I’ve heard and read that the Jews of today are nothing like the Jews of Jesus’ time, not even Orthodox Jews.
Your right, the Judaism of today, is nothing like the Judaism of Jesus’ time, let me explain.
When you look at the Jewish faith,something pops up straight away. After the destruction of the temple in 70 AD by the Roman General, Tidus, and his 10th Legion.
The Jewish faith seized to be what it had been up to that point. The major hallmarks of Judaism prior to the destruction of the temple, had been that, they had a temple and offered sacrifice. The entire religion was focused on this one singlular point, they also had a king and land, which help them form into a religious nation.
After the Romans had done it’s business, the Jews as the religion of the convenant no longer existed, gone was the temple, temple sacrifice, and the Jewish priesthood. These were the hallmarks the essential non-debatable aspects of being a religious Jew.
No Temple, no sacrifice, and no priesthood means no Judaism. What replaced it in history, what as come down to us today is “Rabbinical Judiasm”. This is not the Judiasm of the convenant, it is a man-made religion.
The convenant, that God made with Abraham, that did not seize to be, God did not retreat from his promise to Abraham. When, Mother Mary cryed out;
“He has come to the help of Israel his servent,mindful of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our anscestors of his marcy to Abraham and to his descendant for ever” - ( Luke 1: 54-56)
The promise of the convenant is fulfilled in the Catholic Church, we are the continuation of Israel. We have an un-broken line from Abraham to us, the first members of the church were virtually all Jewish, religious Jews, they went to the temple daily, prayed the prayers of the convenant etc. But the worship was made complete in the sacrifice of the Mass, the Holy Eucharist. This is why nothing was lost in the sense of the convenant, when Jerusalem was destroyed, it’s not so much the convenant was switched to a new group. It’s much more the case a few former members of the convenant stayed faithful, the majority rejected the convenant, as highlighted when the Jewish leaders screamed out " We have no king but Ceaser". The convenant continued in the few Jews, who remained faithful to it, by recognizing the Messiah. Then God, added to they a multiplicity of Gentiles, no the convenant was never abondoned by God. It was abondoned by the overwhelming number that was called to it, and it is continued today in the Catholic Church.
We have The Priesthood, THE Sacrifice, THE temple.
That is because Judiasm is built upon waiting for a Messiah, who will come to institute his reign. That happened 2000 years ago, the Jews who accepted him became the church, the Jews who rejected him, having voting themselves out of the convenant, went off and started a man-made religion. Waiting for another Messiah to come, is like trying to touch your elbow with your tongue.
Rabbinical Judaism, todays Jewish religion, is to authentic Judiasm, what Protestantism is to Catholicism. Looks alot like it sometimes, but at it’s core it very different.
God Bless.
