The Ashkenazi Revolution

58Judah and Rome, which brought about the destruction of the SecondTemple.Prior to that, the relationship between Rome and Judah was normal for ametropolitan power and one of the small subservient nations. In the year161 B.C.E., Rome offered a treaty of protection and refuge to Judah theMacabee, with the intent of weakening the Seleucid kingdom, and in theyear 139 B.C.E. this treaty was renewed and a goodwill mission fromJudah visited Rome. Later still, Rome continued its tried and provenpolicy, whose goal was to strengthen, in Judah, the rulers and theirsupporting groups and to weaken those who might be an obstacle. Thispolicy, which was practiced in customary Roman fashion, gave no hint tothe drama of the Jewish-Roman confrontations that were destined tounfold. On the contrary; if we take into consideration the tiny area andminimal power of Judah, we would conclude that the world empire dealtwith sensitivity and consideration toward the tiny nation, and this waslargely due to Herod – who knew how to fit into the worldly policy of theera and into the struggle for the thrown of the Roman emperor - and hereaped surprising success in these areas. A fatal deterioration of thissituation occurred when the idea to impose the worship of the emperorupon Judah materialized in Rome. The refusal of the Jews to comply withthis demand struck at the religious etiquette that the Romans saw as animportant tool to maintain the stability of their world empire, and thus therefusal served as an easy pretext for cunning Roman administrators andhostile Greek populations. In the year 40 B.C.E. the emperor Caligula, onthe heels of Greek adversity, ordered that his statue be erected in theTemple in Jerusalem – but this was prevented through the efforts ofPetronius, the representative of Syria. In the year 66, the Romanadministrator Gasius plundered the Temple, and during this time ofgrowing tension and harsh conflict the step was taken, later that same year,that the Hebrew Encyclopedia (volume on the Land of Israel page 382)describes in these words:In Jerusalem it was decided, according to the suggestion of Eleazar, theson of the great priest, to stop offering sacrifices for the peace of the