refreshingly honest about them.

My only complaints were the way he sort of "skipped over" the Jewish reactions to Christianity (a single half-hearted mention of the prayer/bans agains the "minim" is insufficient) and completely ignored the ways in which institutionalized Roman persecution of Christians was legalized, in part, as a result of Jewish renunciation of Christians/Christianity. Reading his account, one would think that the Empire's decision to legally distinguish between Jews and Christians was the beginning of a glorious golden age of toleration of/preferential treatment for Christians, rather than the beginning of centuries of brutal persecutions (so brutal, in fact, that the Coptic calendar begins reckoning time with the ascension of Diocletian to the Imperial throne). He also makes the common but serious mistake of using "anti-Semitism" when he means "anti-Judaism", thus making it sound as though Christians of Semitic ethnicity or linguistic heritage were being disenfranchised right alongside their religiously Jewish fellows... This edition is badly indexed, too, so that the indexed page numbers frequently don't match up to the actual text -- it's usually only off by a couple pages, but it took me a couple days to figure that out.

Not without its flaws, but definitely a classic and well worth reading.

[Chad · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book covers a wide range of history, beginning with a brief survey of the biblical period and culminating in the Talmudic period. For those who are interested in learning more about the growth of rabbinic literature, it is especially helpful.

[Joshua Lister · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am not sure exactly how to rate this book. Taken on the book's own terms, it is a fine historical survey of Jewish history. Beginning with the time of the second temple in Jerusalem through the middle ages, Schiffman discusses the major shifts in Judaism and the historical forces which drove them. In his own words, over this one thousand years or so, "Scripture had been displaced by Talmud". For me, parts of the book are interesting and others are not. I do find it profound that the religious shift away from Torah and toward interpretations of the rabbinic tradition precipitated the destruction of the second temple but the final sections which cover the development of Talmud are difficult to get through without a preexisting interest in the subject.

[Dennis Fischman · Rating 3 out of 5]

According to Jewish legend, the First Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 586 BCE and the Second Temple in 70 CE, on the same day of the Jewish calendar.

We Jews mark that day, Tisha B'av, every year, in memory of the two destructions, as if nothing happened in between.

That elision is certainly consistent with how I learned Jewish history. In my education, there was a big blank between the return from the Babylonian Exile and the conquest of Jerusalem by the Roman general Titus.

Only the Maccabean revolt was stuck in the middle (the way Chanukah is stuck in the middle between the fall holidays and Pesach in the spring).

For someone like me, then, From Text to Tradition : A History of Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism does a great service.

I picked up this book while I was taking part in a 929 daily discussion of the Tanach. We had reached the biblical books of Ezra and Nehemiah, and I was confused. Who were these people, and how did they relate to some of the figures I'd read about earlier in Zechariah (Zerubabel and Joshua ben Jehozadak)? Who were the Jews who never went into Babylonia? What were people from other countries doing in Judea now? And who were the Samaritans, and why was there (what seemed like) sibling rivalry between them and the Jewish leaders?

Schiffman clarifies many of these points and makes me want to learn even more about them. He goes on to talk about Jewish life during the age of Alexander the Great and his successors, especially the Ptolemies in Egypt and the Seleucids in Syria, not only in the holy land but all around the Middle East. In Judea itself, he briefly addresses the conflicts between high priests and Hasmonean monarchs (descendants of the Maccabees)--and among the members of the royal family themselves.

An aside: Why, I wonder, have there not been as many novels about the Hasmoneans as about the Tudors, or the Medici? The rivalry in the court of Salome Alexandra is certainly as dramatic as the politics under Elizabeth I. There is fertile ground here for fiction writers!

Schiffman purports to be writing a history of Judaism, not Jews, during this period. Repeatedly, however, he makes the point that you cannot understand how Jewish thought and practice evolved without paying attention to the social and political pressures that shaped it.

This seems especially true for the period just before the destruction of the Second Temple. Knowing what was going on between different "political parties" in Judea and their relations to Hellenism, to Roman rule, and to nations fighting against Rome (like the Parthians) is vital to understanding Jewish sects like the Sadducees, Pharisees, Essenes, the people at Qumran, and the Jesus-followers who eventually became a separate religion.

There are some texts that were written by Jews that have played a more important part in Christianity and in historiography than in Judaism. These include the Septuagint, the apocrypha, the pseudepigrapha, the philosophy of Philo Judaeus, and the history written by Josephus. Schiffman explains that the Greek-speaking Jews of the diaspora might at one time have been familiar with these, but they increasingly were absorbed either into the Greek-speaking Christian world or into the Hebrew-speaking, Palestine-centered Jewish sphere.

Then he goes on to explain the texts that did become central to rabbinic Judaism (which with very few exceptions is Judaism as we know it today): the Mishnah, the baraita, the Palestinian and Babylonian Talmuds, the books of midrash.

Whew! I see I cannot discuss this book without doing a lot of name-dropping. If you are not at all familiar with this history, perhaps Schiffman is not the best one to introduce you to it.

If you're in a similar place as I am however--very familiar with some of these people, places, and things and only vaguely familiar with others--then he may be a good teacher to put them together into a more complete picture.

I note, however, that this book was published thirty years ago, and the author was already hoping that recent discoveries and studies would fill out the picture more. If you know of a more up-to-date book that compares to this, would you please suggest it to me?

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

From Text to Tradition is an overview of Judaism from the second commonwealth to the redaction of the talmud in the middle of the first century of the common era. The book traces developments and significant events in Palestine and Babylonia and the Persian and Greek influences on Jewish civilization. This basic history is an outline and the curious reader will want to read other material for a more informed appreciation and knowledge of this era. The writing is labored at times and demands self-motivation from the reader. By no means is From Text to Tradition a page turner, but then most historians, I have found, are not that comfortable with the literary enterprise.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very clear, helpful history of Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism. This book has often been used as a textbook, and I understand why -- helpful timelines, a glossary, and clear explanations. Not always super-engaging, but easy to follow and learn from. The one thing that bugged me was Schiffman's rhetoric of "the inevitable forces of history," which seemed to depict those forces as almost sentient, making decisions, and implied that things turned out historically the way that had to turn out. But perhaps I'm reading too much into a (repeated) turn of phrase.

[Michael Norwitz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Schiffman presents a history of Judiasm, from the fall of the Second Temple to the Medieval period (the inception of modern, rabbinical Judaism). The book includes a wealth of information although I frequently found the presentation muddled and difficult to track. I suspect it would have more value on rereading as a reference book.

[Nathan Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Valuable overview of the Second Temple period, colloquial enough to understand a difficult subject that I'm not well-versed in. Could benefit from slightly better organization and orientation to certain topics.

[Marshall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good analysis of the transition from Temple Period to Rabbinic Judaism. Good archaeological support from the author for his positions.

[Alex Grange · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must read.

[J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

In no way is my review of this work made toward the validity of a religion as a divine vehicle, or a comment about the positive or negative aspects of any religion in general. This book appears to be written toward the edification of the Hebrew people, already believers in the divine sanctification of their culture and system of beliefs. The author attempts to justify the current method of Judaism with a direct line to the ancient cultus. Due to the obvious bias of the author no one can consider this book to be a scientific examination of the conversion of Judaism from the ancient temple cult to modern rabbinical Judaism. Entering into such a study of the facts with personal established conclusions based upon supernatural absolutes renders any literary criticism or other scientific methods invalid in answering such historical realities. However, my decision to read this particular--well established Jewish work-- by author Lawrence H. Schiffman, a professor of Hebrew and Jewish studies, was to try to get an idea of how an ancient temple cult could have survived after its center of worship had been destroyed. After reading this text I realized, at least from the information Schiffman provides and the obvious assumption and speculations that he presents, it simply did not survive. What we see today in modern Judaism has about as much in common with the ancient temple cult as modern Jews have with their ancient counterpart. He does not say that, I am saying that. His arguments do not satisfy any justification in his conclusion that such succession is valid.
The fascinating thing, however, about the people of the Hebrew religion is their ability to adapt. Dr. Schiffman begins his book by providing an excellent history of the ancient religion just before and after the temple period including the political situation and circumstances that provided the background for these adaptations. Although he fails to evaluate the importance of the exile periods and how those times forced a rethinking of the relationship between their god and their culture when removed from their sacred lands, here, in Schiffman’s work, we are shown what could have been the constant struggle within the religion itself to instigate some of these changes.
After all, the people of Judea were not the only ancient religion that had temples as the bases of their worship. The various cults of Mesopotamia also centered their cultures around temples. When these temples were destroyed, so the cults, themselves, disappeared. Many conquering armies did all they could to end the Jewish culture, but here in this book we begin to see why they could not. Again, not the authors conclusions, but my own.

Whether or not rabbinical Judaism is the authoritative descendant of the ancient Judea cultural religion is not significant to my study. The Hebrews had something that no other religion had, the ability to adapt their culture to the circumstances that an uncaring world dictated. Evolution favors adaptation, and I believe, that it is this ability that has keep Judaism alive when all of the other ancient religions have turned to dust.

The author writes with a concise and easy to understand manner. I think it is a must for all anthropological students who study the Middle East.

[Charlene Mathe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good comprehensive review of Judaism in the second temple period. The writing is exceptionally clear. For instance, several times the author defines a term that might not be familiar to the lay reader, such as "sapiential" (p.124) or "Diadochi" (p. 63). More commonly, authors expect the reader to know these terms or look them up in a dictionary. Schiffman slips in the definition seamlessly, and I really appreciate this. I also liked the author's frequent lists, such as the tractates of Talmud, the generations of Tannaim and Amoraim, and many others. Most of the content of the book was familiar to me; but one new angle was Schiffman's discussion of the decline of the Hellenistic Judaism that dominated the Mediterranean coasts for several hundred years, and was replaced by Christianity and rabbinic Judaism after the first century C.E.
The book documents the historical transition "from text to tradition;" but it does not provide much analysis of this transition. He briefly suggests in the Epilogue that "When the amoraic commentary in the form of the Talmuds became available, this material became the new scripture of Judaism ... Scripture had been displaced by Talmud." And, "the displacement of biblical tradition as the central authority in Judaism was a process long in the making. ...the ever-expanding, developing nature of the oral law attracted the best minds, leaving the written Torah to serve as a subject of elementary instruction, midrashic exegesis, and technical grammatical study by a select few." The success of the Talmudic enterprise in gaining the confidence and financial support of the people both in Israel and in Babylon to support these schools of reason and elaboration with a thin veneer of Torah continues to mystify me.

[Sarah (TheLibrarysKeeper) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really great -Brief- history of the Jewish tradition through one of the most important developmental times in the religions history. The author writes in a way that holds your attention and does not have very much dry material, in the sense that there is not a lot of just facts upon facts. There is enough explanation that it is not overwhelming and is easy to understand.

[Noah Dropkin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good survey of the period - second temple Judaism, perhaps the most fascinating era in the history of Judaism. Outlines the historical and thought trends that transformed Judaism from sacrifice-based to rabbinic. I wish we knew even more about this period.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good primer text on Second Temple period history and the early rabbinate. I used this in a college course with the companion volume _Texts and Traditions_.

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice concise, middle of the road history of the formation of rabbinic judaism.

[Todd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not an easy read, but overall very good

[Arnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good overview of early rabbinical period and the historical context of formative Judaism

[Malki · Rating 4 out of 5]

easy to read. makes the whole process understandable.