Changes

==Post Biblical Jewish Development and Literature==

==Post Biblical Jewish Development and Literature==

Yet while the Jewish [[canon]] of Scripture was being developed (to finally be defined at the Jamnia (Yavneh) on the Mediterraenean coast of Israel at 90A.D.), the Jewish literature called now the Intertestamental or Apocryphal made its appearance. Jews now also lived in great numbers outside of the Land of Israel, particularly in Mesopotamia (the Land betweeen the Rivers of the Euphrates and the Tigris), and in Alexandria, Egypt.  Mesopotamian Jewry, with its large core from the exile to Babylon continually added to,  was mainly Aramaic speaking while Egyptian Jewry was Greek speaking. Aramaic Jewry  began the translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into [[Aramaic]], this came to be known as the [[Peshitta]]  ("simple" or common). This development was accelerated particularly when the queen of Adiabene, Helena (Shlomzion HaMalka, converted with others to Judaism. The Old Testament Peshitta (there is also the New Testament Peshitta as  believers in Jesus translated the Greek New Testament into Aramaic) contains influence from the Jewish literature known as the [[Targum]]. Queen Helena was buried in Jerusalem around 70 A.D. The Aexandrian Jews also translated, even earlier, the Hebrew Scriptures into their language, Greek. This is known as the Septuagint (translted by 70 or 72 Jewish scholars).

Yet while the Jewish [[canon]] of Scripture was being developed (to finally be defined at the Jamnia (Yavneh) on the Mediterraenean coast of Israel at 90A.D.), the Jewish literature called now the Intertestamental or Apocryphal made its appearance. Jews now also lived in great numbers outside of the Land of Israel, particularly in Mesopotamia (the Land between the Rivers of the Euphrates and the Tigris), and in Alexandria, Egypt.  Mesopotamian Jewry, with its large core from the exile to Babylon continually added to,  was mainly Aramaic speaking while Egyptian Jewry was Greek speaking. Aramaic Jewry  began the translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into [[Aramaic]], this came to be known as the [[Peshitta]]  ("simple" or common). This development was accelerated particularly when the queen of Adiabene, Helena (Shlomzion HaMalka, converted with others to Judaism. The Old Testament Peshitta (there is also the New Testament Peshitta as  believers in Jesus translated the Greek New Testament into Aramaic) contains influence from the Jewish literature known as the [[Targum]]. Queen Helena was buried in Jerusalem around 70 A.D. The Aexandrian Jews also translated, even earlier, the Hebrew Scriptures into their language, Greek. This is known as the Septuagint (translated by 70 or 72 Jewish scholars).

===The Talmud===

===The Talmud===

The Palestinian Hebrew Mishna, having spread to Mesopotamia,  came to be regulatory to the Babylonian Jews, and, as the Mishna had become a "commentary" on the Hebrew Bible, so the Babylonian Jews developed a commentary on the Mishna itself. This was called the Gemara ("completion")  and is in their own language, Aramaic. The Mishna and the Gemara together is called the Talmud ("the Learning"). The Talmud then became regulatory until modern times for Jewish life elsewhere with but a few exceptions (Karaite Jews who do not hold to oral tradition).

The Palestinian Hebrew Mishna, having spread to Mesopotamia,  came to be regulatory to the Babylonian Jews, and, as the Mishna had become a "commentary" on the Hebrew Bible, so the Babylonian Jews developed a commentary on the Mishna itself. This was called the Gemara ("completion")  and is in their own language, Aramaic. The Mishna and the Gemara together is called the Talmud ("the Learning"). The Talmud then became regulatory until modern times for Jewish life elsewhere with but a few exceptions (Karaite Jews who do not hold to oral tradition).

The process of God sanctioned and ordained commentary (the Talmud) on the Scriptures is a legacy of the one movement that survived the first century Roman detruction of the temple and Jewish authority in Israel.  The Saduccees disappeared as did the Essenes and the Herodians. But not so the Pharisees. The Pharisees believed that with the written Torah given to Moses on Sinai, there was also an Oral Torah given to him, by which the written was to be interpreted and applied. This Oral Torah was transmitted to others - Joshua, then the seventy, the prophets, and then to certain pairs (Zugot)  finally finding its exression through the discussions and decisions embodied in the Talmudic literature. Having a "portable" law and, so to speak,  a "constituion" in the Talmud, Jews then were able to survive as Jews when they no longer had a land to live in.  

The process of God sanctioned and ordained commentary (the Talmud) on the Scriptures is a legacy of the one movement that survived the first century Roman detruction of the temple and Jewish authority in Israel.  The Saduccees disappeared as did the Essenes and the Herodians. But not so the Pharisees. The Pharisees believed that with the written Torah given to Moses on Sinai, there was also an Oral Torah given to him, by which the written was to be interpreted and applied. This Oral Torah was transmitted to others - Joshua, then the seventy, the prophets, and then to certain pairs (Zugot)  finally finding its exression through the discussions and decisions embodied in the Talmudic literature. Having a "portable" law and, so to speak,  a "constituion" in the Talmud, Jews then were able to survive as Jews when they no longer had a land to live in.

==Dietary laws==

==Dietary laws==