14 July 70 – 17 Tammuz 3830
Roman general Titus’ legions breached the walls of Jerusalem, ending a siege begun in Nissan, over three months before. The daily sacrifice in the Temple was cancelled from that day on, though it was another three weeks before the inner sections of the city were captured and the Temple went up in flames. Judea’s violent rebellion against Rome and its cruel suppression were closely linked to fierce factionalism then dividing the Jewish people; what the sages of the Talmud describe as “hatred between brothers” appears in Josephus’ account of the revolt as an atmosphere of terror, with people knifed in the streets for their political associations. Five events are listed in the Mishna as having occurred on this date:
Five things befell our forefathers on the seventeenth of Tammuz …. the Tablets of the Law were smashed, the daily sacrifice ceased, the city [wall] was breached, Apostomus burned the Torah scrolls and set up an idol in the Temple. (Tractate Tamid, ch. 4, sec. 6)
In modern times, we can add that the Second Lebanon War of 2006, which started with a cross-border raid into Israel by Hezbollah terrorists on 17 Tammuz, July 12.
Moses breaking the Tablets of the Law before the Golden Calf, Esteban March, oil on canvas, Spain, circa 1650
Photo: Zahi SacksReserve paratroopers from the 55th brigade moving into Lebanon, July 2006