why did temple sacrifices end

**Salah** · April 21st, 2010, 05:33 PM

The ancient Israelites/Jews believed that blood needed to be shed to atone for sins. Though they generally abhorred human sacrifice, the sacrifice of sheep, goats, bulls, doves, etc. was a common feature in Jewish culture from earliest times (Avraham himself making animal sacrifices to God) until sometime not long after the life of Christ.

The Messianic Jews we retrospectively recognize as the first Christians believed that Jesus' blood covered all sins, and thus animal sacrifice was no longer necessary - therefore, blood sacrifice has never been a part of Christianity. But animal sacrifices were still being carried out in the Jerusalem Temple during the lifetime of Jesus. His death obviously had no effect on the majority of Jews, who did not see him as Maschiach and thus continued to sacrifice.

T. Flavius Vespasianus the younger destroyed the Jerusalem Temple in 70 AD. In the 130's AD, Hadrian reorganized the province of Judea and banned all Jews from living in it except during the Passover. These events began what we now call the Diaspora.

To my knowledge, animal sacrifice did not take place in Judaism in medieval or modern times. So, did such sacrifices cease immediately, with the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple? Or did they just gradually die out in late antiquity? I see no reason why they should have stopped - animal sacrifice had been taking place long before any of the Temples were built, so why could they not continue afterwards?

**Zeno** · April 21st, 2010, 05:47 PM

The sacrifices were performed at the temple in Jerusalem, so when it was destroyed, they could no longer be performed.

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We stopped offering sacrifices because we do not have a proper place to offer them. The Torah specifically commands us not to offer sacrifices wherever we feel like it; we are only permitted to offer sacrifices in the place that G-d has chosen for that purpose. Deut. 12:13-14. It would be a sin to offer sacrifices in any other place, akin to stealing candles and wine to observe Shabbat. The last place appointed by G-d for this purpose was the Temple in Jerusalem, but the Temple has been destroyed and a mosque has been erected in the place where it stood. Until G-d provides us with another place, we cannot offer sacrifices. There was at one time an opinion that in the absence of an assigned place, we could offer sacrifices anywhere. Based on that opinion, certain communities made their own sacrificial places. However, the majority ultimately ruled against this practice, and all sacrifice ceased.

http://www.jewfaq.org/qorbanot.htmAlso from the same site:
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Do Jews offer sacrifices today? No. To my knowledge, no Jews today offer any kind of animal sacrifice or offerings, nor have Jews offered sacrifices since the second century C.E. I have occasionally heard rumors that there are Orthodox rabbis in Israel who practice the techniques of ritual sacrifice, so that the knowledge will not be lost. I do not know if these stories are reliable, but even if they are, this is not the same thing as offering a sacrifice, because, among other things, the intention is not there.

sylla1 · April 21st, 2010, 06:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Salah ad-Din

To my knowledge, animal sacrifice did not take place in Judaism in medieval or modern times. So, did such sacrifices cease immediately, with the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple? Or did they just gradually die out in late antiquity? I see no reason why they should have stopped - animal sacrifice had been taking place long before any of the Temples were built, so why could they not continue afterwards?

For what it's worth:

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With the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans, the Jewish practice of offering korbanot stopped for all intents and purposes. Despite subsequent intermittent periods of small Jewish groups offering the traditional sacrifices on the Temple Mount, the practice effectively ended.
Rabbinic Judaism was forced to undergo a significant development in response to this change; no longer could Judaism revolve round the Temple services. The destruction of the Temple led to a development of Judaism in the direction of text study, prayer, and personal observance. Orthodox Judaism regards this as being largely an alternative way of fulfilling the obligations of the Temple. Other branches of Judaism (Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist) regard the Korbanot as an ancient ritual that will not return. A range of responses is recorded in classical rabbinic literature, describing this subject...
In the Babylonian Talmud, a number of sages opined that following Jewish law, doing charitable deeds, and studying Jewish texts is greater than performing animal sacrifices...
Nonetheless, numerous texts of the Talmud stress the importance of and hope for eventual re-introduction of sacrifices, and regard their loss as a terrible tragedy. Partaking of sacrificial offerings was compared to eating directly at ones Father's table, whose loss synagogue worship does not quite entirely replace.

Read the full article on Korban here [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korban"]Korban - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame].

**vera** · April 21st, 2010, 08:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Salah ad-Din

I see no reason why they should have stopped - animal sacrifice had been taking place long before any of the Temples were built, so why could they not continue afterwards?

And you are right.

Gaius · April 21st, 2010, 09:26 PM

During the time of the Temples, only the high priests could offer sacrifices. The Jews would bring their lambs to the priest and he would sacrifice it (on top of the temple, for the masses to see, IIRC). No temple, no priests?

Does anyone know when it became an issue for only the priest to be performing the sacrifices? It wasn't always that way - ie. Abraham sacrificing a ram several times in the Bible.

**vera** · April 21st, 2010, 09:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gaius

During the time of the Temples, only the high priests could offer sacrifices. The Jews would bring their lambs to the priest and he would sacrifice it (on top of the temple, for the masses to see, IIRC). No temple, no priests?

Does anyone know when it became an issue for only the priest to be performing the sacrifices? It wasn't always that way - ie. Abraham sacrificing a ram several times in the Bible.

It wasn't an issue at all. AT THE TEMPLE - the priest did it. But most of the year people did not go to the temple, and so all the rest were done domestically.

**Zeno** · April 21st, 2010, 09:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vera

It wasn't an issue at all. AT THE TEMPLE - the priest did it. But most of the year people did not go to the temple, and so all the rest were done domestically.

So why did they stop then, the sacrifices? Or did they continue?