Shimon Bar Kokhva Trivia Quiz

Answer: son of a star

"... a star shall shoot out out from Jacob an a scepter from Israel shall smite the corners of Moav and destroy the children of Seth..."
Numbers 24:17

That was the psalm that Rabbi Akiva attributed to Simon Bar Cosiba, renaming him Shimon Bar Kokhva, the son of the star. Akiva believed him to be the new Messiah, and he became the charismatic leader of the rebellion, believed to be the deliverer of the Jewish people from the Roman yoke.

Answer: Hadrian

The Jews saw in Hadrian another Antiochus, the Roman Emperor at the time of the rebellion of Judah Maccabee. Hadrian took up rule when Trajan died, and upon his journey to Jerusalem found a ruined city. Hadrian decided to rebuild it, as a pagan city, and to build an altar to Jupiter where the Jewish High Temple stood 60 years previously.

The Jews saw this as a direct affront, as Jerusalem had always (and will always be) the most important of Jewish symbols.

Answer: Akiva

Rabbi Akiva ben Joseph's story is an interesting one: He was the poor illiterate son of a convert to Judaism. He worked as a shepherd for one of the wealthier Jewish landlords in Judea, and fell in love with the landowner's daughter, Rachel. When they decided to marry, the landowner refused to acknowledge the marriage and drove away the newlyweds from his lands.

Rachel encouraged Akiva to start to learn basic things, such as reading and writing, at the time he was about 40 years old. Within 24 years, Akiva was to become Rabbi Akiva, one of the more prominent of the Jewish sages, and a man with much influence. It was Akiva's spiritual backing that drove Bar Kokhva to start the rebellion.

Answer: Dared them to bite off a finger

Bar Kokhva wanted to ensure that his soldiers were both doughty and brave, and dared them to bite off (some sources say cut off) a finger from their hand. Those who did, were accepted into the army. Bar Kokhva amazingly recruited 200,000 soldiers this way.

The sages got mad that Bar Kokhva was crippling the soldiers and forced him to think of a better way to test the soldiers. New recruits now had to uproot a Lebanon cedar sapling while on horseback, by riding into it with their arm outstreched. Those of you who don't know, a Lebanon cedar is one of the strongest trees there is. Nevertheless, another 200,000 soldiers were recruited this way.

In addition to the soldiers that were already in the army, Bar Kokhva had upwards of half a million soldiers.

Answer: Tinneius Rufus

Julius Severus was the Roman general dispatched from the wars in Britain to quell the uprising and to take back Judea, and Hadrianus Quintus Lollius Urbicus was the governor of Germania sent with Severus to Judea. Publus Marcellus was the governor of Syria who along with the Judean governor Tinneius Rufus was not able to take care of the rebellion.

Tinneius Rufus was appointed by Hadrian, mainly because he had a reputation as a strict and harsh leader. It was Rufus who enforced the edicts against Torah study and circumcision. Rufus also took advantage of many Jewish women, and the rage of the Jews was directed against him specifically.

Answer: he was found strangled by a snake

After the final battle of Betar, Bar Kokhva was found strangled by a snake, as it was said that he could not be killed by a man. His head was brought to the Roman General Severus, although the Romans wanted him alive to make an example out of him. Nevertheless, the Romans gathered ten of the Jew's more prominent sages (Rabbi Akiva amongst them) and had them tortured and were executed by Rufus personally. Rabbi Akiva and the others faced this torture rather than giving up their religion believing that there are fates worse than death, not necessarily in this world.

Answer: True

Bar Kokhva's army demolished the Roman 10th and 22nd legions, and pushed the Romans out of Israel, from the Negev desert in the south to the Galilee in the north. The Jewish army spent much time digging fortifications, fortifying towns and garrisons, and organizing supply routes.

Emperor Hadrian sent into battle General Julius Severus, fresh from battle in Britain, and with him seven veteran legions. In addition to these new legions, there were five other Roman legions from Syria and Egypt engaged in the fighting, bringing the total to twelve legions against the Jewish army of about 600,000 men.

Answer: Betar

Betar was a heavily fortified main city on a mountain ridge that housed over 400 synagogues, the Jewish High Courts (Sanhedrin) and the President (Nasi). It guarded on one side the main road from Jerusalem to Beit Guvrin, and on the other side the entire Sorek Valley. It had high walls and housed the bulk of Bar Kokhva's army.

Julius Severus laid siege to the city with what remained of his still formidable army, and even though it was summer and the land was scorchingly hot, the defenders remained firm. It was said that the city was supplied from subterranean secret tunnels, and the defenders had great faith, and prayed every night and day for the safety of the city.

One day a Samaritan snuck into the city and pretended to whisper into Rabbi Elazar HaModa'i's ear. The soldiers were suspicious and arrested the Samaritan, but the Samaritan refused to speak, and was eventually put to death. When Rabbi Elazar was questioned, he (rightly) had no idea what the soldiers were talking about. Bar Kokhva was so enraged that he kicked over the Rabbi, and in the Rabbi's weakened state he died. The defenders were broken, because a prophesy foretold that as long as Rabbi Elazar lived and prayed for the safety of the city, the city wouldn't fall.

A few days after Rabbi Elazar's death, on the 9th of Av, the anniversary of the destruction of both the First and Second Temples, the Roman army entered Betar. Sources show that a Samaritan traitor showed the Romans a secret way into the city, and in the Jews' degraded mental and physical state, it was no contest. The Jews were also demoralized by the death of Rabbi Elazar. The battle was bloody and vicious, but in the end the Romans prevailed.

Over half a million bodies were left dead on the battlefield, but the Romans denied the Jews the right to bury their dead for six days. In the battle, Bar Kokhva was caught, as were the sages of the Jews. The revolt was essentially over, except for a few small skirmishes in the Judean desert, and most of the Jewish males were put to death or sold into slavery. Thus ended the Bar Kokhva revolt.

The fate of Bar Kokhva is uncertain, but it was said that no man could kill him, so God sent a snake into his cell, and thus he died. Rabbi Akiva was tortured and publicly executed, along with nine of the main sages, and they were ever known as the ten martyrs.

Answer: Lag (33) BaOmer

Lag BaOmer is celebrated on the 33rd day of the counting of the Omer (piles of wheat). On that day you light bonfires, for two reasons. In the days of Bar Kokhva, when someone died, Rabbi Akiva said that his spirit was released into heaven, and so you must celebrate his death. So bonfires were lit whenever a warrior died. Also, when the Jewish scouts saw the Roman army advancing, they would light bonfires on mountain-tops to warn the command post of this, far ahead of the Romans' arrival.

Answer: 3 years

From the year 132 A.D. to 135 A.D. the Jews were free of the Roman yoke. They succeeded in governing themselves, had freedom of religion, and had no oppressing empire telling them what they could or couldn't do. During that time the Roman army was severely depleted, and were made to pay dearly for every inch of ground they gained.

After the uprising was quelled, Emperor Hadrian realized that the Jews would never see Rome as their sovereign. Nevertheless, the temple to Jupiter was completed and Jerusalem was made into the pagan city of Aelia Capitolina. Jews were banned from entering the city, except for on the 9th of Av to mourn their losses. Edicts against the Jews were decreed: circumcision was banned, as was keeping the Sabbath, and the study of Torah. The Jewish calendar was banned as well (so that it was almost impossible to keep Jewish holidays). All who remained faithful were persecuted, or fled to the hills and kept their religion in secret.