LAUSR

developing during the Second Temple Period – a term that VanderKam uses far more often – he glosses over some key aspects of it. One is the decision by Ezra to make Jewish lineage dependent on the matrilineal line – a massive departure from the patrilineal determinant of theHebrewBible and one that reshaped Judaism from then on, yet which receives only four lines. The same short shrift is given to the Samaritans, in a section that examines the different Jewish groups of the time. Yet the Samaritans were a form of Judaism and still exist today (albeit in small numbers), whereasmany others he examines (Sadducees, Essenes) disappeared two millennia ago. He does acknowledge that the establishment of a scholarly academy in Yavneh under the leadership of Yochanan ben Zakkai was to ‘have great effect on Judaism’ – but this simple sentence could have been expanded into at least a page or two. The creation of Yavneh was the single most important act that saved Judaism from being wiped out with the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, by transferring authority from priests to rabbis, changing the main ritual from sacrifices to prayer, and upgrading synagogues from a lesser adjunct of the Temple to the mainstay of Jewish worship. In short, Yavneh was a religious revolution. Despite these gripes, the comprehensive coverage of the events and personalia of the period, if not all of the consequences, makes it an essential addition to one’s library.