ABSTRACT
Judaic religion in the Second Temple period needs to be considered as a unit. There were many continuities from First Temple times, and many aspects continued into the rabbinic period; nevertheless, the period marked off in its beginning by the exilic period and at its end by Yavneh contains within its great variety a conceptual, ideological, thematic, and developmental unity that should be recognized and characterized. The Second Temple period is a coherent period of Jewish history and needs to be treated as such. While any boundaries one draws are to some extent artificial and certainly do not mark off watertight, hermetically sealed entities, nevertheless, the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 587/586 BCE and the deportation of some Judeans marks an important break in history, as does the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 70 CE. The religion(s) of the Jewish people were greatly shaped by both events. To begin the study of Judaism of this time with the coming of Alexander both misses the many innovations of the Persian period and overly emphasizes the changes brought about by Hellenistic culture; it also overlooks the broader congruence of religion from the exile to Yavneh. The real watershed was not the coming of Alexander but the exilic period.
