The Destruction of the Second Temple

Judea revolted against Rome in 66 CE. Four years later the legions took Jerusalem and burned the Temple, the single place where Jewish sacrifice could lawfully be performed. A religion organized around one building, one priesthood, and one city had that building destroyed — and survived anyway, because rabbis rebuilt it around study, prayer, and law that could be carried anywhere. Rome scattered the population; the portable religion they invented outlived Rome by nineteen centuries.