Rabban Shim'on ben-Gamli'el used to say: The world stands on three things: on law, on truth and on peace; as is said, "Judge in your gates truth and the justice of peace".
12:
With his army, bar-Kokhba started his attack, capturing control of the country piecemeal: he would take over fortress after fortress, city after city. The Jews were once again independent! In Jerusalem an altar to God was erected on the place where the magnificent Bet Mikdash had once stood. Also the building of a wall around Jerusalem had begun. Despite this new joy for the Jews, bar-Kokhba knew that the Romans were planning a counter attack so he kept training his army. Of course, bar-Kokhba was right. Hadrian brought a world renowned general all the way from Britain to lead his army against the Jews. Thus Julius Severus was removed from the task of keeping the Picts and the Scots out of England and transferred to the task of subjugating the Jewish revolt in the Middle East.
13:
The Romans launched their counter-attack. They followed the same tactics they had used to quell the previous rebellion sixty years previously: they didn’t attack in one big battle, but reconquered the country one town at a time. They defeated little bands of rebels independently defending their cities. The Romans took back Galilee and Judah, and eventually the Roman army forced bar-Kokhba into a small fortified city called Betar. On the Ninth of Av (4th August) 135 CE Betar fell to the Romans. The Talmuds assert that about a half a million Jews were found dead in and around Betar; doubtless this is an exaggeration. Thousands of Jewish men were sold as slaves or fled to other countries. Bar-Kokhba himself was found dead on the front.
14:
Hadrian realized that the Jews would never see Rome as a mother country, but would always see the Romans as tyrants. He completed the construction of the city called Aelia Capitolina, where Jerusalem had once stood. The Jews were forbidden to go near the city. Furthermore, Hadrian issued further prohibitions against Judaism: these prohibitions retained the ban against circumcision, and added the prohibition against keeping Shabbat and maintaining the Jewish Calendar. He also prohibited studying and teaching Torah. In short, Hadrian prohibited Judaism.
15:
It was this last prohibition that brought about the death of Rabbi Akiva. The aged sage – he must have been in his 90's at this time! – could not imagine a Jewish world in which there was no circumcision, no Shabbat and no Torah. So even though the penalty for infringement was death he refused to stop teaching Torah publicly. Well known is the conversation reported in the Gemara [Berakhot 61b] with a prominent Romanophile:
Paphos ben-Yehudah found Rabbi Akiva teaching Torah publicly. He said to him, "Akiva, aren't you afraid of the government? He [Akiva] replied, "Let me tell you a parable. Our situation is like that of a fox who was walking by the riverside and saw fish jumping from place to place. He [the fox] said to them, 'Why are you running?' They replied, 'To escape from the nets that the humans set for us.' He then said, 'Wouldn't you like to come up on dry land? You and I could live together just as our ancestors did.' They said, 'You are reputed to be the most sly of all animals, but you are stupid. If we are afraid while we are in our own environment we would be even more afraid in an environment where we would die!' The same applies to us [said Akiva to Paphos]: Concerning the Torah it is written [Deuteronomy 30:20] 'It is your life and the very length of your days'. [We are afraid now] while we study Torah, we would be even more afraid if we desist." It is reported that a few days later Rabbi Akiva was arrested and imprisoned.
He said to them, "Run, my sons!" They said, "Rabbi what will become of you?" He said to them, "I shall be an obstacle in their path." It is said that they [the Romans] did not leave that place before he had three hundred spear thrusts in his body which was like a sieve.
This was how some sages were left to perpetuate the Sanhedrin and its activities. And it was in such a new situation that the Rabban Shim'on ben-Gamli'el of our mishnah presided over the Sanhedrin.
To be continued.
In Mishnah Seventeen we quoted the teaching of the earlier Rabban Shim'on ben-Gamli'el: "It is not the study which is essential but the performance."
Al Sporer writes:
I have quoted this to my students and to my grandchildren to emphasize that, while learning is necessary, it is not sufficient. I have used this quote to point out that it is the existential act that determines a person's character and not merely his or her erudition. One can sit and learn Torah all day but if that is all they do then that existential act defines their character.
Even though I am officially on vacation I hope to send out as many shiurim in this series as possible. Please forgive me if here and there I should fail in my good intentions
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