It is essential in today's anti-religious world to understand the historical and prophetic timeline of "Biblical Judaism," "Rabbinic Judaism," The Jewish "Way Sect," and "Nicene Christianity." In this brief study, I demonstrate why this is relevant and vital to understand in light of the prophecies that are now coming to pass. It appears that

When the Second Jewish Temple was destroyed in 70 CE, it threw Judaism into a tailspin. Without the Jerusalem Temple and its biblically mandated sacrifices, Judaism had to be fundamentally reformed if it was to survive.

The Pharisees, established by Ezra and the Men of the Great Assembly during the Babylonian captivity, became known as the Rabbis (circa 50 BCE-70 CE). They established "Rabbinic Judaism" following the Temple's destruction in 70 CE. This process of transforming "Biblical Judaism" into "Rabbinic Judaism" was completed in the 500's CE. with the completion of the Babylonian Talmud.

The process of "completing" the Hebrew religious canon, called Gemara or "Completion," occurred in the then two major centers of Jewish scholarship: Galilee and Babylonia. These two Rabbinic bodies examined the Written Torah of Moshe, the Tanach (or remainder of the "Old Testament"), the scraps of surviving Rabbinic notes (megillot setarim, and the insights of the various authors then alive and deceased, to produce what became the official Jewish Canon.

The Jerusalem Talmud or Talmud Yerushalmi - compiled in 4th century CE Galilee - and the Babylonian Talmud (Talmud Bavli), completed around 500 CE, with further edits later became the central texts of Rabbinic Judaism. The word "Talmud," when used without qualification, usually refers to the Babylonian Talmud.

The Sadducees, Essenes, Zealots, and most other Jewish sects ceased to exist with the destruction of the Second Temple and the fall of Masada, and the Rabbis became the accepted leaders and heirs of the Covenant, Samaritanism not considered here. However, not all Jews accepted the Rabbinic reforms, including the Talmud.

Many of the Jewish Rabbinic opposers united into a new first-century Jewish sect, whose followers held that a Jewish rabbi named Yeshua ben Miriam (later Anglicized as Jesus, son of Mary) had been sent by HaShem to transform Biblical Judaism in ways different than the Pharisees. They were the primary dissenting voice among the Jewish people for nearly three hundred years.

According to the Gospels, Yeshua was also a rabbi (a Pharisee) but opposed what he saw as the "teachings of men" (i.e., the Oral Rabbinic Torah) replacing the teachings of God (i.e., the Written Torah of Moshe). Yeshua's disciples created what they called HaDerech (The Way) or Derech Yeshua. This Jewish sect offered an alternative to the then-rising Rabbinate. The Way sect rejected the Rabbi's assumed power over Jewish lives and beliefs, demanding that as there is but one Father of us all, Jews require no Rabbinic middlemen. Their Written Torah-based doctrine and the reforms offered by their elders to maintain essential biblical Judaism attracted many followers among the Jews and Gentiles of the day.

From its conception by Yeshua, Paul, James, Peter, and the other apostles, the Way battled assimilation from within and without and ultimately fell before what Yochanan, John the Revelator, called the Nicolaitan heresy, Roman religious assimilation. While Rabbinic Judaism continued to develop largely organically as a unique Hebrew system throughout the Diaspora, the Way sect was gradually transformed into a non-Torah-based religious and social system through the Roman Empire's authority.

The Roman authorities absorbed the Way Sect circa 320 CE and merged it with the other Roman systems to form a "Universal" or Catholic Imperial religious system. Yochanan warned of this rising threat in the late first century in the second and third chapters of his Book of Revelation.

During the first and second centuries CE, "Judaism" was in transition as various sects and teachers sought to determine its future. These competing sects struggled for control, and "Biblical Judaism" became "Rabbinic Judaism." The Rabbis rejected all its competitors, including the Way sect, the Samarians, the Essene Brotherhood, the Sadducees, etc.

The New Testament authors wrote as non-Rabbinic Jewish reformers, not as "Christians." There was no conception of Christianity during their lifetimes. Way Sect practitioners considered themselves Jewish or Gentile followers of a controversial but anointed Jewish Rabbi and Torah teacher. Judaism was the only religion the Way Sect knew and practiced. As far as they were concerned, their teachings were solidly based on the biblical (Tanach) prophets and concepts of the Written Torah. Much of the Rabbinic opposition to the Way sect reforms was based more on politics than content. Before the Constatinian usurpation, the differences between the two streams of Jewish thought were minimal.

We at Beit Emunah are independent Rabbinic Jews who seek to understand our history and scriptures more thoroughly and to encourage others to seek the God of the Written Torah with us. We believe the Oral Torah and the Rabbinic structure are valid but should never be used to supersede the Written Torah. Many of our sincere Christian friends study to understand the origins of their religion as we do. We welcome them, in part, because we arise from the same root.

Sadly, many of our Jewish brothers and sisters prefer ignorance to knowledge and have opposed my teaching this topic for reasons I don't understand. The Jewish prophecies are coming to pass right before our eyes, and those who believe "ignorance is bliss" are already reaping the result of their intellectual errors. We seek to be ready to serve HaShem and refuse to blind ourselves with superstition, politics, and baseless fear.

There have been numerous well-intentioned attempts to rediscover "Biblical religion." The best-known of these within Judaism is Kairism (Yahadut Qara'it). This Jewish non-Rabbinic sect, probably founded by Anan ben David, who lived c. 715 – 795 (or 811), has not succeeded despite notable successes in previous centuries. Today, there are roughly 35,000–50,000 Kairaites worldwide, depending on how one identifies them, with an estimated 1,500 in the United States and some unaffiliated self-proclaimed internet-based Kairaite groups.

Within Christianity, several groups have risen in the past hundred years with titles like J's Witnesses, "Messianic Judaism," "Hebrew Roots," Root and Branch Jews," and so on, seeking to rediscover the original Way sect. However, most of these groups maintain substantial elements of Constantine's Nicean and other Catholic creeds and hence fail to restore the Way sect as observed by Yeshua and his followers.

The truth is that until the coming of Mashiach ben David and the building of the Third Beit HaMikdash (Jerusalem Temple), biblical Judaism can not be restored because biblical Judaism is primarily a sacrificial system requiring the Temple and its trained priesthood. May HaShem be merciful and guide all who seek Him according to His Will. Until then, we are only gazing into a dark mirror.

* © by Rabbi Shlomo Nachman, March 05, 2024)

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