Last week, we observed Tisha B'Av, a day that remembers disasters in Jewish History, including the destruction of the two Holy Temples in Jerusalem.
בֵּית־הַמִּקְדָּשׁ, Beit Hamikdash literally means "the holy house". In Rabbinic Judaism, the term always refers to one of the two Temples that stood on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The first Beit Hamikdash was built during King Solomon’s rule in the 10th century BCE. It was destroyed in 587 BCE during the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem. The second Beit Hamikdash was built less than a century later and was destroyed during the Roman siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE. Below are two renderings, one structural and one artistic:
Dr. Michael Avi-Yonah’s model of Herod’s Temple. Photo: Copyright Israel Museum, Jerusalem/Holyland Tourism 1992, LTD
Jerusalem Temple Painting: Jerusalem Temple – light at the end of the Tunnel of Eternity
By Alex Levin
Today, we'll read a narrative, an Aggadah, from the Talmud about the destruction of the second Beit Hamikdash.
What is the Talmud? That is a hard question to answer, but a very simplified answer is that the Talmud is a collection of many books that came into being between 200 and 600 CE. The Talmud and Tanach, the Hebrew Scripture, are arguably the two most important books in Judaism.
The basic structure of the Talmud is a paragraph of the Mishnah, an early compilation of oral law, followed by a discussion of the Mishnah, which we call the Gemara. The Gemara can go in many different directions; it can explain the Mishnah or expand on what the Mishnah stated. The Gemara can take the theme of the Mishnah and tell us things related to that subject. Jacob Neusner writes, “It is like a conversation between a loud voice, Mishnah’s, and a long answering call, the Talmud.”(Learn Talmud, p7)
Some passages of the Talmud tell us what we are supposed to do. They fall under the category of halakha, the way that we should do things.
Some passages contain narrative ideals and values. They contain stories of our past in hopes that the story will guide our future. These passages are called aggadah. Most passages of the Talmud contain a mix of both halakha and aggadah.
Words in bold are a direct translation of the original. Words not in bold are comments to make the story easier to understand.
אָמַר רַבִּי יוֹחָנָן, מַאי דִּכְתִיב: ״אַשְׁרֵי אָדָם מְפַחֵד תָּמִיד וּמַקְשֶׁה לִבּוֹ יִפּוֹל בְּרָעָה״? אַקַּמְצָא וּבַר קַמְצָא חֲרוּב יְרוּשָׁלַיִם, אַתַּרְנְגוֹלָא וְתַרְנְגוֹלְתָּא חֲרוּב טוּר מַלְכָּא, אַשָּׁקָא דְרִיסְפַּק חֲרוּב בֵּיתֵּר.
Apropos the war that led to the destruction of the Second Temple, the Gemara examines several aspects of the destruction of that Temple in greater detail: Rabbi Yoḥanan said: What is the meaning of that which is written: “Happy is the man who fears always, but he who hardens his heart shall fall into mischief” (Proverbs 28:14)? Jerusalem was destroyed on account of Kamtza and bar Kamtza….
The Gemara explains: Jerusalem was destroyed on account of Kamtza and bar Kamtza. This is as there was a certain man whose friend was named Kamtza and whose enemy was named bar Kamtza. He once made a large feast and said to his servant: Go bring me my friend Kamtza. The servant went and mistakenly brought bar Kamtza.
אֲתָא, אַשְׁכְּחֵיהּ דַּהֲוָה יָתֵיב. אֲמַר לֵיהּ: מִכְּדֵי הָהוּא גַּבְרָא בְּעֵל דְּבָבֵאּ דְּהָהוּא גַּבְרָא הוּא, מַאי בָּעֵית הָכָא? קוּם פּוֹק! אֲמַר לֵיהּ: הוֹאִיל וַאֲתַאי, שִׁבְקַן וְיָהֵיבְנָא לָךְ דְּמֵי מָה דְּאָכֵילְנָא וְשָׁתֵינָא.
The man who was hosting the feast came and found bar Kamtza sitting at the feast. The host said to bar Kamtza. That man is the enemy of that man, meaning, you are my enemy. What do you want here? Arise and leave. Bar Kamtza said to him: Since I have already come, let me stay and I will give you money for whatever I eat and drink. Just do not embarrass me by sending me out.
The host said to him: No, you must leave. Bar Kamtza said to him: I will give you money for half of the feast; just do not send me away. The host said to him: No, you must leave.
Bar Kamtza then said to him: I will give you money for the entire feast; just let me stay. The host said to him: No, you must leave. Finally, the host took bar Kamtza by his hand, stood him up, and took him out.
Take the time to review the above story and analyze the host and bar Kamtza. Where were they in the right, and where were they in the wrong?
אָמַר: הוֹאִיל וַהֲווֹ יָתְבִי רַבָּנַן וְלָא מַחוֹ בֵּיהּ, שְׁמַע מִינַּהּ קָא נִיחָא לְהוּ, אֵיזִיל אֵיכוֹל בְּהוּ קוּרְצָא בֵּי מַלְכָּא. אֲזַל אֲמַר לֵיהּ לְקֵיסָר: מְרַדוּ בָּךְ יְהוּדָאֵי! אֲמַר לֵיהּ: מִי יֵימַר? אֲמַר לֵיהּ: שַׁדַּר לְהוּ קוּרְבָּנָא, חָזֵית אִי מַקְרְבִין לֵיהּ.
After having been cast out from the feast, bar Kamtza said to himself: Since the Sages were sitting there and did not protest the actions of the host, although they saw how he humiliated me, learn from it that they were content with what he did. I will therefore go and inform against them to the king. He went and said to the emperor: The Jews have rebelled against you. The emperor said to him: Who says that this is the case? Bar Kamtza said to him: Go and test them; send them an offering to be brought in honor of the government, and see whether they will sacrifice it.
Is this the right way to respond after a person has been humiliated? What is the proper way to respond to a humiliation?
The emperor went and sent with bar Kamtza a choice three-year-old calf. While bar Kamtza was coming with the calf to the Temple, he made a blemish on the calf’s upper lip. And some say he made the blemish on its eyelids, a place where according to us, i.e., halakha, it is a blemish, but according to them, gentile rules for their offerings, it is not a blemish. Therefore, when bar Kamtza brought the animal to the Temple, the priests would not sacrifice it on the altar since it was blemished, but they also could not explain this satisfactorily to the gentile authorities, who did not consider it to be blemished.
The place of the blemish notwithstanding, the Sages thought to sacrifice the animal as an offering due to the imperative to maintain peace with the government. Rabbi Zekharya ben Avkolas said to them: If the priests do that, people will say that blemished animals may be sacrificed as offerings on the altar. The Sages said: If we do not sacrifice it, then we must prevent bar Kamtza from reporting this to the emperor. The Sages thought to kill him so that he would not go and speak against them. Rabbi Zekharya said to them: If you kill him, people will say that one who makes a blemish on sacrificial animals is to be killed. As a result, they did nothing, bar Kamtza’s slander was accepted by the authorities, and consequently the war between the Jews and the Romans began.
Rabbi Yoḥanan says: The excessive humility of Rabbi Zekharya ben Avkolas destroyed our Temple, burned our Sanctuary, and exiled us from our land.
There is a lot to unpack in these last paragraphs. I look forward to our conversation!