The story of Chanukah is made up of two radically different components. One is the war, the battles of the Hasmoneans…

The wonderfully joyous holiday of Chanukah occurs this month. Chanukah, in its essence, represents the ability to withstand oppression and evil, coercion and bigotry, and to believe in the improbable miracles that have always marked Jewish history and advanced the cause of all human civilization.

The story of Chanukah is made up of two radically different components. One is the war, the battles of the Hasmoneans, the blood spilled and the casualties sustained, the human sacrifice and tragedy that always accompanies the struggle for Jewish survival and a better world for all humankind.

The other is the miraculous, supernatural event of the small pitcher of oil that supplied oil for eight days while physically holding oil only for one night. Chanukah is thus the culmination of man and God in the joint effort to improve our world and society. There is no message that could be more fitting for us this Chanukah season than this one.

The other is the miraculous, supernatural event of the small pitcher of oil that supplied oil for eight days while physically holding oil only for one night.

In our current struggle here in Israel we face a foe (just as the ancient Syrians of Mattisyahu’s time) that has yet not reconciled to our right to exist in our homeland and be different than our neighbors. It requires of us these same two elements that make up the Chanukah story. There are no cheap victories in the cause of human progress and freedom. “According to the effort and the pain is the reward,” was one of the favorite aphorisms of the rabbis of the Mishnah. We, the Jewish people, out of all nations should realize by our history how costly the battle for good and fairness and tolerance and independence truly is.

Assimilation, ignorance of Jewish values, fear of losses, fright as to being a minority, are all eventually to be cowardice in the Jewish view of things. Risk, sacrifice, devotion, integrity and tenacity are the weapons of the success of the Chanukah story. They are our weapons of success today as well in our war against terrorism inIsraeland worldwide.

Light in the world cannot be judged as being man-made alone. We do not have enough fuel by ourselves to light eternal lights that burn on for centuries and millennia. Chanukah took place more than 2,100 years ago. That is a pretty long time to keep a flame going. But since this flame is inspired by faith in the Creator and by loyalty to His value system and lifestyle, and is not merely the product of another good human idea, its eternity is guaranteed. It is the miraculous, the unexpected, that makes for the natural continuity ofIsraeland goodness in the world.

So, as we light and view the flames of Chanukah in this troubled year, literally in the winter of our current discontent, we should take heart and hope about the eventual triumph of good over evil, of holiness over profanity, of the few over the mighty many, of the original story of Chanukah repeating itself “in our time as in those days.” So, may I wish you, my friends, a happy, joyous, meaningful, memorable, and latke/doughnut filled Chanukah.

It is hard to imagine a less probable heroine than Esther.

On the surface, the Book of Esther is just another story of political intrigue in the palace. Ahasuerus was married to Queen Vashti, descendant of the king of the Babylonian dynasty, Belshazzar. To him it was a marriage of convenience, because he saw in her a chance to cement his claim to the Persian throne. He was not of royal blood, but his wife was.

However, she was a very independent woman who despised him and publicly treated him in a demeaning and insulting fashion. When she did so at the banquet, he had her executed.

On the surface, this was just one of a long string of events that happen in royal courts. Ahasuerus was Henry VIII some 1,500 years earlier. He was just another Oriental potentate with a harem full of woman, and apparently one more or one less made no difference to him. However, when fitted into the story that developed later we see how important this event was. The downfall of Vashti was the opening to the rise of Esther, and the salvation of the Jewish people.

Many times in life God prepares a person for one event. When that event arrives, suddenly, the questions of what am I and what I am I doing here and what does God want from me come to resolution.

It is hard to imagine a less probable heroine than Esther. Her rise was one of the most unlikely stories possible. She was a young woman of great modesty and piety. All of a sudden, she was conscripted against her will to join an international beauty contest. Esther was not a raving beauty. Her complexion was not perfect, the Talmud says (Megillah 13a). Nevertheless, she had a great deal of charm; a thread of grace adorned her (ibid.).

Still, it was unlikely that she should have been taken, and even more unlikely that she should have reached the “finals.” Most unlikely of all is that the king should have chosen her, fallen in love with her and made her his queen.

Yet, that is what happened.

Ahasuerus was a drunkard with a violent streak. What were the odds of someone like him marrying someone like Esther, who was the complete opposite of him? Poor, gentle, sweet Esther – the most pious of women. Therein, lays one of the great ironies of the story.

Just as things were looking most grim, she revealed her Jewish identity to the king and accused Haman of trying to murder her and her people.

All of us are set aside by God for a purpose, but generally it is hard to read God’s mind and we do not know what the purpose is. We do not see what God intends for us. Nevertheless, many times in life God prepares a person for one event. When that event arrives, and we react to it accordingly and properly, then a glimmer of understanding comes to us. Suddenly, the questions of what am I and what I am I doing here and what does God want from me come to resolution.

That is what happened to Esther. At great risk to her own life, just as things were looking most grim, she revealed her Jewish identity to the king and accused Haman of trying to murder her and her people. Ahasuerus responded by hanging Haman, who was now finally undone by his own ambition and cruelty.

He also hanged Haman’s ten sons, as well as gave the Jewish people permission to defend themselves against their enemies from the earlier decree of extermination (which had not been – and could not be – rescinded). In short, the Jewish people were saved due to the seemingly impossible circumstances of the unlikeliest heroine.

The Via Maris was the northern road stretching from what would one day be Alexandria up the coast into Gaza, which was the main road used in the ancient world to travel from Egypt to the lands of the north. It was one of the most ancient roads in the world.

Now when Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although it was nearer, for God said, “The people may have a change of heart when they see war, and return to Egypt.” So God led the people roundabout, by way of the wilderness at the Sea of Reeds. (Exodus 13:17-18)

God marched the Jews along a route that took them to the Sinai desert. He did not lead them along the road which led directly to the land of Israel, which would be the Via Maris or “Way of the Sea” (see Isaiah 9:1). This was the northern road stretching from what would one day be Alexandria up the coast into Gaza, which was the main road used in the ancient world to travel from Egypt to the lands of the north. It was one of the most ancient roads in the world.

God, however, plunged the Jewish people into the heart of the desert. They came to the Sea of Reeds, which is hard to identify. Perhaps it is in what is today the Gulf of Suez or the Bitter Lakes. In any event, as they encamped by the sea, Pharaoh suddenly had a change of heart. After contemplating the matter he realized that the Jewish people were in a terrible logistical situation. They had nothing to eat, nowhere to go and were trapped against the sea, a position no General would allow his army to find itself in.

Pharoh and his troops drown at the Red Sea. Chariots attacked in squadrons of three and charged in the formation of a triangle, one on the point and two on the flanks. They had knives and sharp instruments on their sides. Three charging chariots could break through any line of infantry. Chariots in the ancient world were the tanks of today.

Pharaoh could not resist the temptation. He gathered what was left of the Egyptian army, 600 chariots. Chariots in those days attacked in squadrons of three and charged in the formation of a triangle, one on the point and two on the flanks. The chariots also had knives and sharp instruments on their sides. The result was that three charging chariots could break through any line of infantry. Chariots in the ancient world were the tanks of today.

The Jews had no defense against chariots. They were an untrained rabble and the few arms they had were no match for the mighty Egyptian army. Suddenly, they saw Pharaoh’s army approaching and found themselves in a situation in which there was no exit and no hope of victory. They were on the brink of disaster. The people were too immersed in the moment to realize that their highly compromised situation was the precise means by which they would achieve total victory. Had Pharaoh not thought they were vulnerable he would not have attacked and his army would not have been destroyed. The threat of Egypt might have continued.

Their own desperate situation duped Pharaoh into throwing everything into the fray in the hope of a final kill. In his headlong rush to victory he guaranteed his defeat.

Then, in the midst of their moaning and troubles, they experienced a salvation so unexpected that a song of spontaneous joy collectively burst forth from them…

The same is true in the life of the individual. No one likes to be challenged and have troubles. However, the truth is that troubles are usually opportunities for growth and achievement more than one could have before. Many a successful person went on to success because he got fired from his job. He was forced to go out on his own and achieved unprecedented success.

That is an important subtext to the story of the Exodus. The troubles that befall the Jewish people as a whole offer a ray of opportunity. That does make it easier for those suffering from the troubles. Nevertheless, things are usually never as black as they look. One never knows how things will turn out. And then we look back in hindsight and say it was not so bad because out of the very trouble came these good things. Being human, of course, and by definition limited in our vision, it is very hard to be calm and philosophical about the event as it occurs.

When Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon he changed history, but few know how the Jews changed the history of Caesar, and how he rewarded them for it.

On January 10, 49 BCE, Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon, signaling the start of civil war between his forces and those of the Roman who defiled the Holy of Holies.

Pompey was a talented, ruthless general for Rome. He was the first Roman leader to understand that Rome could not successfully control the Middle East if it did not control Judea. Even if Judea was merely a neutral independent it would serve as a wedge between the Northern Empire (Syria) and the Southern Empire (Egypt). Therefore, he looked for a way to get himself in power in Judea.

Ideally, he did not want to do it through war, because the Jews – the Hasmoneans/Maccabees – had a fearsome reputation. The Romans referred to the Jews as “porcupines.” Just as a porcupine is an animal that even great predators avoid, so too the Jews. Even if you ate it you would be sorry. The Jews had the reputation as difficult to fight in a war and impossible to govern. Moreover, the Romans viewed the Jews as “atheists” or “non-believers.” Anyone who was religious, in their world view, had a god that you could see. They could not comprehend an invisible God with a Temple that had no visible idol to worship.

Therefore, Pompey was not interested in going to war with the Jews or running their country. However, he did want to control them somehow.

In the year 64 BCE, Pompey appeared in Damascus. Warring factions of Jews sent representatives to convince the Roman to side with them and not their opponent. (The Sanhedrin, ever wary of allowing Rome in the door – and history would prove their caution warranted — sent a delegation saying that Rome’s intervention wasn’t needed.) Pompey listened and then took his time responding. In 63 BCE, he arrived in Jerusalem. The Jewish forces lead by Hyrcanus promptly withdrew. The forces of his opponent, Aristobulus, fought against Pompey and Hyrcanus. After two months, the Romans broke through and massacred some 12,000 of the Jews defending the Temple.

According to Josephus, Pompey stepped into the Holy of Holies, the innermost sanctum of the Temple. However, he did not take any booty or interrupt the services of the Temple. The next day he withdrew him army from the Temple Mount and returned it to the authority of the Jews.

Nevertheless, for all practical purposes, Judea was now under Roman domination.

His work done in Jerusalem, Pompey returned to Rome expecting to be made the Emperor. However, he had strong competition for the job. One of his competitors was Julius Caesar, who was a great general in his own right. He did in the West what Pompey had done in the East and subdued the peoples in what is today England, France and the Rhineland of Germany.

These two great Roman generals agreed that Rome would be run by a Triumvirate: Julius Caesar, Pompey and a third General, Crassus. However, the Triumvirate lasted only five years, leaving Pompey and Caesar jockeying for control.

On January 10, 49 BCE, Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon, signaling the start of civil war between his forces and those of the Roman who defiled the Holy of Holies.

The Senate of Rome backed Pompey, but Caesar boldly marched his army across the Rubicon, the famous river that marked the boundary between Italy proper to the south and its provinces to the north. Roman law forbade a Roman army to cross the river. In doing so, Caesar was committing an act of war. (That is why the popular idiom, “Crossing the Rubicon” means to pass a point of no return.)

As Caesar’s army entered Rome, Pompey and the Roman Senate fled for their lives. Caesar declared himself Emperor and pursued Pompey all the way to Egypt. Once there, he committed a rare tactical blunder and found himself besieged in Alexandria by Pompey’s army and its allies. Sorely in need of friends, he looked for any help that would extricate him from his dangerous situation.

Until that time, Hyrcanus had been an official ally of Pompey. However, he shrewdly switched sides and declared his allegiance to Caesar. He then committed over 3,000 Jewish soldiers to an expeditionary force that invaded Egypt and helped raise the siege of Alexandria.

Thus, when the Roman civil war ended in Julius Caesar’s complete victory Hyrcanus was in a fortuitous position. Indeed, Caesar showed the Jews his gratitude for their help. He revoked the harsh decrees and burdensome taxation imposed by Pompey. He also allowed the walls and fortifications of Jerusalem to be rebuilt and restored Jaffa as well as a number of other coastal cities to Jewish rule.

When Caesar was assassinated in 44 BCE, it was a cataclysmic event in the Roman Empire… and also worried the Jews: Would his successor be as positively disposed toward them? Tragically, that eventual successor, Marc Antony, gave power to a man whose rule was as antithetical to Jewish principles and ideals as imaginable. That man was Herod, a murderous, tyrant whose ways would eventually lead to the destruction of the Jewish commonwealth and the beginning of the long exile that Jews still find themselves in.

A section of the Papyrus of Ani showing cursive hieroglyphs. If we were to tell the story from the perspective of Egyptian hieroglyphics, the Jewish people did not exist. The Egyptians, like many other peoples, both ancient and modern, not only rewrite history later to make it conform to their point of view, but even pick and choose the elements they wish while the history is happening.

There are different ways to tell the story of the Jewish people in Egypt. One is to tell it from the perspective of the hieroglyphics of the time, i.e. from the perspective of ancient Egypt. If we were to tell the story from that angle the Jewish people did not exist. The Egyptians, like many other peoples, both ancient and modern, not only rewrite history later to make it conform to their point of view, but even pick and choose the elements they wish while the history is happening.

Nevertheless, what one does find from Egyptian hieroglyphics are certain strange coincidences that the biblical account explains like a missing puzzle piece.

The Jewish people were in Egypt for 210 years. (Exodus 12:40 mentions a period of exile lasting 430 years. However, as the classic commentator Rashi explains in detail, that calculation starts from the prophecy foretold Abraham (Genesis 15:13) that his seed would be “strangers in a land not theirs.” Years later, after Isaac and Jacob were born, and Joseph revealed himself to his brothers in Egypt, Jacob and his family descended into Egypt. From that moment on until the miraculous exodus the Jews were in Egypt 210 years.)

According to Tradition, the exodus occurred in approximately the year 1312 BCE. (This is based on the tradition that the exodus took place 1,000 years before the Jews were befriended by Alexander the Great, and in response began dating their official documents from that time onwards — approximately 312 BCE.)

The “coincidence” is that 1,312 years plus the previous 210 years would bring us to around the year 1500 BCE, which coincides with what is called in Egyptian history, the “New Empire.” It was a period of radical change in Egypt. Rather than an isolated kingdom, Egypt became an aggressive, world-dominating, expansionist, imperialistic empire. The Egyptian army marched as far north as Iraq, as far south as the middle of Africa, as far west as almost Algeria and as far east as the Persian Gulf. Egypt was the center of the world – indeed it was the world.

The New Empire lasted until about 1320 BCE, according to Egyptian hieroglyphics. Then something happened. There is no record in the Egyptian chronicles what happened. All we know is that Egypt suffered a precipitous decline. Its empire crumbled. For about 250 years it was a country of weak kings and small ambitions. Only by year 950 BCE did Egypt begin to make a comeback and slowly rebuild itself into a major empire. However, even then it was not the single world-dominating empire it had been. It was able to rebuild itself enough into a counterforce against northern empires – whether the Phoenicians, Assyrians, Babylonians or Persians – but nothing more.

What happened? The Egyptian records tell us nothing.

The biblical account fills in the gap. First, the great expansion of the New Empire coincides with the appointment of Joseph as viceroy and the story of how his foresight allowed Egypt to withstand the Great Famine and become the absolute economic center of the civilized world. Later, after the Jewish people became enslaved, Egypt was ruined by the miracles and plagues recounted in the Bible. That fills the gap of the missing record, which Egypt’s historians were loathe to share.

A “New Empire” Pharaoh, it can be said that Akhenaten was the first Pharaoh who was a religious fanatic. His intolerance helped set the groundwork for the harsh enslavement of the Jews.

Ancient Egypt is divided into three epochs: the Old Kingdom, the Middle Kingdom and the New Empire. These are relatively arbitrary divisions made by modern-day historians to enable us to better deal with essentially 1,400-1,500 years of history.

The New Empire Egyptians were xenophobic, narrow, provincial and lacked all tolerance of foreigners. Aliens whom they did not expel they enslaved. Not surprisingly, then, it was under the New Empire that the enslavement of the Jewish people occurred. Of course, they were by no means the only enslaved people in Egypt. Everyone not Egyptian was considered inferior; their purpose was to be enslaved and abused. That is why when the Jews left Egypt a “mixed multitude” went out with them (Exodus 12:38). These were groups of other peoples who were also enslaved.

The New Empire brought along with it a new type of Pharaoh, who not only claimed to be a god, but who did not hand the government over to a viceroy. They were a breed of aggressive, forceful, warrior-like personalities who at the same time were able administrators. They were not satisfied with the wealth of Egypt and that the whole world came to them. They wanted to take over the whole world. They were the first great imperialists. That is why it is called the New Empire. The other ones were called “Kingdoms.”

Empires existed before Egypt’s, but they were small city-states. If one city-state defeated another in a war they usually burned the entire city. They did not want convert the defeated city into one of their own. They did not have the manpower or imperial governing infrastructure. Not so the Egyptians. When they came they stayed. They colonized all of their conquests. That is the idea of empire.

Another characteristic of the New Empire was growing intolerance for any people or ideology unlike its own.

Despite obvious drawbacks, one of the advantages of paganism was a tendency toward religious tolerance. If you accept 100 gods it is no big deal to accept 101 gods. Monotheism is not like that. It is often exclusive. Consequently, the wars of monotheism tended to last longer and were bitterer.

Ancient Egypt always had a pantheon of gods — until the Pharaoh Akhenaten. He is sometimes mistakenly thought of as a monotheist. However, he did not believe in one God who created everything. Rather he imposed belief in one god over all Egypt, the sun-god. He destroyed all the gods except the sun-god.

It can be said that he was the first Pharaoh who was a religious fanatic. He would brook no deviation from his definition of what religion should be. He bred in Egyptian consciousness an exclusivity of belief. Beforehand, it was the Egyptians vs. the non-Egyptians. That exists in every society: the citizens vs. the aliens. Akhenaten added a new dimension: the state religion vs. every other religious belief.

This was a dangerous new dimension that the Jewish people would eventually suffer terribly from. The religion of the Jewish people – not just the people themselves – would become anathema to the Egyptian people. Akhenaten introduced this possibility. Even after he died, and Egypt reverted back to belief in paganism, it retained the seed of intolerance planted in it by Akhenaten.

Cave where Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and his son Rabbi Elazar hid for thirteen years. Photo by Miss Samuel.

Today is the minor holiday of Lag B’Omer, a break in the semi-mourning period after Passover, and the anniversary of the passing of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. This great sage was the primary disciple of Rabbi Akiva, who inherited from his great mentor a strong antipathy towards Roman rule and culture.

Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and his teacher Rabbi Akiva lived in one of the most turbulent periods in Jewish history. The Roman emperor Hadrian was in power, and though he had originally treated the Jews fairly, he underwent a radical change in the middle of his reign. At first, he had been involved in other wars, and didn’t want trouble with the Jews, who had fought so fiercely in 66-70 CE (though they ultimately lost). He was open to the idea of allowing the Jews rebuild their Temple, as long as they would remain under Roman rule. But five years later, he decreed that not only shouldn’t the Temple be rebuilt, the ruins should be razed so that the Jews would have no hope of trying.

This was brought about the popular revolt led by Bar Kochba, who was a tremendous warrior and organizer. But once he was victorious and in a position of leadership, Bar Kochba turned paranoid. By definition, a leader is in the public view, and everybody can take shots him, which they always do. So Bar Kochba “lost it.” His paranoia was so extreme that he killed his own uncle. Upon seeing this brutality, Rabbi Akiva withdrew his original support of Bar Kochba.

After Bar Kochba’s defeat, Hadrian began to persecute the rabbis unmercifully. He realized where the leadership really lay, and he figured the only way to make the Jews docile was to get rid of the rabbis. Thus, Rabbi Akiva, along with nine other great sages, was tortured to death.

But rabbis are hard to get rid of. The Romans may have killed Rabbi Akiva, but his disciple Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai rose up in his place. And Rabbi Shimon was neither reticent nor politically correct. Some of his contemporaries openly praised the Romans for rebuilding the physical infrastructure of the land. They felt the Jews should compromise with them. Rabbi Shimon, however, was outspoken in his condemnation, stating that even the Romans’ seemingly positive actions stemmed from sinister motives. Then, a Jewish spy working for the Roman government reported Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai’s words to the Roman authorities, and a warrant for his arrest was issued. Rabbi Shimon, together with his son Elazar, fled to the desert and found refuge in a cave where they spent thirteen years in hiding.

During that long and isolated sojourn in the desert cave, Rabbi Shimon was able to delve into the hidden, mystical level of Torah and comment and explain its mysteries. It was at this time that he wrote The Zohar, the essential book of Kabbalah, though the book was not published until the fourteenth century by a Spanish Jew, Moses de Leon. Though there was much debate over the authenticity of the book, tradition holds fast that it was Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai’s. The Zohar has such depth and spirituality, the majority opinion is that it was beyond the ability of Moses de Leon to write himself.

After thirteen years in the cave, there was a regime change in Rome, and Shimon bar Yochai and his son were granted amnesty. This marks the beginning of the melting of the ice in Roman relations with the Jews, which would reach its height with Rabbi Judah the Prince, who would develop a friendship with Emperor Antoninus Pius. That friendship is what allowed the oral tradition of Judaism, the Mishnah, to be written.

When Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai emerged from their cave and returned to the society of the land of Israel, he had achieved such a level of spirituality that he could not countenance the ordinary workday activities of his fellow Jews who did not spend every waking moment in the study of Torah. Clearly, he was someone who brooked no compromises.

Lag B'Omer bonfire in Jerusalem. Photo by Shimon Z'evi.

Tradition ascribes the minor holiday of Lag B’Omer as the anniversary of the death of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. He is buried on Mount Meron in the Upper Galilee, and up to 500,000 Jews visit the site each year on this day. Large bonfires are lit, young boys are given their first haircut, and entire families encamp on Mount Meron in commemoration of the day. The custom of bonfires has spread from Mount Meron throughout the rest of the Jewish world, inside Israel and out, though there is much rabbinic opinion that disapproves of this custom. Nevertheless, it is apparently here to stay, acrid smoke and dangerous sparks notwithstanding.

The combination of Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai’s fierce opposition to Roman ways, his superhuman devotion to Torah study, and his contributions to the rebuilding of Jewish life after the Hadrianic persecutions, all combine to make him one of the giants of Jewish history and tradition.

Caesarea, the seat of the Roman government over Judea. Photo by Ian and Wendy Sewell. Published under the GNU Free Documentation License.

The current period of time on the Jewish calendar (the seven weeks after Passover) is a time of semi-mourning for the Jewish people. Numerous tragedies occurred in Jewish history at this time of year, and the earliest one recorded in the Talmud was the death of 24,000 students of Rabbi Akiva during the Hadrianic era of the second century CE.

Rabbi Akiva is one of the most famous and beloved figures in Jewish history. The Talmud records that when a certain scholar met him for the first time, he exclaimed, “Is that you, Akiva ben Joseph, whose name and reputation is known from one end of the world to the other?” Rabbi Akiva’s name and reputation have not only journeyed from one end of the world to the other. They have journeyed for almost 1900 years in the hearts and souls of the Jewish people.

Rabbi Akiva was the ultimate outsider in Jewish life. By this I mean that he came to his greatness not because of family lineage. He was descended from converts to Judaism, and for the first forty years of his life, he was completely unlettered and ignorant. He even freely admitted that in those years, he had a deep and abiding hatred towards the Torah scholars.

Like many of the greatest leaders of the Jewish people (Jacob, Moses, and David,) Rabbi Akiva served as a shepherd. His employer was Kalba Savua, the wealthiest Jew of the day. Kalba Savua’s daughter Rachel fell in love with Rabbi Akiva, married him, and then encouraged him to go away to study Torah. Her father, angry over the “mismatch,” disowned them both. But Rabbi Akiva remained in the yeshiva and applied himself diligently even though it was difficult and sometimes humiliating for him. When he ultimately returned to Rachel, it was no longer as an ignorant shepherd but as the greatest scholar of the time, teacher to thousands of students. As he said to them, “All that I am and all that you are is entirely to her credit!”

Kalba Savua was quick to reinstate the couple into his good graces. Rabbi Akiva thus became the inspiration not only for converts and their descendants but for those who come to Torah study later in life.

The surprising backdrop for all these accomplishments was oppressive Roman rule. The Roman Empire was at its height, and the land of Israel was under its control. With only a few short spells of respite, the Jews were persecuted fiercely under the caesars and their puppet governors. The first Jewish attempt to overthrow their Roman oppressors occurred in the years 66-70 CE. The Jews fought long and hard, but to no avail. The Romans destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem, killed tens and thousands of Jews, and sold tens of thousands more into slavery.

Coins from Bar Kochba's rule. Published under the GNU Free Documentation License.

Some sixty-five years later, there was another attempt for Jewish national independence. This one was led by a man named Bar Kochba, and Rabbi Akiva was one of his stauchest supporters. According to some historians, Bar Kochba successfully re-instituted Temple service in Jerusalem, though he was unable to rebuild the Temple itself. The coins we have from his era are inscribed with the words, “in the first year of Jewish freedom,” “in the second year of Jewish freedom.” But that Jewish freedom lasted only four years. Again, the Romans put down the rebellion, slaughtering tens of thousands. That was the end, literally until our time, of the idea that there could be a national Jewish homeland in the land of Israel.

After this national tragedy, Rabbi Akiva rallied his students around him to rebuild the Jewish people through the only trusted and time-proven method known to us – the study and practice of Judaism. Such great personal resilience speaks volumes about his character. He taught future generations of Jews never to give up. As we have seen throughout Jewish history, the resilience of Torah scholars and their students has saved the Jews from destruction and possible extinction numerous times. Rabbi Akiva showed the way toward Jewish survival.

Rabbi Akiva himself suffered a terrible fate at the hands of the Romans. He was arrested and tortured to death, dying as a martyr. But he has remained the symbol of Jewish optimism throughout the ages of exile and despair. His faith in a better tomorrow for Jews and humanity, his upbeat outlook on life in spite of all adversities, never wavered. The ability of all later generations of Jews to look beyond current troubles and see a great dawn of hope for the future is predicated on his example and teachings. Thus, Rabbi Akiva, who began as the ultimate outsider in Jewish life, became the hero not just of converts and the unlettered, but the hero of all Jews for all times.

Bust of Akhenaten

The phrase “the New Empire,” as opposed to the Old and Middle Kingdoms, should tell you something about the change in Egypt after the defeat of the Hyksos. No longer was Egypt a passive, agricultural society; it was becoming aggressive and imperialistic – an empire. That, among other things, requires people, which is another reason for the massive enslavement. The Biblical commentator Rashi tells us that the Jews were not the only slaves in Egypt; many foreigners were enslaved. To use a bad pun, the Egyptians needed a wider base for their pyramids.

Egypt conquered all of Palestine and most of Mesopotamia. The Egyptian influence even spread to the Phoenician cities of the north so that the Phoenician traders had to operate under the consent of the imprimatur of the Pharaoh. Archaeological digs in Lebanon have uncovered vast treasures of trade books and other items with Egyptian markings, which shows that they were under Egyptian domination.

This was not just a change for Egypt; it was a change for the entire world. All other empires until then were small kingdoms, mere city-states. If one city-state defeated another in a war, they took booty, burned the town, and went home. Nobody ever attempted to convert that territory permanently into their own. They didn’t have the manpower to govern it. The Egyptians, on the other hand, did.

The second major change came from the famous emperor Akhenaten, who lived some time between Jacob and the beginning of Jewish enslavement. He is often said to have been a monotheist, but he wasn’t a monotheist in the sense of belief in one God who created all. Rather, Akhenaten imposed one god on Egypt. Until then, Egypt had a multiplicity of gods. Paganism can be very egalitarian in that sense. If you have 100 gods, you can have 101. Got a new idol to add to the altar? Put it on up there! Why not?

Akhenaten was the exception to that rule. He destroyed all the other gods except his, the sun god. He was the first religious fanatic that we find in Egypt, an emperor who would not brook any deviation from his definition of what religion should be. He is the one who put into the Egyptian society the virus of religious discrimination. Until then, it was the Egyptians versus the foreigners. But he added a new dimension to it, and that would cause the Jews to suffer. The Jewish religion and ritual were be anathema to the Egyptians after Akhenaten. And even after his death, when Egypt fell back into paganism with its very many different gods, it still remained remained a narrow and dangerous society. That is the problem that the Jews faced in their first exile (Egypt) and has faced in all later exiles.

Therefore, when Joseph and his brothers came to Egypt, it was to a fearsome place. It was not the comparatively benign Egypt that the Bible describes in the times of Abraham, who talked to Pharaoh one-on-one.

All of that is the backdrop to the entry of the Jewish people into Egypt. If the Jewish people had gone into Egypt a hundred or two hundred years earlier, it would have been a different story. If they had gone two hundred years later, it would have also been a different story. But they went then. And that is why the story of Joseph and the enslavement of the Jews in Egypt takes on such meaning and such depth for us.

Ancient Egyptian art depicting the defeat of the Hyksos.

In about the year 1700 BCE, a watershed event occurred in Egyptian history: the invasion of the Hyksos people. They successfully took over Egypt and a succession of six kings took power, known as “the Great Hyksos Pharaohs.”

Josephus Flavius, Jewish historian of the 1st century CE and author of The Antiquities of the Jews, identified the Hyksos with the Hebrews. Most historians today disagree, but there are some striking similarities. First, the Hyksos people were from an alien culture and did not follow the Egyptian religion. The Hyksos Pharaohs never claimed to be gods, nor did they build for themselves any of the tremendous monuments that later Pharaohs would. They also moved the capital of Egypt northward. Josephus points out the proximity of their capital to the land of Goshen, which is the area the Jews settled.

The Talmud does not give us any basis for this whatsoever, and we know of no other Hebrew kings of Egypt, except for the Biblical Joseph, who was only a viceroy. The Medrash, which is a compilation of Jewish allegories and legends, tells us that Moses was a king in the Sudan for a long period of time, and we do have evidence that the Hyksos people ruled not only in Egypt, but in the Sudan and Libya. But most of the evidence shows that the Jews attempted to keep a low profile in Egypt, as far as being a part of the government was concerned. In the economy of Egypt, they tended to play a great role, but in terms of the government, they were either not interested or well aware of the dangers of becoming involved.

In about 1560 BCE, the Hyksos were expelled in a rebellion by the local, indigenous population. This marked the beginning of the New Empire, a radical change in Egyptian society. Perhaps as a reaction to the foreign Hyksos rule, Egypt now became xenophobic. Whatever foreigners they did not kill or expel, they enslaved. Notably, the period of the New Empire corresponds with the period of Jewish enslavement in Egypt. All of Jewish history is played against the backdrop of world history, but all of world history is intertwined with the Jewish people.