The bar Cochba Revolt and its aftermath were the cataclysm that changed the game: more history you never learned in Sunday/Hebrew school

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The Bar Kokhba Revolt,132–136 CE, was the third major rebellion by Judeans against Rome.  It was the last of the Jewish Wars.  Because the Kitos War was a series of battles, rather than a sustained War, many historians consider the Bar Cochba Revolt to be the 2^nd Jewish War.  The commander of the revolt, Simon bar Cochba, was considered Moshiach—the anointed one who would restore Israel.  The revolt succeeded in establishing an independent state of Israel in parts of Judea for over two years.  A Roman army comprised of six full legions with auxiliaries, and elements from up to six additional legions finally demolished the revolt.  Romans then encated laws prohibiting Judeans from entering Jerusalem, except to observe Tisha’ B’Av.  Proto-Christians who did not accept bar Cochba as the Moshiach were also barred from entering Jerusalem.

When the Jewish War ended in 70 CE, the Romans installed a praetor, rather than a procurator.  They stationed the X Fretnesis Legion in Judea.  They appointed the Council of Yavnah, whose purpose was to provide “spiritual guidance” for the Judean people, both in Judea and in the diaspora.  These were measures whose purpose was to contain the rebellious province of Judea.

The origins of the revolt are not clear.  It is possible that Judeans felt betrayed when they discovered that Hadrian, who promised to rebuild the Temple, had planned to rebuild it as a temple to Jupiter.
The VI Ferrata legion was stationed in Judea to maintain ofder, and the rebuilding of the Temple commenced in 131 CE after the governor, Tineius Rufus performed the ceremony renaming the city Aelia Capitolina.    “Ploughing up the Temple” was an offense that made many Judeans rebel against Rome.  Those tensions increased when Hadrian made circumcision (brit dam) illegal.  As a Greco-Roman, he believed it was mutilation.  In 132 CE, a Roman coin was issued with the name “Aelia Capitolina” inscribed on it, right at the beginning of the revolt.

Judean leaders planned the second revolt to avoid the mistakes made in the War of 66-70.  Rabbi Akiva believed that Simon bar Cochba was the Moshiach, and gave him the name “bar Cochba,” “Son of a star” from the verse in Numbers 24:17:  “There shall come a star out of Jacob.”  

In 132, the revolt spread from Modi’in across Judea, cutting off the garrison in Jerusalem.  A sovereign state of Israel was restored for the two and a half years that followed.  Bar Cochba beheaded the public administration, and assumed the title Nasi Israel (prince of Israel).  He announced “the era of the redemption of Israel,” contracts were signed and coinage was struck in that name.
The revolt surprised the Romans.  Hadrian sent Sextus Julius Severus from Britain.  Troops were brought in from Germany.  The army assembled to fight bar Cochba was larger than the one commanded by Titus in 66-70.  The XXII Deiotariana legion was disbanded after it had suffered heavy losses.  It is possible that the IX Hispana, which was disbanded in the mid 2^nd century was also a casualty of the bar Cochba Revolt.

The revolt lasted three years, ending with the Romans destroying the rebels in 135 CE.  After bar Cochba lost Jerusalem, his army withdrew to Betar, which the Romans besieged.

According to Dio, during the revolt, 580,000 Judeans were killed, 50 fortified towns and 985 villages were razed.  He claims, “Many Romans, moreover, perished in this war.  Therefore, Hadrian, in writing to the Senate, did not employ the opening phrase commonly affected by the emperors: “of you and your children are in health, it is well;  I and the army are in health.”

Because he saw it as the cause of continuous rebellion, Hadrian attempted to destroy Judean praxis.  He prohibited the Torah and the Hebrew calendar.  He executed Judean scholars.  A sacred scroll was burned on the Temple Mount.  In the Temple sanctuary, he installed two statues, one of Jupiter, the other of himself.  He erased the name “Judea” from the map, and replaced it with Syria Palestina.  He reconstructed Jerusalem as Aelia Capitolina.  He forbade Judeans from entering it, except on Tisha B’Av.

A midrash says that in addition to executing Bar Cochba, the Romans executed ten members of the Sanhedrin:  Rabbi Ishmael, Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel, Rabbi Akiva, Rabbi Hanania ben Teradion, Rabbi Huspith, Rabbi Eliezer ben Shamua, Rabbi Hanina ben Hakina, Rabbi Yeshevav, Rabbi Yehuda ben Dama, and Rabbi Yehuda ben Baba. 

Hadrian wanted to excise a people who had inflicted heavy casualties on the Roman Empire.  His death, however, prompted relief among the surviving Judean population.  Rabbinic praxis developed---portable and centered around gatherings rather than the Temple.

Constantine I permitted Judeans to mourn their defeat once a year on Tisha B’Av, at the Western Wall.  

This is significantly more impactful than the destruction of the Temple under Vespasian and Titus.