Rabbinic Judaism
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Rabbinic Judaism or Rabbinism (or in Hebrew "Yahadut Rabanit" - יהדות רבנית) was the continuation of the Pharisees after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. It developed through the second to sixth centuries CE. It is to be contrasted with Karaite Judaism, which broke with the Rabbinic Jews over the validity of the oral law, and over procedures used to interpret Jewish scripture, the Torah. Karaite Jews are nowadays a very small group.
Rabbinic Judaism is based on the tradition that the law (Torah) revealed at Sinai had both a written and oral form. The written part consists in the Torah, or the five books of Moses. The oral revelation was transmitted by word of mouth from the generation present at Sinai to their descendants up to the time of the second Temple in Jerusalem. The oral law was subsequently codified in the Mishna and Gemarah, and is interpreted by subsequent rabbinic decisions and writings. Rabbinic Jewish literature is predicated on the belief that the written law can not be properly understood without recourse to the Oral Law (the Mishnah and the Talmud). Much Rabbinic Jewish literature concerns specifying what behavior is sanctioned by the law; this body of interpretations is called halakha (going/travelling). Until the Jewish enlightenment halakha had the universal status of required religious practice, which remains the prevailing position among Orthodox and Conservative Jews. Reform Jews do not generally treat halakha as binding.
Although there are now profound differences between the streams of Rabbinic Judaism with respect to the binding force of halakha and the willingness to challenge preceding interpretations, all identify themselves as coming from the tradition of the oral law and the Rabbinic method of analysis. It is this which distinguishes them as Rabbinic Jews, in comparison to the Karaite movement.
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