Cave/Jews, 2. What is Judaism?

If you look at most introductory textbooks about Judaism, the impression frequently given is that Judaism is a uniform religious tradition. But this is entirely misleading. Throughout history there have been many kinds of Judaism. In ancient times, biblical Judaism centred around the Temple. However, with the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in the first century, a new kind of Judaism – Rabbinic Judaism – took the place of biblical Judaism.