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Jewish Community News

April 2004

This Month in Jewish History: April

by Alexis Rubin

April: Fortress breached; king confirms charter; committee orders general strike

Masada, April 73

Chafing under more than 100 years of Roman rule, Judea’s Jews longed to free themselves from foreign control. Under the leadership of Eleazar ben Yair, a group of Zealots known as the Sicarri initiated an open revolt against Rome in 66 C.E. The Jews declared independence and, for a brief time, appeared to have won their struggle. The Roman army, however, soon moved to quash the rebellion. They slaughtered Judeans by the thousands, devastated the countryside, razed Jerusalem and the Second Temple, and carried off large numbers of captives to Rome as slaves. The Zealot remnants, 960 men, women and children, fled to the desert fortress of Masada, a seemingly impregnable butte high above the shores of the Dead Sea. Pursuing them and laying siege to the stronghold, General Flavius Silva’s forces set to work on a massive earthen ramp that would eventually lead directly up to Masada’s walls.

In April 73, Roman soldiers breeched the Masada compound. They expected a fierce battle that would result in the capture of the Jewish rebels. Instead, they encountered only silence: the Sicarri had chosen mass suicide rather than capitulation to Rome. Of the nearly 1,000 defenders, only two women and five children had survived.

Marlborough, England, April 10, 1201

Soon after William of Normandy conquered England in 1066, he invited a group of French Jews to settle there, provided they pursue moneylending as their only legally-sanctioned occupation. Levying steep taxes on their profits, the new king let it be known that the Jews’ presence in England was acceptable only so long as they benefited the crown. William’s successors continued this practice.

On April 10, 1201, newly-crowned King John reissued the Jews’ traditional charter. Its language made clear that the king intended to protect the moneylending business: “And let it be lawful for Jews to receive and buy without difficulty things that may be brought to them…” The charter also reminded John’s subjects that the Jews were his chattels and, as such, were under his protection: “And we order you to guard, to defend, and to maintain them.”

With the Jews’ source of income secure, England’s kings felt free to demand ever-increasing taxes from them. The escalating tax rates, however, eventually impoverished English Jewry. By 1290, John’s grandson, Edward I, expelled his Jewish subjects, declaring that they no longer benefited the crown.

Nablus, Palestine, April 1936

Accepting the Palestine Mandate in 1922, Great Britain agreed to facilitate Jewish immigration with the aim of establishing a Jewish Homeland. Arab riots protesting Jewish immigration broke out in 1929, and their rage continued to smolder, awaiting only an incident to rekindle the violence. In mid-April, 1936, a group of Arabs attacked a Jewish-owned bus, killing two travelers. Jewish extremists, in turn, killed two Arabs. Forty-eight hours of anti-Jewish rioting ensued before British forces quelled the violence.

On April 25, 1936, Palestinian Arab leaders gathered in Nablus to form the “Arab Higher Committee” to coordinate the activities of the many Arab nationalist parties and organizations. The committee organized a general strike and presented the British with three demands: stop Jewish immigration; halt all sales and transfers of Arab land to Jews; and agree to “a national representative government” as the first step toward an Arab-controlled Palestinian state. The strike began as “passive” resistance, but quickly disintegrated into violence against Jews, their property and their interurban bus system. Only an appeal by the monarchs of Transjordan, Iraq and Saudi Arabia finally brought the “Arab Revolt” to an end.

The following year, a British Royal Commission of Inquiry concluded that the only way to solve the Arab-Jewish conflict was to partition Palestine into two separate states. His Majesty’s Government rejected this idea. Ten years and a World War later, the United Nations ratified the Palestine Partition idea. Nonetheless, as current events make clear, the violence continues.

Alexis Rubin is a Jewish history teacher, writer, researcher and syndicated columnist. Her articles, essays and book reviews have appeared in historical journals, Jewish women's magazines and community newspapers in the U.S. and in Canada.

This Month in Jewish History