Jews :: essays research papers

Jews "The enemy trapped the Jews in the city by building a wall around it. Foodstuffs could not be brought in: starvation and crowded conditions gave rise to disease, and epidemics spread among the populace. But surprisingly the Jews held on. Then the enemy massed troops outside the wall and brought out the latest in weaponry. They attacked, using fire to spread destruction. The Jews repelled the enemy a number of times. So savage was the resistance that the campaign to destroy the Jewish population took much longer and cost more troops than anticipated. Street by street the fighting raged with hand-to-hand combat between the heavily armed troops and the haggard defenders. Some Jews tried to escape through the sewers, but they were flushed out by fire. At the end the Jews had taken a heavy toll on their enemy but the city lay in smoking ruins. The remaining Jewish survivors were rounded up to be used as slave laborers or to be killed. What episode in Jewish history is depicted in this scenario? Most people would say this was the Warsaw Ghetto uprising against the Nazis in 1943. But in fact it was the Roman destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple in the year 70 The destruction of the Second temple and the attack on the Warsaw Ghetto, although separated by nearly two thousand years have and eerie sameness. The Germans sealed off the Warsaw's Jewish population with and eight-foot brick concrete wall. The Romans built a high earthen barricade around Jerusalem to make certain the Jews could not escape. Germans shot, on the spot Jews discovered outside the Warsaw Ghetto. The Romans crucified the Jews they found, placing crosses atop the hill to terrorize those watching from inside the city: as many as 500 were crucified in 1 day. The Germans tried to starve the Polish Jews into submission reducing their rations at first to 800 calories a day and later cutting off all food to the ghetto. The Romans used the tactic of siege to bring starvation in Jerusalem. In both episodes the actual fighting was in some ways similar. "Since the ghetto was impenetrable in frontal attack, General Stroop's forces set fire to the buildings with incendiary bombs and flame throwers" Titus's Roman legions used flaming torches of wood to set fire to the Temple and other buildings in the final battle. "Through the roar of the flames as they [the Romans] swept relentlessly on could be heard the groans of the falling†¦ the entire city seemed to be on fire. The Nazis not only killed but plundered Jews if their possessions; the Romans