Jewish History

Who was the Essenes

• Led simple lives

• Emphasized religious ideals and the study of the Torah in minute detail

• Oppose the power of the Hasmonean leader and moved to the Judean desert

• Found the settlement of Qumran by the edge of the Dead Sea.

Who were the Pharisees

• Priests and non-priests, rich and poor Jews

• Believed the powers of the king and priest should be separated

• Believed that the written Torah could only be understood in combination with teachings passed by word of mouth.

• They considered themselves the natural leaders of the Jewish people.

Who were the Sadducees

• Wealthy priests and aristocrats

• Filled the religious and political leadership roles in Jerusalem

• Reject Pharisee's oral traditions

• They argued that the priests were the only ones qualified to interpret the Torah.

What is Crucifixion

• Slow and painful Roman execution technique in which the condemned is hung on a cross

• Used by Romans and King Alexander Yanni to torture and kill his political opponents.

What was Masada

• A massive fortress built by King Herod

• When the Sicarii leader was killed, they fled to Masada to wait out the war.

• The Stand at Masada lasted until 73CE when the Romans built a ramp on the western side of the mountain and battered down the walls enclosing the Sicarii fighters.

• Rather than surrendering as prisoners, the Sicarii committed suicide.

Who was the Procurator

• Special commissioners appointed by the Roman Senate to tend to military judicial and civil matters

• By 40-50 CE, because of insensitivity and corruption, sparking feelings of anger and deadly attacks by some of the Jewish people.

What does Messiah mean?

• In Hebrew: Mashiah, means “anointed ones”

• In these troubles, many Jews turned to God to send a messiah to destroy their enemies and end their suffering.

What were the Sicarii

• Began as the Anti-Roman followers of Zadok and Judah the Galilean

• Launched deadly campaigns against the procurators.

• Known as the Sicarii, or dagger men, because of the small curved dagger(sicas) they used to assassinate their enemies

• Their targets included the Romans, as well as the Sadducees, who were hated as traitors for cooperating with Rome

• When the Sadducees killed their leader, they fled to Masada

Zealots

• Poor farmers, laborers, and bandits who had been driven out of the Galilee

• Gathered in Jerusalem to form a group called the Zealots

• Attacked other JEws (Chief priests, aristocrats) who were running the war

• Others who despised the rich and powerful joined the Zealots, sparking a civil war amongst the Jewish people.

Tisha B’av

• The 9th of the month of Av

• This is the day that both the First and Second temples were destroyed

• A day of mourning for the Jewish people

• Prohibited from eating, wearing leather, and listening to music

Sinat Chinam

• In Hebrew means “senseless hatred”

• Jewish tradition teaches us that underlying cause of Jerusalem’s destruction was not the Romans, but rather the disunity among the Jews. and their senseless hatred for one other

• Had the Jews been unified, they might have saved the Temple

Herod the Great

• Master builder of cities and fortresses.

• Rebuilt Jerusalem, expanded the Beit Hamikdash (Temple), and built the famous fortress of Masada

• Loyal to the Romans, implemented high takes on the Jewish people(depended on divisions among Jewish people)

• Placed a large Roman eagle on the temple gate.

• Feared by the people; murdered anyone he saw as a threat to his throne or his life (included his own family)

Alexander Yannai

- Hasmonean king

- Declared himself as both king and high priest of the Jewish people

- Implemented high taxes to support his military campaigns

- Used crucifixion to kill his political opponents

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