SHEYIBANEH BEIT HAMIKDASH... Dear Catriel, While sorting through old copies of your weekly columns (I save them), I see you write quite a bit about the Ptolemies, the Seleucids, Hellenists, the Chashmona'im, but not too much about Alexander who started the ball rolling. What is our attitude and the attitude of Chazal towards Alexander? Didn't he start the ball rolling by surprising everybody and defeating the Persians? A.C. of Beit Shemesh. The erudite Professor S. Angus wrote, "The appearance of Alexander forms a turning point in the history of the race… Alexander made all things new: the results of his work have affected all the religious history of the Mediterranean world and the civilizations descended therefrom." Like everyone else, the Jews were fascinated by the meteoritic rise of this extraordinary man from Lilliputian Macedon who succeeded in toppling the fifty-times larger Persian Empire with the greatest of ease. Not initially understanding the extent of Alexander's victories over the Persians, "each city and each tribe had to make a choice between the present anger of Alexander and the (possible) future retaliation of Darius" (Elias Bickerman). Alexander's ruthless destruction of Gaza and Tyre, who made the wrong choice, soon showed "each tribe and city" which "way the wind was blowing". After first "choosing" Persia, the Jewish leaders realized their mistake. Rectifying his error, the Kohein Gadol "went out in procession with the priests and the multitude of the citizens. The procession was venerable… Alexander, when he saw the multitude at a distance, in white garments, while the priests stood clothes in fine linen, and the High Priest in purple and scarlet clothing… having the gold plate wherein the name of G-d was engraved, approached by himself and adored that name… and saluted the High Priest" Josephus goes on to describe how Alexander offered a sacrifice "according to the High Priest's direction and how pleased Alexander was when shown a copy of Sefer Daniel which prophesied that "one of the Greeks should destroy the Empire of the Persians." (How a non-Jew could possibly offer a sacrifice in the Mikdash under the "direction" of this saintly Kohein Gadol is another question but this strange inclusion does show that Alexander treated the Temple with respect.) The Kohein Gadol requested of Alexander permission to live "by the laws of their forefathers" not forgetting to include the "Jews of Babylonia and Media". The tale of Josephus ends with Alexander inviting Jews to join his army; the Jewish recruits would be permitted to observe the "laws of their forefathers". Josephus concluded, "Many were willing to accompany him in his wars" (Antiquities, Bk 11:8). Whatever the historic basis of this dramatic encounter so lovingly painted by Josephus in such vivid color may have been, it would have been the height of folly if the High Priest, the titular leader of the Jewish people, had not immediately arranged a meeting with Alexander to make obeisance and assure the all-conquering Macedonian of his people's loyalty. Be it as it may, while hostile to the Samaritans who tried to incite the Macedonian against the Jews, Alexander did not disturb Am Yisrael's Torah way of life nor was the Kohein Gadol's authority or the Beit Hamikdash disturbed. Alexander the Great, who after his death "evolved" into a symbol of the wealthy and powerful yet capricious and unpredictable pagan world, became the hero of many later Jewish legends. One legend describes how the "Elders of the South" showed Alexander how to cross the "Mountains of Darkness". Having done so, he found a land inhabited only by women. He wanted to make war on them but they said, "If you fight with us, people will [disparage you and] say that you make war on women, and if we kill you, people will say that Alexander was the king killed by women." Then he asked for bread and they gave him a loaf of gold on a table of gold. He asked, "Do people [in your city] eat gold?" They responded, "You wanted [ordinary] bread? Have you no bread in your own country that you had to come here?" "When he left the place, he wrote on the gate of the city, 'I, Alexander of Macedon, was a fool until I came to the city of women… and learned wisdom" (Tamid 32a). Another legend pictures Alexander knocking on the door of the Garden of Eden. He was refused admittance but was given an eyeball as a memento of his visit. "He went and weighed all his silver and gold against it" The single eyeball outweighed all of Alexander's riches! "How could this be?" he asked the Sages. They replied,"It is the eyeball of a human being which is never satisfied. It is written, 'The nether-world and Destruction are never satisfied; so the eyes of man too are never satiated" (Mishlei 27:20). When the Sages covered the eyeball with dust, it ceased to outweigh Alexander's treasures. Only in the grave does man cease to lust for gold (Tamid 32b). In the same vein, we are told that King Katzia, a ruler of a country beyond the "Mountains of Darkness", invited the peripatetic Alexander to hear a lawsuit. The plaintiff claimed that he had bought a piece of land and while plowing found a treasure: he wanted to return the treasure to the original owner. He said, "I bought a field, not a treasure." The defendant retorted, "When I sold this man the field, I sold him everything in it." Then the King inquired of the plaintiff, "Have you a son?" "Yes", was the reply. Then the king inquired of the defendant, "Do you have a daughter?" "I do." The King said, "Let the son and daughter marry and let the treasure be theirs." Alexander laughed when he heard the ruling. The King inquired, "Did I judge incorrectly? Is my judgment wrong? How would have you decided the issue in your country?" Alexander replied, "I would have chopped off both of their heads and taken the money for the royal treasury. "Sadly, the king asked the great Alexander. "Does it rain in your country?" "Yes." "Do you have animals in your country?" "Yes." The King said, "Know for a surety that the rain falls and the sun shines in your country only for the sake of your animals and not for yours." Amazingly enough, thousands of years later, the spectacular career of Napoleon Bonaparte inspired a whole genre of similar Jewish "folk legends". Perhaps the most poignant tale of all (pertinent for this time of year) tells how the French conqueror passed through an Eastern European "shetle" on Tish'a B'av and found the Jews sitting on the ground and wailing. Curious, Napoleon sent over an aid to ask why. The aid soon returned and explained to the Emperor that the Jews were mourning over their destroyed temple. Shocked and angered that such a thing could happen in lands that he controlled, Napoleon himself went over to them and asked if they knew who the perpetrators were. "These evil-doers must be arrested and punished at once!" "You misunderstand, Your Excellency", the Jews replied, "Our Temple, the Temple of Jerusalem, was destroyed 1700 years ago." Taken aback, the resplendent Emperor thoughtfully gazed at the bearded disheveled Jews for a longtime. Finally, he said, "If you still feel the loss of your Temple so acutely after 1700 years, I have no doubt that sooner or later you will be privileged to rebuild it." Kein Yehi Ratzon Catriel's book in progress: The Temple of Jerusalem, A Pilgrim’s Perspective; A Guided Tour through the Temple and the Divine Service [The
Parshat Va'etchanan Homepage]
|
