Bar Kokhba

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SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see Bar Kokhba (works)

Shimon Bar Kokhba (2nd century CE) was the Jewish leader of the so-called Bar Kokhba revolt (or Third Jewish revolt) against the Roman rule in Judea around 132 CE.

Overview

Little is known about the origin of the figure Shimon Bar Kosiba and the causes of the Bar Kokhba revolt (132-135/6 CE). The revolt is known from Rabbinic sources and from a brief excerpt of the third-century Roman historian Cassius Dio. Archaeological data dating from 1952 to the present help fill in some of the gaps, however, much is left to scholarly reconstruction.

Bar Kokhba in ancient sources

See Bar Kokhba (sources)

Bar Kokhba Letters

The Bar Kokhba letters were either purchased from Bedouin or found in caves in the Judean Desert beginning in 1950. These letters, numbering around 26 plus fragments of additional letters, contain instructions from Ben Kosiba addressed to his subordinates. Only one letter addressed to Ben Kosiba has survived. Along with the letters, other legal documents not directly relating to the Bar Kokhba revolt were found: see Babatha.

The letters are extant in Aramaic, Hebrew and Greek, and generally follow typical Greco-Roman epistolary forms used around the time of the revolt, regardless of the language of the letter. This includes the initial greeting and the closing salutation formula. While Ben Kosiba’s name begins most of these letters, they are written in different hands, suggesting that Ben Kosiba dictated his letters to various scribes.

The Bar Kokhba letters deals almost exclusively with military matters such as supply, discipline and instruction, and thus do not offer much detail about the events of the revolt. The letters describe variegated matters: one letter deals with the confiscation of and instruction for a transportation of wheat to the custody of Ben Kosiba, another warns the recipients not to offer shelter to any man from Tekoa else they will receive punishment, while in yet another the Ben Kosiba requests reinforcements. Other letters emphasize the importance of the observance of Jewish ritual and tradition: one letter demands that ‘Eleazar bar Hitta’ be sent to Ben Kosiba before the Sabbath, while another requests a shipment of the four species—the lulav (palm branch), etrog (citron), hadas (myrtle), and arava (willow)—required for the proper observance of Sukkot (aka the feast of booths or tabernacles), along with a demand that the species be tithed.

The one letter sent to Ben Kosiba is addressed to the ‘beloved father’ of the sender, Shimon ben Mattanyah, while the sender addresses his fellow fighters as ‘brothers’. Michael O. Wise argues that the language used here is reminiscent of a ‘charismatic’ relationship between the recipient and the author, which supports the arguments that Ben Kosiba was seen as a messiah figure for at least some of his followers. This same letter reports the inclusion of Gentiles in the allies of the rebels, which suggests that the revolt was larger and more inclusive than just the Jews in Judaea.

Bar Kokhba in Rabbinic Literature

In the Jerusalem Talmud, Rabbi Akiba heralds Bar Kokhba as the messiah (y Ta’anit 4:8), citing Numb 24:17 (‘A star shall step forth from Jacob’) as a prooftext. The dictum is recited by Rabbi Akiba’s student Rabbi Shimon b. Yohai, whereas Rabbi Yohanan b. Torta responds to Akiba that ‘grass will grow between your jaws and still the son of David will not yet come!’

Midrash Lamentations Rabbah has a parallel legend (Lam. Rab. 2.5). Here, however, it is Rabbi Yohanan rather than Rabbi Shimon b. Yohai, who begins the tradition, “R. Yohanan said: Rabbi would expound A star shall step forth from Jacob thus: do not read “star” (kokhav) but “liar” (kozav).” Rabbi Akiba follows this with his statement of Bar Kokhba as the messiah, and Rabbi Yohanan b. Torta’s statement, as seen in y Ta’anit, follows.

Bar Kokhba in Non-Jewish Literature

Bar Kokhba in Scholarship

From ancient sources we know that his real name was Simon ben Kosiba. The Aramaic surname (Bar Kokhba = "son of a star") was given to him in reference to the messianic prophecy of Numbers 24:17. After the failure of the revolt, rabbinic writers would rather call him "Bar Kozeba" (= son of disappointment").

Bar Kokhba in Fiction

The rediscovery of Bar Kokhba as a Jewish hero and its transformation into a fearless champion of freedom and independence for his people coincide with the rise of Zionism in the second half of the 19th century. The memory of Bar Kokhba has accompanied the birth of the State of Israel and its struggle for independence and survival.