The Flexibility of Judaism

   The Jewish Exile

     The Jewish culture has been kept on it's toes since Joseph was sold into slavery by his family (Genesis 37).  The followers of Yahweh have had to adjust their religious practices time and time again in order to maintain a connection with their deity through temple destructions, wars, relocations, and unjust rulers.  Chapter Five of Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths starts off by describing "The destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple [as] in some profound sense the end of the world" (Armstrong 79).  The end of the spiritual world was certainly a daunting circumstance to overcome while keeping the faith, but the Israelites managed to do so!  

    One of the main differences between religion now and religion then is prayer.  As our book points out, "Today religious people believe that they can make contact with their God wherever they are in the world" (Armstrong 83).  Jewish culture at the time of the Diaspora was not accustomed to this idea.  One of the main reasons the Israelites needed to escape their enslavement at the hands of Egypt and Pharaoh was to '"go into the desert so that they [could] have a festival to honor [God]"  (Exodus 5:1).  Old Judaism attached their links to God and heaven with places, and the destruction of Jerusalem meant the "link with heaven... had been broken" (Armstrong 82).  The hearts of the exiled Jews were healed a bit though when Yahweh chose to be with them in Babylon.  Sure, Yahweh promised that at some point, Jerusalem, again, would be the center of the Jewish universe, but for the time being, He was going to be with His people that were exiled.  This meant that "the Judean exiles had to make themselves into a spiritual zone" (Armstrong 86).  This adaptation of Jewish culture took so well, in fact, that upon the Jewish return to Jerusalem years later, many of the returning exiles settled in "more comfortable parts of Judah and Samerina" (Armstrong 92).  This preference from some Israelites likely would not have crossed their minds prior to their adaptation to life away from the Temple and Jerusalem, but they had a new comfort in knowing that their God would be with them in other geographical locations.  They no longer had to be in His home to have a relationship with Him.

    This period in Jewish history required some dramatic religious adjustments in order for these people to still feel unified with their God.  This period established the precedent for Jews to live in places other than Jerusalem.  This culture lasts even today as we see people of strong Jewish faith living all over the world.  Only some of these people today will make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and even those people will likely only go a handful of times.  While the Jewish faith is one of staunch tradition, these believers cannot be said to be inflexible.