כֹּה אָמַר ה’ צִיּוֹן שָׂדֶה תֵחָרֵשׁ, וִירוּשָׁלַיִם עִיִּים תִּהְיֶה
We are explaining now one of the five tragic events that we remember on the 9th of Ab, the Jewish National Day of mourning. This terrible event, perhaps the least known, is called in Hebrew: “the city (of Jerusalem) was plowed” (חרישת העיר).
As we explained yesterday, after the Roman Emperor Hadrian retraced his steps and suspended his decision to rebuild the Bet HaMiqdash, relations between the Jews and the Roman Empire began to worsen.
One of the most tense moments was when Hadrian, traveling through the Middle East, (129-130 CE) identified a common practice that took place in that region, which belonged almost entirely to the Roman Empire: castration, especially of slaves and servants (eunuchs). Let me explain by the way, that following Biblical Law, Jews never practiced castration, even with animals, something that was (and still is) fully accepted in the non-Jewish world. Hadrian, then, banned castration and made it punishable with the death penalty. The problem was that, for some reason, Hadrian extended the banning of castration…. to Jewish circumcision!
Despite the desperate efforts of the Sages to explain the Romans the nature of circumcision, and the obvious differences between these two acts, Hadrian still prohibited circumcision and punished it with death. Some speculate that in doing so Hadrian was influenced by early Christians, who opposed the practice of circumcision because they believed that circumcision was replaced by baptism. Abolishing circumcision then, was considered a great victory for Christian’s theological cause.
This decree, which took place around the year 129, further affected the spirits of the Yehudim, who from one side were willing to sacrifice everything in order to fulfill the first commandment for a Jewish child, and from the other side, were in a state of collective despair. Jews had already lost hope of seeing the reestablishment of their Bet haMiqdash, and now they saw that the same tyrant was compromising the future of our Tora ands religion. Some Jews felt as if the Jewish people was at the verge of extinction. Ribbí Yishmael ben Elisha said: “Perhaps the time has come for us to stop getting married and bringing children into the world (Baba Batra 60 b)”.
But the banning of the Berit Mila was just the prelude to something as bad, or worse, that was about to happen … In that disastrous trip to the Middle East, Hadrian made another catastrophic decision that caused so much harm ands more despair to the Jewish people: Hadrian decided that he indeed will rebuild Jerusalem, but, the Jewish city was going to be transformed into a new Roman colony. Hadrian plan was to “erase” all Jewish memory of the city, and changing its name, so very soon Jews would forget “Yerushalayim” and stop asking for their Temple again! To make it worse, Hadrian’s plans included the construction of a pagan temple for the Roman idol Jupiter… in Har-haBayit, the Temple Mount, the holiest place for the Jewish people.
Hadrian’s decision provoked an indescribable state of indignation and mayhem , motivating the Yehudim to start a rebellion against the powerful roman empire. But we will speak of this rebellion later. Now I would like to refocus on understanding what is the meaning of “the city of Jerusalem was plowed”.
Hadrian decreed that the name of Yerushalayim should be eradicated, and the new city would be known from now on as: “Aelia Capitolina” . “Aelio”, in honor of Hadrian, since it was one of his names, and “Capitolina” “, in honor of the Roman mythological deity, Jupiter Capitolino, to whom the pagan shrines of the new city were dedicated.
Now, what did the Romans do to rededicate a new city? Especially a new city that will be built over the ruins of an older city, and needs to be renamed? In modern times, there are many different dedication ceremonies: such as the inauguration of the foundation stone in a building, the cutting of a ribbon, etc. The inauguration ceremony for a Roman city or colony consisted of “plowing the city”, and establishing with the plow the new edges of the city. The act of plowing Yerushalayim and its temple Mount, symbolized its eradication ח”ו, and the inauguration of the new pagan city Aelia Capitolina. This “ceremony” took place on the 9th of Ab.
The event was “celebrated” by the Romans, as was their custom, by minting a commemorative coin. The text of this coin, which can be seen in the image above, says: Col(onia) Ael(ia) Capit(olina). On the coin you can clearly see Hadrian, representing Rome, plowing the soil of Jerusalem to dedicate the new Roman colony.
Now we understand better why the plowing of Jerusalem is one of the five tragedies for which we fast, we sit in mourning and we weep on Tisha B’Ab … Obviously, by remembering that on that day the city was plowed and renamed, we also remember with great pain all what we suffered under the rule of the cruel Romans, and its tyrant emperor Hadrian.
Note from 2018: I’m in Erets Israel these days, and as I’m writing these lines, I cannot hide my emotions, my pride, my gratitude to HaShem and my amazement at witnessing this miracle: no one remembers today Hadrian, יש”ו, or his Aelia Capitolina. But every human being in the planet knows and recognizes nowadays the holiest city in the world, by its real name “YERUSHALAYIM”. And evryone knows now that Yerushalayim עיר הקודש is our capital again! Yerushalayim, its very existence, its beauty, its intense life, is the greatest existing miracle in our times.
