Second Temple Judaism Quotes

“Notwithstanding the preeminence of cultic observances, religious life during the Second Temple era increasingly emphasized personal duties to purify oneself, follow the Torah, and perform daily rites. Jews prayed in both public and private, beyond as well as within Jerusalem. Scripture study emerged as a principal function of a new local institution, the synagogue. Injunctions for holy living (like dietary prohibitions) multiplied. This shifting emphasis toward God's relationship with Jews individually, as opposed to Israel collectively, was manifested theologically by an intensified interest in the workings of God's justice and personal redemption, stimulating heated speculation about resurrection, free will, and eternal judgment. In some circles, apocalyptic (Greek, "revelation") theories explaining evil's persistence and Jews' subordination posited a final war between the righteous and the wicked in which the former would triumph, led by a messiah (mashiach, "anointed one") who was ordinarily conceived as a transcendently powerful human figure and occasionally as a cosmic one. Still, Jews coalesced around their rules of conduct, not their beliefs.”
― Charles L Cohen, The Abrahamic Religions: A Very Short Introduction: A Very Short Introduction

“Defeat, exile, and restoration had altered ancient Israel's religion, but the Second Temple's obliteration, coupled with Jews' declining status in the Roman Empire, would force a far greater reconstruction. Lacking a single agreed-upon holy place, modern Christians, however empathetic, may have difficulty imagining the magnitude of the liturgical renovations that the Temple's loss demanded, though Orthodox Byzantines watching Hagia Sophia—their monumental cathedral—reconfigured as a mosque certainly could. Muslims contemplating a hypothetical demolition of Mecca's Masjid al-Haram (Sacred Mosque) and the consequent disruption of the hajj (pilgrimage) may be able to entertain a more visceral understanding of what the Second Temple's loss portended for Judaism.”
― Charles L Cohen, The Abrahamic Religions: A Very Short Introduction: A Very Short Introduction

“, Arise, walk about the land through its length and breadth; for I will give it to you.”
Genes i s 1 3 : 17 NASB
“Remember that you do not support the root,
but the root supports you.”
Romans 1 1 : 1 8
“To the place that I love, there my feet take me.”
Talmud Bavli , Seder Mo’ed, Sukkah 5 3a
“Palestine is no more of this work-day world.
It is sacred to poetry and tradition – it is dream-land.”
Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad”
― Mark Twain

“Arise, walk about the land through its length and breadth; for I will give it to you.”
Genesis 13:17 NASB
“Remember that you do not support the root,
but the root supports you.”
Romans 11:18
“To the place that I love, there my feet take me.”
Talmud Bavli , Seder Mo’ed, Sukkah 53a
“Palestine is no more of this work-day world.
It is sacred to poetry and tradition – it is dream-land.”
Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad”
― Mark Twain