‘A Temple in Flames’ as we approach Tisha B’Av

With the annual observance of the destruction of our two sacred Temples now underway, I bring to your attention several new literary works detailing the significance of this time of year in the history of the Jewish people.

The first work is "A Temple in Flames" (Megalim Ir David Foundation, Maggid Books), an excellent collaboration between a military historian, Gershon Bar-Cochva, whose specialty centers on the study of the Roman army, and Ahron Horowitz, a senior archeologist most responsible for the excavations at Ir David (the City of David) in Jerusalem.

This collaborative is an extremely attractive pictorial as well as an intensely well-informed narrative that is both scholarly in content and readable, a literary combination that makes it unique in this literary genre. 

Horowitz is one of Israel's most highly regarded authorities on the history of ancient and Biblical Jerusalem. He is the founder and current director of Megalim, the Higher Institute for Jerusalem Studies, and author of one of the best tour guide books on Jerusalem, "Jerusalem — Footsteps Through Time.” 

Bar-Cochva holds a Ph.D in history from Hebrew University in Jerusalem, lectures widely, teaches at Efrata College, and is founder and chair of the executive board of the Eretz Yehudah Archaeological Museum. He was head of an armed brigade in the IDF and holds the rank of lieutenant colonel. 

One of the most telling pictures in this work, a graphic that accompanies this essay, is that of the Arch of Titus — which stands in Rome to this very day — with, as its centerpiece, the Temple Menorah. Note is made that this very Menorah design was adopted as the centerpiece of the coat of arms of the State of Israel. Also, as an added historical aside, note following event proudly cited in this excellent work: