Judaism

The history of Judaism cannot appropriately be divided into periods. Rabbi Leo Baeck, one of the great teachers and leaders of the Jewish community of our time, saw Judaism as a perennial revolution, constantly renewing itself, a ‘history of rebirth from epoch to epoch, of rebirth which created epochs—epochs which gave the old ideas new expression; this was the gift of prophet-ism to Judaism’. ¹ Yet these epochs do not conform to the rigid patterns of most historical systems. The renewal of Judaism, its constant return to its biblical roots, can be a withdrawal from the world of the Renaissance or an affirmation of the golden age of Islam; it can and does combine the teachings of the rabbis from the time of the destruction of the Temple (70 Ce) with the interpretations of a French rabbi a thousand years later. It stands, as it were, outside history, in its own continuum, and still responds to every aspect of the society in which it finds itself at any moment of time. Examining Jewish life and teachings from the time of the Mishnah to the present, we cannot ignore any of these dimensions of Judaism.