It’s entirely a stereotype, popularized by European autocratic régimes as a way to channel popular resentment away from nobility and royalty.
At the time when ancient Israelites were sacrificing animals, the practice is the norm all around the Levant, the Fertile Crescent and the Mediterranean, so nothing special. If you want to “go back a bit further” you’re not talking about Judaism anymore but about earlier Canaanite and Mesopotamian religions.
If it was entirely a stereotype, then why is it factually true enough that rabbis are writing about it as a way to reconcile ancient texts with modern understanding of the religious concepts, and not framing it as a hostile stereotype?
The whole basis of the religion is ancient texts of exactly that era you are now playing down here, is it not?
It’s entirely a stereotype, popularized by European autocratic régimes as a way to channel popular resentment away from nobility and royalty.
At the time when ancient Israelites were sacrificing animals, the practice is the norm all around the Levant, the Fertile Crescent and the Mediterranean, so nothing special. If you want to “go back a bit further” you’re not talking about Judaism anymore but about earlier Canaanite and Mesopotamian religions.
If it was entirely a stereotype, then why is it factually true enough that rabbis are writing about it as a way to reconcile ancient texts with modern understanding of the religious concepts, and not framing it as a hostile stereotype?
The whole basis of the religion is ancient texts of exactly that era you are now playing down here, is it not?