Jewish History: Second Temple Period through Modernity
Domain 2: Jewish history from the Second Temple to modernity. The exam tests chronology, cause and consequence, and critical use of primary sources such as Josephus, rabbinic literature, the Dead Sea Scrolls, responsa, and modern documents.
Period map
- Second Temple 516 BCE–70 CE; Hellenistic crisis; Hasmonean revolt 167–164 BCE; sectarian diversity; 70 CE destruction; Yavneh.
- Rabbinic: Mishnah c. 200 CE; Yerushalmi c. 400; Bavli c. 600; geonim; Rishonim; Shulchan Aruch 1565.
- Medieval: Crusades 1096; expulsions from England 1290 and Spain 1492; Sabbatai Zevi 1666.
- Modern: Haskalah, emancipation, Reform, Zionism, Shoah, State of Israel 1948.
Worked example
'Were the Pharisees a single unified party?' Compare Josephus (Antiquities 18, War 2), the Gospels (hostile), and rabbinic texts (self-representation). Each has a genre and audience: Josephus writes for Romans, the Gospels for a sectarian community, the Mishnah for a self-defining elite. Conclusion: 'Pharisee' names a cluster of practices - oral law, purity, resurrection - not a modern denomination. Show source, bias, and corroboration.
Traps
- Collapsing 'Judaism' into one stream.
- Using rabbinic texts as transcripts of Second Temple life.
- Forgetting contested dates, such as 70 CE versus Masada 73/74.
- Teleology: reading all history toward Zionism or the Holocaust.