The United States as Rome

The last independent nation of Israel until 1948 was governed by a remarkable woman. Her name in Hebrew was Shalom Tzion. Her Greek name, by which most of the world knew her, was Salome Alexandra.

Unfortunately, Queen Alexandra is often confused with another “Salome” who was the daughter of the brutal, cruel King Herod. The latter Salome demanded the head of the Barabbas which was a request her virtually insane father quickly granted.  Herod’s daughter lived 150 years after Queen Alexandra. The Queen was so popular that many people named their daughters “Salome.” Unfortunately, that is what Herod did.

Ruling without a man by her side, Salome Alexandra became good friends with Cleopatra VI. Cleopatra VII had a child with Julius Caesar, but she wound up running off with Mark Antony. The VIIth was the Cleopatra of fable, legend, and film.  Cleopatra VI needed an army of soldiers in order to hang onto her throne. It was the Jewish queen who provided the best Judean Generals.

Shalom Tzion also clearly had a relationship with the female rulers in Syria and other Middle Eastern empires.

A great historian who was a Jewish General defected to the Roman side. He was Flavius Josephus; that was his Roman name. He wrote both positive and negative reviews of the great Jewish Queen. He considered her to be a power-hungry ruler, but he also showed tremendous respect for her capabilities, success, and decision-making.

The Talmud takes a much more positive view of the Queen. The Talmud is the interpretive work of the Jewish people which greatly influenced Christianity. The Talmud placed Shalom Tzion among the three wisest rulers of Israel along with King David and King Solomon. That is quite a tribute.

Shalom Tzion came from a phenomenal pedigree. She was a direct descendant of the Maccabees who freed Israel from Greek rule several hundred years earlier. It was the story of the Maccabees that gave us the holiday of Hanukkah.

This is the short history of Shalom Tzion. Perhaps the most important contribution of her reign is less well known. It was Shalom Tzion who kept the Romans out of the Holy Land.

Rome was an ambitious empire. Rome not only succeeded to the victories of the Greeks, who preceded them, but they expanded their reach over the known world.  They were the “Edom” of Biblical fame and an example of unbridled cruelty. They were admired by the Nazis.

Rome was itching to conquer Israel, the Levant, and the Middle East. Shalom Tzion, through her superb diplomacy, acute honesty, and strong military, was able to keep the nation independent. Unlike Cleopatra, Shalom Tzion did not sleep her way through power politics but rather played the game the way men did. She used power, intelligence, and calculus (not the math kind) to keep the nation free and independent.

Shalom Tzion did something else which changed the world. She appointed her brother, Joshua, as High Priest. She therefore separated religion from the state, something demanded in the Bible and by the Prophets but, unfortunately, ignored from the time of the Maccabees forward. Joshua was the first Pharisaic High Priest.  The Pharisees were the religious philosophers who believed in the art of interpretation of text while stressing the importance of the ethical rules. The Christians borrowed much of their approach to life and G-d from the Pharisaic perspective.

By virtue of Joshua’s appointment as High Priest, the road was set for Christianity and Judaism relying upon Leviticus 18 & 19, to love one’s neighbor as thyself and to avoid holding a grudge. Modern religion owes much to the Queen’s decision.

Still, we may not have landed upon the most important contribution of the Jewish Queen.  She kept Rome out of the Middle East! After her death, her warring sons invited Rome into the land in order to help with their disputes. Rome never left and in four wars with Israel caused the deaths of well over a million Jews. Without Rome, there may never have been a crucifixion or the many other horrors in the wake of the invitation to Rome.

Sometimes in the Middle East, we hear the United States referred to as “Rome.” The United States is thought of as having long tentacles intent upon interfering with the internal governance of other nations, especially smaller ones.

President Trump’s remark in the wake of Israel’s recent election mirrors the new Rome, using its influence to manipulate smaller nations; treating others as banana republics. While Israel will now have to form a coalition government, common to many parliamentary systems, the President of the United States is already indicating who is in and who is out. That is not his business, and it is only likely to cause resentment in other nations. The United States should not play the part of Rome, which ultimately fell due to its own internal vicissitudes, battles, and corruption.

Many writers have compared the excesses of Rome to the United States today. In Rome, power became concentrated in the hands of a few. Corruption was rampant, and the nation lacked the intestinal fortitude to repel invading enemies. A bloated Rome simply fell apart. Are we on the same path today?

One thing is for certain and that is that the Nation of Israel does not intend to become a victim of Roman preeminence and dominance.

Israel, on the other hand, needs to remember the lesson of the destruction of the Second Temple.  Jewish sages tell us that the Second Temple was destroyed in the year 70 CE by Titus.  Israel rebelled against Roman taxation and corrupt Roman rulers. Even more importantly, Israel was undone by religious tensions and a severe internal civil war. The Rabbis wrote that the destruction of the Temple was caused by sinat chinam which translates to “baseless hatred” or “senseless hatred” between factions. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?