Story & Characters
StoryPoster.jpg

Story Synopsis:

During first century Jerusalem a nobleman hosts a feast where he asks his servant to go and get his friend Kamza. When the servant brought his enemy Bar Kamza, the host tells him to leave. Bar Kamza offers to buy his own food if allowed to stay. He offers to pay the entire feast, but is thrown out, humiliated in front of the crowd and attending rabbis.

Since the rabbis did not intervene, Bar Kamza seeks revenge by reporting the Romans that Jews are rebelling. As a proof he tells the Romans to send a sacrifice and see if the Jews offer it. On his way back Bar Kamza puts a blemish on the animal making it unsuitable for sacrifice. The rabbis debate if to sacrifice an unfit animal or kill Bar Kamza. Unable to decide, they procrastinate until the Emperor sets a siege on Jerusalem.

With contributions of the rich residents of wheat, barley, wine, oil and wood, the Jews could have waited out a siege for 25 years. Local thugs wanted to fight Romans and burned the supplies. As famine spreads, R. b. Zakkai escapes the city, pretending to be dead and leaving the city in a coffin. He meets Vespasian and finds favor through his wisdom and foresight.

When allowed to ask something of a new emperor, he requests to save his friend r. Zadok and be allowed to leave with his students to continue his teachings elsewhere. Vespasian appoints Titus to lead the siege and he invades Jerusalem and destroys the city. In defiance of the Jewish God he has sex with a prostitute on the altar on top of Torah scrolls. Then he slashes the curtain and blood spurts out, letting Titus believe that he has killed the Jewish God. Later a gnat enters Titus’s nose and sucks his brain until his eventual death seven years later.

Historical Details:

Characters:

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 License.