What Beliefs and Practices did all varieties of Judaism in the first century CE have in common?
Introduction
In this essay, I will be exploring, what beliefs and practices did all of the varieties of Judaism in the first century (CE) have in common? I will also, highlight to some extent, how they contrast from each other? Nevertheless, before that, I will be explaining each of them individually to show, how they all are significant to Judaism? I will do this, by referring to the destruction of the second temple, and Josephus, since both of these aspects, are related to the varieties of Judaism. However, before discussing about any of the ideas mentioned above, in order to give a thorough understanding of this topic, I will first give an insight of Judaism’s history since then, to the present day.
What is Judaism?
Judaism is one of the ancient monotheistic and Abrahamic religions, along with Islam and Christianity. Nevertheless, compared to Islam and Christianity, its population is only 0.5% in the world. It was discovered more than 3500 years ago, in the Middle East, but some claim that, Moses had established Judaism at Mount Sinai. Since then, Jews had continued to protect it, and they are doing so even now, to prevent changes arising then, and now.
Furthermore, all of the basis of Judaism from its establishment to the current era, are explained by two terms, ‘Judah’, and ‘rabbinic’. In addition, it demonstrates, how life was established by the rabbis during the 2nd century, to the present day? Later on, it was embedded into the Bible. The key themes, associated in Judaism are: the Hebrew Bible (Genesis: the story of creation), the Torah, Halakhah (the oral law in Judaism), the destruction of the second temple, the Talmud, the Mishnah, and of course, the varieties of Judaism, (a central aspect of this essay), which I will be discussing about in depth.
Reference:
(Norman Solomon: Judaism- a very short introduction)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judaism
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/Judaism/ataglance/glance.shtml
Josephus’s background
As I mentioned earlier in the introduction, before discussing about the varieties of Judaism in the first century, along with its similarities and differences, I will be giving a basic explanation of Josephus’s history, as he plays an important part in this topic. Josephus, is a famous Jewish scholar, who was born on 37-100 CE, in the city of Jerusalem; he then became involved within roman Judea, where later on he had, fought against the Romans, while the first-Jewish war was taking place. However, afterwards he had handed himself in to the roman army, which was governed by Vespasian in 67 CE. For Vespasian, Josephus was nothing more than a servant. Right after, Vespasian, had been selected as the emperor in 69 CE, he had released Josephus.
Later, Josephus, became part of the roman residency, whereby he became, a consultant as well as a close friend to Vespasian’s son whom, he had assisted as his translator. During this time, Vespasian’s son had managed the barrier of Jerusalem, due to the Jewish revolution, who didn’t submit to the city’s demolition and the destruction of the second temple.
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josephus#The_Jewish_War
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josephus
The Varieties of Judaism
The previous paragraph, highlights, Josephus’s history, however, in this particular paragraph, I will be exploring, how Josephus plays an important part within the varieties of Judaism, in the first century? There are a range of varieties of Judaism, which are known to be recognised for all Jewish philosophers; these are: the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Essenes (discovered by Josephus) and according to him, the fourth Philosophy is also part of the Jewish philosophy. Josephus, is familiar with all of these groups, since he has had experiences of being all of them, in different times of his life. However, in the end all of these were rejected, so that he could live in the wilderness, but finally, he decided to remain to be once and for all, a Pharisee.
The Pharisees
Firstly, the Pharisees according to Josephus, are a group of people, who show the same respect, which we do to everyone like, to the young and old and they also imitate us, since they pray in the same way as we do. There are about 6000 Pharisees, who are well-known as, they behave and practice their religion in the correct manner, such as, religious upbringing. They argued against those people who used to claim, laws were written down verbally because, laws cannot teach a person what’s moral and what isn’t? Therefore, it’s determined on the upbringing of everyone, from an early age till now and how they act upon the teachings of their religion. This then shows, the distinction amongst right and wrong. Thus, due to this, the Pharisees are influential and are admired by many people i.e other faiths such as Muslims, since they are like a guide for people to make good actions instead of going astray. Therefore, Muslims need this to, achieve their ultimate aim, (Heaven). Despite of this, the ultimate decision lies upon the individual. In other words, it depends on, how people choose to live their lives? According to the Pharisees, we all have been given free-will by God.
In addition, they also believe in, the afterlife, more specifically, reincarnation, resurrection of the soul, but, they don’t believe in Hell. Hence, in this context, they are different to the Abrahamic religions (Islam and Christianity), however, they are very similar to religions like, Sikhism and Hinduism. They also believe in fate, as that determines, what good and bad is stored for each person for their future and they believe that, it is God who determines what is each individual’s fate, since he is omniscient. They live a peaceful and simple life without any distraction or luxury. This is exactly, what Josephus wants us to think of ourselves, that we should be like the Pharisees, since they are exactly what we need, in order to the live, an ethical life.
Reference:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharisees
The Sadducees
Secondly, the previous paragraph, which is about the Pharisees, contrasts this paragraph, which emphasises on the Sadducees. The Sadducees, were formed from 150BCE to 70 CE. They don’t have any beliefs and Practices common with the Pharisees, because the information, which I have listed above about the Pharisees, doesn’t apply to the Sadducees at all. For instance, they don’t believe in the afterlife (resurrection or reincarnation), by that means they don’t believe in angels or spirits. Thus, their view of the afterlife is that, it is meaningless because once a person has died, then, there is nothing left after that, i.e no Heaven or Hell. They are classified as rude and a boring group; hence, compared to the Pharisees, they are very unpopular.
Moreover, since God is transcendent, he is not responsible for any evil, which is occurring whether it is moral or natural evil. According to the Bible, evil is occurring since, Adam and Eve had committed ‘the Original Sin’, and since we are “seminally present in the loins of Adam”, we too have made sins and we alone are responsible for them, not God. In addition, unlike religions like Islam, which teaches, good human beings shall be rewarded and bad human beings shall be punished, according to them, this won’t be the case when we all have died. Despite, all human beings have been given free-will, the Sadducees don’t believe in fate at all, as a person’s future can only be brightened, if they follow the laws which have been put into place.
Reference:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadducees
The Essenes
Furthermore, as opposed to the Pharisees and the Sadducees, the Essenes were the group, that was mostly associated with the second temple. This was established, from the second century (BCE) to the first century (CE). One of the common beliefs and Practices of the Essenes and the Pharisees, is they were present for a long time. According to Elder, a roman author, the Essenes are the group, who, don’t get married, so instead they cohabit, they don’t have a detachment or greed of anything, because if something belongs to one person, then essentially, it belongs to us all. Josephus, provides us with detailed understanding of who the Essenes are. He classifies the Essenes, as the third group of Jewish Philosophy, who have a strict submission to the Sabbath.
Before noon, quite regularly, they used to occupy water, once they had finished praying, they ate their meals with each other, they made commitment to help the poor in every way they could, they had a generous heart, they had rejected anger completely, when they were told a secret, they never disclosed it to anyone and when they used to write their precious writings, they always thought of angels while they were doing that. They were also committed to agricultural work; thus, they did a lot for the environment, which was a big thing to do for anyone.
For Josephus, the Essenes are not a new philosophy, but in fact, they are very discipline because they don’t live a luxurious life. Instead, they live their lives in the way we should all live our lives, which is simply doing all the good things instead of the bad deeds. They lived in different towns as Essenes purpose is, to live in the wilderness. Therefore, wherever they used to travel to, it wasn’t necessary for them to, take food and drink along with them, because wherever they had went to, food, drink and Shelter was always offered to them.
Reference:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essenes
The Fourth Philosophy
Finally, the fourth Philosophy, which according to Josephus, is also classified as one of the varieties of Judaism. They were a group, which was formed in 6CE, and they were governed by Judas the Galilean. Judas, had ordered them to submit themselves towards God alone, not to the Romans. The most particular aspect of the fourth Philosophy is that, they are the one group, who had many different ideas and these ideas which they thought of couldn’t be changed by anyone. They didn’t like serving other people, because they only liked, serving God alone. From Josephus’s perspective, the fourth Philosophy were against the roman rule of Judea, as they were very rebellious. Martin Goodman’s view on, the varieties of Judaism in the first century is, “one shouldn’t underestimate them”.
Reference:
http://www.bible.ca/d-Jewish-sects-pharisees-sadducees-essenes-zealots.htm
How is the Destruction of the Second temple associated with the varieties of Judaism in the first century CE?
Former to the destruction of the Second Temple, which took place during 70 CE, the key interior struggles, at this time was amongst, the varieties of Judaism. So, the Pharisees had some struggles with the Sadducees, at the same time, the Essenes were having interior struggles with the Zealots. The Pharisees, wanted to sustain the right and the customs of the teachings of the Torah, which started from the Mishna. This then, sustained the right of the Sanhedrin, which is known to be, the supreme court of Jews. Josephus believed that, the Sadducees were different from the Pharisees, as they both didn’t believe in the concept of the afterlife. They looked like they had conquered the gentry along with the temple. Nonetheless, in the world Population, they aren’t high in numbers. The Essenes, addressed a reclusive approach of life, whereas, the Zealots supported armed revolt, alongside any foreign authority like Rome. They were fighting amongst each other, which led to a misunderstanding and division, which became associated with the second temple’s destruction.
Reference:
https://Wikipedia/wiki/Jewish_religious_movements
The common Beliefs and Practices of all the Varieties of Judaism in the first century CE
There isn’t a high variety of answers, to this question, since there are more differences than similarities of the beliefs and Practices of all the varieties of Judaism. For example, what the Pharisees believe in, doesn’t necessarily apply to, the beliefs of the Sadducees or the Essenes. Yet, some groups may believe in similar views, but others may disagree. For instance, the Pharisees and the Sadducees both believe in free-will; thus, we have the right to decide, how we should life our everyday lives. Josephus, taught his son, “Despite we are Sadducees, we are afraid of the Pharisees, since the wives of the Sadducees, tend to follow some of the teachings of the Pharisees.
In contrast, the Sadducees and the Essenes had a common belief among them which was, purification. The ashes of the red heifer, which was mixed with water, was used for purifying one, who had touched a person, who was not clean. As a consequence, they didn’t frequent the temple. Nevertheless, despite of what these groups believe in, and how they are similar and different from each other, all Jews regardless of what group they belong to, believe in the following: the concept of one God (Hashem), they believe in Moses, as he was the greatest of all Prophets and, they don’t believe in the New Testament.
However, one aspect of Judaism, which all Jews refer to is, the Torah, since it is their holy book. The Torah is divided, into two segments- the written and oral Torah, which Moses had imparted. Both were provided to the Jews at Mount Sinai, in order to make people understand the Torah fully. The Torah is everlasting, as the teachings of the Torah, since it was written are still present within the book. Therefore, all Jews today are referring to it, as the Torah which was provided to Jews all those years ago at Mount Sinai, is the same in today’s era. Moreover, all Jews believe, if you have made a bad deed, then you have the chance to ask forgiveness, and then change yourself.
Reference:
Goodman, Martin, ‘Josephus and Variety in First-Century Judaism’, in Goodman, Judaism in the Roman World: Collected Essays (Leiden: Brill, 2007), pp. 33-46
Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, 18:15File
http://www.beingjewish.com/basics/beliefs.html
Conclusion
In conclusion, despite the similarities and differences, which all the varieties of Judaism had in common during the first century, they all play an important part in Judaism, since they correspond from each other because of the temple. Moreover, they all share the same beliefs about Judaism, and this change has been established, after the first century as a lot has changed since then till now. For instance, Judaism, is now recognised particularly within multi-faith and ethnic societies, religious facts aren’t partial to Jews themselves as well as the religion itself. Furthermore, despite, Jews don’t live in the same area anymore, which they once before did, during the first century CE, they still remain to be one community.
Judaism has expanded since the first century, to the twenty-first century, due to adaptation each year i.e new events. Yet, despite of these changes, the most important thing is, all Jews must stay firm to all their beliefs and Practices of Judaism, which I had explained previously. For instance, they all have an aim of distributing sanctity, within everyday life. However, to do this, they must obey the teachings of the Torah (Ten Commandments and Halakah), regardless of how Jews were living their lives in the first century, and how they are living their lives now? In my view, if Jews show full obedience to the Torah, they will be able to, live a good, Jewish and a righteous life.
Despite of the common beliefs and practices among the varieties of Judaism in the first century, and the current era; the most significant thing to consider is, as long as Jews, obey the essential teachings of Judaism, particularly from the Torah itself, then this alone will be enough for them to, secure their place in Heaven.
References:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/Judaism/beliefs/beliefs_1.shtml
http://www.onjewishmatters.com/the-Jewish-community-of-the-21st-century/
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