Yodfat
One of the most famous battles in the times of Josephus Phlavius, which is,
by the way, the first and last of his battles. That is the reason why this
battle has earned a long and vivid description in his book - "Milhamot
Hayehudim".
Aspasianus was one of the most famous military commanders of the Romans,
and with his son Titus, came here to put an end to the rebellion of the Jews.
His military movement began in the year 66, and ended in the year 67. In
this voyage many jewish villages and towns were destroyed and conquered,
and the two most important fortresses at the time were also demolished: Yodfat
and Yafi'a.
It has been only about six months since Joseph Ben-Matityahu has been posted
to be the military commander of the Galilee, and the truth is that he didn't
have much experience. As a kid grown up in Rome, he knew some of the theory
of the Romans, but he had never practice that on the field...
Aspasianus intended to conquer the whole Galilee, and it was then natural
that he would come to Yodfat, since that would give him a continuous Roman
Territory between Acre and the Tiberia Region. Yodfat also had a good seight
of the way conducting from Acre to the Jewish center in the Galilee.
Yodfat was one of the most cruel and heavy battles in the Roman period in
Israel. After the conquest Aspasianus didn't continue with his plans to conquer
the whole Galilee, instead he ordered to rest for a long period of time in
Tiberias and Bet She'an.
Yodfat stood for over a month against the fierce attacks of the Roman army.
The three legions, consisting of 160 war machines and thousands of soldiers
- cavallery and infantry, fought more than a month to break down the walls
of the fortress.
It was a traitor, captured by Aspasianus, who revealed the fact that the
soldiers on the wall fall asleep exshausted in the hours before sunrize.
Many of Joseph's soldiers jumped to their death or fell on their swords,
but 40 of Yodfat people escaped to a cave. In the cave, they decided to commit
suicide. They killed one another, and one of the two remaining men was Joseph
Ben-Matityahu...
We'll never know exactly what happenned there, because he's the one telling
the story. Nevertheless, it's worth to go and look the the place.
How to get there:
-
Just look at the map, somewhere in Gush Segev, between Shfar'am and Sahnin.
-
Near Yodfat-the Moshav, near the last houses, you'll find the remains.
-
What else to see:
The monkey park of Yodfat, which, as far as I know, has monkeys which were
captured in the airports and custom of Haifa and Ashdod ports.
SHANA TOVA !!!