The Decrees of Hadrian:
1. Brit Milah was forbidden
2. Shabbat and Holidays were forbidden to be observed
3. Learning Torah was forbidden
4. Doing Smichah (to be a Rabbi) was forbidden
5. It was forbidden to enter Yerushalaim
The Jews didn t listen to the decrees, even though there wasa death penalty there were 10 famous Rabbis killed (the first 2 were RavYishmael and Raban Shimon Ben Gamliel). Elisha Ben Avooyah (I think that s howyou pronounce it) was a traitor and helped the Romans. In the Gemarah they callhim Acher Other meaning he was different and was bad.
The decrees lasted until Hadrian died, when Antonius camehe buried the bodies of Beitar.
Results of the Revolt:
1. They switched the name Yehudah into Syria Palestin sothere would be no more connection to the Jews and the land
2. Yerushalaim turned into a city of idols and was called AeliaCapitolina Jews were only allowed in on 9 Av
3. The Goyim hate the Jews, their culture, their Gd, etc.
4. There was great Kiddush Hashem because many people died in hisname
5. The Jews no longer have a land. The Romans took it and alsocollected taxes from them
6. The Jews lost hope they thought Hashem left them and theylost everything
Eretz Yisrael in the Time of the Talmud
(Talmud refers tothe time of the Mishnah and the Gemarah)
A. So from the revolt over half a millionJews died, many Jews are prisoners, many went to Babylonia, for the first timein history the Jews are a minority in their own land, and Jewish influence inBabylonia increased greatly. Also Rabbi Akiva s students were killed. Accordingto the Gemarah, they were killed because of Sinat Chinam (unnecessary hatred).Other historians believe that they were killed in the revolt (they wererebels) which is logical because Rabbi Akiva believed that Bar Cochvah wasMashiach.
B. The Compromise
In 138 C.E. Hadriandied and Anthony (Antoninus) became the new Caesar. He cancelled the decrees ofHadrian.
Question: Why NOWare the Romans living in peace with the Jews??
The Romans suffered in the revolt anddidn t need any fights
The Parthians and the Barbarians theRomans had to fight with them and they didn t have time to fight with theJews. They re also afraid of the Jews because maybe the Jews will beallies with the Parthians, Rome s enemy.
There were many converts of the RomanEmpire to Judaism, even after the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash. ManyRomans respect the Jews or even observe the Mitzvot those nonJews arecalled Gd Fearers
The Jews were strong and courageous inthe revolt and the Romans respected them for that
The Romans feared more losses of men The Romans:
Wereready to give up:
They cancelled the decrees against theJews (Jews were granted religious freedom)
Jews were not drafted into the Romanarmy
The religious center went from Yavnehto Ushah (Ooshah) in the Galil there was a new Sanhedrin, new Jewishleadership, and a new Jewish centerWerenot ready to give up:
Fiscus Iudaicus the Jews still had topay the tax
Brit Milah for NONJEWS there was noconversion to Judaism and if they caught you death penalty
Entrance into Yerushalaim was forbiddenexcept on 9 Av Yerushalaim was now a temple to the god JupiterTheJews:
Wereready to give up:
Paying taxes they had no problempaying them
They took in Hellenistic culture thatthe Romans got from the Greeks (Ex: On the floors of some Synagogues thereare Hellenistic images, and in the Gemarah there are names of Rabbis andwords in Greek)
They accepted the rule of Rome theyaccepted the idea of Galut. Because of this the Rabbis said that youcannot figure out when the end of the Galut will come they didn t want toget the Jews hopes upWerenot ready to give up:
Brit Milah there were still convertsdespite the penalty
Entrance into Yerushalaim there iseven proof that there were Yeshivas in YerushalaimAfterthe destruction all the cities in Yerushalaim were destroyed on behalf of theRomans. The situation is so bleak that the power switched onto the people inBabylonia and there is an argument between the Rabbis of Babylonia and Israelconcerning who has the power to decide what day is Rosh Chodesh.
C.Things are fairly good. There were 3 attitudes/approaches towards the Romans:
Moderates they saw some good in theRomans Rav Yehudah Bar Elay
Neutral didn t care didn t favor orhate the Romans Rav Yossi Ben Chalafta
Zealots hated the Romans greatlyShimon Bar YochaiStory:The 3 were sitting down and a conversation started and Rav Yehudah said howgreat the Romans were they built bridges and marketplaces, etc. Rav Yossi saidnothing. Shimon replied to Rav Yehudah that they only built it for their owngood the bridges and marketplaces are to transport and sell their prostitutes.Someone heard this and tattled on the Rabbis. The Romans rewarded Rav Yehudah,did nothing to Rav Yossi and wanted to kill Shimon. He ran away to a cave withhis son. He was a Kabbalist in the cave and wrote the Zohar. He came out of thecave with eyes and a face so bright that that he burnt people there. He didn tunderstand how people could live such ordinary lives. He went back in the cave,learned, came out and understood how people could live such plain, worldlylives.
D.The Sanhedrin and the President in Ushah:
RavShimon Ben Gamliel II (Rashbag II) is the President
RavNatan is the Av Beit Din.
AndRav Meir is the Chacham (smart one). There s a pasuk talking about him and itsays he only learned the essence, or the good stuff, and discarded with the badstuff because he learned from Elishah an Apikores.
Wenow return to a time where there s both a President and an Av Beit Din.
SoRav Yehudah Ben Bavah dies cause he gives too many people Smichah (Rav Natanand Rav Meir also did that).
RavNatan and Rav Meir didn t like Rashbag II and didn t give him much respect andthought he was not qualified to for his position. He didn t know MasechetOoksin. Rav Meir and Rav Natan knew this and wanted to embarrass Rashbag whenthe Sanhedrin got together and they d ask him to explain it and he wouldn tknow it. A student of Rashbag heard this and one day and he sat next to Rashbagand learned it out loud. He went to the Sanhedrin, and answered the questions.Rav Natan and Rav Meir were punished that any Halachah in the Gemarah thatthey said their names were not mentioned.
Rashbagstrengthened the Presidency (Patriachate):
He demanded that you must stand up forthe President until he is seated (you were not required to do this for theAv Beit Din or the Chacham)
The President had to agree on whomeverthe Sanhedrin appointed or else it s not a legitimate appointment. But thePresident could appoint and the Sanhedrin would have to accept him Rashbagalso said that it was forbidden to export fruit outside of Israel becauseIsrael was still rebuilding itself and needed those fruit.
Rashbag sson was Rav Yehudah Hanasi he organized the Mishnah at circa 200 C.E. He wascalled Rebbi. The power of the presidency reached itshighpoint in his time. He was not only smart and great but he was also veryrich.
TheJobs of Rebbi:
Head of the Sanhedrin
Was responsible for the calendar
Was the representative of the Jews withthe Romans
Appointed officials
Decided who would get Smichah whichwas a big deal back then
Responsible for collecting taxesHewas not only spiritual power but also power on the everyday lives of the Jews.
Question:How was it that in his time the presidency became so powerful why not hispredecessors?
Answer:He was the close friend of the Roman Caesar Anthony (Antoninus).
TheMishnah tells us about their friendship but which Anthony are we talkingabout???
Antoninus Pius138161 C.E. NO didn t visit Israel and was too long before Rebbi s time
Marcus Aurelius161180 C.E. NO Anti Semitic
Commodus 180192C.E. NO didn t go to Israel
Septimus Severos193206 C.E. NO never known as Antoninus
Caracalla 206217C.E. YES called Antoninus and did visit Israel
Examples of theirfriendship:
1. Antoninus came to Rebbi on Shabbat and ateby him and the Caesar is eating and tastes one particularly delicious food. Sohe asked Rebbi for the recipe, he gave it to him and his cook made it. But whenhe tasted it it wasn t as good as it was by Rebbi so he asked Rebbi why doesit not taste that good? Rebbi answered you re missing one spice SHABBAT!!!!!
2. Rebbi was the advisor of Antoninus he wasasked about how to deal with a revolt in Egypt, and about the city Caesarea.
3. The Caesar gave Rebbi land in Israel inRamat HaGolan.
4. Rebbi gave Caesar good animals for breedingso the Romans would have better animals.
5. The Caesar gave Rebbi a beautiful Menorah.
6. The Jews got citizenshipwhich gave themspecial privileges.
Rebbi wore shoesmade of gold. Some people didn t like that. So when people would complain hewould take off the shoe to show a hole on the sole (to show he s still aregular guy).
The Time of theMishanah:
They start writingthe Oral Torah now because they realize that the Jews are spreading everywhereand they need to write it down for everyone around the world. There s a pasukthat says that when the time comes sometimes you have to transgress the Torahin order to preserve it. In this case they wrote it down which was forbidden.
We know that Rebbiredacted the Mishnah because there s a pasuk that says he and Rav Natan werethe end of the Mishnah. Also Rashbag didn t know Ooksin meaning over time itwas a collective effort of all the Rabbis compiled by Rebbi. (He was not theonly one working on it).
Rebbi:
Knew many languages
Decided to writeMishnah in modern Hebrew
Had German bodyguards
Had tremendousauthority if there was an argument he decided it
Built a Yeshivah inBeit Shearim and then in Tiberias
Rebbi died in 219C.E.
The time of theMishnah was until 219 C.E. and most Rabbis were in Israel and some were inBabylonia. From 219 500 C.E. was the time of the Gemarah and most of theRabbis were in Babylonia and not in Israel.
What caused thisswitch?
The Romans had manyproblems that caused the Jews to suffer, so they left:
They were fighting with the Parthiansand the Barbarians
They had economic problems
In 311 C.E. Constantine declaresChristianity the official religion of the Roman Empire (before that theydespised Christianity). Paganism is starting to be viewed as wrong andbarbaric which was bad for the Jews. Romans now believe that the Jewscommitted DEICIDE (killing of a god=Jesus). Christianity is not tolerantto Judaism and over the next few years laws will be decreed against theJews.359 C.E. TheRomans (Christians) did not allow the Jews to send messengers to other Jewsoutside of Israel.
Hillel II madethe calendar based on mathematics/calculation.
Babylonia is neverunder Christian rule= peaceful for Jews= so thousands move to Babylonia.
The Rise ofChristianity:
311 C.E. Constantineconverts to Christianity and makes decrees against the Jews:
Every Jew can convert to Christianitywhoever tries to stop him will be burnt alive (obviously no conversion toJudaism)
No intermarriage
Slaves of Jews may not convert toJudaism (the custom of the time was that slaves converted to theirmasters religion
306 C.E. Counsel of Elvira see thatChristianity is starting to organize so they made laws: No intermarriage
Jews could not blessthe fields of Christians (believed Jews were possessed with magical powers, andshows Jews were once respected)
Jews and Christianscouldn t eat together= couldn t be friendly (segregation)= couldn t intermarry
325C.E. Counsel of Nicaea The priests decided (Constantine is head) they had tomake clear the difference between Jews a