Two Italian Jews, Jacob and Emmanuel Francis, created a Tisha B'Av Haggadah to combat the false prophet Shabtai Tzvi. While outwardly praising him, the Haggadah subtly mocks and unveils the truth.
The most horrific event took place in the city of Hebron, where 67 Jews, including men, women, and children, were murdered. Many of the victims were students from the Hebron yeshiva. The perpetrators executed their plan with such brutality and monstrosity, recalling only the Simchat Torah massacre of the previous year.
A brutal civil war raged within Jerusalem and the Temple. The Second Temple fell due to baseless hatred. It seemed everyone believed they were fulfilling a great mitzvah by fighting each other. In hindsight, it is clear it was sheer madness.
In the spring, Vespasian stormed through Galilee and the Golan, city by city. The people of Sepphoris surrendered to the Romans, but those in Yodfat held their ground. For 47 days, they bravely defended their city, pouring hot oil on the Roman soldiers approaching the walls.
King Agrippa arrived on Tisha B'Av, leading 3,000 troops to suppress the rebellion but was defeated. Roman soldiers in the fortresses around Jerusalem were slaughtered. The king's palace and archives were burned. By Tu B'Av, the zealots had triumphed.
Florus decided to provoke a revolt by force. He arrived at the gates of Jerusalem, where the city's dignitaries came to greet him, only to be trampled by his soldiers' horses. In 'response', he claimed the Jerusalem leaders had insulted him and demanded their surrender.
In this revolt, Bar Kokhba was the undisputed leader. Legends say he could catch stone missiles mid-air and hurl them back at the enemy. His soldiers were said to uproot cedar trees while riding on horseback.
Ominous signs filled the skies and echoed in the halls of Jerusalem. The Temple's doors, creaking open every morning with thunderous foreboding, marked a kingdom in its twilight. The Temple was meant to unify Israel for spiritual elevation, not political games.
Herod doubled the size of the original Temple Mount by using massive stones, some weighing around 50 tons, parts of which still stand today. This monumental endeavor was unlike any other in its time.
Herod's reign of terror, enforced through a secret police and foreign mercenaries, silenced dissent among Jews except for a few who resisted quietly. This silence, particularly among scholars like Hillel and Shammai, left Herod no excuse to target them.
The Fatimids, a religious Muslim group named after Fatima, daughter of Muhammad, embarked on a jihad to liberate the Holy Land from the Abbasid Muslims, whom they viewed as impostors.
*Shammai* and his followers distanced themselves from political affairs, instead focusing on Jewish law and the Oral Torah to preserve Jewish wisdom and tradition in the face of external challenges.
Herod served Augustus well but was a ruthless tyrant to the people of Judea and even his own family.
In Roman times, Jews in Cologne thrived and were recognized as a permitted religion, long before Christianity became dominant. Their community was influential enough to participate in city council elections, and their intellectual leaders were exempt from military and civil service.
Jericho's large stockpiles of food suggest the city fell swiftly at its peak, not through a siege as typical with Egyptian tactics.
Herod watched from the sidelines, horrified. Could it be that the stubborn Jews want to make Aristobulus king and depose him?
In 922, a major event occurred in Jewish history. The Geon of Israel sent out a calendar to Jewish communities, only to face public opposition from the Geon of Babylon: The calendar was wrong, and Rosh Hashanah and Passover were to be celebrated on Tuesday, not Sunday, as the Israeli Geon declared!
Herod, arrogant and clad in noble purple robes, arrived with a sword at his side and surrounded by bodyguards. The sages of the Sanhedrin were too afraid to speak, fearing for their lives. Only the president, Shmaya, stood up to the tyrant, rebuking his fellow sages for allowing fear to silence them.
Exploiting Shabbat's serenity, Romans breached the city, claiming 12,000 lives and leading Pompey into the Holy of Holies, marking a historic desecration.
Hyrcanus was truly soft-hearted. Aristobulus knew he wouldn't harm his family, so he spoke gently to him, leading him to Jerusalem and the Temple, where Aristobulus convinced him to relinquish the throne and the priesthood.
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