[Avodah] All 24000 died

[Micha Berger]

On the Lehrhaus, R Chaim Katz suggests that R Sherira Gaon's "shamda"
does refer to R Aqiva's students died fighting the Romans. But he
suggests it wasn't during Hadrian's suppression of the Bar Kokhva revolt.

See https://thelehrhaus.com/holidays/did-r-akivas-students-die-in-the-bar-kokhba-revolt

There are a number of Maamarei Chazal that wouldn't work with
my collapsed timespan. To give just one of his examples:

    Hanina b. Hakhinai and R. Shimon b. Yochai went to learn Torah before
    R. Akiva in Bene Barak and stayed there for 13 years. (Genesis Rabbah
    95:30 ed. Theodor and Albeck, Leviticus Rabbah 21:8)

So the second round of students started 13 years before R Aqiva's arrest,
or in 118 ce. 117 was Quitus's campaign against Judea. (And in M Sotah
9:16, this is when the Sanhedrin banned making crowns for brides and
teaching one's children Greek.)

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 Between stimulus & response, there is a space.
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   In that space is our power to choose our
Author: Widen Your Tent      response. In our response lies our growth
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF    and our freedom. - Victor Frankl, (MSfM)