Followers of Judaism can definitely see ancient Israel as being the home to Judaism, due to many important relationships that were established in such a holy environment. God is said to interact with his people, so ultimately his lessons to humanity come from this period of time. Consequently, making Ancient Israel such a significant place to the religion. As time moves on, Judaism makes its way to the second temple period where many variations come forward. The number of subgroups in Judaism differs by their interpretation of god and his message to mankind. With that being said, the use of the sacred message, the Torah, is vital when discussing each group’s fundamental values since the idea of rejecting and accepting ideas may determine whether …show more content…
Texts that share ancient Israel’s Judaism express god personally connecting with his people. Thus it has been written that god had lead Moses to mount Sinai in order to receive the instructions for all mankind on Mount Sinai. With that being said, one of the main points of rabbinic Judaism is the distinct line that is drawn between God and the people. Rabbinic Judaism emphasizes on the fact that people cannot actually speak to god because he is the divine being. For instance, a short interaction between god and the people only had unfavorable effects. “ Four entered into pardes, Ben Azzai, Ben Zoma, “ Other”, and Rabbi Kiva. One gazed and died, one gazed and as wounded, one gazed and cut the shoots, and one ascended in peace and descended in peace.” (Tosefta Hagiga 2:3-4) (Satlow, page 144). Rabbinic Judaism also may differentiate from Judaism in ancient Israel by the difference in how the Torah is used. Rabbinic traditions seem to use the torah as a reference point. With that being said, rabbinic followers tend to follow the torah in a looser approach. Rabbinic customs diverge from the foundation of Judaism by questioning the very nature of the Torah. This ultimately leads into questioning if god’s covenant to his people is in fact an option since it was technically offered to them. Many have questioned the idea of how binding our sacred covenant is with