Previously, we explained that the Sages who lived during the generation in which the Bet haMiqdash was destroyed instituted certain Rabbinical decrees (taqanot) —certain gestures associated with mourning— that will motivate us to remember in moments of celebration that our Bet haMiqdash is still in ruins. We mentioned, for example, the tradition of placing ashes on the head of the bridegroom in his wedding day, or the custom of leaving a wall of the house with a segment of it unfinished.

Today, we will see another example of these laws and traditions, a not very known custom that may have fallen into disuse in many communities.

Maimonides and the Shulkhan Arukh write the following (H. Ta’aniyot 5:13).

וכן התקינו שהעורך שולחן לעשות סעודה לאורחים מחסר ממנו מעט ומניח מקום פנוי בלא קערה מן הקערות הראויות לתת לשם

“And [our Sages] decreed that when preparing the table to serve a meal for our guest,  that some food would be left (outside) and a free space would be left (on the table}, without one of the foods that would normally be served there. ”

We will explain this Halakha to understand it better:

1. This tradition is limited to celebration meals, when we have guests, and does not refer to daily meals.

2. Shabbat meals or meals on Jewish holidays are also excluded, since on Shabbat and on Yom Tob there can be no manifestation of mourning.

3. There is a discussion among the rabbis if this sign of mourning should be also done in a personal religious celebrations (se’udat Mtsva), such as Berit Mila, Bar Mitsva, etc. According to Rabbi Eliezer Melamed and others, this sign of morning should be applied to these celebratory meals as well.  According to Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu z”l and other rabbis, in these meals, when a Mitsva is celebrated, we should not introduce any signs of mourning. According to this second opinion, therefore,  this gesture of mourning should not be displayed, not in Shabbat, Jewish Holidays, and meals that celebrate a Mitsva. The occasion where this custom would play a role is therefore in a “social” celebration, where one invites his friends to eat at home, etc.

4. Now, although the Rabbis indicated the obligation to remember the Bet haMiqdash in a special meal, our Sages did not want us to make a very visible manifestation of mourning, but something that is rather discrete and indirect. And for that reason they indicated that this symbolic act of remembrance would be done by not serving one of the meals that should be served on the table. And by leaving an empty space on the table where the food is served.

It is very possible that the reason why this tradition has fallen into disuse, is that it would be very difficult nowadays for our guests to notice “the absence” of a specific dish or course that should have been served and was not served. In older times, the menu was very rigid and all the dishes were served at the same time, like in a buffet. In those conditions, the absence of one of the main dishes, or the empty space on the table, would not have gone unnoticed by the guest and it would have served the noble purpose of representing a delicate gesture of mourning, by seeing a scene that is incomplete, same as Jerusalem – or the Jewish people – without the Bet haMiqdash.

In our days, however, there is so much variety of courses, dishes and food, and so many different ways of serving the table, that it would be virtually impossible for our guests to identify for themselves the absence of a particular dish, or to recognize that there is an empty place in one part of the table, and associate any of these with our mourning for the Bet haMiqdash.

Now, since this decree was explicitly mentioned by the Sages, many contemporary Rabbis consider it appropriate that we keep practicing it, even if this gesture is only recognizable by the hosts. For example, says Rabbi Melamed, when the hosts plan the meal and the various types of foods to serve to their guests, they should decide NOT to serve one of the main meals in remembrance of the Bet haMiqdash. One could also leave an empty place on the table, a corner of the table without any food, as indicated by Maimonides and the Shulhan Aruch, although this gesture would probably be recognized only by the hosts.  And while it is very possible that our guests would not identify this gesture, our children will surely do so. And we will be educating them to long for, have in their hearts and pray for our Bet haMiqdash.

After the destruction of the Second Temple, year 68 of the common era, a new and more difficult situation started for the people of Israel.  It seemed that after the defeat of the Jewish uprising, the killing of a third of the Jewish population, the exile of another third of the population and the loss of the independent Jewish State, it would no longer be possible to continue living in a normal way. Now the Jews who remained in Israel were, by force, “tolerated” subjects of the Roman Empire. The morale was down and people were in despair, because it seemed that without the Bet HaMiqdash, a Jewish religious life no longer made any sense. Many Jews chose to become ascetics (parushim) that is, they deprived themselves of physical pleasure or joy,  including eating certain foods which were associated with the service in the Temple. 

The Talmud (Baba Batra 60b) records the following story:

“When the Temple was destroyed, many Jews began to live as ascetics, and they no longer ate meat or drank wine. Ribbi Yehoshua told them, ‘My children, why do not you eat meat or drink wine? They answered: How are we going to eat meat, that used to be brought as an offering on the altar, now that the altar is in ruins? How are we going to drink wine, which used to be poured as a libation on the altar, now that the altar is in ruins? He said to them: If so, let us not eat any more bread, because the offering of bread (lehem hapanim) has also been interrupted. They said: [You are right, we are not going to eat anymore bread, and from now on] we will consume only fruits!’ But you should not eat fruit either! Ribbi Yehoshua told them, because the first fruits (Bikurim) are no longer offered without the Bet haMiqdash.  Then, they said,  we will eat only vegetables and legumes. And Ribbi Yehoshua said,  well, you should  not drink water anymore, because the water libation ceremony (nisukh hamayim) has also been discontinued. At this point the ascetics did not find any answer so Ribbi Yehoshua said to them: ‘My children, listen to me, not mourning at all for our Bet haMiqdash, is impossible, but too much crying is also not possible, because [although a few individuals like you can live a life of deprivation] these restrictions cannot be imposed on most people. Average people will not be able to follow them. Rabbi Yehoshua then explained that we cannot allow our great pain for the destruction of our Temple to produce a permanent and eternal state of mourning and national depression. We need to find the delicate balance between national mourning and personal joy. And for that we will establish some symbolic acts to remind ourselves of the destruction of the Bet haMiqdash at moments of personal celebration.  And in this way, while our Temple is in ruins, our joy will not be complete.

It was then that the Rabbis established, for example, that to remember the destruction of the Temple, a groom would place ashes on his head on the day of his wedding as a sign of mourning. In the same way, it was established that when a celebratory meal is prepared, a one food should be left out, in memory of the destruction of the Temple.

In the following days we will explain some of the customs that we have adopted to remember our Bet haMiqdash, until it is rebuilt.

אמרו חז”ל (איכה רבא פ”ב סי ‘ה) על בן כוזיבא ואנשיו: ובשעה שהיו יוצאין למלחמה היו אומרים לא תסעוד ולא תסכיף

As we have already explained, the armed rebellion of Bar Kokhba against the Romans was very successful at the beginning . So much so that the Emperor Hadrian had to bring his best general, Julius Severus, from Britannia, and more than 10 legions – something unprecedented – to face the brave Jewish fighters. But in the end the war against Rome did not have the expected success.
The Rabbis explained, among other things, that some of the soldiers who were fighting in Bar Kokhba’s army, with an excess of arrogance because of their first victories,  deliberately quoted incorrectly a verse from Tehillim (Psalm 60:10) and said: “Now HaShem, let us fight the Romans alone. We do not want You to fight with us or against us.” This arrogant attitude of some soldiers was seen by the Sages as one of the reasons for the horrific defeat

The rebellion of Bar Kokhba was brought to an end in the year 135. The Romans were looking for the “final solution”. They did not take Jewish prisoners to sell them as slaves, as they did in the war of the year 68. By orders of the emperor, they carried out a systematic and calculated genocide in all the territory of Judea, killing women, men and children. According to the texts  of the Roman historians themselves, like Dio Cassius , 50 fortified cities and almost 1000 villages were completely razed, and a total of 580,000 Jews were killed.  90% of the inhabitants of Judea were massacred.

The final battle took place in the city of Betar,   the most powerful Jewish fortification and where Bar Kochba resided along with the remaining soldiers and with the most important Sage of the time: Ribbí El’azar of the city of Modiín. Betar was a city of Tora and with many people. Better was considered unconquerable.

After months of constant siege with more than 100,000 soldiers the city finally fell. The city fell on the 9th day of Ab of the year 135.

Adriano punished very hard the rebellion of the Jews and did something that until the moment was unprecedented. He did not allow the bodies of the dead Jews to be buried. The romans piled hundreds of thousands of corpses in a large vineyard, watering the fields with the blood of the dead, and left them there, as a cynical tribute to their victory.

This horrible episode, a national trauma, was recorded in the collective memory of the Jewish people. The Sages tell that miraculously the dead bodies remained without decomposing until the decree of Hadrian expired and finally they were able to bury the dead of Betar.

There are different versions of how much time passed until the Romans allowed the bodies to be buried. According to some historians this happened in the year 138, when Hadrian יש”ו finally died, since according to the old laws and traditions all the decrees of a king expired with his death.

The Sages tell that on the day it was announced that the corpses could be buried the rabbis of Yabne formulated a special blessing “hatob vehametib” (HaShem exceeds in his kindness to us “) which is, ever since then, recited in the Bircat haMazon, the blessing we say after eating a meal with bread. This special thanksgiving to HaShem was officially established because Jews were able to bury the corpses and they did not decompose. But it is also possible that in this Berakha there is something else and deeper: it is true that at that time, say 138, we no longer had Jerusalem or Yehudah or even a land named “Israel” because after the falling of Betar Hadrian changed the name of Judea to  “Palestine”.

But somehow, once the emperor who tried like no one else to eliminate the Jewish people and Judaism was dead, our hopes were reborn, and so it was. The Jews settled in the North of Israel:  the Galil, the Golan, Bet She’arim, Tiberia, etc. and at the end of the second century many beautiful Yeshibot flourished  there, under the leadership of Ribbí Yehudá haNasí, the author of the Mishna

בתשעה באב נגזר על אבותינו שלא ייכנסו לארץ וחרב הבית בראשונה ובשניה ונלכדה בית תור ונחרשה העיר

Last week I wrote about one of the five tragedies that we remember on the 9th of Ab: the day that the city of Jerusalem was plowed. Hadrian desecrated Jerusalem and founded a new pagan city, Aelia Capitolina, through a ceremony known in Latin as sulcus primigenius (see here) delimiting the perimeter of the new city using a bronze plow pulled by a two white oxen. This deliberate desecration of our Holy City took place on the 9th of Ab

Today we will begin to explain the fifth catastrophe that we remember in Tisha BeAb: the falling of the city of Betar (in the ancient Sepharadic prayer books used for the qinot of Tisha B’Ab this city is called “Bit-ter”). 

we should understand first that the falling of Betar was not an isolated event, or a minor battle. It was the conclusion of a horrific war against Hadrian’s empire that took three and a half years: the rebellion of Bar Kokhba. The aftermath of this rebellion, which ended with the falling of Betar, was disastrous: 90% (sic) of the inhabitants of Judea were killed. As we will see later, this genocide was meant to be recorded in our collective memory, since not only do we remember it in Tisha B’Ab but unlike other tragedies, we refer to it every day, when we say the Birkat haMazon.

According to most historians Jerusalem was desecrated in the year 130 and Betar fell in 136. There are those who say, following the Mishnah, that although Hadrian’s plans to profane Yerushalayim were declared in 129, the city was plowed after the fall of Betar. One of the reasons that the details of this great national catastrophe are not very well known is that there is very little material written in our Talmudic sources on this subject: I calculate a little more than a dozen direct references. What we do find in the Talmud and the Midrashim are hundreds of stories —some explicit, other not—that describe the persecutions that we suffered, the murder of our Sages, the execution of the 10 martyrs, and many other tragedies that occurred in the times of Hadrian, who died in 138.

GEZEROT HASHMAD

in 129 Hadrian began his religious war against the Jews. His decree to penalize circumcision with death and the transformation of Jerusalem into a Roman idolatrous colony, was only the beginning. Hadrian also banned with the death penalty the study of the Tora in public, since he considered the Tora a code of law which was not recognized by the Roman Empire. He forbade the rest of Shabbat, since for the Romans, Shabbat was an unjustified leisure day, and in the Empire everyone had to work to maximize the production of taxes for the general benefit of Rome. He also forbade the reading of Megillat Esther and the lighting of the Hanukkah candles, because those Jewish stories were irrelevant to the Roman cultural heritage. He also prohibited other laws such as the use of the Mikve, the Tefiilin, the Talit and the Mezuza. In all this Hadrian exceeded himself more than any other tyrant, including the infamous Antiochus Epiphanes, the Greek ruler who died in 164 BCE. These anti-religious laws are known in Hebrew as “gezerot hashmad” or “gezerot adrianus“, the decrees that intended the elimination of Judaism and the Jewish people, which was Hadrian’s ultimate goal.

Hadrian was a passionate admirer of Greek culture. And unlike the previous Roman emperor, Trajan (reigned from 98 until 117), Hadrian did not intend to conquer more territories for Rome. But he did want to impose a cultural and religious hegemony: he wanted all citizens of Rome, including the Jewish population of the Roman province “Judea”, to follow laws and traditions of the Empire. For the Jews this would mean to renounce to the Tora, and assimilating collectively, that is, a national suicide.   That is why from the year 130, Jews began to organize very courageous and risky rebellion against the Roman Empire. This rebellion was headed by Shimon Bar Kosiba (שמעון בן כוסיבא), later known by his “battle name”, Bar Kokhba.

For two years, between 130 and 132, Bar Kokhba secretly organized all the logistics and the strategy of the rebellion. The Gemara tells us, for example, that Bar Kokhba recruited 400,000 warriors, who had been trained in guerrilla tactics and in physical resistance. Among other tests, the men who wished to join Bar Kokhba’s army had to be able to uproot a tree  while riding a horse. 

To be continued….

The 9th of Ab is the day of the national mourning of the Jewish people. As we explained in previous years, the first reason why we fast and mourn this day is that on that day it was decreed that the generation that left Egypt would not enter the Promised Land but would die in the desert.

The second tragic event that we remember, always in chronological order, is the destruction of the First Temple of Jerusalem in the year 586 before the common era.
In the year 68 of the common era (historians say 70), the second Bet haMiqdash was destroyed, this time by the Romans.

There are two other tragic events that we remember in the 9th of Ab. These two events occurred after the destruction of the second Bet HaMiqdash, and in a certain way they were the direct consequence of it.

The first of these two events is called in Hebrew: חרישת העיר, which means that “the City was plowed”. The city to which we refer here is none other than Jerusalem. This happened in the year 130 of the common era, sixty years after the destruction of the Bet haMiqdash.
Finally, on the day Tisha B’Ab, corresponding to August 4 of the year 135, the city of Betar fell into the hands of the Romans, in Hebrew: נלכדה ביתר, “The city of Betar was conquered.”
This year I would like to explore and explain these last two events in a little more detail.

Let’s start from the beginning:

Historians say that when the Bet HaMiqdash was destroyed, the Romans killed around 1 million Jews: one third of the local Jewish population. In addition, tens of thousands of children older than 7 years were captured and sold as slaves. And thousands of young Jews from 17 years old and up were assigned to die in Roman circuses, where they would be killed fighting gladiators, or being devoured alive trying to escape from hungry beasts, to the delight of the spectators.

Thousands of Jews also escaped to Alexandria (Egypt), to Cyprus or to the coasts of Africa, where they founded important communities, which were tragically destroyed by the Romans around the year 117 of the common era, in what historians call מרד התפוצות, ” the rebellion of Jewish communities in the diaspora. ”

Back to Israel, which was no longer “Israel” but Judea, a Roman province completely dependent on the Roman Emperor. In order to have the right to continue living in the now Roman territory, the Jewish survivors had to pay high taxes to the empire and endure constant humiliations and abuses.

Very impoverished, Jews were resettled in the north of the country, the Galil, and in the center, in cities such as Lod, Bene-Berak, Betar and especially in Yabne. In this last city, from the 70’s was founded an important rabbinic academy under the leadership of Rabban Yohanan ben Zakay and Rabban Gamliel, who tried to maintain the best possible relationship with the Romans. The foundations of the Mishnah, the Midrash and the Talmud came from the Yabne Rabbinical academy, through great luminaries such as Ribbi Eliezer haGadol, Ribbi Yehoshua ben Hananiya, Ribbi Yishmael and Ribbi Aquiba, the most famous of the Sages of that time.

It could be said that during this period of time, from year 68 to 129, the Yehudim slowly recovered from the enormous loss of the Bet HaMiqdash and began to grow again as a people, studying and developing more and more our Tora and the Rabbinic institutions. The situation seemed to be improving, especially with the new Emperor Hadrian, who on one of his trips to Judea assured that he was going to allow the Yehudim to rebuild the Bet haMiqdash … but in the end, everything changed, for the worse.…

To be continued….

This coming Sunday, July 21, 2019, is a day of public fasting (תענית ציבור) that commemorates the 17th of Tammuz. On that day we also inaugurate a period of 3 weeks, until the 9th of the month of Ab, dedicated to mourning the destruction of our Bet haMiqdash (= Temple of Jerusalem) and other tragedies suffered by the Jewish people.

Five tragedies happened to the Jewish people on the 17th of Tamuz.

1. The Tablets of the Law were destroyed.

2. An idol was placed in the Sanctuary of the Bet HaMiqdash.

3. The daily sacrificial offering was interrupted.

4. Apostomus publicly burned a Sefer Tora.

5. The walls of the city of Jerusalem were destroyed.

1. THE TABLETS OF THE LAW:

The 17 of Tamuz is forty days away from Shabuot. Moshe went up Mount Sinai on the 6th of Sivan, and remained there for forty days. On the evening of the 16th of Tamuz, when the people thought that Moshe was no longer going to return, they made and worshiped the golden calf. The next day, when Moshe came down from Mount Sinai and saw the Yehudim worshiping the golden calf, he broke the tablets containing the Ten Commandments.

2. AN IDOL IN THE TEMPLE

The rabbis disagree on the precise timing of this event.  Are we remembering what happened in the time of King Menashe in the 7th century, before the common era or what happened at the time of Apostomus, the same Roman general (year 50 of the common era) who burned the Tora and offended and provoked the Jews?

We will see first the first opinion. In the 9th century BCE, the people of Israel were divided into two kingdoms: Israel and Yehuda. The kingdom of Israel, also known as the 10 tribes, was destroyed in 722 BCE by the Assyrians. The kingdom of Yehuda survived. We are called Yehudim (Jews) because we descend from the kingdom of Yehudah (later known as “Judea”). Menashe (709-642 BCE) was one of the kings of Yehuda. There are two facts that characterized his reign.

1. He was the king that stayed in power for the longest time : 55 years.

2. Menashe was probably the worst king in the history of Am Israel. Undoubtedly, the worst king of the Kingdom of Yehuda.

His father was a great Tsadiq, Hizquiyahu, and according to our tradition, his grandfather was the prophet Yesha’ayahu. Menashe converted Yehudah in a vassal state of Assyria. This meant that the Jews became subjects of the king of Assyria, and as a consequence, they virtually adopted the Assyrian religion. The king’s goal in summiting his Kingdom to Assyria was to obtain political stability, but the price was the systematic eradication of Judaism, including all the sacrifices and holy services of the Bet HaMiqdash. Menashe introduced Assyrian idolatry, worship to Baal, to Ashera and to all the constellations of heaven (astrology). He brought into Israel the obot and ide’onim, that is, diviners, sorcerers, magicians and idolatrous wizards. Menashe ordered to kill and murder thousands of Jews who opposed his religious reform. According to some opinions, Menashe murdered his own grandfather, the prophet Yesha’ayahu. Menashe’s action caused the Tora to be completely forgotten for two generations, as it says in Melakhim II (21: 2-6) “Menashe did everything that offended HaShem: he practiced the abominable ceremonies [of idolatry] of the nations that HaShem had expelled to inherit their land for the Israelites. He rebuilt the pagan altars that his father Hizquiyahu had destroyed. He erected altars in honor of B’aal and made an image of the goddess Ashera… He prostrated before all the stars of heaven and worshiped them … In both courtyards of the Temple of HaShem, [Menashe] built altars in honor of the stars of heaven. He sacrificed his own son in fire, practiced magic and sorcery, and visited necromancers and spiritists. He continually did that which offended HaShem,  provoking His wrath. “

The biblical text also tells what happened, according to this version, during the 17th Tammuz.

21: 7: “[Menashe] took the image of the [Assyrian] goddess Asherah, whom he himself had commanded to make, and placed it in the [Shrine of] the Temple …”

It is possible that on the 17th Tammuz, when we remember the introduction of an idol in the Bet HaMiqdash, we are also lamenting and doing Teshuba for all the bad things that happened with our ancestors in the time of King Menashe.

The Sages explained that the commandment to honor our parents continues beyond this life. This idea, in the first place, helps us to understand a little better the difference between two Biblical obligations that seem very similar: to respect and to honor our parents. “Respect” basically consists in not disobeying and not antagonizing our parents. Obviously, this does not apply when our parents are no longer alive. The second Mitsva, however, which refers to the honor of the parents, can also be fulfilled after our parents pass away by honoring their memory.

One of the most respected honors observed by virtually all Jews, regardless of the different religious levels, is the recitation of Kaddish by the children of the deceased. The Kaddish text contains no direct allusion to the deceased or to death, but it is one of the highest prayers of praise to God. Why? Because in Kaddish we declare that our ability to recognize and appreciate His greatness, His wisdom, and all that HaShem does for us, is very limited. And that consequently our praises will always be insufficient. This deep reflection (which I tried to summarize in very few words) makes from the Kaddish, philosophically, a very special prayer. So much so that although in the Kaddish the Divine Name is not specifically mentioned, it can only be recited in the presence of a Minyan (10 Jewish men, over 13 years of age). Reciting the Kaddish, and inspiring the congregation to participate in this unique praise, is considered an honor that Jewish tradition confers to the mourners,  to honor the memory of their loved ones.

The Kaddish for one’s parents is recited every day, practically for a year, after the passing. After that year, the sons will recite the Kaddish during the week of the anniversary of the parents’ passing. This commemoration is called in Hebrew “hazkara”, and it is also known as yohtrtzait, that is, the anniversary of the death of the father or mother, which the children commemorate during the rest of their lives. The Ashkenazi custom is also to recite the Yizkor, a recitation prayer said at major Jewish Holidays, only by those whose parents are no longer alive.

There are other ways to honor the memory of our parents.

Studying Tora, spread the words of Tora, organizing or sponsoring the Tora classes, etc. is also considered a way to honor the memory of our parents. And that’s why books, Tora lectures, etc. are often promoted. “Leiluy nishmat” in memory (lit. for the elevation of the soul) of our loved ones. Unlike the Kaddish, which only the sons recite, these good deeds can and should be done by the sons and daughters of the deceased.

Without a doubt, the most basic way to honorthe memory of our parents is related to the way we carry out our lives. The more significant and dignified our lives are, the greater the honor that will be attributed to our parents (and vice versa). Think, for example, of extraordinary acts of integrity, works of charity, social assistance, helping orphans, widows, visiting the sick, etc. When a person acts nobly, inspired by the example of his or her parents, it is not uncommon to hear phrases such as: “I knew his father, and I see that his son is following in his footsteps”; “Worthy daughter of her father”, “If his mother would be alive, how proud she would be of him!”.

The good name of the children and the actions of kindness practiced by the children, represent without a doubt the most natural way of honoring the memory of our deceased parents.