WI Jews rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem under Julian?

[Falecius]

"Converted" is an English word, yes. No problem there.

Yeah, I know, I was referring to the construction with the auxiliaries. That was supposed to be a present perfect continous passive form, but sounded a bit awkward to me.

 

[Falecius]

Even then, the Dome of the Rock being "the rock" that Mohammed ascended from is mostly conjectural IIRC and wasn't firmly believed even through the time of Umar, no?

Well, the Qur'an mentions the "Masjid al-Aqsa" without saying where it is. Tradition was elaborated rather soon about its connection with Jerusalem, that makes sense, because certainly Jerusalem was a "masjid" (a place of worship of the One True God). The Dome of the Rock, however, was not built under Umar but a bit later, under the Umayyad Abd-al-Malik. From what I gather, the building cemented the tradition into a generally accepted point, that was probably part of its purpose indeed.

 

[Zealot]

http://www.johnreilly.info/temple.htm

Read this; interesting point of view about the natural evolution of Judaism WITH Temple.

It is my understanding that they were rather indifferent towards Julian's effort. If he were to complete the temple, I could see rabbis debating whether or not the temple was legitimate, if it meant the Messiah was nigh, if he were already here, etc.

Some points:

1. According to their own Scriptures, there was already a president for restarting the sacrifices of the temple.
2. Under the Sassanids, the Jews were given control of Jerusalem. IIRC, the either planned or actually did restart the sacrifices.
3. Orthodox Jews today daily pray as part of the Amidah "Be pleased, O Lord our God, with your people Israel and with their prayers. Restore the service to the inner sanctuary of your Temple, and receive in love and with favor both the fire-offerings of Israel and their prayers.... " (or similar)

I don't it would be difficult for Jews of the Julian's time to reintegrate the temple and sacrifice back into their religion.

Their certainly could be some political conflict. I imagine the dispute would be framed in terms of the legitimacy of the Temple with the Kohanim arguing for and the rabbinical elite against. It could end up being a big headache for Julian.

I think this is entirely in the hands of the AH author.

 

[reformedcpmuser]

Is there any evidence for this alleged earthquake other than in anti-Jewish/anti-Pagan polemic?

Anyway. The rebuilding of the Temple would have profound consequences for Judaism, needless to say. It would be a bitter pill to swallow. Julian was a syncretizer. He adored Judaism for its similarities to the pagan religions (Yahweh being the local God and patron of his people) but despised Judaism's antagonism towards other gods and their oddball separatist dietary/lifestyle customs.

So if he were to build the Temple anew, it would probably not be to the Jewish establishment's liking. It would give rise to a new priesthood that would be more amenable to Hellenism.

Also, should the Temple rites be restored under Julian, there would likely be a schism between the rabbinical tradition, the Karaites, and an ATL Temple sacrifice tradition. What we know today as rabbinical Judaism had been developing from the Ptolemaic period in Judah and already had gained quite a place of prominence by the late 4th century CE. By that time the rabbinical movement had already codified most of its Oral Law. The Karaites ("Torah-only" is a most facile definition) were also much larger at this time. There were significant Karaite communities in Egypt and Mesopotamia.

Julian's reign is a very late and somewhat not feasible POD. A new Temple tradition would need to contend with two movements which already by that time commanded the allegiance of most Jews in diaspora.