History of the Jews, Vol. 2 (of 6)

by Heinrich Graetz

At last, however, the hour of his execution came. Rufus inflicted the cruelest tortures on him, and caused his skin to be torn off with irons. The great martyr, whilst under torture, recited the Shema with a peaceful smile on his face. Rufus, astonished at his extraordinary courage, asked him if he was a sorcerer, that he could so easily overcome the pain he was suffering. To which Akiba replied, "I am no sorcerer, but I rejoice that I am permitted to love God with my life." Akiba breathed forth his soul with the last words of the prayer which contains the essence of Judaism—God is One. Akiba's death, which was as remarkable as his life had been, left a terrible void. His contemporaries mourned, for with him was destroyed the arm of the Law and the source of wisdom. He left one son and several disciples, who honored his name, and considered his mode of teaching as the only permissible one.

The fourth martyr who heroically bore his death was Chanina ben Teradion. Regardless of the warnings of José ben Kisma, he continued to hold his lectures until he was dragged to the tribunal. He was asked why he had acted in opposition to the imperial command, and he boldly answered, "Because God has so commanded me." He was wrapped up in a scroll of the Law and burnt on a stake of fresh rushes. Chanina's wife was also sentenced to death, and his daughter condemned to degradation.

The martyrdom of Chuzpit, the speaker (Meturgeman) of the Synhedrion of Jamnia, and Isebab, the secretary of the Synhedrion, are merely noted without details; doubtless they were discovered teaching the Law. Judah ben Baba is said to have been the last of the martyrs. Before his death he resolved to invest the seven remaining pupils of Akiba with the necessary authority to continue the propagation of the traditional Law. He selected for the function the valley between Usha and Shefaram, but despite this secrecy he was surprised by the Romans. His disciples refused to leave him, and it was only after repeated entreaties that they fled. The enemy found the old man alone, and he gave himself up to death without opposition. He was pierced by lances. From fear of Rufus's bloodthirsty vengeance, the usual address was omitted at the funeral of Judah ben Baba. Neither the name nor the mode of death of the remaining martyrs is known with certainty. Thus ends the second generation of Tanaites; it was rich in great men, rich in great minds, and rich in trouble and sorrow. The end of Bar-Cochba's revolt formed the turning-point of this epoch, and the fact that a temple to Jupiter Capitolinus occupied the site of the ancient Jewish Temple seemed to the Jewish Christians to presage the last day and the return of the Messiah.

Hadrian and Rufus's cruel measures were directed not against the survivors alone, but also against the dead. The heaps of dead bodies were not permitted to be interred, but the horrible sight was intended as a warning to the survivors, that they should no longer dream of deliverance from the Roman yoke. The rulers did not trouble themselves as to the pestilential condition of the air, or the depressing effect of beholding so many corpses lying in the sunshine; or perhaps they rejoiced that pestilence and despair should be added to the horrors inflicted on the Jewish nation. To pious and gentle hearts the thought was unbearable that the remains of those who had fallen, which were especially to be honored by Jewish custom, should be left as a prey to wild beasts and birds and to decay in the sunlight. It appears that a pious man desired to impress on the survivors who had made peace with the Romans, and who lived in seclusion, the necessity of interring the corpses in the darkness of the night, even at the cost of their own happiness and peace. To this end he composed a book—the Book of Tobit—in which great weight is laid on the duty of secretly interring the bodies of those whom the tyrants doomed to disgrace; and at the same time it was hinted that the danger attending this duty would bring a rich reward. In evidence of this the case was cited of the pious Tobit, who after suffering many misfortunes as the result of his labor of love, was in the end rewarded with rich blessings. The contents of the Book of Tobit undeniably indicate that it was composed in the reign of Hadrian.

Hadrian's severe persecution also fell upon the Jewish Christians—perhaps on all Christians—although they had separated from the Jewish community; for the reason that the Roman authorities did not consider the differences of dogma between Jews and Christians. The Evangelists paint in the darkest colors the horrors of persecution with which the Christians were attacked. "Then you will behold the terrors of desolation (predicted by the prophet Daniel) where they should not be; he who is in Judæa will flee to the mountains; woe to the pregnant and to the sucklings. Pray, however, that your flight may not take place in winter or on a Sabbath."

Both sects of Christians were anxious to be recognized as a body separate from the Jews, both politically and religiously, so as to avoid the doom impending over the latter. Two teachers of the Church, Quadratus and Aristides, are said to have handed to Hadrian a petition, in which they demonstrated that Christianity had no connection with Judaism. From this time dates the unity and identity of most of the Jewish-Christian and heathen-Christian sects. The Jewish Christians gave up the Jewish laws which they had hitherto kept, in a greater or less degree, adopting the dogmatic precepts of Christianity as they had been developed under heathen-Christian views, and as proof of their sincere convictions, they for the first time placed an uncircumcised bishop at the head of the community. From the time of Hadrian all connection between Jews and Christians ceased, and they no longer occupied the position of two hostile bodies belonging to the same house, but they became two entirely distinct bodies.

Through the war against Hadrian and the edict of persecution a terrible time had arisen for Judæa. The towns were destroyed, the land laid waste, the inhabitants were killed either on the battle-field or on the scaffold, or led a miserable life as refugees, while some were scattered in more hospitable territories.

The disciples of the Law, more especially the seven disciples of Akiba, had, with broken hearts, sought refuge in Nisibis and Nahardea, and if the persecution had lasted longer, Babylon would even at this time have attained that importance for Judaism which it reached a century later. Hadrian's death, which occurred three years after the fall of Bethar, brought about a favorable turn. The pious beheld in the miserable death of this emperor, who, next to Antiochus Epiphanes, became the incarnation of the Jews' hatred, and the mention of whose name was always accompanied by the curse, "May God reduce his remains to dust," a divine visitation for the evils he had wrought on the Jewish nation. Those who had escaped destruction endeavored to obtain from Hadrian's successor the revocation of the cruel edicts. Titus Aurelius Antoninus, who received the name of Pius, although the adopted son of Hadrian, was of a somewhat more humane and beneficent character, and a milder treatment seemed likely at his hands. A noble Roman lady of Cæsarea or Antioch, who had pity on the sufferings of the Jews, advised them to petition the Roman authorities that the persecutions might cease. This lady was perhaps the wife of Rufus, and is said to have had inclination towards Judaism. Following this advice, a few men, headed by Jehudah ben Shamua, repaired to the governor to beg for mercy. In the gloomy darkness of their desolation they lamented—"O heavens, are we not your brothers, the sons of the same father? Why do you inflict on us unendurable sufferings?" Such lamentations appear to have induced the governor to petition the Emperor to pursue a milder course of conduct towards the Jews.

On the 15th Ab (August) the joyous news is said to have come that the heaped-up corpses of the Jewish warriors might be buried. On the 28th Adar (March, 139 or 140), the yet more joyful tidings came that the decrees of Hadrian were revoked, and this day was commemorated in the calendar. A Roman source relates that the Emperor Antoninus Pius conceded to the Jews the rite of circumcision; but they were not permitted to perform it on other nationalities; that is, they were not allowed to make proselytes. Thus the persecution on account of religion was ended. Antoninus Pius, however, did not repeal the law forbidding the Jews to enter Jerusalem.

This unexpected end of the persecution recalled the fugitives to their native land. The seven disciples of Akiba—the only heirs to the spiritual heritage of former times—who, for the most part, had emigrated to Babylon, now returned. These were Meïr, Judah ben Ilai, José ben Chalafta, Jochanan of Alexandria, Simon ben Jochai, Eleazar ben Jacob (or ben Shamua) and Nehemiah. They repaired directly to the plain of Rimmon, made notable during the Revolution, to consider the introduction of a leap year, the calendar probably having become incorrect. At the first meeting a fierce contest ensued, probably with reference to one of the Halachas of Akiba, but the dispute terminated in a friendly settlement.