Thoughtful people around the world are looking back at their collective histories and reconsidering the sometimes-monstrous actions that their nations have unfortunately memorialized through public history and art. at their highest level in decades and anti-Semitic rhetoric increasingly finding its way into anti-racism protests and demonstrations in France, Germany, and the United States, it sadly remains the case that everything the Arch of Titus represents is yet to be eradicated. Some might argue that Jews have more important things to worry about than a 2,000-year-old arch. opinion What does Jewish tradition say about tearing down statues? It’s complicated.While it would certainly have its place in a museum, its current location and framing as a benign tourist attraction that shows off the “grandeur of Rome” along with the other shrines, basilicas, and stadiums, is unacceptable. The Arch of Titus, in its construction by Rome and preservation by the Church, celebrates nearly all of these very things.Īs an ancient propaganda tool to glorify Rome’s bloody conquests and a modern emblem of Christian persecution and Jewish subjugation, the Arch of Titus is a cruel symbol. In a few weeks, Jews will observe the fast of Tisha B’av, mourning the destruction of the Temple, the loss of Jewish communal life in Israel, and the ensuing persecutions and tragedies that have followed us through 2,000 years of Diaspora life. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another every one will be thrown down (Mt. Indeed, it is a monument “remarkable in terms of both religion and art.” What Pius VII means by “religion” is that the arch is a fulfillment of Jesus’s prophecy of the Temple’s destruction in Matthew 24: “Do you see all these things?” he asked. (This) monument, remarkable in terms of both religion and art,īy new works on the model of the ancient exemplar Pope Pius VII gave his blessing to a renovation project and added a new inscription to this ancient arch: Hundreds of years later, in 1821, as the arch was weakened by time and in need of restoration, once again the Church came to the rescue. In 1555, Pope Paul IV, who incidentally created the Jewish ghetto of Rome by papal bull, forced the Jews of Rome to take an oath of submission every year while standing underneath the Arch. The story continues: While the Arch of Titus was erected by the Romans as a paean to the man known in rabbinic literature as “Titus the Wicked” for his gratuitous cruelty, it was enthusiastically supported by popes of the early modern period and used as a symbol to humiliate the Jews of Rome well into the 19th century. The ancient historians Josephus and Tacitus put the number of Titus’ Jewish casualties at anywhere from 600,000 to 1,000,000 people, and while these figures are clearly exaggerated (there simply weren’t that many Jews in Judea), it is clear that the Roman-Jewish War led to a large part of the Jewish population being either murdered or enslaved. Watch the video of our “Jewish conversation about Juneteenth” with Rabbi Sandra Lawson and Tema Smith. There is no excuse for Italy to maintain, fund, and proudly display a structure that celebrates the destruction of Jerusalem, the forced displacement of the Jews of Judea, and the burning of the Temple. Lee, and King Leopold II, it too must come down. It’s true that it is the oldest Roman triumphal arch we have, and that it’s an architectural wonder and priceless historical artifact that has much to teach us.īut like Columbus, Robert E. that culminated in the destruction of the Temple, the enslavement and murder of hundreds of thousands of Jews, and the gradual end of communal Jewish life in the land of Israel, our indigenous home. Titus, the man that this arch honors, led the Roman siege of Jerusalem in 68-70 C.E. These include the vessels they stole from the Jerusalem Temple, and perhaps most famously, the golden menorah. Most famously, one of its panels depicts a triumphal procession of Roman soldiers proudly parading their spoils from the capture of Jerusalem.
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