Simon Bar Kokhba

Simon Bar Kokhba, real name Simeon Bar Kosba (?-135), leader of the Jews in their insurrection against the Romans (132-135). Stirred by the efforts of Emperor Hadrian to Romanize Judea, policies that not only banned Jews from entering Jerusalem except one day a year but also prohibited the rite of circumcision, the Jews rose in violent revolt. The rebellion was organized by Bar Kokhba with the support of Akiba ben Joseph, one of the most influential rabbis of the period. Akiba proclaimed Bar Kokhba the messiah, or leader, the Jews believed would be sent by God to restore Israel and reign righteously over humankind. Under Bar Kokhba's leadership a large army was raised among the Jews of Judea and other parts of the Orient.

With this army Bar Kokhba defeated the Romans and captured Jerusalem, 50 towns, and many villages. Hadrian sent another army against the Jews, but it was also defeated by Bar Kokhba. Finally the emperor dispatched a force under his ablest general, Julius Severus. After a long campaign, the Romans crushed the Jewish army at Bethar near Jerusalem in August 135. Bar Kokhba fell in this battle, although the exact circumstances of his death are obscured by legend. Half a million Jews were said to have been killed by the Romans at Bethar and elsewhere in Judea, and thousands of women and children were sold into slavery. These and other reprisals taken by the Romans forced many Jews to leave Judea and settle elsewhere in Asia and in Europe and Africa. This movement was the final exile, or dispersal, of Jews from their homeland, and they did not again have a state governed by themselves until the establishment of Israel in 1948. In 1960, 15 messages by Bar Kokhba were found in one of the caves in the Dead Sea region.