Hadrian’s Massacre at Beitar
The voice is the voice of Jacob (Genesis 27:22, NJPS): [ . . . ] R. Judah bar Illai used to interpret [the verse]: The voice is the voice of Jacob crying out from what the hands, those being the hands of Esau, did to him. R. Yoḥanan [offers this interpretation: It is] the voice of [Jacob crying out from what was done to him by the hands of] Hadrian…
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The rabbis often associated Jacob’s nemesis Esau with the Roman Empire. This passage in Genesis Rabbah interprets the “voice of Jacob” in Genesis 27:22 as the voice of the Jews crying out from what Hadrian, represented as Esau, did at Beitar.
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Related Guide
Ancient Rabbinic Constructions of the Past
2nd–6th Centuries
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