10 Witty Jewish Responses to Antisemitism
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How Queen Helena saved the people of Jerusalem and beautified the Temple. Long live the queen who converted to Judaism.
You might have heard of Queen Helena, the mother of Constantine, who had a significant influence on introducing Christianity to the Roman Empire in the 4th century. But around 300 years earlier, there was another Queen Helena who had a significant influence on introducing Judaism to a long lost kingdom by the name of Adiabene.
Adiabene was a semi-independent country located in what is now the Kurdish regions of northern Iraq. It ruled the area during the Greco-Roman period and was often a vassal state caught between the competing powers of Persia in the east and Rome in the west. It ruled over Nineveh (the city visited by the prophet Jonah centuries earlier) and its capital was called Arbela (modern day Erbil, the most populous city in today’s Iraqi Kurdistan).
During the early first century, Monbaz I ruled Adiabene along with several wives, one of whom was Queen Helena. Although Monbaz had older children from his other wives, the preferred heir to the throne was one of Helena’s sons, namely Izates II. When the half-brothers of Izates learned that he was in fact the designated crown price, Helena feared for his safety and sent him southwards to the Arab kingdom of Characene (today located in southern Iraq near the Persian Gulf), which was allied with Adiabene at the time. It was there, in the capital of Charax-Spasinu that he was taken in by King Abinergaos and married his daughter, a woman named Symachos.
Jewish communities had flourished in the neighboring lands of Babylonia and Persia for centuries by this point (their ancestors having been deported there from ancient Israel by Nebuchadnezzar in the aftermath of the destruction of the First Temple in 586 BCE). Situated at the intersection of international trade routes, the people of Characene would have been frequently exposed to Jewish merchants and pilgrims travelling through their territory on their way to or returning from Jerusalem. One of these merchants was a Jewish sage by the name of Hananiah (also known by his Greek name Ananias). While visiting the royal palace in Charax-Spasinu, he came into contact with Izates. Inspired by the faith and wisdom of the Jewish religion, Hananiah became his new mentor.
Meanwhile, back in Adiabene, Queen Helena came into contact with a Jewish sage of her own, Rabbi Eleazar from the Galilee. She too developed a strong affinity for Judaism and learned Jewish teachings from the great rabbi on a regular basis. Following the death of King Monbaz, Izates was called back from Characene to rule over his people in Adiabene.
After accepting the throne and exiling his jealous half brothers from the country, Izates, his mother Queen Helena, and her other son Monbaz II embarked on a full Jewish conversion under the guidance of Rabbi Hananiah and Rabbi Eleazar of Galilee. The royal family of Adiabene converted to Judaism around 30 CE, but for the most part, kept it a private matter.
By 39 CE, rumors circulated in neighboring kingdoms about the conversion to Judaism of King Izates. This was greatly resented by Abias, king of the Arabs in the south, as well as the Parthians in the east, who declared war on Adiabene. While Izates led his army out of Adiabene to confront the various military threats, Queen Helena made a vow that if her son would return safe from the battlefront, she would become a Nazarite for 7 years.
Upon his return, she did just that, which meant abstaining from wine, not cutting her hair, and having no physical contact with a grave or corpse. The Nazarite law, as stipulated in the Bible, requires the person who took the vow to bring a sacrifice to the Temple in Jerusalem at the conclusion of the oath period. In 46 CE, at the end of the seven-year commitment, Helena embarked on her first trip to Israel (known at the time as Judea).
Arriving to the Temple and explaining her story to the Jewish scholars of Jerusalem (the House of Hillel), her sacrifice could not be accepted. It was explained to her that any Nazarite vow could only be fulfilled while in the Land of Israel. Being a pious convert, Queen Helena took upon herself to fulfill the conditions of the oath and become a Nazarite again for an additional seven-year period, but this time in the Jewish homeland. What started out as a short visit to Israel turned into a nine-year adventure (she stayed on for an additional two years after her vow expired). They were the most intellectually stimulating years of Helena’s life.
After settling into Jerusalem, it became apparent that something wasn’t right. The city had been hit hard by famine and the people of Jerusalem lacked funds to import food from afar. Every day, people were perishing in the streets from malnutrition. This was no joke. For years, Helena was benefitting from the wisdom and inspiration of Judaism. Now was Helena’s opportunity to give back to the Jewish people. She took the initiative and sent a team of her servants to Alexandria, Egypt to purchase grain and another team to Cyprus to purchase dried figs and personally imported the cargo on her own expense. She had the supplies distributed to all the poor families of Jerusalem and saved the city from starvation. Her reputation rapidly grew and she became a beloved celebrity in the holy city.
Digging outside the Old City of Jerusalem, Queen Helena’s Palace
Now that she took care of the people, it was time to take care of herself as well. Being a queen of course, renting a flat just wouldn’t do. Josephus Flavius (aka Yosef ben Matityahu), the famous Jewish historian who also lived in Jerusalem during this time period, described the magnificent palace that Helena built for herself just south of the Temple Mount in a neighborhood of Jerusalem known as “the Lower City”. It had that name because it was on a lower elevation of the city (bottom of the hill), but also because it was where the lower classes lived, the poor of the city, lower income people, and the homeless.
Of course Queen Helena could have built her palace in the Upper City, amongst the elites and near the grand palace of King Herod. But she chose to create an open house, using her wealth to provide the poor of Jerusalem with free meals, especially on the Sabbath and festivals.
In 2007, during excavations of the Givati parking lot outside the City of David (not far from the Western Wall), archaeologists uncovered the palace of Queen Helena. Two floors could be identified along a wall 46-feet long and 16-feet tall. It also included ritual baths, pottery, frescoes, storage rooms, hallways, living quarters, and coins dated to the mid-1st century.
A large structure dated to the end of the Second Temple period (first century C.E.) may well be the palace of Queen Helena of Adiabene.
Helena’s contributions were not limited to the poor. Her donations included unique gifts to the Temple in Jerusalem. The most famous example was a gigantic shiny golden candelabra that was hung from the ceiling at the entrance to the sanctuary. Since the entrance to the Temple faced the east, when the sun would rise over the Mount of Olives, it would reflect off the golden candelabra and people would immediately know it was time to say the Shema prayer without having to turn backwards. Without the candelabra, people would need to turn their backs to the Temple in order to gaze at the sun, which to an outside observer may be misconstrued as an idolatrous practice since sunworshippers were common at that time.
It’s for this reason that even today, many synagogues around the world have a hanging candelabra, in honor of Helena. Other donations included a gold tablet inscribed with the Biblical law for suspected adulterers as well as gold handles that were attached to various vessels used in the Temple’s Yom Kippur rituals.
In 55 C.E. after spending 9 years in Jerusalem, Helena was called back to Adiabene to attend the funeral of her son Izates II, who unexpectedly passed away at the age of 55 after ruling his kingdom for 24 years. Helena, who was in her 70s by this point, was grief stricken and she passed away shortly after her arrival in Adiabene. Monbaz II, the other son who converted to Judaism now took the throne. He ordered the remains of his mother and brother to be buried outside Jerusalem in a tomb that Helena had earlier constructed for the royal family prior to her death. In those days, it was customary for kings and queens to build their own tombs during their lifetimes that would usually house both their remains and that of their offspring.
Tombs of the Kings
The classical rock cut tomb included a triple pyramid rooftop, which was probably meant for Helena and her two sons, Izates II and Monbaz II. Tombs with pyramid rooftops were common among Jewish kings and high priests towards the end of the Second Temple period and are still visible today in the surroundings of Jerusalem’s old city. Josephus, who lived in Jerusalem at the same time as Helena, described the location of her tomb as being “three furlong from the city”, which in today’s terminology means around half a mile.
In 1863, French archaeologist Louis Félicien de Saulcy conducted an excavation at a monument known as “Tomb of the Kings” located about half a mile north of Jerusalem’s old city walls. It was traditionally believed to be an ancient tomb for the Biblical kings of Judah, but research at the site in fact dated it to the first century, the time period of Helena, hundreds of years after the Biblical kings. Five sarcophagi were discovered there including one, which reads in Aramaic “Tzara Malchata – צרה מלכתא”, meaning “our mistress the queen”.
Sarcophagus of Helene, Queen of Adiabene, from a collection at the Louvre Museum. Image via WIkimedia Commons.
Inside was found a body covered in a gold embroidered shroud. De Saulcy managed to smuggle the sarcophagus out of the country and shipped it to Paris where it remains today on display in the Louvre Museum. The tomb was acquired by the French government in 1886. Through negotiations with the State of Israel, the tomb site has been open to tourism on a limited basis since 2019.
Queen Helena saw the Temple and ancient Jerusalem at the height of its glory just 15 years before its destruction by the Romans. Her acts of piety are mentioned in the Talmud and the discovery of her tomb serves as an eternal edifice for her memory. Long live the queen who converted to Judaism!
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I would like it very much if they could put her back in Israel thanks.. she wanted to be buried here for a reason.
Rivka, there is a movement to return all archeological and artistic property to their origins