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Advanced level – ‫רמה מתקדמת‬

Herod the Great

After the war with the Greeks, kings from the Hasmonean dynasty ruled in
Judah – this was the Hasmonean family that had fought with the Greeks and
saved the Temple from destruction.
The Hasmonean kings included the Sages in the rulership, and they were in
general beloved by the nation. And then in 37 BCE, the Romans helped Herod
to get to the rulership, and this brought to an end the period of Hasmonean
rulership.

Herod was born into a distinguished Edomite family in the city of Ashkelon.
His father and his grandfather were very close to the kings of Rome. The family
of Herod was converted by the Hasmoneans, who converted all the Edomite
families but in the eyes of the Jews he was considered nevertheless like a
foreigner.

When Herod rose to the rulership he enacted a regime of dictatorship, because
he lived in fear that his opponents would kill him. At the beginning he killed
45 of the heads of the distinguished families in Israel, and afterwards killed 21
of the members of the Sanhedrin.
Over time, he continued to kill those he feared. There is an opinion that Herod
had psychiatric problems. They say that he was paranoid.
Herod married Miriam from the Hasmonean family – because of love and also
because of the need to establish a basis for his rulership.

In this palace of Herod there were then 4 people from the family of the
Hasmoneans, and he began to think that they would kill him.
Over time he killed them all. The death of his wife Miriam was especially sad.
Before one of his trips, Herod wrote a letter where he commanded to kill Miriam
if he did not return from the journey.
Miriam discovered the letter and when Herod returned, she was very angry at
him. Herod accused her of betrayal and commanded to kill her. After they killed
Miriam, Herod became very ill, because despite the fear and jealousy he
apparently really loved her very much…

In the period of his rulership, Herod developed Jerusalem very much and all of
Israel. He rebuilt the Temple, expanded its area, the walls around it, built
aqueducts and additional palaces. All of Jerusalem expanded greatly in the time
of Herod.

The Sages said: "Whoever did not see the building (Temple) of Herod – never
saw a beautiful building. "The period of Herod was on the one hand a period of
flourishing for the Jewish people, and on the other, it was a very tragic period.

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