c. 70

Yohanan ben Zakkai and Yavneh

The Talmud says the sage Yohanan ben Zakkai left besieged Jerusalem in a coffin and asked Vespasian to spare Yavneh. At Yavneh he turned a school into a centre of learning, where prayer came to replace sacrifice. The tale is unconfirmed, but rabbinic Judaism took shape there.