R. Yochanan ben Zakkai does not found his rabbinical academy

What would have happened if the Romans did not allow R. Yochanan ben Zakkai to found his academy? Would Judaism have survived in the way we have it today? Remember the Babylonian community was still there.
 
Judaism would certainly have survived. In addition to the Babylonian community you mention, there were also thriving Jewish communities in Rome, Alexandria, and other places around the Empire, as well as in places like Yemen and Kerala that have nothing to do with Rome. While many of these communities were in constant contact with Jerusalem, many were already fairly "deviant"; the Alexandrians were particularly contemptuous of priestly authority.
  • Of course, Ribaz did basically invent the Mishnah. Certainly the Oral Torah existed beforehand, and the Dead Sea scrolls show that there was already a fairly lively tendency to interpret the Bible. But the step of writing down a bunch of things that were claimed to be the Oral Torah (or a codification thereof) was unprecedented. Considering that much of modern Judaism derives from the Oral Torah and the Talmud, it's likely that any Judaism lacking these things would look very different in the specifics (there are, honestly, very very few laws in modern Judaism that are actually carried out in anything like the literal writing in the Torah). I, personally, tend to think that the religion would probably be fairly specific in the generalities, though - you're still going to have the Sabbath and the High Holidays and Kosherness, you're still going to have Jews segregating themselves out from outside culture (which is attested at least as early as Alexander's time). Of course, what would happen to this particular Judaism is subject to the butterfly effect, but I suspect that the role of Jews in the Diaspora would likely stay similar. There's also outside butterflies, of course, probably the earliest one of note being Islam, but even before then, this different Judaism could/would have effects on, say, the nascent Church.
So, to answer your question, "kinda".

EDIT: I don't know why there's that bullet point, but I can't make it go away.
 
Judaism would certainly have survived, but Judea would have been less influential in religious developments going forward, both because the institution of the nasi might cease without ben Zakkai as a recognized authority figure and because several of the leading tannaim were ben Zakkai's students. Ben Zakkai taught Joshua ben Hananiah, for instance, and ben Hananiah was one of Rabbi Akiva's teachers, so no Yavneh academy might mean no Akiva or (if he still studies under Eleazar) at least a different Akiva. And Akiva's absence would affect, or possibly even forestall, the revolt of 132-35.

What we might see is a more politically and religiously disorganized Jewish community in Judea, with the centers of scholarship passing to the diaspora somewhat earlier than OTL and Babylonia possibly having even more prominence - would there even be a Talmud Yerushalmi ITTL?
 
Top