The Ashkenazi Revolution

60over space and entered a war with Rome. The Jewish Diaspora is not,therefore, a sign of passivity but a sign of activism of the highest order, anactivism expressed itself as a major war with an empire that ruled the entireworld. Had the exile been passive, it would not have lasted. Thefoundation of its existence is in the meaning of the great activism that isembedded in it.When Titus laid siege to Jerusalem, sitting with him in his camp was theJewish princess Barniki, the daughter of Agripas the first and sister ofAgripas the second. Later, Barniki would live in Rome, in the palace ofTitus who wished to marry her. Only the efforts of his father, the emperorAspacianus, and the pleadings of the great men of Rome, prevented himfrom taking this step. About the same time, the political influence of thewives of the emperors was evident in their palaces. Had Barniki been the“first lady” of the empire, she would have had great political power. In thismarriage, that never took place, is characterized (even more so than thestory of Joseph Flavius, who dwelt in the palaces of Aspacianus and Titusand wrote history books) a surprising array of relations between Rome andJudah. Jerusalem was defeated and her temple destroyed by the legions,but at the same time the conqueror and destroyer was about to elevate aJewish princess to the highest level of status and importance, and to makeher a partner in its rule.This inclination of Titus was typical for the pluralistic, tolerant andconstructive Roman Empire. This empire conquered many peoples andwas cruel to them in its campaigns of conquest and in its suppression ofrebellions. But later on it always found a way to cooperate and to maintainfruitful reciprocal relations. It seems that the Roman desire to cooperatewith the Jews was much stronger than it had toward other small peoples,and it is fairly certain that even in this era the Romans discerned the uniquegreatness that lay within the tiny People of Israel. In the course of theirconquests, the Romans destroyed only two peoples, the Carthaginians, whowere their sworn enemies in the world arena (and even this destructionprobably would not have taken place if not for the demands of one man,Cato the younger), and the Samnites, their stubborn foes of the Apennine