3. The Fall of Jewish Power as an Idea
The failure, however, of the military rebellions against the Romans in the
early centuries of the Common Era – the finality of Exile - and the
attendant rise of Rabbinic Judaism to a position of pre-eminence in the Jewish
world transformed both the reality and the perspective on power.
There was, from this time onwards, a deliberate downplaying of the military
tradition which had formed, at least in part, the Jewish self-image for centuries.
The dominant streams in the Rabbinic world sought to refashion the concept
of acceptable Jewish behaviour, and to emphasise the idea of the Jew as a
person who accepts the will of G-d as the defining factor in life.
- G-d decides on the fate of Jews individually and collectively, and Jews
can – and should – try and influence their fate by doing what
G-d truly wants them to do.
- The way to this is through study, prayer and detailed and meticulous Halachic
observance.
- To do anything else – to fight actively to try and change G-d’s
decrees – was to challenge G-d and that, of course, for the Rabbis,
was absolutely unacceptable and indeed unthinkable.
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