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• Monday, January 5, 2009 12:14 PM

  Something Stinks, have you even tried to familiarize yourself with history?

  something stinks You cannot accept the fact that the majority of people chose to stay and abide by Roman law and later conforming to whatever dominate culture and religion imposed itself upon them and the region.

  Very very few Jews converted to Roman religions or culture, and frankly most of those who did were then murdered by Jews.

  Hundreds of thousands, Jewish records indicate more but are considered by most to be unreliable, of Jews were killed after the Bar Kokhba revolt in 135ce. Most of the Jewish population in Judaea (Roman name at the time) was killed, exiled, or sold into slavery.

  Then Hadrian renamed the area Palestine in order to further remove Jewish national aspiration to their historical homeland.

  Most scholars date the Jewish diaspora to this date, some earlier to the 72ce First Revolt.

  It's not as if Jews haven't tried to regain their homeland many times. There was another Jewish revolt against the Romans in 115ce, then again in 351ce. In 614 Jews joined the Persians and overthrew the Byzantine garrison and Jews ruled the city for five years.

  There is simply no historical fact to back up your claim that many Jews converted.

  Something Stinks I suppose you also believe that no Jews converted to Christianity under the threat of death, torture or the Holy Roman Inquisition!!!

  Where did I say no Jews converted. A very small number did, in fact, it was this that helped lead to the First Revolt in 70ce. This was crushed and the Second Temple destroyed, and the money looted used to build the Roman Colosseum.

  something stinks So if you had a house and a farm and a business and the mexicans invaded and said you had to go to church you would just pack up and leave your property, business, livelyhood and neighbors behind you, right?

  Sorry, but that is extremely foolish and shows a complete lack of understanding of history.

  To most Jews, death was far easier choice than conversion, people they believed that to convert was a sin before God. Plus, in many cases conversion wasn't even an option. The Romans didn't care, they wanted to exterminate the Jews, not convert them.

  Even the Roman historian Cassius Dio wrote that over 500,000 Jews were killed, and 50 fortified towns and 985 villages razed.

  something stinksWas U-Haul around in the 1st century?

  You don't need to have a U-Haul when you are fleeing for your life and aren't allowed to take anything of value.

  Your ignorance of history doesn't excuse you from denying that the Jews of today are for the most part descended from the same Jews expelled from Judaea. You can even trace this via DNA, supporting what history tells us.

  But, I guess all that should be discarded because you think people can't move without a U-Haul.

  —Xanthro Read Xanthro's other letters
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