Part II

Last week, we discussed the first Bar-Kochba letter findings at the caves of Murabba’at. This week, we will discuss Nahal Hever. This site is also in the Dead Sea area. The caves here were first investigated in 1953 and 1955. Then, they were investigated more thoroughly in 1960 and 1961 by Yigael Yadin. (In 1999 and 2000, the caves were excavated again by Richard Freund of the University of Hartford.) In 1955, 24 human skeletons were found in one of the caves, leading this cave to be called the “Cave of Horrors.” The cave where the letters from Bar-Kochba were found in 1960 ended up being called the “Cave of Letters.” (Evidently, the skeletons found in 1955 were the remains of allies of Bar-Kochba who had taken refuge there with their families.)

The findings in the caves of Qumran in 1947 had motivated both Israeli archaeologists and bedouins to look into other caves in the Dead Sea region, leading to all these new findings.

At Murabba’at, two letters dictated by Bar-Kochba were found. But at Nachal Chever, a bundle of 15 Bar-Kochba related letters were found, all tied together. Almost all were dictated by Bar-Kochba himself. Most were in Aramaic, but some in Hebrew. Each has a different handwriting, indicating that they were composed by his assistants. One letter has him using the title: “Nesi Yisrael.” (We already knew this title from some Bar-Kochba coins, prior to the discoveries of these letters.) Yadin’s book summarizing all the findings at these (and a few other) sites is: “Bar-Kokhba: The Rediscovery of the legendary hero of the last Jewish Revolt against Imperial Rome,” (1971).

After reading all the Bar-Kochba letters, Yadin concluded: “Bar-Kochba seems to have been a strong and tough man … The letters are written in an abrupt style. Most demands and orders are combined with an admonition. Maybe it is unfair to pass the above judgment, since clearly these letters were written towards the end of the revolt, when Bar-Kochba was already desperate.”

Almost all the letters at Nahal Hever are addressed to one or both of the following individuals: Yehonatan and Masabala. The two were the military commanders of Ein-Gedi. These letters were sent by Bar-Kochba to these two at Ein-Gedi, before they escaped to a Nahal Hever cave with these letters.

Here are some excerpts from the letters dictated by Bar-Kochba:“Seize Yeshua bar Tadmoraya … and send him to me in safe custody … and do not neglect to take off his sword.”

“Get hold of the young men and come with them; if not — a punishment. I shall deal with the Romans.” (Yadin suggests that this is perhaps a request for reinforcements.) “Send to the camp four [donkey] loads of salt …” (Yadin points out that Ein-Gedi was situated on the shores of the Dead Sea, a salt source.) Another letter concerns the cargo of a ship in the port of Ein-Gedi, with which Yehonatan and Masabala did not deal properly. Bar-Kochba chides them: “In comfort you sit, eat and drink from the property of the House of Israel, and care nothing for your brothers.”

“Concerning every man of Tekoa who will be found at your place, the houses in which they dwell will be burned and you (too) will be punished.” “Let all men from Tekoa and other places who are with you, be sent to me without delay. And if you shall not send them, let it be known to you that you will be punished …” Yadin explains that those attempting to avoid the mobilization orders of Bar-Kochba had been fleeing from Tekoa to Ein-Gedi — a more remote location.

The following letter was not sent by Bar-Kochba to Yehonatan or Masabala, but to someone else.

But the letter relates to them:

“I have sent to you two donkeys that you shall send with them two men to Yehonatan … and to Masabala, in order that they shall pack and send to the camp, towards you, lulavim and etrogim. And you, from your place, send others who will bring hadasim and aravot. See that they are tithed and send them to the camp …”

Another letter also relates to the above holiday, although it was not sent by Bar-Kochba. The name of the sender of the letter is, “So … ios,” and this letter is in Greek. This individual informs Yehonatan and Masabala that he is sending them a certain Agrippas, so that they should send back with him palm branches and citrons, “for the camp of the Jews.” He urges them to be “as quick as possible.” Then comes the following: “the letter is written in Greek as we have no one who knows Hebrew [or Aramaic]” and he could not delay writing it “because of the holiday.”

When this letter was first published, it was thought that the sender was Bar-Kochba and that the name: “So … ios” was the equivalent of “Shimon” in Greek. That would be very interesting: that Bar-Kochba had dictated a letter in Greek. But Yadin concludes that the sender was a gentile. The existence of gentiles in Bar-Kochba’s ranks is corroborated by the Roman historian, Dio Cassius: “And many outside nations were joining for eagerness of gain.”

It is evident from these letters (e.g., the commands regarding Sukkot and tithing) that Bar-Kochba was a leader who was concerned with following halacha.

Yadin tells the story that there was a custom for the President of Israel to invite archaeologists to his home to report on their latest discoveries. He was invited to one such meeting in 1960, at the home of President Yitzchak Ben-Zvi. It was attended by Prime Minister Ben Gurion and cabinet ministers and other distinguished guests. He projected on the screen, the photo of one of the documents from Nahal Hever and read aloud the first line: “Shimon Bar Kosiba, president over Israel.” He turned to President Ben-Zvi and said, “Your excellency, I am honored to be able to tell you that we have discovered 15 dispatches, written or dictated by the last president of ancient Israel, 1800 years ago.” The audience was struck dumb, and then the silence was shattered with spontaneous cries of astonishment and joy.

That evening, the radio interrupted its scheduled program to broadcast the news of the discovery, and the next day the newspapers came out with banner headlines.

P.S. Nahal Hever is also famous for the following discoveries: 1) a scroll of some of the Trei Asar in Greek, and 2) a bundle of 35 legal documents belonging to a Jewish woman named “Babata,” from the years prior to the Bar-Kochba rebellion. (These documents were in Greek, Aramaic and Nabatean.)

P.P.S. Yadin ends his book poignantly: “Here were we, living in tents erected by the IDF, walking every day through the ruins of a Roman camp which caused the death of our forefathers. Nothing remains here today of the Romans, save a heap of stones … but here, the descendants of the besieged were returning to salvage their ancestors’ precious belongings.”

Mitchell First can be reached at [email protected]. Please visit his website: rootsandrituals.org for more articles. His handwriting is terrible and he suspects that Bar-Kochba may have had the same problem.