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===Jewish Rebellion===

===Jewish Rebellion===

The Roman Empire was brutal not only to the Christians.  Going back to A.D. 66, Jewish "Zealots" from Judea rebelled against the Romans and a bitter struggle followed.  Titus's Roman army was far more powerful, however, and killed many of the Zealots and then senselessly destroyed the sacred temple in Jerusalem in A.D. 70, leaving only the Wailing Wall that remains to this day for Jewish believers to pray before.  Then, in A.D. 73, Jewish holdouts in a fortress near Masada finally succumbed after years of courageous fighting against the more powerful Roman army.  Herod the Great had built a fortified palace there in a rocky hill on the southwest shore of the Dead Sea, between 37 and 31 B.C.  Herod built it for his own protection in case there were a Jewish revolt against him, but the Zealots later captured it for the purposes of their own revolt.  After two years of a courageous defense against the Romans, the Romans finally prevailed with a battering ram in breaching the defenses.  The oral tradition is that the Romans used Jewish slaves who the Zealots were reluctant to kill.  Instead, the Zealots all committed suicide rather than submit to Roman authority, though another oral tradition is that the Zealots killed each other (except for the last one) out of respect for the Jewish prohibition on suicide.

The Roman Empire was brutal not only to the Christians but to the Jews.  Going back to A.D. 66, Jewish "Zealots" from Judea rebelled against the Romans and a bitter struggle followed.  Titus's Roman army was far more powerful, however, and killed many of the Zealots and then senselessly destroyed the sacred temple in Jerusalem in A.D. 70, leaving only the Wailing Wall that remains to this day for Jewish believers to pray before.  Then, in A.D. 73, Jewish holdouts in a fortress near Masada finally succumbed after years of courageous fighting against the more powerful Roman army.  Herod the Great had built a fortified palace there in a rocky hill on the southwest shore of the Dead Sea, between 37 and 31 B.C.  Herod built it for his own protection in case there were a Jewish revolt against him, but the Zealots later captured it for the purposes of their own revolt.  After two years of a courageous defense against the Romans, the Romans finally prevailed with a battering ram in breaching the defenses.  The oral tradition is that the Romans used Jewish slaves who the Zealots were reluctant to kill.  Instead, the Zealots all committed suicide rather than submit to Roman authority, though another oral tradition is that the Zealots killed each other (except for the last one) out of respect for the Jewish prohibition on suicide.

Another Jewish rebellion against the Romans occurred in A.D. 132, and this time the Romans completely destroyed the Jewish state and dispersed the Jewish people to faraway lands.  This is known as the "Second Diaspora" ("diaspora" is Greek for dispersion).  The "First Diaspora" was the Babylonian captivity.  There would not be another Jewish homeland until 1948.  After the Second Diaspora some Jewish people converted to Christianity, while others formed Jewish communities in faraway places.  By A.D. 1000, Spain became a center for Jewish scholarship, but the Spanish Inquisition in A.D. 1492 is blamed for expelling Jews from that country.  Eastern Europe welcomed displaced Jewish settlers, and by the 17th century it became the center of the Diaspora.  In the late 1800s many Jewish people migrated to Germany and Britain, but the Holocaust in Germany during World War II destroyed Jewish communities there.  The center of the Diaspora today is the United States, which has a Jewish population of nearly 6 million, more than the 5 million Jewish population of Israel, founded in 1948.  Great Jewish centers such as Egypt and Babylon (now Iraq), which thrived in the first century, now have fewer than 1000 Jewish residents.

Another Jewish rebellion against the Romans occurred in A.D. 132, and this time the Romans completely destroyed the Jewish state and dispersed the Jewish people to faraway lands.  This is known as the "Second Diaspora" ("diaspora" is Greek for dispersion).  The "First Diaspora" was the Babylonian captivity.  There would not be another Jewish homeland until 1948.  After the Second Diaspora some Jewish people converted to Christianity, while others formed Jewish communities in faraway places.  By A.D. 1000, Spain became a center for Jewish scholarship, but the Spanish Inquisition in A.D. 1492 is blamed for expelling Jews from that country.  Eastern Europe welcomed displaced Jewish settlers, and by the 17th century it became the center of the Diaspora.  In the late 1800s many Jewish people migrated to Germany and Britain, but the Holocaust in Germany during World War II destroyed Jewish communities there.  The center of the Diaspora today is the United States, which has a Jewish population of nearly 6 million, more than the 5 million Jewish population of Israel, founded in 1948.  Great Jewish centers such as Egypt and Babylon (now Iraq), which thrived in the first century, now have fewer than 1000 Jewish residents.