Statement

While the Temple stood, religious authority was embodied by the priest, whose essential task was to carry out the sanctuary's rites. After the destruction the central figure became the rabbi: a teacher and scholar who owed his position to learning rather than to the family he came from, and whose authority sprang from studying and interpreting the Torah.

References

1. p. 120

   supports · main text · ch. 5

   Efron, Lehmann and Weitzman. The Jews: A History. 3rd edition. New York and Abingdon: Routledge, 2019.

   Verification anchor recorded · checked against the page text