Any outside observer would have thought that with the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD, the history of the Jewish People would have come to an end. Other peoples who suffered a similar fate soon disappeared. But this was not the case for the Jews. Their leaders were able to transform Judaism into a powerful and sustainable way of life that did not need a central sanctuary or a territory of its own for national continuity.

The ensuing Jewish vitality and creativity was rooted in the actions of those who oversaw the formation of the new Jewish way of life after the tragedy of the destruction of the Temple and the dispersion of the Jewish people throughout the world. I refer to the rabbis. They realized that if Jewish religious life depended exclusively on access to Jerusalem and its Temple, Judaism would not survive. At that time, the Torah took center stage, and the mobility that the written word allowed (you can carry the Torah physically or in your memory anywhere) was the key to Judaism’s survival.

Lacking a physical, geographic, and national center, the rabbis sought other ways to unite a people who were far from the borders of Eretz Israel and who were scattered throughout the Roman and, before that, the Babylonian empire. They developed regular religious services and a standardized liturgy. These services did not require a priest or an altar. They could be conducted anywhere in the world by any Jew.

The synagogue became an important Jewish institution. Jews could gather there to pray, study, and socialize. The home also became a center of Jewish practices, with celebrations such as the Passover Seder or Shabbat dinners.

Judaism could thrive anywhere where the Torah and its interpretations could be studied and Jewish law put into practice. Yet the loss of national sovereignty and the destruction of the Temple were never forgotten by the Jews. They were always mentioned in religious services.

Jews love their books and the written word because they are something that cannot be taken away from them. Even when books were confiscated or burned, their words remained in our memory and we could reconstruct them.

Thanks to the written word, we can take Judaism with us everywhere. That is our great secret. We have made the written word our great passion to the point that we put it in our entryways with the Mezuzah, in our minds and in our hearts with the tefillin, and in our daily lives with the Torah and its precepts. That is what makes Judaism portable.

By Marcos Gojman:

Bibliography: Embracing Judaism, by Rabbi Simcha Kling revised by Carl M. Perkins and God Was Not in the Fire by Daniel Gordis.