Judaism

===Antiquity===
{{Main|Ancient Israel and Judah|Babylonian captivity|Second Temple Judaism|Hasmonean Kingdom|Iudaea Province|First Jewish-Roman War|Bar Kokhba revolt}}
[[File:Kingdoms_of_Israel_and_Judah_map_830.svg|right|thumb|200x200px|[[History of ancient Israel and Judah|Kingdoms of Israel and Judah]] map [[900 BC]].]]
According to the [[Hebrew Bible]], a [[United Monarchy]] was established under [[Saul the King|Saul]] and continued under [[King David]] and [[Solomon]] with its capital in [[Jerusalem]]. After Solomon's reign, the nation split into two kingdoms, the [[Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|Kingdom of Israel]] (in the north) and the [[Kingdom of Judah]] (in the south). The Kingdom of Israel was destroyed around 720 BCE, when it was conquered by the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]];<ref name="Broshi 2001 174">{{cite book |last=Broshi |first=Maguen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=etTUEorS1zMC&pg=PAPA174 |title=Bread, Wine, Walls and Scrolls |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |year=2001 |isbn=978-1-84127-201-6 |page=174 |archive-date=10 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230210203455/https://books.google.com/books?id=etTUEorS1zMC&pg=PAPA174 |url-status=live }}</ref> many people were taken captive from the capital [[Samaria (ancient city)|Samaria]] to [[Media (region)|Media]] and the [[Khabur (Euphrates)|Khabur River]] valley. The [[Kingdom of Judah]] continued as an independent state until it was conquered by [[Nebuchadnezzar II]] of the [[Neo-Babylonian Empire]] in 586&nbsp;BCE. The Babylonians [[Siege of Jerusalem (587 BC)|destroyed Jerusalem]] and the [[First Temple]], which was at the center of ancient Jewish worship. [[Babylonian captivity|The Judeans were exiled to Babylon]], in what is regarded as the first [[Jewish diaspora]]. Later, many of them returned to their homeland after the subsequent [[Fall of Babylon|conquest of Babylon]] by the [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian Achaemenid Empire]] seventy years later, an event known as the [[Return to Zion]]. A [[Second Temple]] was constructed and old religious practices were resumed.

During the early years of the Second Temple, the highest religious authority was a council known as the Great Assembly, led by [[Ezra|Ezra the Scribe]]. Among other accomplishments of the Great Assembly, the last books of the Bible were written at this time and [[Development of the Hebrew Bible canon|the canon sealed]]. [[Hellenistic Judaism]] spread to [[Ptolemaic Egypt]] from the 3rd century BCE, and its creation sparked widespread controversy in Jewish communities, starting "conflicts within Jewish communities about accommodating the cultures of occupying powers."{{sfn|Neusner|Avery-Peck|2003|pp=58–77}}{{sfn|Karesh|Hurvitz|2005|p=507}}

During the [[First Jewish–Roman War|Great Jewish Revolt]] (66–73 CE), the [[Roman Empire|Romans]] [[Siege of Jerusalem (70 CE)|sacked Jerusalem]] and destroyed the Second Temple. Later, Roman emperor [[Hadrian]] built a pagan idol on the Temple Mount and prohibited circumcision; these acts of ethnocide provoked the [[Bar Kokhba revolt|Bar Kokhba Revolt]] (132–136 CE), after which the Romans banned the study of the [[Torah]] and the celebration of Jewish holidays, and forcibly removed virtually all Jews from Judea. In 200 CE, however, Jews were granted Roman citizenship and Judaism was recognized as a ''[[religio licita]]'' ("legitimate religion") until the rise of [[Gnosticism]] and [[Early Christianity]] in the fourth century.

Following the destruction of Jerusalem and the expulsion of the Jews, Jewish worship stopped being centrally organized around the Temple, prayer took the place of sacrifice, and worship was rebuilt around the community (represented by a minimum of ten adult men) and the establishment of the authority of [[Rabbinic Judaism|rabbis]] who acted as teachers and leaders of individual communities.{{sfn|Neusner|Avery-Peck|2003|pp=78–92}}{{sfn|Schiffman|2003|p=}}

{{Multiple image
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| image1 = Israel Broadcasting service at Shaarei Tsedek 026.jpg
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| caption1 = Sephardi style torah
| image2 = Ingwiller Synagoge 733.jpg
| caption2 = Ashkenazi style torah
}}