The Torah of the Zealot movement – often called the “4th Philosophy” – was driven underground in ancient times. But it may have actually reemerged in the modern age as a result of the liberation of Jerusalem during the Six Day War.
The 17th of Tammuz, like the 9th of Av, commemorates several tragedies in Israel’s history. But the story they share is that of the Zealot movement’s Great Revolt against the Roman Empire.
On the 17th of Tammuz, the Romans broke through the walls of Jerusalem. And on the 9th of Av, three weeks later, the Romans reached the Mount and destroyed the Second Temple.
Anyone who has ever walked from the walls of Jerusalem to the Temple Mount (or to the Kotel underneath) knows that the distance takes only a few minutes to cover on foot. But because our freedom fighters ferociously battled the Romans for every inch of the city, the legions took three weeks to reach the Temple.
The revolt ultimately failed with the Roman destruction of Jerusalem and Israel’s national framework. And as Rome deliberated whether or not punish all the Jews in the empire, the sages (and Josephus Flavius) worked to portray the Zealots as an errant fringe group that victimized the Jewish people with their adventurism.
As a result of the rabbinic effort to distance the Judean masses from the Zealot factions, the Torah of the Zealots went deep into hiding and even many Jews began to see our heroic fighters and martyrs in a negative light.
Now that the children of Israel have returned to our land, to political independence and maybe even to the Torah of the Zealots, it’s time for us to reexamine our understanding of the freedom movement and its relevancy to our current chapter of history.
