Read the story then click on the links below it to do the exercises.
HEROES OF ISRAEL
Rabbi Akiva
JEWISH HEROES
RABBI AKIVA
He started life as a poor shepherd. When he married a woman, Rachel, from a
rich family, her father threw them both out of his house. He began studying
Torah at 40 with my wife’s support. He became a great and famous rabbi. He
supported Bar Kochba’s fight against the Romans. He disobeyed the Romans when
they made it a crime to teach and study Torah, and taught it secretly in caves
and mountains.
Rabbi Bar Yochai
RABBI SHIMON BAR YOCHAI
He was a famous Rabbi and a pupil of Rabbi Akiva. He openly criticised the
Romans and had to escape to a cave when the Romans came to arrest him. His son
joined him, and they had to remain there for many years before it was safe to
return. They survived by eating carobs (a type of fruit) and water. While he
was in the cave, he wrote down very important ideas about worshiping God and
about the Torah.
BAR KOCHBA
His full name was SHIMON BAR KOZEBA but his followers called him “BAR KOCHBA”
meaning, “son of a star.”
When the Romans began treating the Jews badly, he started organising a secret
Jewish army. They fought from the mountains and only accepted very brave
people. Bar Kochba’s army caused great problems for the Romans and had many
victories before they were defeated.
THE YOUNG HERO
This story took place 60 years after the Romans destroyed the Holy Temple in
Jerusalem. The Jews were miserable, but they went on with their lives. They
felt a great loss when the Temple was destroyed but accepted the Roman rule as
best they could. Each and every day the Jews prayed for two things: that the
time would soon arrive when they would be able to rebuild the Temple, and that
they would be able to drive the hated Romans out of Judea, out of Israel.
One day, the Roman King Hadrian made a proclamation that shocked and horrified
the Jews living in Judea. The King announced that he would build a temple in
honour of the Roman god Jupiter, right on the site of the ruins of the Holy
Temple. The Jews were furious. They knew they could not let the Romans
dishonour their holy place, so the whole nation prepared itself for war against
the Romans. The Jews of Israel anxiously awaited the sign to join Bar Kochba,
their leader, who was hiding in a secret cave in the mountains. Suddenly, the
Jews saw fires lit on the tops of mountains. They knew that the time had come
to leave their villages and to follow the narrow paths through the mountains to
Bar Kochba’s hideout.
Among those soldiers preparing to join Bar Kochba was an orphan boy from the
village Haroba in the Judean Hills. He watched the soldiers prepared for
battle, and he longed to join them! He knew he was too young to be of help to
the army, but he wanted to help very badly. He was miserable! He sat down on a
stone and began to cry. About this time, a soldier passed by and saw the boy
crying.
“Why are you crying?” asked the soldier.
The boy answered, “I want to help fight those horrible Romans, but I am too
young. The soldiers would probably think that I’d be a nuisance, but I’m really
very brave! If only I could help in some way.” He began to cry.
The soldier could see that this young boy was very dedicated, and he said, “Dry
your eyes and come with us. There must be something you can do to help.” The
boy jumped up excitedly, and joined the soldiers leaving to join Bar Kochba.
The soldiers traveled for many hours along the steep and rocky terrain. They
moved without a sound so that the Romans could not discover them. Finally, they
were so exhausted that they decided to rest in a cave. The young orphan boy sat
some distance from the cave and watched for any sign of the Romans approaching.
The boy guarded the cave for awhile, but was soon overcome with exhaustion and
fell asleep.
Suddenly, the boy felt a rough hand shake him. Startled, he opened his eyes and
saw Roman soldiers surrounding him.
“Where are your friends?” the Roman Officer shouted. “Take us to them or we
will kill you immediately.”
The boy thought, “I must lead the Romans far away from the cave even if I have
to risk my life.
“OK”, the boy said, pretending to be reluctant. I’ll lead you to their
hideout.”
“Just make sure you don’t trick us,” the officer added, “or we’ll torture you”.
The boy led the way for the Roman soldiers to follow. In fact, the boy was
leading the Romans far away from the cave where his friends were resting.
“Where are those friends of yours? How long will it take to reach them?” The
Roman officer called angrily after they had been climbing up and down the
mountains for over an hour.
“Don’t worry, we’ll be there soon,” the boy said as he led the Romans to a
place he knew well. It was a very narrow pass over a stone cliff. On one side
of the pass there was a smooth high stone cliff, and on the other side a deep
canyon. The pass was so narrow that only a young boy could walk over it.
“We are almost there,” the boy called as they all approached the pass. Now the
boy quickened his pace and tried to make the distance between him and the
Romans as great as possible.
“Stop! Wait! Wait for us!” shouted the Roman officer. But the boy quickly ran
across the cliff.
The Romans pulled out their arrows, stretched their bows and began shooting at
the escaping boy. The boy was then on the narrow pass, just over the canyon. An
arrow hit the rock beside him and stones began falling around him. The boy
crawled on his knees. Just one more minute and he would reach the other side of
the pass and the Romans would be unable to catch him.
The Romans didn’t dare cross the narrow pass over the deep canyon. So, when the
boy disappeared, they were furious but they had no choice but to return to
where they had come from.
The boy climbed the rocks for many hours on his way back to the cave. His hands
and legs were injured and were bleeding badly.
Finally, he reached the cave and fell into his friend’s arms exhausted. The
young boy was a hero. He had saved the army from discovery and death. The
Jewish army was more careful in the future, and the boy grew up to be a great
defender of Israel.
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