Babylonian Talmud on bar Cochba

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Babylonian Talmud, Gittin 57a

Through the shaft of a letter, Betar was destroyed. (a saying which requires explanation):

It was the custom when a boy was born to plant a cedar tree, and when a girl was born to plant a pine tree.  When they married, the tree was cut down and a canopy was made of the branches.

One day, the daughter of the emperor was passing when the shaft of her litter broke, so they lopped some branches off a cedar tree and brought it to her.

The Jews thereupon fell upon them and beat them.  They reported to the emperor that the Jews were rebelling, and he marched against them.

This is not to be understood as history.  Hadrian had no children.  This is an indirect way of saying Romans did not respect Judean customs;  Judeans objected;  Romans retaliated.  Because of the extent of the injury inflicted by Rome on Judea, it was necessary to conceal the specifics of history to avert any further punitive action.

Bavli, Gittin, 57a:

He has cut off in fierce anger all the horn of Israel (Lamentations 2:3)

Rabbi Zera said in the name of Rabbi Abbahu, who quoted Rabbi Johanan:  “these are the eighty thousand battle trumpets which assembled in the city of Betar when it was taken and men, women and children were slain until their blood ran into the great sea.” (do you think it was near?  It was six kilometers away).  It has been taught that Rabbi Eleazar the Great said:  “There are two streams in the valley of Yadaim, one running in one direction and one in another, and the Sages estimated that at that time they ran with two parts or water to one of blood.”

In a baraita it has been taught:  “for seven years the gentiles fertilized their vineyards with the blood of Israel without using manure.”

Again, this is not history, but a way of incorporating historical events into text by referring to already existing text.  The Mishnah does not say “as the oracle said” (as a Greco-Roman narrative would), but begins with a citation of text, then explains why that text has been cited.  It is, in a sense, a code by which historical events can be incorporated into the canon in such a way that outsiders will not be able to appropriate the narrative.

Bavli, Gittin 57b:

The voice is the voice of Jacob and the hands are the hands of Esau (Gen 27:22) The “voice” here refers to the cry caused by the emperor Hadrian, who killed in Alexandria of Egypt sixty myriads on sixty myriads, twice as many as went forth from Egypt.  “The voice of Jacob:”  this is the cry caused by the emperor Hadrian who killed in the city of Betar four hundred thousand myriads, or as some say, four thousand myriads.

Because there are two references to “voice,” the compiler of the Gemara provides two different explanations to account for each use.  In doing so, those killed at Alexandria are recorded in the canon as are those killed at Betar.

Bavli, Gittin 57b-58a:

Rabban Bar Hanah said in the name of Rabbi Johanan:  “Forty times twenty four phylactery boxes were found on the heads of the victims of Betar.”  Rabbi Jannai son of Rabbi Ishmael said there were three chests each containing 284 litres.

Phylacteries come in pairs, one is wrapped around the head, the other is wrapped around the left arm.  They consist of a box containing a piece of paper with the verse from Deut 11:18: “You will therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you will bind them as a sign on your hand, and they will be as frontlets between your eyes.”

40 x 24 boxes means 960 males were killed (Women did not pray with phylacteries.  Some still do not.)  3 chests x 284 litres = 852.  The ancient rabbis did not agrees on the number of the dead, but did not want to make their disagreement obvious.

Bavli, Gittin 58a:

Rab Judah reported Samuel as saying in the name of Rabban Simeon ben Gamaliel:  “What is signified by the verse ‘my eye affects my soul because of all the daughters of my city’?”  (Lamentations 3:51) there were four hundred synagogues in the city of Betar, and in every one were four hundred teachers of children and each one had under him four hundred pupils, and when the enemy entered there, they pierced them with their staves, and when the enemy prevailed and captured them, they wrapped them in their scrolls and burned them with fire.”

This should not be understood as a statement of fact, but as a means of incorporating into the canon an incomprehensible act, the slaughter of thousands and the brutality of their deaths, in terms that would be comprehensible to the audience. 

A note on pagination of the Talmud:  unlike Greco-Roman pagination, in which each side of a leaf is assigned a number, in the Talmud the leaf itself is given a number and the side of the leaf is designated by a letter:  the obverse is a, the reverse is b.