Arch of Triumph of Titus of Rome, in which the soldiers carrying the treasures of the Temple to Rome

Destruction of the Temple

66

– As the tension grew between the leaders who were forcing Roman culture and Caesar-cult onto the people and the Jews who were faithful to the Law, an uprising broke out with the leadership of the Zealots. As Emperor Nero heard of the war, he sent his most experienced general, Vespasianus, to Judea. In 68, Nero was murdered which led to a civil war in Rome. His own legions proclaimed Vespasianus as Caesar and he returned to Rome, leaving the Judean war to his son, Titus.

70

– In spring, Titus started the invasion of Jerusalem. After long months of siege, on the 9th of Av, the Romans invaded and burnt the Second Temple. The priests threw themselves into the fire, as they were not able to see the destruction of the Sanctuary. The Temple was on fire for two days, except for the Western Wall everything was destroyed. Titus took the treasures of the Temple to Rome. The surviving Zealots of the invasion fled to the desert near the Dead Sea.

73

– After three years of attempts, the Romans succeeded in occupying the Zealot fortresses, the last fortress to lose was Masada. The contemporary descriptions of the Jewish war can be read in Josephus Flavius’ works.

However, Jews did not disappear

like other ancient peoples. Led by Yohanan ben Zakkai, a spiritual center was established in Javne, and normative Judaism developed from the Pharisee movement. The role of the priests was taken over by scribes and rabbis in teaching people. The guarantee of Jewish survival was seen in the Torah, so the Jewish school system was further developed, school-houses were built, and synagogues played an increasingly important role. In the absence of the Sanctuary, the goal was to maintain the spiritual unity and ethnicity of the Jews until the restoration, promised by the prophets.

The wise men of Javne

Sephoris (Cippori)

Mosaic of the Sefforis synagogue

132

– Emperor Hadrian wanted to build a Jupiter Temple on Temple Mount. This caused an outrage among the Jews, thus an uprising broke out led by Bar Kochba (his original name: Simon bar Kosiba) and supported by Rabbi Akiva. In 135, the Romans defeated the troops of Bar Kochba. After the war, Hadrian built pagan temples, theatres in Jerusalem, and renamed the city to Aelia Capitolina, and Judea to Syria Palestina. Jews could only visit the city once a year.

Emperor Hadrian

Bar Kochba silver coin

2nd century

– There were more and more less committed Jews who joined the Jesus-believers. Thus, among the more and more empty Christianity, the Jewish worldview was taken over by the Greek-Roman worldview. With the spread of pagan teachings and the allegoric interpretations, antisemitic attitudes began to grow. In the later centuries, the church forgot its Jewish roots and became anti-Judaist, anti-Jewish.

Galilea became the center of Jewish life

and in many cities, colleges were opened. The rabbis worked on stabilizing the spirituality of the Jews by studying and interpreting the Torah. Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi introduced Hebrew instead of the Aramaic language and in 217 he collected, organized and wrote down in simple Hebrew the religious laws that were the foundations of the oral traditions, and the arguments about them, the different opinions; this collection is the Mishnah.