A humble scholar of the highest caliber, Hillel helped strengthen Torah at a time when such strengthening was most needed. In order to prove the correctness of his halachicdecisions and weaken Sadducee allegations against the Pharisees, Hillel laid out seven hermeneutical measures for identifying the meaning and implications of scripture. Two of the better known from this group are kal v’chomer (inference from minor to major) and gezeriah shava (analogy of expressions).
Hillel taught that ultimately good would overcome. Herod and his brutish forces would receive their just due. Our eternal Torah would again reign supreme.
By focusing internally, Hillel and his colleagues created a technique that allowed for Jewish survival under foreign subjugation. Their Torah lifestyle was so fulfilling, and gained such widespread respect, that outside ideas and influences were largely ignored and discounted.
Now, for the Pharisees, they live simply, and forgo delicacies in diet. They follow the conduct of reason…. They pay respect to those who have aged…. On account of their doctrines they are able greatly to persuade the people…. The cities give great praise to them on account of their entire virtuous conduct, both in their actions and their teachings. [Josephus, Antiquities, 18:12–15]
Throughout the nearly two millennia of our current exile, the Jewish people have adopted a similar strategy. The ruling classes and their political machinations were of limited significance; what mattered most was our ability to survive as God-fearing Jews, undeterred by foreign agendas. For Jews, the rabbis – not emperors, kings, caliphs, sultans, or czars – were of greatest import. Their teachings, together with a unique Jewish culture and Jewish values, molded a distinctive, almost independent, Jewish reality.
* * * * *
Despite his many flaws, Herod did have one extraordinarily positive quality: he was one of the greatest builders in all human history. Shortly after ascending to the throne, he began a rush of building activity, which included palaces, fortresses, and cities. Some of these projects included:
- Jerusalem Palace – Constructed along the western edge of the capital’s Upper City was Herod’s opulent palace. It was built on a large platform and extended 1,000 feet long and 180 feet wide. It consisted of two huge wings, each containing its own baths and banquet halls, with accommodations for hundreds of guests. The palace featured beautiful mosaics and frescoes, elaborate porches, canals, tree groves, and ponds adorned with bronze fountains.
- Jerusalem Temple – Herod’s magnificent Temple replaced the comparatively small and simple structure built during the days of Zerubavel some three centuries prior. Certainly his most ambitious project, it was undertaken in the eighteenth year of his reign (18 BCE) as an act of piety with which to gain popularity among his Jewish subjects. Herod wished to greatly expand the Temple dimensions to better accommodate the immense number of people who visited Jerusalem annually for the three pilgrimage festivals. For that, he leveled large portions of the Temple Mount and built around it massive retaining walls, filling the gaps with rubble and doubling the mountain’s size.
The renovated Temple brought awe and admiration to all who beheld it. It was 150 feet long and wide, 185 feet high. Its walls were constructed from huge pieces of the finest white marble, its floors from imported Carrara marble, which gave off a bluish, sea-like tinge. The Holy of Holies was covered in gold. Beautiful tapestries depicting “the whole vista of the heavens” adorned the structure. On all sides of the Temple Mount were constructed marble porticos, and hundreds of regal Corinthian columns. Bridges connected the Temple plaza to the Upper City.
- Masada – Masada was a mountaintop stronghold rising 1,300 feet above the western shore of the Dead Sea. Yonasan first established a fort on its twenty-three acre, rhomboid shaped plateau. Herod transformed Masada into a luxurious fortress. Included in the complex were two palaces, Roman style bathhouses, administrative buildings, villas, defensive structures, and vast storage areas for food. The mountain’s summit was enclosed within a casemate wall that was almost a mile long and that contained 30 defensive towers, 70 rooms, and four decorated gates.
Most remarkable was the advanced water system built to sustain the needs of the fortress. Twelve cisterns, each with a capacity of up to 140,000 cubic feet of water, were cut into the rock. Two nearby dams held rainwater; open plastered channels carried the water from these dams to the cisterns, providing an abundant water supply for its inhabitants and gardens.
- Caesarea – Over a twelve-year period Herod significantly enlarged and beautified the 200-acre city, sparing no expense in the process. It was officially inaugurated in 13 BCE; Herod renamed it “Caesarea” in honor of the emperor. Herod surrounded Caesarea with a wall and built a vast artificial sea harbor, the largest on the eastern Mediterranean coast. Through it, Caesarea quickly became a major trade center. Herod designed an arched, Romanesque aqueduct spanning four miles to bring fresh water to the city. He also built a beautiful amphitheater for Olympic style games and a hippodrome for chariot races.
