What were the beliefs of Judaism in the time of Jesus?
Essentially the Old Testament as modified by the traditions of the rabbis and found in the Talmud. This would require far too long an answer for AB. One of the most significant, though, and in my opinion the reason why the leadership crucified Christ, was that they had changed their expectation of what the Messiah would be. They no longer wanted a spiritual savior from sin. They wanted a savior from their rulers in Rome, someone who would lead an army and restore the glories of David and Solomon. When Jesus appeared, fulfilling the Old Testament prophecies, all the Jews would have followed him if he had only been a political Messiah. He refused to, so they crucified him. There are about 40 places in the New Testament that make a lot more sense if you have this understanding; one of them is how the crowd that was hailing him as the Messiah on Palm Sunday could be screaming for his blood just five days later.
