Jewish ritual changed in 70 C.E. when Rome destroyed the Second Temple in Jerusalem. Because Judaism was centered around a cultic site (the temple in Jerusalem), Judaism should have ended. We do witness certain strands of Judaism coming to an end, such as the Sadducees and Essenes, who had originally formed in the Hellenistic period in response to debate on whom (i.e. which tribe and family) should serve as high priest in the temple.
The Pharisees however had developed the Oral Law, which they believed was presented to Moses and subsequently passed on orally ever since. A certain Pharisee named Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai convened a meeting at a town called Yavneh / Jamnia. At this meeting, under the leadership of Yohanan b. Zakkai, temple cultic practices were translated into practices that could be performed everyday without a temple. For instance, instead of sacrificing animals, one should now perform acts of kindness. An example of such precepts can be found in the Mishnah (the "Oral Law" written down c. 200 C.E.), where Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai explains how the shofar (ram's horn) is to be blown on Shabbat without a temple. (Previously, it would be blown from the walls of the temple.)
Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 4 says:
After the Temple was destroyed Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai enacted that the shofar should be blown [on Shabbat] in any place that a Bet Din convened [even if the town did not have a permanent Bet Din]. Rabbi Elazar said: Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai enacted this only for [a Bet Din of seventy-one, which at that time was in] Yavnah.
The entire story of Yavneh / Jamnia is likely embellished if not wholly invented. Regardless, Pharisaic Judaism did successfully transform from a religion centered around a cultic site to the varied forms of Rabbinic Judaism that exist today. Whether it happened all at once or over a period of time, the significance lies in the fact that it managed to survive and thrive in the midst of complete destruction.
I happen to have followed a course on this and related subjects just recently. It's a bit more general than your question, but I think it sheds a light on the subject anyway.
Prehistorical hunter-gatherer societies seem to display remarkably consistent attitudes and beliefs concerning animals. These beliefs are dominated by the notion that they are fully rational, sentient beings in now way inferior to humans and that they are animated by souls that survive them after death. Moreover, they believed that a hunter, however experienced he may be, will never be able to kill an animal if that animal isn't willing to be killed. Therefore, one needs to treat game animals with proper respect or fear spiritual retribution.
This changed when animals were domesticated, about 11000 years ago. The shift in the balance of power between humans and animals formed new ideas, the most pervasive of which was the notion that humans were morally superior to animals. Over time, the zoomorphic gods gradually changed into antropomorphic gods, first being beast, then part beast, part man, and finally man with the ability to transform into beast (think of Zeus turning into a bull to visit Greek maidens..).
It was at this point that the concept of animal sacrifice acquired particular significance. Farmers seem to have been extremely reluctant to slaughter animals simply to satisfy a desire for meat, so they were only killed at special ceremonies. Ritual sacrifice seems to be based on the belief that guilt would be deflected away from the killer. Anyway, farmers killed animals because, as they saw it, the spirits demanded it as a token of good faith. So if farmers felt they were being punished, e.g. through a succession of bad harvests, they would sacrifice more animals, eventually resulting in a virtual epidemic of animal sacrifice.
Serpell names a source that describes a typical Ancient Greek city during such an 'epidemic': '[the city] resounded with the shrieks of dying animals; its air reeking with the stench of blood and burning sacrifices'. Ofcourse, once animal sacrifice reaches this level of intensity, it carries a drawback: sacrificing the entire livestock of your community is devastating to the economy.
Therefore, from about this period, we begin to see evidence of a sort of (moral) backlash against animal sacrifice. The earliest religious text from India, the Rig Veda, consists of several sections. Big parts of the oldest sections are devoted to sacrifice, but later parts summarily reject the practice. There's similar evidence in Greek literature from the 6th century b.c., e.g. Pythagoras, who advocated a vegetarian diet.
Monotheistic religions, like Judaism, Christianity and Islam incorporated the Aristotelean framework within their ideologies. Basically, his Scala Naturae states that everything was made with a purpose (teleological), so plants are food for animals and animals are food for humans (horrid oversimplification). Anyway, those religions either abandoned or never adopted classical sacrifice, although Jews and Muslims still practice ritual slaughter, and Christians have retained a metaphorical sacrifice in their mass.
So, I know it's not a direct answer to your question, but I think you can situate the change others have already described here in this picture.
Sources:
Its hard to put 1 event that caused the change in the religious structure of Judaism, but I'll focus on the Diaspora and how this prevented standardization of the religious practices throughout the Jewish communities.
Before the destruction of the Second Temple and the Diaspora, you would have rabbi's gather together and interpret the Bible, and carry out the worship and sacrifices. Since the vast majority of the Jewish people were in the area, you could standardize the worship of the religion, and since you had access to the infrastructure needed to carry out these religious practices, it was easy to maintain coherence in the population. However, with the destruction of the Second Temple and the Diaspora, Jews scattered across Europe, The Middle East and Africa. Since this occurred, it was very difficult to keep the religion standard across these groups, which evolved differences in language, culture and religion; Ashkenazi of East-Central Europe, Sephardim of North Africa and Spain, and Beta Israel, of Ethiopia (In addition, other groups sprung up, but I can't really remember them).
Due to the lack of contact between these groups, the rabbis could not coordinate the changes made to the religion, and due to the nomadic nature of the Jews during this time period (they were spreading across Europe), ceremonies that required communication between rabbi's decreased. Over time, the rabbis of these groups made small but distinct modifications to the culture and religion, as best to suit the circumstances faced. Hence, alternatives to several infrastructure dependant ceremonies (animal sacrifice) appeared, and were adopted.
Source; For my Bar Mitzvah, I did a little bit of extra research on the subject of religious tradition and deviation, and the book I used for some of this was burried underneath my stuff and I can't seem to find it.