Historical Background Lost Independence | Failed Revolt | Martyrs of York | Expulsion from Spain | Deportation from Warsaw Ghetto | End of Jewish Independence By Western Wall: Remnants of destruction The Temples in Jerusalem, we should recall, were more than a place of prayer and sacrifice. They were the focus of national, spiritual and political life in the Jewish state. Jews would come from far and wide to offer sacrifices, bring first fruits, and to spend time at the feet of the great rabbis and teachers of the great Sanhedrin. When they beheld the wondrous spectacle of Jerusalem, they experienced a refreshment of their loyalty and connection to their kinsmen and their God. Destruction of the First Temple. The kingdom of Judea was caught in the struggle between Babylon in the Northeast and Egypt in the Southwest contending for succession to the great Assyrian Empire which was in decline. By 602 BCE, Judah was a vassal state of Babylonia. King Jehoachin and entourage were deported; his uncle Zedekiah remained as a puppet ruler in Jerusalem. In 588 passive resistance gave way to rebellion. The Babylonians built a siege wall to starve the inhabitants of Jerusalem. The people stubbornly resisted calls to surrender but eventually the walls were breached and Zedekiah was pursued, captured and mercilessly killed. After the fall of the city, Nebuchadnezzar sent his commanders to Jerusalem to level it: "He burned the house of the Lord, and all the houses of Jerusalem..." Destruction of the Second Temple. In 63 BCE, Pompey intervened in a fratricidal struggle for the kingship of Judea. He took Jerusalem and brought the people into a state of submission to all-powerful Rome. The Jews did not easily bear the Roman yoke because of the procurators cruelty towards the Judeans. The people were themselves split: the Zealots dreamed of independence, the Essenes dreamed of Messiah, and the nobles curried favor with the Roman rulers. The real struggle with Rome began c.65 CE when the Zealots organized open warfare against Rome. The struggle was heroic but unequal, not least because of the energy squandered on bitter and bloody internal conflict. Time after time, the Romans stormed the walls of the city against brave defenders. Wall by inner wall was breached as the defenders lay close to starvation. Ramparts and battering rams finally reduced the opposition to the point that in 70 CE, on the 9th Av, 657 years after the Babylonians sacked the First Temple, the forces of Titus broke into the inner Temple and set the Sanctuary ablaze. Thousands of Jewish soldiers and citizens were butchered, the city was razed, and most of the survivors - together with the Temple treasures - were carried off to Rome. The Bar Kochba Revolt 2nd cent. silver coin showing Temple facade Despite the destruction of Jerusalem, Jewish life in Judea did not disappear. The survivors were subdued but they gradually resumed an existence of sullen normality under Roman rule. For years the Jews kept a pledge not to rebel but after Hadrian decided to rebuild Jerusalem as a Roman town, dedicated to Jupiter, the spirit of rebellion was once again raised. The leader, Shimon bar Kochba, received the backing of the great Rabbi Akiva. In 132 CE, Bar Kochba gathered a motley, but committed, band to harass the Romans. At first, there were gains, and steps were taken to rebuild the Temple. But soon the rebels had to face the strong forces of Julius Severus, and one by one the points of Jewish resistance were crushed. Within two years, the Jews were forced to leave Jerusalem. Their last outpost, Betar, southwest of the city, survived a siege of a few weeks, until the last defenders, including Bat Kochba, were killed. Betar fell on the 9th Av, 135 CE. Hadrian now established a heathen temple in place of the holy Second Temple and imposed cruel restrictions on the Palestinian Jewish community. The Martyrs of York Jews came to live in England in the time of William the Conqueror. They lived in relative tranquility until Richard the Lionheart's coronation day in 1190, during the period of the Third Crusade. A rumor started that the new king intended to attack the Jews, and the rabble in London were whipped up to a frenzy. The monarch prevented a riot but his departure on the Crusade left the field open for the wealthy and the clergy - the main clients of the Jewish money lenders - to take advantage of his absence. The riots spread, the most serious being that in York where 500 Jews took refuge in the local castle. They defended it for several days until, realizing they were doomed, most chose to commit suicide. The day was the 9th Av. The mob broke in and killed the remaining Jews who thought that surrendering to Christianity would save them. All records of debts to the Jews were burned. Only recently did the Jewish community in England do away with excommunication order ("cherem") on settlement in the city of York. The Spanish Expulsion In 711 CE, the Arabs conquered Spain and ushered in the Golden Era for the Jewish community that produced such giants as Samuel the Prince, Yehuda Halevi and Moses Maimonides. The turning point came towards the end of the 14th century by which time the Christians had taken all of Spain except Granada. By 1391, the persecution against the Jews had reached a mounting fury, including destruction of property, forced baptism and death. Under the leadership of the fanatic Torquemada, the Inquisition raged, especially against the Marranos who outwardly professed Catholicism but secretly maintained the traditions of their ancestors. Torquemada was able to persuade Spain's Christian rulers to drive out all the Jews of Spain despite the pleas of the noble Jewish statesman Abrabanel. On 2nd August, 1492 - Tisha B'Av - 200,000 Jews left the shores of Spain. Deportation from the Warsaw Ghetto Holocaust memorial: Remembering the victims In September 1939, Poland was engulfed by Germany. There the Nazis continued their previous anti-Jewish policies. They discriminated against Jews, isolated and deported them, and eventually took the victims to extermination camps. In Warsaw, as elsewhere in Poland, all Jews were crowded into the Ghetto which had to support a half-million people in an area fit for 300,000. Hygiene was virtually non-existent, food was scarce, starvation the norm and death frequent. Nevertheless, the community was not demoralized: its leaders organized resistance, educational activities and mutual assistance under the worst possible conditions. In July 1942, the Germans began a systematic liquidation of the Ghetto, deporting Jews to extermination camps at the rate of six to ten thousand per day. Deportation started on 9th Av. By the Autumn there were only 40,000 Jews left in Warsaw. By early 1943, the Jews refused to cooperate with the Germans and the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising began. Renewed attempts to start deportations were answered with reprisals.