[Avodah] When was the last korban?

[Micha Berger]

On Wed, July 18, 2007 2:06 pm, Yisrael Medad wrote:
: He claims that the story of the disguised Nochri of Psachim 3A and
: Rabi Yehudah ben B'tairah took place after the Churban as well as the
: story of Antonius and Rabi in Yerushalmi Megillah 1:11....

Hillel was handed the title by the benei Beseira. That would make R'
Yehudah ben Beseira old enough to have been a leading figure in the
Sanhedrin at the time Hillel returned to EY. The churban was a century
later (Shabbos 15a) -- Hillel, R Shim'on, R Gamliel haZaqein, R
Shim'on ben Gamliel, and R' Yochanan ben Zakkai.

Rebbi, OTOH, would have to be after the churban. R' Aqiva died around
135 CE, the days of Hadrian y"sh and the demise of the Bar Kochva
rebellion. That means (taking his amazing longevity as historical) he
would have started teaching in 95CE. After churban bayis. Add to that
R' Meir and Rebbe.... That discussion /had/ to be after churban bayis.


In 130 CE Hadrian had Turnus Rufus plow over Har haBayis. This makes
it onto the list of 5 tragedies of 9 beAv. Why? I mean it's bad, but
is it in the same league as the meraglim, the two churbanos, and the
fall of Beitar (which one roman source claimed was the murder of
580,000 people, aside from the concomitant hopes of immediate
ge'ulah)?

One theory is that the plowing refers to making a pomerium, the furrow
that marks the border of a Roman city -- a symbolic act of turning Y-m
into Aelona Capitolina.

But Chazal refer to Har haBayis.

Others associate it with a first step, the ground was being prepared
for building a temple to Zeus. But Antiochus's similar desecration
isn't listed.

This is before Bar Kochva could have possibly started a third bayis --
the plowing was in 130, he came to power in 132 CE.

But if we assume that until Hadrian took control of the har, at least
occasional offering of qorbanos were possible, then the plowing marks
the final end of qorbanos as a form of avodas Hashem for almost two
millenia.

And that is without a question on the same scale as the other tragedies.

Tziyon bemishpat tipadeh, veshaveha bitzdaqah,
-mi

-- 
Micha Berger             Spirituality is like a bird: if you tighten
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Fax: (270) 514-1507                            - Rav Yisrael Salanter