After the Ascension of Jesus, the witness of the apostles to the Jewish community was marked with outstanding success.
In only one day, the Jewish feast of Shavuot (Pentecost), 3,000 were baptised, and each day following 'the Lord added to their number' until over 5,000 men believed, not counting women and children. No section of the Jewish community lay outside the reach of the good news, even '. . . many of the priests were obedient to the faith' and with the transformation of the Sanhedrin's leading hit-man, Saul of Tarsus, first-century Judaism was shaken to its core.
It was a miracle that Jews who believed in Jesus and Jews who did not could co-exist in the synagogue throughout the terrible years of Titus' vengeance, in which the Temple was destroyed and Jerusalem razed to the ground. That there were serious tensions is evident from the New Testament epistles, but they did not become terminal until around 132-135 AD when Jewish Christians refused to support the attempt by Bar Kochba, the false messiah, to overthrow Roman power. From then on, witness could only be conducted from outside of the community, for no believer in Jesus could attend a synagogue where maledictions against the Messiah and his people were part of the liturgy.
