Rachel Shamosh

9H1

Connecting the Dots

What could a Greek Goddess and a harsh Jewish leader possibly

have in common? The answer to this question is more than one would

expect. Both Hera Queen of Mount Olympus and Herod the Great ruler

of Judea were extremely jealous, paranoid and temperamental

individuals. The two also share in common that their rash behavior

often resulted in suffering and sometimes the death of many innocent

beings.

Herod is considered one of the most accomplished, but also

destructive Jewish leaders in history. On the one hand, Herod put Judea

on the map as a super power nation at the time by building up the

capital of Jerusalem and constructing some of the ancient world’s most

magnificent cities and structures, such as Caesarea and Herod’s

Temple to name a couple. On the other hand, Herod had a very cruel

way of securing his power, and that was to seek and destroy. If Herod

saw someone as even a slight threat to his ruler-ship, he would find

that person and brutally kill him or her immediately. His paranoia that

someone would snatch his throne away led him to executing his own

family members. The family murders he committed included killing his

father-in-law, Hyrcanus, mother-in-law, Alexandra and wife, Miriam. He

also managed to get rid of all descendants of the Hasmonean Dynasty,

ending Judea’s era of Torah and foreign and domestic peace for good.

One could argue that Herod single-handedly led the Jewish people to

the one of their most devastating tragedies in history: the destruction

of the Beit HaMikdash on account of the Romans in 70 AD.

While Herod’s fear stemmed from political paranoia, Hera’s fear

lied more in her personal worries. Hera is known as the beautiful and

jealous wife of Zeus. Though the two were madly in love, Hera always

had to keep an eye on Zeus who often had affairs with other women,

mortal and non-mortal. In the event that Hera found Zeus caught in the

act, she went to extreme measures to punish the women who were

guilty of having an affair with him. We see this play out in the case of

Io, a mortal woman who Zeus secretly wooed. As a story goes, when

Hera was looking upon earth one day, she spotted a cloud and

assumed it was her husband Zeus and rushed down to confirm the

fact. When she arrived, she saw Zeus with a cow. In reality, the cow

was Io who he was wooing and he cleverly transformed her into a cow

when he saw his jealous wife approaching. From Zeus’ previous affairs,

Hera deduced that the cow standing before her was not really a cow at

all, but rather one of his mistresses. She therefore asked Zeus if she

could have the cow and Zeus, afraid of his wife’s reactions, said yes.

Furthermore, Hera was always plotting against the nymphs who she

also suspected were tempting Zeus.

 What I learned from comparing Herod and Hera is that every

single one of your actions has a consequence that may or may not

affect other people. Nevertheless, one should never make hasty

decisions and should think matters through before taking action.

Looking at the world through the lens of the Greeks has helped

me evaluate and confirm my own belief system. By taking a step back

and seeing what the Greeks valued and how they worshipped their

gods, it did not make much sense to me. I cannot say it added any new

layer to my identity, but rather strengthened by Jewish faith that was

always there.