intended to increase the knowledge, interest, and anticipation of the reader, thereby hastening the realization of our hopes and prayers for the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the Beit HaMikdash.

The Destruction and its Aftermath
Flavius Josephus wrote an eyewitness account of the great national tragedy cumulating in the Churban - the destruction of Jerusalem and of the burning of the Beit Hamikdash on Tisha B'Av, 70CE. His Jewish War is our main source of information about those murderous years when our people rose in heroic, though perhaps foolhardy, rebellion against the Roman conquerors and suffered an unparalleled defeat. The arch-traitor Josephus, an unabashed apologist for the Romans (especially Titus the destroyer of the Mikdash) graphically described the Churban. "Then one of the soldiers... without a qualm for the terrible consequences of his action... snatched up a blazing piece of wood, and climbing on another soldiers back, hurled the brand through a golden aperture giving access on the north side to the chambers built around the Sanctuary. As the flames shot through the air, the Jews sent up a cry that matched the calamity and dashed to the rescue with no thought now of saving their lives or husbanding their strength; for that with hitherto they had guarded so devotedly was disappearing before their eyes... everywhere was slaughter and flight. Most of the victims were peaceful citizens, weak and unarmed, butchered wherever they were caught. Round the altar, the heap of corpses grew higher and higher, while down the Sanctuary steps, poured a river of blood and the bodies of those killed at the top slithered to the bottom... While the Sanctuary was burning, looting went on right and left and all who were caught were put to the sword.

There was no pity for age, no regard for rank; little children and old men, laymen and priests alike were butchered... Through the roar of the flames as they swept relentlessly on, could be heard the groans of the falling: such were the height of the hill and the vastness of the blazing edifice that the entire city seemed to be on fire, while as for the noise, nothing could be imagined more shattering or more horrifying... and many who were wasted with hunger and beyond speech, found strength to moan and wail when they saw the Sanctuary in flames... Yet more terrible than the din, were the sights that met the eye. The Temple Mount, enveloped in flames from top to bottom, appeared to be boiling up from its very roots; yet the sea of flame was nothing to the ocean of blood... (Wars, 6:254)

The horrors of a lost war, the rapine and the massive destruction, would be carved into the hearts and minds of the survivors for as long as they lived.

Besides the devastating blow to national morale, the physical damage to Eretz Yisrael and its economy was incalculable. Incredible numbers had been killed in battle, died of deprivation or disease or were sold into slavery abroad. Vast areas of cultivated land had been ruined, towns and villages reduced to shambles, flocks and herds dispersed and fruitful orchards uprooted. Josephus wrote, "The number of those who perished in the siege (of Jerusalem) was 1,100,000, the greater part whom were indeed of the same nation [with the citizens of Jerusalem] but not belonging to the city itself; for they had come up from all the country to the Feast of Matzot and were suddenly shut in by an army... and came a pestilential destruction upon them and soon afterwards a famine which destroyed them more suddenly... but the entire nation was now shut up by fate as in prison…" Josephus notes that there were some 97,000 prisoners taken after the fall of Jerusalem and another 41,000 captured elsewhere. Another 106,000 were killed in various battles and additional tens of thousands were simply murdered by their gentile neighbors in Caesarea, Beit She'an, Ashkelon, Acre, Damascus and many other places. Countless other thousands fell in the bloody internecine struggles between the various Jewish factions. Even if these figures are exaggerated, the number of slaughtered was still unbelievably high. The Romans endeavored to denude Eretz Yisrael of as much of its Jewish population as possible and demoralize the survivors.

Well aware of the seriousness of the situation, and realizing that much of the damage was irreparable, the Sages who constituted the only Jewish leadership that survived the debacle, struggled to salvage what could be salvaged from the rubble of a horrendous defeat. Despite the great odds, they were surprisingly successful.

Though the various traditions differ as to the details, the first step in the Jewish revival in Eretz Yisrael was the establishment of a Torah center at Yavneh by Rabban Yochanan Ben Zakkai. The version in Avot D'Rabbi Natan (20a) has R. Yochanan beseeching the Roman general Vespasian for permission to "teach" his "disciples and observe all the Mitzvot in the Torah" in Yavneh. R. Yochanan's choice of Yavneh, a non-Jewish city, was perhaps indicative of his efforts to avoid undue publicity and "prove that he wasn't interested in politics". All his efforts, as far as the Romans were concerned, were to be kept in a very low key. In the better known version in the Gemara (Gitin 56b), R. Yochanan asks for "Yavneh and its Sages, the family chain of R. Gamliel (the family of the Nasi - the Patriarch - descended from Hillel) and physicians to heal R. Tzadok". Be that as it may, from this small seed grew a mighty tree and in the next generation Torah institutions sprouted throughout Eretz Yisrael: Lod, Peki'in, Bnei Braq, Tzipori etc. The Jewish courts slowly revived and the Roman authorities came to recognize them, first de facto and eventually de jure.

The Mishna states that R. Gamliel, the Hillelite successor to R. Yochanan, "went to (Antioch to) have authority given to him by the (Roman) governor in Syria". Sources report how the Nasi started to make tours of inspection all through the land and led official Jewish delegations to Rome. Judicial auton- omy had been restored to Jewish Eretz Yisrael! The importance of this milestone cannot be over estimated. But much of the land had passed from Jewish ownership; title passing "by right of conquest" to the Roman Empire, with the Roman Emperor having the right to dispose of the land as he saw fit. Much of the land was distributed to "friends of Rome" such as Josephus, who received an estate "for services rendered". Many farmers were forced to become tenants on land they had once owned. However, Chazal scorned to recognize the "new owners" and, as much as possible in post-destruction Eretz Yisrael, defended the rights of the dispossessed. And sometimes, despite very unfavorable conditions, the Sages were successful in upholding the rights of the former owners. It was an uphill battle but gradually land was put back into cultivation and uprooted orchards were replanted; agriculture, the economic base of Jewish Eretz Yisrael slowly recovered. But the loss of Jerusalem and the Mikdash was keenly felt.

"Bring us back to You, O L-rd and we shall return, renew our days as of old. For even if you had utterly rejected us, You have already raged sufficiently against us. Bring us back to You, O L-rd and we shall return, renew our days as of old." (Eicha 5:21,22) to be continued

Catriel Sugarman (acatriel@netvision.net.il, 02-652-7531) gives illustrated lectures on the Beit Hamikdash and related topics. Catriel is in the process of writing a book entitled: The Temple of Jerusalem, A Pilgrim's Perspective:A Guided Tour through the Temple and the Divine Service.

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