Читать книгу Judaism I - Группа авторов - Страница 17

Prof. Dr. Lee I. Levine of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem discusses the rabbinic movement and the Jews in the Land of Israel, challenging the traditional view of decline with an exposition of the vibrance of Judaism, as Christianity emerges in the Byzantine Empire. Levine explains that two phenomena from the Late Roman period have gained wide acceptance over the past generation and have revised our understanding of Jewish history. The first is a reassessment of the economic, political, and cultural situation in the province generally and of the Jews in particular. The second and third centuries—the Judea-based Bar-Kokhbah revolt notwithstanding—were a period of peace and stability throughout the province. Not only did the Jewish cities of Tiberias and Sepphoris expand in this era, but synagogue buildings were constructed in the third century following a hiatus of several centuries.

The second phenomenon that has revolutionized our understanding was the establishment of the Jewish Patriarchate, a new political-communal office recognized by Rome and intended to instill a sense of autonomy and confidence within the Jewish community. Rome, for its part, welcomed Jews into the municipal curiae with the provision that nothing was to interfere with their religious observance. Traditions reflecting sympathetic relations between Severan emperors on the one hand and the Jews and Judaism on the other are noted in the fourth century.

The third century also marked a new stage in the development of art as a form of religious expression, appearing on mosaic floors, walls, and architectural elements in pagan and Jewish contexts. Literary activity among the rabbis found expression in the compilation of tannaitic halakhic and midrashic treatises, including at least one that was influenced by a genre known in the Roman world. The archaeological finds from more than one hundred synagogues in ancient Palestine, almost all in the Galilee and Golan dating to Late Antiquity, in addition to the rich variety of artistic and epigraphic remains, demonstrate the multifaceted cultural and religious components within these communities. The construction of monumental synagogue buildings points to political standing and economic means of these Jewish communities.