Nadene Goldfoot
Titus took a Jewish mistress, which was Berenice, a princess of Judea, daughter of Herod Agrippa I's sister, Salome and Herodias. She had married her cousin Aristobulus and after he died, Herod's brother-in-law, Theudion. (Note how the Jewish royalty had married into the Roman leadership-possibly given no other choices.) The last Jewish king was Zedekiah who reigned from 597 to 586 BCE who was appointed king by Nebuchadnezzar and died in prison in Babylon. Between the Babylonians and then Rome, Judah didn't stand much of a chance. It's interesting that the Royal House continued...giving us a chance to see the future of Britain's royal house.
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In April 70 CE, three days before Passover with the city full as expected, the Roman army started besieging Jerusalem. The city had been taken over by several rebel factions following a period of massive unrest and the collapse of a short-lived provisional government. Within three weeks, the Roman army broke the first two walls of the city, but a stubborn rebel standoff prevented them from penetrating the thickest and third wall. According to Josephus, a contemporary historian and the main source for the war, the city was ravaged by murder, famine and cannibalism.
9th of Av (Hebrew month) is the saddest day on the Jewish calendar, on which we fast, deprive ourselves and pray. It is the culmination of the Three Weeks, a period of time during which we mark the destruction of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. Both Holy Temples in Jerusalem were destroyed on this date; once by the Assyrians and once by the Romans, unleashing a period of suffering from which our nation has never fully recovered. Several other events are known to have fallen on this same date of the 9th of Av as listed by Chabad.
On Tisha B'Av, 70 CE (August 30), Roman forces overwhelmed the defenders and set fire to the Temple. Resistance continued for another month, but eventually the upper and lower parts of the city were taken as well, and the city was burned to the ground. Titus spared only the three towers of the Herodian citadel as a testimony to the city's former might. The siege had a major toll on human life, with many people being killed and enslaved, and large parts of the city destroyed. This victory gave the Flavian dynasty legitimacy to claim control over the empire. A triumph was held in Rome to celebrate the fall of Jerusalem, and two triumphal arches were built to commemorate it. The treasures looted from the Temple were put on display.
Josephus wrote that 1.1 million people, the majority of them Jewish, were killed during the siege – a death toll he attributes to the celebration of Passover. Josephus goes on to report that after the Romans killed the armed and elderly people, 97,000 were enslaved. Josephus records that many people were sold into slavery, and that of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, 40,000 individuals survived, and the emperor let them to go wherever they chose. Before and during the siege, according to Josephus' account, there were multiple waves of desertions from the city.
Originally, Jews were of one union with Abraham as their common father;
Israel became a nation with King Saul in 1025 BCE.
David followed as king, ruling from 1010 to 970 BCE, and then Solomon ruled
from 961 to 920 BCE. When he died, there was a Civil War and Israel divided
into the North of 10 of the tribes and the South with Judah and some of
Benjamin and some of Simeon; Judah and Israel. Israelis were attacked by
Assyria who took 27,290 with them and to Media and replaced them with Syrian and
Babylonian prisoners who were not Jews. They learned, somewhat. Then
Babylonians attacked Judah in 597 BCE and destroyed the Temple but returned some 70 years later
in 538 BCE. They rebuilt the Temple.
By 70 CE, which is 1,953 years ago, Jews looked aghast as they watched their Temple- rebuilt after being destroyed by the Assyrians and then by the Romans, burn to destruction along with their city of Jerusalem, and the ultimatum given to those still alive to never return from the exile they were about to embark upon as slaves. Only a few had escaped the horrendous famine that accompanied the destruction that even led to cannibalism with a few reported, it was that bad according to Josephus, and who knows if he were telling the truth or just tantalizing his Roman readers.
We're like a cell that has divided into 4 sections undergoing Mitosis:
Jews come in four groups: Ashkenazi, Sephardi, Mizrachi and Ethiopian, so when you mention "Jews," just who are you talking about?
- Ashkenazim, the Jews of Germany and Northern France (in Hebrew, Ashkenaz)
- Sephardim, the Jews of Iberia (in Hebrew, Sepharad) and the Spanish diaspora
- m, or Oriental Jews
- Ethiopian Jews
Many of them were taken to Rome as slaves where a few Jews had actually been living, being in the trading business, not knowing that their families would be joining them as slaves-putting them also in jeopardy. Some 700 Judean prisoners were paraded through the streets of Rome in chains during the triumph, among them Simon bar Giora and John of Giscala. Simon bar Giora was executed by being thrown to his death from the Tarpeian Rock at the Temple of Jupiter after being judged a rebel and a traitor, while John of Giscala was sentenced to life imprisonment.
They were forced to move on when possible to Germany, and became the Ashkenazic Jews. Their language became a mixture of Hebrew and Germanic words called Yiddish. Italy today has 27,000 Jews. Germany has 118,000, and France has 448,000. Poland has 4,500, Lithuania has 2,400.
Others that became the Sephardim followed their leaders in the trading business with boats to Spain, called Sepharad in Biblical days. Historians generally believe, however, that Jews first came to the peninsula with the Roman legions, followed by further arrivals after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. When they were forced out in 1492, they moved over to Portugal, only to be thrown out of there in a few years, for all Christians had received direct orders from their Pope in Rome to treat Jews in this way. Their language became a mixture of Hebrew and Spanish words called Ladino. Today Spain has 13,000 Jews. They have offered Spanish passports to Sephardim. To be eligible for a Spanish passport, applicants have to put forward evidence of medieval Sephardi ancestry through heritage certificates and family trees. They also have to demonstrate special links to Spain and Spanish language skills through tests. They have turned down many people. Of the 150,000 total applications that have been submitted since 2015, 33,485 people have been granted citizenship to date. Only about 6,000 have been accepted in the past quarter. Applicants from Venezuela, Colombia and Mexico have been severely affected.
Mizrahi Jews with Mitzrayim meaning Egypt, sought refuge from nearby lands of Jerusalem, probably filling the vacant spots before the others arrived, which was why they had to continue onto Spain. They were forced to leave in 1948 when Israel was re-born in the United Nations.
It happened that in 71 CE, after the destruction of Jerusalem, zealot refugees stirred up a Jewish revolt in Egypt and another uprising there assumed considerable proportions in 115 to117. In 1948, as a result of the war in Palestine, many Jews were placed in concentration camps and attacks were made on Jewish homes. Their numbers in Egypt dropped from 90,000 in 1947 to 30,000 by 1955. By 1966 only 2,500 remained. In 1990 there were only 240 Jews left in Egypt. The Jewish history goes back to Abraham and Babylon. 2 centuries after the Arabs conquered Iraq conquest of Mohammad's death in 632 were ruled by their own exilarchate and their position was good. Omar came along and had restrictions on Jews and not strongly enforced. They were allowed into being physicians and bankers. Jews produced great doctors, scientists and scholars. and then they became traders and craftsmen. 15,000 Jews lived in some places Tudela visited. By 2011 Egypt reported having a population of 79,089, 650: 90% being Sunni Muslims. Egypt had a revolution in 2011. Egypt has 100 Jews today.
Syria was called Aram in the Bible. The Arab conquest took place from 634-637. Jews then were called Dhimmis and had to pay the toll tax that others didn't. Aleppo had 5,000 Jews, Damascus 3,000 and Palmyra 2,000. It even increased after 1492 with more refugees. Jewish population went from 30,000 in 1943 to 14,000 in 1947, after WWII. By 1973 the Jews numbered 4,000. They have kept up an anti-Israel policy. Syria has 100 Jews today.
Lebanon by 1964 had 5,000 to 7,000 Jews. By 1944 there were 6,261 Jews living there. By 1948 it went up again, now with Syrian Jews. By 1990 less than 100 remained. .jpg%20Ofra%20Haza.jpg)
Singer, Ofra Haza of Yemenite parents, an Israeli (19 Nov 1957-died 23 Feb. 2000). Of Mizrahi Jewish (Yemenite-Jewish) descent, Haza's music is known as a mixture of traditional Middle Eastern and commercial singing styles, fusing elements of Eastern and Western instrumentation, orchestration and dance-beat, as well as lyrics from Mizrahi and Jewish folk tales and poetry. She represented Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 1983, with the song "CHI"- meaning, "Life". You pronounce it as hi as in hi, Sam.
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Operation Magic Carpet took all the Jews of Yemen and transported nearly 50,000 to Israel. the majority of the Yemenite Jews made their way to Aden where they were flown to Israel. This started in the fall of 1949 and lasted for a year.
In 1941 was a terrible pogrom in Iraq against Jews-affected by Germany. The Jewish community in Baghdad was attacked by mobs leaving 180 dead. 123,500 Iraqi Jews reached Israel in Operation Ezra and Nehemiah in May 1950 which ended October 1951. Following the war, Iraq was the only Arab country not to sign a ceasefire agreement with Israel, and the two countries have technically been in a continuous state of war since 1948. 
Ethiopian Jews were said to be from The Queen of Sheba's visit to Solomon's child. They've suffered in Ethiopia among Christians who attacked them constantly until being rescued by airlifts from Israel who worked on checking into their authenticity as Jews. They may be the "most Jewish" of us all to have lasted all these years under great threats of life all the while retaining so much love of Judaism. 
A beautiful people, spent their first days in the hospital, and when healthy put on an art show in Safed. It didn't take long and they acted just like all the other Israelis in the supermarket.
They came to Israel in 1984 in Operation Solomon where 17,000 waited in camps in the Sudan. I was there in Safed when an airlift brought them there because of having empty apartments to accommodate them. They lived across the street from me. Another lift took place in 1991 bringing 14,000 over 2 days.
The USA, which has welcomed Jews, at first unwillingly with the arm twisted, has about 6 million Jews, specifically 5,700,000 mostly Ashkenazis, about the same number as Israel.
Resource:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Jerusalem_(70_CE)
https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/144575/jewish/What-Is-Tisha-BAv.htm
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