Graeco-Roman Synagogue Mural

Lawrence H. Schiffman, From Text to Tradition, Ktav Publishing House, Hoboken, NJ, 1991.

From the third century B.C.E. a Greco-Roman, Hellenistic Judaism had existed alongside the Hebrew-speaking Judaism of Palestine. This Greek-speaking Judaism had come to terms with Greek literary forms and philosophies, had translated the Bible into Greek in several versions, and had in many ways synthesized the culture of Israel with that of Hellas. Its success lay in its having resisted isolationism, assimilation, and extreme Hellenization.

Testifying to the strength of Hellenistic Judaism was its ability to attract widespread attention among pagans. The existence of semi proselytes and God-fearers (non-Jews drawn to the synagogue and Jewish practice) shows that Hellenistic Jewry’s way of life was attractive to non-Jews who were searching for a replacement for the now waning Greek and Roman cults.

By the mid-second century C.E., however, Hellenistic Judaism had begun to decline. This was due in part to the losses, both human and material, suffered as a result of the Jewish uprising in many parts of the Diaspora in the years 115–117 C.E. While messianic fervor was certainly at the heart of this uprising, as it was in the two Palestinian revolts, the Diaspora insurrection was also a testimony to the steadily weakening position of the Jews in the Greco-Roman world, where they were often becoming economic or political scapegoats.

The decline might have set in without the uprising, however, for it may well be that the thin tightrope of Hellenistic Judaism could not have been walked for too many generations. Theoretically it may have seemed possible to partake of the Hellenistic world and remain a loyal Jew, but the challenges to such loyalty, and more so to traditional piety, were often too great to resist. Over the generations, the children and grandchildren of those who first entered into the Hellenistic environment acquired Greek educations, began to participate in commercial and cultural activities with their non-Jewish neighbors, and eventually intermarried with them. Thus assimilation took a heavy
toll.

A final factor of great significance was the rise of gentile Christianity. The earliest Christians were Jews who believed that the messiah had come in the person of Jesus. By the last quarter of the first century, the Christian community had acceded to the demands of Peter and Paul that gentiles be permitted to join the new movement without formally converting to Judaism, a process which involved circumcision for males, and immersion in a ritual bath and acceptance of the commandments for all. (By this time the Temple was no longer standing, so the required sacrifice could not be offered.) Under Paul’s influence, Christianity turned more and more toward the gentiles, that is, the Greco-
Roman pagans of the Hellenistic world. As this process quickened in the second century C.E., gentile Christianity absorbed many of the semi-proselytes or potential semi-proselytes who had attached themselves to the Hellenistic Jewish communities—people who were attracted by the theological notions and ethical teachings of Judaism but were unwilling to undergo conversion. At the same time, the new movement undoubtedly absorbed some Hellenized Jews. Further, just as Christianity was becoming more popular, Judaism was beginning to abandon its Hellenistic manifestation, partly because of the gradual Hebraizing of the Greek-speaking synagogue, a process abetted by the many exiles from Palestine who fled to the Diaspora after the two unsuccessful revolts. As a result, the Greek Bible translations fell into disuse among Jews.

Thus, the rise of Christianity indirectly helped to bring about the decline of Hellenistic Jewry. In the early Middle Ages, when we again meet organized Jewish communities in the lands of the Hellenistic Diaspora—Asia Minor, Greece itself, Bulgaria (Macedonia), Italy, the Greek islands, and North Africa—these communities are praying in Hebrew and reading from Hebrew Torah scrolls. To be sure, some of their members were descended from the earlier Hellenized Jews. More importantly, the heritage of Hellas would no longer be synthesized with Judaism except as mediated by the Islamic tradition. Hellenistic Judaism did not pass on its traditions directly. Indeed, it was Christianity
which preserved the books of the apocrypha and pseudepigrapha, the Greek translations of the Bible, and even the works of Philo and Josephus. The Jews would not rediscover these books until the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.