Dear Yuyutsu,

I looked the reference you included in your post and saw nothing about the Romans. I agree that prayer is preferable to animal sacrifice. To me both seem pointless.

I imagine that, like us, the Romans behaved differently in different circumstances.

However, we can look at the quote you provided;

"Rabbi Judah commenced [the discussion] by observing, 'How fine are the works of this people!¹ They have made streets, they have built bridges, they have erected baths.' Rabbi Jose was silent. Rabbi Simeon Bar Yohai answered and said, 'All that they made they made for themselves; they built market-places, to set harlots in them; baths, to rejuvenate themselves; bridges, to levy tolls for them.'"

We can also travel on streets, cleanse our bodies in baths, buy goods in market-places and cross rivers on bridges. There is nothing wrong in making something for yourself. Rabbi Simeon Bar Yohai was a grump.

The Israelites gloried in the conquests of David and Joshua and condemned the conquests of the Romans. Neither lived in peace.

Dear David F.,

«I looked the reference you included in your post and saw nothing about the Romans.»

Footnote #15. This particular page does not mention the Romans by name, but it is the subject-matter throughout.

«Rabbi Simeon Bar Yohai was a grump.»

Well, he was grumpy because the Romans made a long list of prohibitions of ordained Jewish religious practices.

And the Romans wanted to kill him for this grumpiness, so much for freedom-of-speech: he went into hiding and when he emerged from it, he became the spiritual-leader behind the final bloody revolt against the Romans.

«The Israelites gloried in the conquests of David and Joshua and condemned the conquests of the Romans.»

Yes, with one small difference: the conquests of the Romans were real and can be verified through many historical and archaeological documents. Boasting is the weapon of the weak and on its own never killed anyone.

Dear Yuyutsu,

The following is a terrific sentence. I applaud you for it.

"Boasting is the weapon of the weak and on its own never killed anyone."

I take it to heart and will look at the Book of Joshua in a new light. It reminds me of the lines from Miniver Cheevy. Perhaps you may not feel the same connection that I do.

Miniver loved the Medici,
Albeit he had never seen one;
He would have sinned incessantly
Could he have been one.

Miniver cursed the commonplace
And eyed a khaki suit with loathing;
He missed the mediæval grace
Of iron clothing.

Dear Yuyutsu

If my namesake "Top Gun: Maverick" and his US Navy buddies in their Super Hornets blew up your nuclear

bomb factory at "Dimona" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimon_Peres_Negev_Nuclear_Research_Center

then youse God-fearin scripture lovers would be really, really, sorry.

So there!