Today we traveled across Israeli
scrub to a network of caves used during the Bar Kochva Revolt between 132-35
CE, where we learned about the last attempted revolution against foreign powers
until the end of the 19th century. Located in Chirbat Midras, or the
Ruins of Midras, we walked around stone ruins of public buildings and also saw
the nuf of new villages cropping around the landscape.
The reasons for the Bar Kochva
Revolt are disputed, but there are a few central theories. Christian sources (Eusebius
of Caesarea) point to the idea that the Jews had a false messianic fervor for
Simon Bar Kochva, who led the Jewish people at the time. Meanwhile, Roman
sources (Dio Cassius and Spartianus) instead propose that it was the result of
Caesar Hadrian building a temple to Jupiter on the ruins of Beit Hamikdash, or
because of a ban on circumcision, respectively. Last, Jewish texts assert that
Hadrian allowed the building of a third Beit Hamikdash, but only allowed treif
measurements for the building, generating anger from the Jewish community. Dio
Cassius’ claim is most widely believed today due to archaeological evidence and
greater inconsistencies in other theories.
A tomb for someone of importance in Midras. Notice the small rocks placed on top of the structure, a Jewish custom of treating everyone in death equal. Instead of placing flowers or tokens, we place rocks.
There are a few major differences
between the Bar Kochva Revolt and the Great Revolt of 66 CE. The clearest is in
the unified leadership of the Bar Kochva Revolt, as opposed to the factions
that led the Great Revolt. Simon Bar Kochva was spearheaded by Reb Akiva and
widely accepted in Judea as the Messiah. Caves and supplies were prepared years
beforehand, showing the level of planning that went into the attempted revolt.
Jews even sabotaged Roman efforts by building subpar weaponry for them in the
years before and then using them themselves during the revolt.
Despite the better organization
and planning of the Bar Kochva Revolt, its aftermath was the final nail in the
coffin for Judea as a Jewish state until 1948. Roman legions destroyed 985
villages, killed roughly 580,000 Jews according to their records and banned the
practice of Judaism within the empire. Until Bar Kochva’s stronghold at Bitar
was destroyed on Tesha B’Av in 135 CE, he was seen as the Messiah, heralded by
Reb Akiva. After his defeat, for hundreds of years he was viewed as a false
messiah that led Judea to ruin. It wasn’t until Zionism developed that this
idea changed and the public opinion Bar Kochva changed, from someone who
brought ruin on the Jewish people to a defender (albeit failed one) against
foreign powers.
What I found most interesting about
this tiyul was the parallels between the Bar Kochva Revolt and insurgencies in
the ghettoes during the Shoah. The Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto, for instance,
utilized many of the same strategies as the Bar Kochva Jews, such as connecting
buildings together and blocking entrances, guerilla warfare and weapons
sabotage. It seems we’ve always been a hardy people. What do you think would
have been a better strategy, either diplomatically or defensively, against the
Romans? What would be your ultimate goal as a leader during the Revolt? Do you
see any other similarities between the Bar Kochva Revolt and other skirmishes
and wars of today?
Evan was right. The nuf is never enough
When it came to the Jews defending themselves against the Romans, the strength was in the numbers. They had enough soldiers and power to make the Jew's revolt fail, so maybe if there had been more people to participate in the revolt against the Romans we may have won. My ultimate goal as a leader during the revolt to be the unifying factor. When there's unity, there's more strength. I also would have made sure beforehand that everyone had a common goal and was on common ground, which they had religiously already. I'm not sure I can confidently say I can see any similarities to what happened at the Bar Kochva revolt to any specific dispute happenning currently, but I think that events like this are still very relevent today.
ReplyDeleteAnd if it were my decision, I would have everyone try to come up with a new way of killing people and if we discovered any kind of biological warfare, I would definitely have it used on them. Also, as everyone is at the amphitheatre or theatre, I would set ablaze the building collapse the walls and arches the seats are attached to so they come crumbling down to their inevitable demises.
ReplyDeleteMy ultimate goal if I were the leader of the revolt would be not to destroy the Romans , (even though I do believe that they should've been annihilated for what they did), but to make sure they know that they cannot get rid of us and if they try, we will make it the easiest attempt at failing they will ever have. My goal would be to take back control of our country, kick their white euro tuchuses out of our country, and make sure all know, do not screw with the Jews.
The revolt feels similar to the conflict in Peru that has been happening for the last thirty to fifty years. In Peru, the indigenous people have all (or at least most) have banded together to fight the hypocrisy and corruption of the Peruvian leaders whom, unlike them with thick ancestry in Peru, they are of foreign rule.
I think the Jews used the best strategy they could during the Revolt. Their main strength was their unity, but the Romans were just too strong. In terms of comparing the Bar Kochva and the Great Revolt, for the Jews, It was a large improvement. In this revolt the Jews were fighting together instead of scattered and unorganized. The Jews had been in wars before but, they didn't have the advanced war strategies that the Romans had. During the revolt, as the leader, my main goal would be to unify the Jews. Unity was the Jews' best chance at being successful in the revolt. Today, I think times have changed too much to connect the specifics of the Bar Kochva revolt to any war in modern times. In modern times, there is an ever increasing amount of politics and weapon technologies.
ReplyDeleteI don’t know if there was anything else the Jews could have done in regards to the revolt. They came together, they planned, they tried, but they were unlucky in numbers. There is only so much they can do when they are outnumbered, and it is incredible they did what they did as it was. They may have failed, but they were fighting together as a Jewish people against the Romans rather than fighting in groups of Jewish people against each other an the Romans. My ultimate goal as a leader during the revolt would obviously be to succeed. Given the circumstances at the time, however, a more logical goal would be to unite the Jews as one people and to show the Romans that we aren’t as hopeless and weak as they seem to think we are. I can’t think of any specific examples of current wars, but what comes to mind mostly is the Americans in the 1700s during their fight for independence. They were outnumbered so many times, and they just kept fighting for themselves failing many many times until they finally overcame it.
ReplyDelete-Rachael Coleman
Strategically, the Jews had lan excellent plan for defense that was unfortunately unsuccessful. Due to their fewer numbers, there was likely little that could have been done on a major offensive front. Diplomatically, it seemed that the Jews were past the point of reasoning with the Roman Empire. Due to a series of events, the order of which is disputed by historians, relations between Jews and Romans had deteriorated. To be a successful leader at the time of the Bar Kochva Revolt and during the next period in Jewish history, the biggest goal had to have been unity. The Jews have largely been successful when in a unified state. If we're looking for similar situations in world conflicts, we can create an analogue with the Jews always being on the defensive at this time with the Great Emu War that took place in 1932 in Australia. The new settlers had to take action against the ever encroaching emu population that was destroying their crops and way of life, but despite their best efforts they could not keep the flocks back.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jacob, the Jews did about as well as on the military side of things, and would not be able to reason with the Romans. The goal in my opinion would be to win a few large battles in hopes that the large countries would use Rome's weakness to try to take control. In this way it reminds me of the American Revolution, with less trained and less supplied troops using guerrilla warfare against a larger more formation oriented army. Unfortunately, no civilization stepped in to help the Jews and they were eventually forced out into an open fight.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the strategy, the incredible amount of planning and unity that the Jews had was the best strategy they could have used, however the Romans just were stronger. since there were several generations of hatred and tension between the Romans, they two groups were far past any chance of peace. Therefore there was no chance of deplomacy between the Jews and Romans. If I were a leader in the revolt, I would definitely emphasize the unity that existed within the Jewish people. If we didn't have unity, we absolutely would not have had the slightest chance of a successful revolt against the Romans.
ReplyDeleteI can't find any direct relations between the events of the revolt and events of today, however it is entirely possible that a situation like the revolt could arise in the future.
At this point in history, the Jews did not have strength in numbers. A better diplomatic strategy would have been to align themselves with other nations, who were in support of the Jewish revolt. With the help of these proposed alliances, the Jews might have been able to defeat the Romans, or at least hold out for a few more years. My ultimate goal as the leader of the revolution would be to align the Jewish people with strong, trustworthy allies who could help overthrow Roman rule in Israel.
ReplyDeleteGreat post Noah and interesting responses guys. When we discuss the Bar Kochva revolt, especially due to the discrepancies between the historical sources, it is difficult to grasp the necessity of this revolt. Even more so when we know the horrible outcome. On the other hand, the unity and the preparations for this revolt are admirable. In addition, when we read the story of Rabbi Akiva and the other martyred Rabbis, we must ask ourselves where they found the courage to preserve Judaism even at the price of their own lives.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe jews during the bar kochba revolt did the best they could. This revolt was even pre planned by what we could tell by the tunnels. alas our efforts were defeated by the roman legions. I think the main goal of the revolt was to get back the sovereignty of our land. People believed the age of the messiah was upon us and it was time to back the land. I as well would try to back the holy land. today i don't see much similarities between the the bar kochba revolt and the wars the jewish people face today because we now have a land to protect. Back then we had nothing to loose we were a body being ruled over but now we have a land and in any moment we could loose everything and thats the difference between back then and now.
ReplyDeleteIn the Bar Kochba revolt, the Jews united and planned as much as they could but there just weren't enough people to defeat the Roman army. Based on what they had, the Jews did the best that they could do with their good military tactics. If I was a leader in the revolt, I would want to unite the Jews as well as obtain allies to defeat the Romans to show them and other possible invaders not to mess with the Jews again.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the biggest problem in the Bar Kochva revolt was the the Romans outnumbered the Jews by a lot. If the Jews had a bigger army I believe that they would have been more successful. If I was the leader of the revolt I would have focused mainly on unity. We learned that when the nation was united the people had a greater chance of victory. Today you also see unity in wars among individual nations and their allies. You also see a lot of planning. Nations commonly enter a war or a battle with the same goals and a plan for victory.
ReplyDeleteI think that planning the revolt to the extent they did was smart but they didn't plan enough. They didn't think about the ratio of Jews to Romans. The Romans had far more people which is why they eventually defeated the Jews. But I think that the Jews couldn't have failed that much because Judaism is still intact today and has never been stronger. If I were a leader I would have been super proud of my people for fighting for 3 years and not giving up.
ReplyDeleteI think in terms of strategy and tactics the Jews did wonderfully... the only problem was how outnumbered they were. There were far more Romans and not to mention they were also more ruthless than the Jews. I don't see as many similarities between this and the things of today however if I were to lead this revolt I'd definitely plan more and take account of the large difference in numbers. I think that'd be crucial to a better chance of success.
ReplyDelete