Jews’ Ancient Sense of Solidarity

In a recent book, the Israeli archaeologist Yonatan Adler contends that one cannot speak of “Judaism” as such beginning anytime before the middle of the 2nd century BCE, at least if Judaism is understood as a set of practices observed by a sizeable number of people who thought of themselves as Jews. Jon D. Levenson has examined the book’s strengths and weaknesses here. In her own review, Malka Simkovich argues that ideas like “covenant, monotheism, revelation, and the messianic age” were widely shared by Jews earlier than Adler suggests, along with a focus on “the Jerusalem Temple, charity, and prayer.” What’s more, she writes, Jews of this era already had a strong sense of fellow feeling wherever they lived: