Bar Kochba Revolt

The Jewish revolt led by

Bar Kochba in 132 AD was not the work of a single if a single radical revolutionary.

It was the inevitable result of years of promises not kept to the Jews, and laws which suppressed the basis of Jews as a nation.

To understand the reason for Bar Kochba’s Revolt one must go back many years even before the war. Prior to Hadrian, an emperor by the name of Trajan was the ruler of the Roman empire.

Due to the rebellion of the Jews in the Diaspora to the east and the west of them, Trajan, in order to keep the Jews in Palestine from rebelling he had to send a great general to be governor of the Jews in Palestine, a general who was well with the harshness in which he treated people. This general’s name was Tineius Rufus, he was the general that put down the uprising of the

Jews in Parthia. Because of Rufus’ reputation of his severity to the Jews, he uprooted any thought of the Jews in Palestine to rebel against Rome at that time. The Jews did not want to rebel anyway. Trajan had promised the Jews that he would rebuild the asenv ,hc, the Jews assumed this also meant to rebuild

Jerusalem.

The Pagans in Palestine did not want the asenv ,hc to be rebuilt, they thought that if it was rebuilt it would be the rebirth of the Jewish nation.

Also, in addition, Trajan, the Emperor who made this promise died and was succeeded by Hadrian. The Jews were unsure if Hadrian would keep the promise that Trajan once made. Hadrian wanted to go to Jerusalem to see what he was rebuilding before he started the construction. When Hadrian got there he was awed by the sight of a once desolate and fruitful city in ruins. He immediately wanted to start the reconstruction. However later the Jews were surprised and disappointed to discover that Hadrian wanted to rebuild Jerusalem not as a city for the Jews to restart in, but as a Pagan city sanctified to the Pagan

G-d Jupiter. He was going to put an alter where the Jews asenv ,hc once stood.

Hadrian was to be the high priest. What once was called Jerusalem would now be called Aelia Capitolina.

This was a mockery to the Jews. The Jews waited sixty years from the destruction of the Second asenv ,hc for Rome to restore it to them. The Jews held themselves back from Rebelling with their neighboring

Jews in Diaspora because they held onto, and believed that Trajan’s promise