A Change in Ritual

m. Rosh Hashanah 4:1, 3

70–220

1. When the Festival of the New Year fell on the Sabbath, they would blow [the shofar] in the Temple but not in the provinces. When the Temple was destroyed, Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai decreed that they would blow [the shofar] in any place that had a court. R. Eleazar said: Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai only decreed this for Yavneh alone. They said to him: Yavneh and any other place with a court are the same. [ . . . ]

3. At first, the lulav was carried for seven [days of Sukkot] in the Temple and one day in the provinces. When the Temple was destroyed, Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai decreed that the lulav be carried in the provinces for seven days as a remembrance of the Temple. [He also decreed] that on the day of waving [the omer, the second day of Passover], it would be forbidden [to consume new produce].

Translated by Matthew Goldstone.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 2: Emerging Judaism.

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This passage differentiates how certain festival rites were observed when the Temple stood from how they were observed after the destruction; the change is attributed to Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai. The rabbis’ accounts of ritual practice in Temple times are not necessarily reliable, but the passage reflects an understanding that the massive transformation in Jewish life wrought by the Temple’s destruction necessitated changes in practice.

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