The Second Temple Era spanned 420 years, ending with the Roman's destruction of the Holy Temple in 69 CE. For the most part, this was an era of great political upheaval and religious strife. There was the constant threat of invasion from nations near and far. For much of this period, Judea was under foreign domination. There was the continual struggle for supremacy between the religious and political leaders. For much of this period, there was also the constant internal religious rivalry between the rabbinical Pharisees and the revisionist Sadducees.

The one radiant period of peace and tranquility was during the ten-year reign of Queen Shlomis Alexander (76-66 BCE). Shlomis Alexandra succeeded her husband King Yannai. Together with her brother Rabbi Shimon Ben Shetach, she brought political and religious harmony to the land. The queen raised a strong army to defend the land. Rabbi Shimon ben Shetach built up a public Yeshivah system throughout the land; every child was given an education. During these years the land was blessed. No enemy dared invade. Religious and moral ideals flourished. The economy prospered.

But Queen Shlomis was growing old and infirm, and her reign was coming to an end. She had two sons. The older son, Hyrkanus, was meek by nature and would be an ineffective successor to the throne. The greedy ambition of the younger son, Aristobulus, made him an unsuitable candidate as well. The Sages, sensing the likelihood of civil unrest, withdrew from the torrid political debate.

Upon the Queen's death, the populace was divided as to who should be the successor to the throne. Bloody riots ensued, and the country was plunged into civil war. In order to spare their innocent countrymen further upheaval, the two brothers agreed to involve the great Roman general Pompey as a mediator. He would decide who was to be king. Pompey chose the docile Hyrakanus, intending to make him a puppet and Judea another province of the expanding Roman Empire.

Many Jews, faithful to Aristobulus, refused to accept Pompey's decision. Fighting broke out in Jerusalem. The Temple became a fortress for the rebellious faction. In 63 BCE, Pompey's troops entered the Holy City and put down the rebellion. Hyrkanus was installed as the puppet king and High Priest. Aristobulus was taken prisoner. The revolutionaries were executed. By allowing Pompey to become involved in the internal affairs of the Holy Land, Hyrkanus and Aristobulus had inadvertently given Judea into the hands of the Roman Empire.

Judea was heavily taxed by Rome and placed under the general jurisdiction of the Roman proconsul of Syria and Judea. A roman governor of Judea was appointed. Though there were several attempts by the Jews to revolt against the abuses of the Roman proconsuls and governors, for the most part, the Jews endured the hardships with some degree of dignity.

In order to quell the spirit of Jewish nationalism, Judea was divided into five states, the Sanhedrin was officially disbanded and forced to convene in secret, and foreigners were brought into the land in an attempt to build up a non-Jewish majority.

By 66 CE, the Jews in many of the coastal cities were treated as unwanted outsiders. They suffered the taunts of the Europeans who had migrated there. The despised Jews became the victims of murder and robbery. The Roman governor of Judea, Florius, imprisoned any Jews who brought a claim against a foreigner, whether or not the claim was justified. To further infuriate the Jews, Florius raided the Temple treasury for his own personal gain. He encouraged Roman soldiers to instigate riots in the Jewish quarters. On one day in 66 CE 3,600 Jews were killed in the city of Jerusalem.

Florius was hoping that the Jews of Jerusalem would attempt to avenge the slaughter. That way he could justify the mass killing of the entire Jewish population, loot their possessions and seize the Holy Temple. To his dismay, the Jews organized a march seeking to make peace with the governor. The Roman soldiers, lusting for blood, charged into the crowd of marchers, killing many Jews. The soldiers continued the forward assault battling their way to the Temple Mount.

Many Jews had gathered in the Temple to block the entrances, and the Roman soldiers retreated. The governor Florius, fearing possible retribution from the proconsul, went back to his estate in Caesarea. Florius had pushed the images of the murderers and riots to the back of his mind, but the Jews would not and could not forget. The first Revolt against Rome had begun.

Riots against the Romans erupted throughout the land. The proconsul Cestius Gallus was uncertain whether the riots were only against the governor Florius or if they were aimed against Rome. In either event, the turmoil threatened Roman dominion. Cestius Gallus brought many troops with him to subdue Jerusalem. On the eight day of Cheshvan, 66 CE, Cestius Gallus suffered a humiliating and total defeat.

In Rome, word of the humiliation was met with raging hostility. Emperor Nero send his most able general, Vespasian, with 60,000 Roman soldiers to quell the revolt in Judea. The initial military campaigns of Vespasian were centered in the northern Galilee. The untrained Jewish revolutionaries were no match for the disciplined Roman soldiers. One by one, the cities of the Galilee fell into Roman hands.

Vespasian now set his eye upon the Holy City, Jerusalem.

Kamtza & Bar Kamtza

This is the tragic story of the downfall of a nation. It is the story of a once proud and noble people reduced to a nation of wanderers, beggars and slaves, of a people, once admired and revered, who became the object of scorn and hatred. It is the story of the Jewish nation. How did the Lord's chosen people become the Lord's rejected children?

A certain Jew had a friend named Kamtza and an enemy named Bar Kamtza. The Jews made a large feast and instructed his servant to invite Kamtza. The servant mistakenly invited Bar Kamtza. Bar Kamtza put on his finest clothes and attended the feast, assuming the Jew had forgiven their past rivalries.

When the Jew who hosted the feast found Bar Kamtza present, he demanded that Bar Kamtza leave at once.

"What are you doing here?" he fumed. "You tell tales and false stories about me, and you have the audacity to partake of my food and drink?"

"Since I am here," Bar Kamtza replied, "allow me to stay. I will pay for whatever I eat and drink."

The Jew angrily refused the offer.

"Then allow me to pay half the cost of the entire feast," pleaded Bar Kamtza.

"No," answered the stubborn Jew.

"Then I am willing to pay the full cost of the whole feast, but do not embarrass me any more," begged Bar Kamtza. The unyielding Jew had Bar Kamtza dragged from the feast and thrown into the streets.

Bar Kamtza stood up, brushed the dust from his clothing and shouted with indignation, "O great and worthy Rabbi Zechariah ben Avkulas, you were present at this feast and yet you did not come to my defense. You, too, are party to my degradation and embarrassment. You remained silent. You, too, will regret what happens."

Bar Kamtza went to Emperor Nero and told him that the Jews were planning a rebellion against Rome.

"How do I know that to be true?" Nero asked.

"Send an offering to the Temple and see if it will be accepted as it has been in days past," Bar Kamtza said.

Nero sent a find specimen of a calf for a burnt offering with Bar Kamtza, along with a delegation of Romans to accompany him. During the journey, Bar Kamtza secretly made a blemish on the animal, in effect disqualifying the animal as a sacrifice. When Bar Kamtza and the Roman delegation appeared with the offering at the Temple gates, the rabbis were inclined to accept the defective animal, so as not to offend the emperor. However, Rabbi Zechariah ben Avkulas insisted that a blemished animal could not be offered. The Rabbis, realizing that Bar Kamtza had made the blemish on the animal to disqualify it, sought to kill Bar Kamtza.

"Is the punishment for inflicting a blemish the death penalty?" said Rabbi Zechariah. "Surely not. Let Bar Kamtza go back and tell Rome what happened. We have nothing to fear."

The delegation returned to Rome and told the emperor that his offering had not been accepted. Emperor Nero was furious, and the ramifications of his fury brought about one of the darkest chapters in our long and torturous history.