The Jewish Diaspora, which had begun with the Babylonian captivity in the sixth century BCE, and which had resumed early in the Hellenistic period, now involves most Jews in an exodus from what they continue to view as the land promised to them as the descendants of Abraham.

Following the destruction of the Temple in 70, and especially after the suppression of the Bar-Kochba Rebellion in 135, religio-nationalist aspects of Judaism are supplanted by a growing intellectual- spiritual trend.

Lacking a state, the survival of the Jewish people is dependent on study and observance of the written law, the Torah.

To maintain the integrity and cohesiveness of the community, the Torah is enlarged into a coherent system of moral theology and community law.

The rabbi and the synagogue become the normative institutions of Judaism, which hereafter is essentially a congregationalist faith.