Parting Ways (1/5): The emergence of rabbinic Judaism and ChristianityFrom Temple to text, law, and argumentDan Jacobs

Religious splits are rarely neat. Part 1 begins in the late Second Temple world, before the catastrophe, with Hillel and the Pharisaic culture of argument. It then follows the shock of 70 CE and the long aftermath: how Jewish life survived when sacrifice and priestly authority could no longer function as the public centre. Along the way: messianic expectation in the air around Jesus, Josephus on certainty under pressure, the rabbinic survival story of Yavneh, and a set of classic texts that show what “portable Judaism” meant in practice.

Hillel and conversion “on one foot” (Shabbat 31a)

https://www.sefaria.org/Shabbat.31a.6

Josephus on the “ambiguous oracle” (Perseus, Jewish War 6.312)

https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=J.+BJ+6.312&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0147 

Yohanan ben Zakkai and “Give me Yavneh and its sages” (Gittin 56b)

https://www.sefaria.org/Gittin.56b?lang=bi 

“Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat” (Matthew 23:2–3, BibleGateway NRSVUE)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2023%3A2-3&version=NRSVUE 

Pirkei Avot 1:1 (Sefaria)

https://www.sefaria.org/Pirkei_Avot.1.1?lang=bi 

Moses in Rabbi Akiva’s classroom (Menachot 29b, Sefaria)

https://www.sefaria.org/Menachot.29b?lang=bi 

The Oven of Akhnai (Bava Metzia 59b, Sefaria)

https://www.sefaria.org/Bava_Metzia.59b?lang=bi 

Next episode

Part 2 stays with the Jewish Jesus movement while the argument about Torah is still internal.

Credits

Written by Dan Jacobs. Narration generated from the author’s text.

Read the written version: https://danjacobslondon.substack.com/p/parting-ways-15-the-emergence-of?r=oc9m