Jews, especially those with a knowledge of history?

Question

How plausible would it have been for a very Orthodox Jew to have been a Roman citizen of the Hellenic diaspora around the first or second century?

And would the Orthodox Jews at that time been using the Hebrew Tanakh or the Septuagint Greek translation?

Further, would the pharisees have used the Septuagint or the Hebrew?

Answer 1

Roman citizenship was not given according to race or religion. So Jews could be Roman citizen as well as any other inhabitants of the Empire. Since it was an envied privilege, Roman citizenship was rare and considered a great honor. Since Caesar's times, citizens of Jewish religion were exempt from the properly religious duties that went with it.

In Roman times, Jewish orthodoxy had a rather different meaning than today. There were at least three main groups who claimed to be Orthodox, and every one had its own Halachah and masters. As for the language, one could think that the very orthodox would use Hebrew only, but we have a word to word Greek translation of the Torah written in the II century in Pharisee circles, because the Septuagint was beginning to be suspect, due to the use Christians were making of it.

Pharisees of Babylonia (authors of the Talmud) didn't have any problem with the Greek version, since they lived outside the era of Greco-Roman culture. As for Pharisees of Eretz, they knew Greek and used it, but when they began to understand how Christianity was becoming another pagan religion, they banned the use of the Greek Bible. Moreover, there was no point in using Greek when one can read and use Hebrew, which was the natural language of this culture. A law of he Emperor Justinian, in the VI century, forced the Jews of Constantinople to read their Bible in the Septuagint version, in order to convert them more easily. So says the law, at least.  

Answer 2

I don't think the Jews would ever use the Septuagint. Why would they? Why read the Greek if they can read their Hebrew?

Edit: Who on earth gave this a thumbs down?

Answer 3

look up the Dead Sea Scrolls, they should point you in the right direction

Answer 4

Aing, I don't know the answer to the first part of your question (am starring in the hope of The angels have the phone box or Mark S or mama pajama turning up!) but for the 2nd and 3rd of your questions, I am 99.9995% certain that all Jews would have used the Hebrew Tanakh, as we still do.  I can't see any reason why they would have used the Septuagint.  Hebrew has always been understood as the language of Torah, the language of the synagogue, etc.

PS  I don't think one could really talk about a 'very Orthodox Jew' at that time.  The groupings we see now are very different from the groupings then and I don't think there were major differences in observance.

EDIT:  I do wish I knew who this stalker was, who thumbs-downs everything I ever post........

Answer 5

Most Jews probably would not have been accorded citizen status in Rome. They were subjects of the Roman empire, but not citizens.

All Jews at the time would have been using the Hebrew Tanakh, and the Oral Torah, just as we always have done and always will. The Septuagint was a translation, and though it was a good one, having been done by Jewish scholars, it did have a few minor changes for political correctness. For example, one of the animals described as not being kosher was the "arneves," or hare. The name was similar to that of Ptolemy's wife, and therefore the Septuagint said "fleet-footed animal" instead of "arneves." There were a few other minor changes, but why would anybody use a translation if they understood the original perfectly?

Answer 6

I can answer about Roman citizenship. It would have been almost impossible for a Jew outside of Rome to be considered for Roman citizenship.  There were a lot of perks to being a citizen and Romans didn't like sharing, especially to outsiders.  Even King Herod wouldn't have made it.  Romanized Jews after 70CE might be possible but still unlikely.