Exclusive Interview: MJ Speaks to JosephusTziyona Kantor | Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Mishpacha Junior: Josephus, sorry to bother you. We understand this is the first interview you’ve given in about 2,000 years. Can you tell us a little about yourself? What do you feel is your biggest accomplishment?

Josephus: Yes, it’s been a long time.

I am especially proud of my books The War of the Jews and Jewish Antiquities, which have been selling copies for the last 2,000 years. I wrote them in Greek, they were translated into Latin, then 400 years ago into English. Today, they’re available in many other languages, too. To my delight, they’re even available in Hebrew, the language of my people.

MJ: Can you tell us a bit about your childhood?

Josephus: I was born in 37CE, to a family of Kohanim. My father served in the Beis Hamikdash. My mother came from the royal Chashomanim dynasty. My older brother Mattisyahu, named for my father, and I, went to public school. I loved reading and was considered very smart. When I was 15 and 16, we learned speech making, philosophy, and general studies of the Greek and Roman worlds.

MJ: Did you continue studying after your school years?

Josephus: Being a bit of a philosopher, I spent time learning about all types of Jewish sects. The Sadducees (Tzadukim) didn’t believe in Torah shebe’al peh (the Oral Torah) and only followed Torah shebichsav (the Written Torah). I learned the most from the Pharisees (Perushim), who kept the whole Torah and all of its laws. My parents also followed this path.

By 19, I’d started my career as a statesman and teacher. I even became an army commander.

MJ: How did that come about?

Josephus: When I was 20, I went by sea to try to save some captured Kohanim. I needed to speak to the Roman Emperor Nero himself! When I returned, I was asked to become the commander of the Galil, and was in charge of the battle of Yotfat. I was 30 at the time; unusually young for a commander. Emperor Nero had sent General Vespasian Flavius (Aspianus) to end

the Jewish hold over the Beis Hamikdash and the lands of the Jews. The Romans had taken over most of the ancient world, but the land of the Jews was the last holdout.

MJ: What happened at the battle in Yotfat?

Josephus: Very tragic stuff. The Romans killed thousands of Jews. The people were afraid to become slaves to the Romans, who were very cruel captors, and chose to kill themselves instead. They did the same in Masada too.

MJ: How did you survive that war?

Josephus: I hid in a cave until Vespasian came. When I saw the general, I greeted him as Caesar. He thought it was odd and asked why I thought he was emperor. I told him that just before he came, a comet resembling a large sword was seen in the Heavens. If he was carrying the largest sword, it meant he’d become emperor. It was a common idea, many people were saying it.

MJ: Did he become emperor?

Josephus: Yes, two years later, while the Beis Hamikdash was being destroyed in 70 CE. The vain Vespasian liked my “prophecy” so much, he let me be his translator and negotiator. Until the prophecy came true, I was treated as a captive. Afterwards he sort of adopted me. I took his last name, Flavius, as mine in appreciation. And, I must admit, I left the true ways of my people.

MJ: But wasn’t it Rabi Yochanan ben Zakai who told Vespasian he was Caesar? The Gemara tells us that Rabi Yochanan sneaked out of Yerushalayim in a coffin to speak to Vespasian. When Rabi Yochanan greeted Vespasian as “Caesar,” Vespasian was afraid Nero (Neron) would hear it and think Vespasian himself was a traitor. Just then, Vespasian received the message from Rome, announcing Nero’s death and his becoming emperor. Vespasian was so impressed with Rabi Yochanan’s prediction, he granted him whatever he wished. Rabi Yochanan requested that doctors cure the weak Rabi Tzadok who fasted for 40 years and predicted the end of the Temple. He was only able to eat the inside of a fig daily. Rabi Yochanan also asked Vespasian not to kill anyone who escaped from the west side that morning, and to save the city of Yavneh and its students.

Josephus: I can’t answer that, I wasn’t around then. But I did accompany Vespasian and then Titus through the battles of Jerusalem. The Jews were great warriors. They held off the mighty Romans for three years, while they were starving!

MJ: Why were they starving?

Josephus: In 70 CE, beginning on 10 Teves, the Romans besieged Jerusalem. Vespasian surrounded the city, preventing any food from getting in. Armies from around the world — 70,000 Macedonians, Armenians, Britons, Africans, Arabs, Persians, and Babylonians — came to fight the Jews.

Three wealthy Jewish men donated enormous amounts of money, food, and supplies to help the people survive for 21 years! One gave wheat and barley; the second gave wine, salt and oil; the third supplied wood.

Sadly, like today, there were many divided political groups. Some wanted peace, others wanted to negotiate, and the evil zealots called Biryonim wanted to fight. They believed if people were hungry and angry enough they’d fight forcefully. So the Biryonim burned down all the supply houses. There was nothing left.

One example is the story of a very rich woman called Marsa bas Beisa. She sent her servant to the market to find food. When he couldn’t find any, she went out herself and ate a fig Rabi Tzadok had spit out. The smell and taste was so horrible, she died on the spot.

MJ: How did it all end?

Josephus: When the famine was at its peak, Titus brought in battering rams to bring down the walls. Yet it seemed every time he broke through a wall, the Jews had built another wall inside. One time, four zealots burned down the Roman battering rams in the middle of the night and then chased off 10,500 soldiers! Hashem gave the Jews miraculous strength and they were able to fight off the mighty Roman legions (soldiers.)

In the third year of the siege, on 17 Tammuz, the Romans broke the wall. Over the next three weeks, the Romans murdered thousands. When they reached the Beis Hamikdash and the Kodesh Kodashim, they stole all the keilim and then set it on fire. The fire was horrific. It burned the Beis Hamikdash and the lower and upper cities. This happened on Sunday, 9 Av, the same day the First Beis Hamikdash was destroyed.

It was a terrible, terrible day for our people.

MJ: Thank you, Josephus, for joining us and giving Mishpacha Jr. an almost-live report of those tragic times.

Josephus: A magazine for Pharisee children! What a miracle! In the merit of keeping the true Torah for so many years, may the Third Beis Hamikdash be built very soon.

MJ: Amen!

Sidebar

Who Was Josephus?

Josephus ben Mattisyahu became involved with the Jewish revolt against the Romans at the age of 21. After he was captured by Vespasian, the Roman commander who later became emperor, he starting writing. Josephus wrote at least 11 books, but the most important for us is the Jewish War Against the Romans, a description of the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash.

Josephus was an amazing writer. He gave intimate details, flavored the events with emotion and energy, and personalized the great names of history. Through his descriptions, we can visualize the heroic and horrific events as they happened. Much of our knowledge about the Jewish Revolt, the end of the Second Beis Hamikdash, as well as events in Rome are from Josephus’s

writings. Yet our rabbis as well as secular historians are afraid to take his word without some other source to back it up. Why?

There are several problems:

Josephus was in every part of the story he was recording. (At least that’s what wants us to believe.) He was the Kohein, teacher, statesman, commander, last holdout, slave, translator, negotiator, and of course, faithful recorder of events. On one hand, this makes his writing so valuable and interesting, but on the other hand makes historians wary. Josephus is accused of changing history to make himself look better. For example:

1. Some scholars doubt his scholarship of Jewish sects; claiming Josephus couldn’t have had enough time to become as knowledgeable as he reported.

2. The “prophecy” he told Vespasian is questioned. The story is too similar to the Gemara’s story of Rabi Yochanan ben Zakkai.

3. The siege of Yotfat altogether is tricky. (He even had to write another book to defend himself from his critics). He tells how he predicted the length of the battle (47 days), was the commander, and the one who planned and executed the suicide/murder pact. Yet, he miraculously survives. Was he a hero, a murderer, or a coward? Or did he want to look as courageous as the leaders of Masada? Did it even happen? We have no other survivors’ stories.

4. He emphasizes the cruelty of the Biryonim, but doesn’t seem to blame the Romans at all. This isn’t surprising since he’s writing for the Romans. He had to make the Romans look good, which makes his “facts” questionable.

Yet, in spite of all his faults, Josephus remained proud of the Jews and always held that the path of the Pharisees (the ones who kept all of the Torah) was the true path.