The Bar Kokhba Syndrome
The Bar Kokhba Syndrome

Author: Yehoshafat Harkabi

Publisher: SP Books

Published: 1983

Total Pages: 236

ISBN-13: 9780940646018

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In the year 132, a well-planned rebellion broke out in Judea. The Jewish warrior Bar Kokhba emerged as its leader, and it has forever after been known by his nama. Now, nearly two thousand years later, Dr. Yehoshafat Harkabi, former chief of Military Intelligence of the State of Israel, expert on Arab affairs, and Professor of International Relations and Middle Eastern Studies of the Hebrew University, has written the first comprehensive military analysis of the Bar Kokhba Rebellion. The implications of this work go well beyond the Jewish sphere. The Bar Kokhba Rebellion is an instance of how political and military decisions are made by leaders who perceive their situation as desperate. It explore under what conditions and in what straits should leaders risk national suicide?"

The Image of Bar Kokhba in Traditional Jewish Literature
The Image of Bar Kokhba in Traditional Jewish Literature

Author: Richard G. Marks

Publisher: Penn State Press

Published: 2004-05-01

Total Pages: 245

ISBN-13: 0271041447

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Marks' painstaking investigation into the figure of Bar Kokhba in traditional Jewish literature has indeed provided a corrective to those on both sides of the Zionist political spectrum and in doing so he has once again shown that historical investigations are often quite useful in elucidating and clarifying various modern debates.-Jewish Political Studies Review"This is a very significant contribution to both Jewish literature and history. The materials which Marks works through are well-known, but at many points he offers original interpretations. He provides a comprehensive synthesis of all the historical interpretations of Bar Kokhba."-Richard D. Hecht, University of California, Santa BarbaraBar Kokhba led the Jewish rebellion against Rome in 132-135 A.D., which resulted in massive destruction and dislocation of the Jewish populace of Judea. In early rabbinic literature, Bar Kokhba was remembered in two ways: as an imposter claiming to be the Messiah and as a glorious military leader whose successes led Rabbi Akiva, one of the great rabbinic authorities of Jewish tradition, to acclaim him the Messiah. These two earliest images formed the core of most later perceptions of Bar Kokhba, so that he became the prototypical false messiah and the paradigmatic rebel of Jewish history.The Image of Bar Kokhba in Traditional Jewish Literature is a history of the perceptions that later Jewish writers living in the fourth through seventeenth centuries formed of this legendary hero-villain whose actions, in their eyes, had caused enormous suffering and disappointed messianic hopes. Richard Marks examines each writer's account individually and in the context of its period, exploring particularly political and religious implications. He builds a history of images and looks at larger patterns, such as the desacralizing of traditional imagery. His findings raise timely political questions about Bar Kokhba's image among Jews today.

Recovered Roots
Recovered Roots

Author: Yael Zerubavel

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 1995-10-15

Total Pages: 388

ISBN-13: 9780226981574

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In the years leading to the birth of Israel, Zerubavel shows, Zionist settlers in Palestine consciously sought to rewrite Jewish history by reshaping Jewish memory. Zerubavel focuses on the nationalist reinterpretation of the defense of Masada against the Romans in 73 C.E. and the Bar Kokhba revolt of 133-135; and on the transformation of the 1920 defense of a new Jewish settlement in Tel Hai into a national myth.

Bar Kokhba
Bar Kokhba

Author: Lindsay Powell

Publisher: Pen and Sword Military

Published: 2021-11-24

Total Pages: 297

ISBN-13: 1473890020

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This biography of the ancient Jewish military leader examines how he mounted a years-long revolt against Rome that changed the course of history. In AD 132, a bloody struggle began between two determined leaders over who would rule Judea. One was the powerful Roman Emperor Hadrian, who some regarded as divine. The other was Shim’on—known today as Bar Kokhba—a Jewish military commander in a district of a minor province, who some believed to be the ‘King Messiah’. In Bar Kokhba, ancient historian Lindsay Powell examines the clash between these two men, and the two ancient cultures they represented. In the ensuing conflict, the Jewish militia resisted the onslaught of the professional Roman army for three-and-a-half years. They established an independent nation with its own administration, headed by Shim’on as its president. The outcome of that David and Goliath contest was of great consequence, both for the people of Judaea and for Judaism itself. Drawing on archaeology, art, coins, inscriptions, militaria, as well as secular and religious documents, Lindsay Powell sheds light on Bar Kokhba’s singular life and legacy. She also describes her personal journey across three continents to establish the facts.

There Is No Messiah—and You're It
There Is No Messiah—and You're It

Author: Rabbi Robert N. Levine

Publisher: Turner Publishing Company

Published: 2012-08-20

Total Pages: 194

ISBN-13: 1580236731

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A challenge to each of us to take personal responsibility for repairing the world. "We are taught that every one of us is created in the divine image. All of us can be holy through imitating God.... So, you don’t have to look around or look away. You don’t have to wait for someone to come and do what you were put on this earth to do in the first place. Judaism empowers you, as one of God’s anointed ones, to do more than you ever dreamed possible." —from Chapter 1 The coming of the messiah is anticipated by millions of people of many faiths as the ultimate salve for our spiritual lives and as a way to finally make the world a better place. There Is No Messiah...and You’re It examines the history of messianic hope and anticipation, its evolution in Judaism and Jewish history, and other interpretations of “messiah” that shed new light on what it means to usher in the “kingdom of God.” This fascinating book is our call to see ourselves as the fulfillment of, not the anticipators of, messianic change. Drawing from the Bible, the Talmud, rabbinic sources, and modern-day scholars, Rabbi Robert Levine provides us with an accessible, fascinating understanding of messianic vision, as well as false messiahs throughout Jewish history. He challenges the powerful idea of messiah that has survived in the heart, soul, and ethos of the Jewish people, and reveals the immediacy of the messianic presence in our day—in our own lives. Compelling and controversial, There Is No Messiah...and You’re It inspires us to embody the noblest values of Jewish tradition—prayer, study, mitzvoth, and tzedakah—and embrace our own messianic potential to heal the world.

Jewish Life and Thought Among Greeks and Romans
Jewish Life and Thought Among Greeks and Romans

Author: Louis H. Feldman

Publisher: A&C Black

Published: 1996-10-01

Total Pages: 481

ISBN-13: 0567085252

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Two of the world's leading authorities on the classical era bring together a comprehensive treasury of sources on Judaism in the ancient period.

The Israeli Century
The Israeli Century

Author: Yossi Shain

Publisher: Wicked Son

Published: 2021-11-02

Total Pages: 371

ISBN-13: 1642938467

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“The Israeli Century is one of the most important books of our generation, emphasizing how Israel is becoming the center of the Jewish People’s existence and is laying the solid foundations for its future.” —Isaac Herzog, President of Israel In this important breakthrough work, Yossi Shain takes us on a sweeping and surprising journey through the history of the Jewish people, from the destruction of the First Temple in the sixth century B.C.E. up to the modern era. Over the course of this long history, Jews have moved from a life of Diaspora, which ultimately led to destruction, to a prosperous existence in a thriving, independent nation state. The new power of Jewish sovereignty has echoed around the world and gives Israelis a new and significant role as influential global players. In the Israeli Century, the Jew is reborn, feeling a deep responsibility for his tradition and a natural connection to his homeland. A sense of having a home to return to allows him to travel the wider world and act with ease and confidence. In the Israeli Century, the Israeli Jew can fully express the strengths developed over many generations in the long period of wandering and exile. As a result, Shain argues, the burden of preserving the continuity of the Jewish people and defining its character is no longer the responsibility of Diaspora communities. Instead it now falls squarely on the shoulders of Israelis themselves. The challenges of Israeli sovereignty in turn require farsighted leaders with a clear-eyed understanding of the dangers that confront the Jewish future, as well as the incredible opportunities it offers.

Are We One?
Are We One?

Author: Jerold S. Auerbach

Publisher: Rutgers University Press

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13: 9780813529172

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But a covenantal Israel, which draws its Jewish identity from divine promise and the biblical narrative, refuses to surrender to modern imperatives. As the very nature of Jewish statehood has become ever more polarized, American Jewish life has been profoundly affected by this fateful Zionist contradiction.".

The Jewish Revolts Against Rome, A.D. 66-135
The Jewish Revolts Against Rome, A.D. 66-135

Author: James J. Bloom

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2014-01-10

Total Pages: 295

ISBN-13: 0786460202

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During the first and second centuries A.D., the supremacy of the Roman Empire was aggressively challenged by three Jewish rebellions. The facts surrounding the initial uprising of A.D. 66-74 have been filtered through the biased accounts of Judeao Roman historian Flavius Josephus. Primary information regarding the subsequent Diaspora Revolt (A.D. 115-117) and the Bar Kochba Rebellion (A.D. 132-135) is limited to fragmentary anecdotes emphasizing the religious implications of the two insurrections. In contrast, this analytical history focuses objectively on the military aspects of all three Judean uprisings. The events leading up to each rebellion are detailed, while the nine appendices cover such topics as the nature and number of the Jewish rebels and the factual reliability of the controversial Josephus. One appendix hypothesizes an alternative history of the war between Jerusalem and Rome.

An Understanding of Judaism
An Understanding of Judaism

Author: John D. Rayner

Publisher: Berghahn Books

Published: 1997-12

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13: 9781571819727

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This is the first of two volumes of edited sermons spanning the greater part of the second half of the twentieth century, and the first major collection of sermons from a Liberal Jewish point ofview produced in Britain since Claude G. Montefiore's Truth in Religion of 1906. It combines forthrightly radical thinking with spirituality, love of Jewish tradition, and an abundance of carefully documented quotations from classical Jewish sources. This combination yields many fresh insights into the interpretation of Scripture, as examined in Part I, and the significance ofthe Jewish festivals dealt with in Part II, and brings out the relevance of both to present-day intellectual and social issues. Both Parts will be found to contain many original ideas, novel formulations, and occasional touches of humour.