Kamtza & Bar Kamtza

This is the tragic story of the downfall of a nation. It is the story of a once proud and noble people reduced to a nation of wanderers, beggars and slaves, of a people, once admired and revered, who became the object of scorn and hatred. It is the story of the Jewish nation. How did the L-rd's chosen people become the L-rd's rejected children?

A certain Jew had a friend named Kamtza and an enemy named Bar Kamtza. The Jew made a large feast and instructed his servant to invite Kamtza. The servant mistakenly invited Bar Kamtza. Bar Kamtza put on his finest clothes and attended the feast, assuming the Jew had forgiven their past rivalries.

When the Jew who hosted the feast found Bar Kamtza present, he demanded that Bar Kamtza leave at once.

"What are you doing here?" he fumed. "You tell tales and false stories about me, and you have the audacity to partake of my food and drink?"

"Since I am here," Bar Kamtza replied, "allow me to stay. I will pay for whatever I eat and drink."

The Jew angrily refused the offer.

"Then allow me to pay half the cost of the entire feast," pleaded Bar Kamtza.

"No," answered the stubborn Jew.

"Then I am willing to pay the full cost of the whole feast, but do not embarrass me any more," begged Bar Kamtza. The unyielding Jew had Bar Kamtza dragged from the feast and thrown into the streets.

Bar Kamtza stood up, brushed the dust from his clothing and shouted with indignation, "O great and worthy Rabbi Zechariah ben Avkulas, you were present at this feast and yet you did not come to my defense. You, too, are party to my degradation and embarrassment. You remained silent. You, too, will regret what happens."

Bar Kamtza went to Emperor Nero and told him that the Jews were planning a rebellion against Rome.

"How do I know that to be true?" Nero asked.

"Send an offering to the Temple and see if it will be accepted as it has been in days past," Bar Kamtza said.

Nero sent a fine specimen of a calf for a burnt offering with Bar Kamtza, along with a delegation of Romans to accompany him. During the journey, Bar Kamtza secretly made a blemish on the animal, in effect disqualifying the animal as a sacrifice. When Bar Kamtza and the Roman delegation appeared with the offering at the Temple gates, the rabbis were inclined to accept the defective animal, so as not to offend the emperor. However, Rabbi Zechariah ben Avkulas insisted that a blemished animal could not be offered. The Rabbis, realizing that Bar Kamtza had made the blemish on the animal to disqualify it, sought to kill Bar Kamtza.

"Is the punishment for inflicting a blemish the death penalty?" said Rabbi Zechariah. "Surely not. Let Bar Kamtza go back and tell Rome what happened. We have nothing to fear."

The delegation returned to Rome and told the emperor that his offering had not been accepted. Emperor Nero was furious, and the ramifications of his fury brought about one of the darkest chapters in our long and torturous history.