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The following is a list of Talmudic and Midrashic sources I've compiled, which address the destruction of the second Beit HaMikdash and suggested catalysts for this tragedy. I've included a brief summary of each opinion, while providing the entire source with translations for the readers' convenience (even those which include insights into the destruction of ...
15
The discrepancy has been raised repeatedly over the centuries, by scholars Jew and non-Jew, Orthodox or not, alike.
Rabbi Shimon Schwab penned an essay on it whereby he very much raised the possibility that the non-Seder-Olam chronology may be correct, though later referring to it as a "thought experiment."
In his taped lectures on the history of the ...
11
Medrash Esther Raba 3 says Charvona was called Charvona as he was responsible for the Churban Bais Hamikdash.
חרבונא מופיע פעמיים במגילה - בתחילת המגילה הוא מופיע כאחד משבעת
הסריסים המשרתים את פני המלך אחשרוש, ובסוף המגילה הוא מגלה לאחשורוש על
העץ שהכין המן. חרבונא זהו שם פרסי (א' בסופו). אומר המדרש [אסתר רבה, ג]
שמשמעות שמו - "אחריב ביתיה", לשון ...
11
Several events are listed in chapter 13 of Megilat Ta'anit:
The Jews in the wilderness were decreed to die in the wilderness and not enter Israel.
The First Temple was destroyed.
The Second Temple was destroyed.
The city of Beitar was conquered.
The City was razed.
בתשעה באב נגזר על אבותינו שלא יכנסו לארץ וחרב הבית בראשונה ובשניה
נלכדה ביתר ונחרשה העיר
...
10
Here are additional events to the ones already noted in other answers
Expulsion from England (1290): The Jews of England were expelled by King Edward I (chabad.org)
French expulsion (1306): The Jews were expelled from France (from here)
Spanish Expulsion (1492): The Jews of Spain were expelled by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella on the 9th of Av of 1492, ...
9
My rabbinic sources in Rome tell me that there is no written source, but that this is local minhag. --SF
8
Dr. Steven Fine, my Classical Jewish History prof at YU, wrote in this year's Tisha Bav To-Go (published by YU's CJF) the following:
For centuries, Jews avoided the Arch of Titus, refusing to walk under
it and thus to give honor to Titus. The Arch symbolized the debasement
of Judaism and the beginning of our woes. This situation was
reinforced by ...
7
In the Kuntras Yekar Tifferes (http://beta.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=36072&st=&pgnum=204) the author brings this question in the name of HaRav Zvi Perzovicz shlitoh who provides an interesting answer. The Tur in the beginning of Hilchos Rosh Chodesh says that really the 12 Roshei Chadashim should have been Yomim Toivim, however, because of ...
7
Maharsha writes on that story:
הואיל והוו יתבי רבנן ולא מיחו בו: איכא למימר מה שלא מיחו מפני שלא היה בידם למחות אפשר שעשו כן כי החנופה היא שגברה באותו הדור כמ"ש בסוטה
גבי אגריפס המלך
One could say that the reason that the rabbis didn't object was
because they were not able to object. It's also possible that they did
this out of flattery, which ...
7
R. H. Shachter notes in a shiur here (beginning at minute 66)1 that the Baal HaMeor seems to have embraced the secular chronology (to the ire of the Raavad) and added that Chazal's fallibility is affirmed by the Maharshal and Tosafos Rid, concluding that if the Me'or Einayim were published today, he doesn't think it would cause such a storm (over the ...
7
Seems to be here (end of the first column and beginning of the second, ד"ה ענין).
Although, if I'm understanding him correctly, it's not that if he had held back there wouldn't have been any further animosity on the brothers' part, just that they would have been able to complete all of the tikkunim that were needed. (Maybe that amounts to the same thing?)
7
While I don't think that the premise for the question is very strong, as Titus may or many not have known about the technical severity of different relationships, and may or may not have cared, as there is no reason to assume that degrading the Temple depended on technical severity of prohibition, nevertheless, Maharal obviates the question. He writes in ...
7
Heinrich Himmler received the formal command from the Nazi Party to initiate the Final Solution, an order which resulted in millions of Jewish deaths. This happened on Tisha B'Av in 5701, which corresponds to August 2, 1941 on the Gregorian calendar. (Source)
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The Mishnah in Taanit 4:6 reports that the Jews had five calamities on the 17th of Tammuz, the second was that the tamid offering was not brought anymore, and the Temple was eventually destroyed on the 9th of Av. On Taanit 28b the Sages discuss, whether this refers to the First (587 BCE) or the Second Temple (70 CE), and they conclude that it was the Second ...
6
The Talmud (Gittin 56a) relates the following about the Zealot-Pharisee relationship:
The biryoni [presumed to be Zealots] were then in the city. The Rabbis said to them: Let us go out and make peace with them [the Romans]. They would not let them, but on the contrary said, Let us go out and fight them. The Rabbis said: You will not succeed. They then ...
6
The Ramchal in Da'as Tevunos (Simanim 40 and 142) understands this to be a symptom of the hester panim, the hiding of Hashem's presence, that coincided (resulted?) from the destruction of the Beis HaMikdosh. It is an expression of the relationship between the general quality of life in the world and the expression of Hashem's presence in the world. When ...
6
Judaism was able to survive the destruction of the Second Temple because Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai set up an academy in Yavne where Torah could be taught and a generation of sages figured out how to convert Biblical, sacrifice-oriented Judaism into Rabbinic Judaism, centered on prayer, study, and righteous deeds.
From Avot d' Rabbi Natan 4:5
Once, Rabban ...
5
Exodus Rabah 51:3, (third paragraph in your link)
מהו משכן שני פעמים א"ר שמואל בר מרתא שנתמשכן שני פעמים על ידיהם זהו
שאנשי כנסת הגדולה אומרים (נחמיה א) חבול חבלנו לך ולא שמרנו את המצות
ואת החוקים ואת המשפטים מהו חבול חבלנו לך הוי שנתמשכן ב' פעמים ואין
חבול אלא משכון שנאמר (דברים כד) לא יחבול רחים ורכב לכך כתיב אלה פקודי
המשכן משכן העדות ב' פעמים:&...
5
Long before it was actually destroyed, it was looted.
The prophet Jeremiah kept knocking heads with the Jewish people about the Temple. For them it was "the pride of their stubbornness" -- well by golly if we still have the Temple standing, everything is going to be okay. Once the Temple was looted, that broke people's attitudes towards it as their ...
5
The main reason that most people give for the destruction of the second Bais Hamikdash is sinas chinam (purposeless or free hate), however, this is not completely the case nor is it as simplistic as it may appear.
Tzarich Iyun: The Destruction of the Beit Hamikdash Rabbi Dr. Ari Zivotofsky goes into an analysis of what was happening at the time and why the ...
4
In the book "Jewish History in Conflict", Mitchel First compiled and categorized many of the Jewish responses to the discrepancy between the Seder Olam and secular dating. It would seem that at least some maintain that disregarding the Jewish dates conflicts with belief in the Torah:
ה' יצילנו מדעת החיצונים כילדי נכרים יספיקו המוסיפים הרבה במנין מלכי פרס ...
4
Rabbi Eleazar Ben Hanania Ben Hizkiya.
The evidence for this one is not 100% proof, but:
1) In Shabbat 13b it says that חנניה בן חזקיה וסעתו compiled Megillat Taanit. He is also identified as one of the leaders of Beit Shammai, and is known for "saving" the book of Ezekiel among other things.
2) We only have an Aramaic version of Megilat Taanit, but ...
4
I would argue that both stories are true, and that this is not even particularly surprising.
The Roman historian, Suetonius, mentions the incident with Josephus fairly early in his biography of Vespasian in the context of a host of similar omens and dreams that predicted that Vespasian was destined to become Caesar.
What this tells us is that not only was ...
4
Interesting question. However I think before asking that we must ask ouselves if we cry that there is a question whether we should laugh instead? We are so deep into this galus that the few things we do to try to remember the beis hamikdash are so hard for us to keep and the one day a year we spend on trying to tear at least a drop, to many is so hard to ...
4
Perhaps the reason you heard that rabbis began after the Second Temple, is that that is when the term 'rabbi' is introduced. For example, earlier Sages listed chronologically in Avot (1:2-12) are not called rabbi. These include: Shim'on HaTsadik, Antignos Ish Sokho, Yossi ben Yoezer, Yossi ben Yohanan, Yehoshua ben Perachya, Nittai HaArbeli, Yehuda ben ...
4
This excellent source sheet produced by R. Anthony Manning, lists a number of different approaches to resolving the discrepancy:
1. Seder Olam is correct and the conventional chronology is incorrect.
Conventional chronology is incorrect due to Christian manipulation (R. Sa'adia Gaon) or Greek manipulation (R. Alexander Hool).
2. Conventional chronology is ...
4
Many Christian attempts to read about their Messiah in the Jewish Bible are based on incorrect translations and misunderstandings of the Jewish way of reading the Bible (Tanakh) through its commentators.
In the specific case of Daniel chapter 9 and Christians reading the text to coincide with the arrival of Jesus in Jerusalem, R Bentzion Kravitz here ...
3
As mentioned by Mike, the destruction of the Second Temple was like the climax of a slowly moving glacier that eventually splashes into the ocean. Even after the rebellion finally started, it took nearly three years for the Romans to fully conquer the Galilee and the North and then finally pivot down to Jerusalem. This gave enough time for the non-Zealot ...
3
This comment proposes:
I think the point of the Gemara is to illustrate that someone's life was
ruined by the callous way two people who contrived to ruin it within
the bounds of Halachah, as in RaMBa"N's famous interpretation of the
Naval BiRshuth HaTorah (VaYikra 19:2)
3
In Maayanah Shel Torah, a teaching is brought in the name of R"I MiKuzmir, who I'm pretty sure is R' Yechezkel Taub of Kuzmir, the founder of the Modzitz Dynasty.
Here's a rough translation:
We know the the Holy Temples were destroyed because of Baseless Hatred. When Yosef and Binyamin met, and felt that their separation until now had been caused by of ...
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