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Throughout the years, Jews continued to preserve the memory of the city and hope for its rebuilding. When Emperor Hadrian came to power, the Jews hoped for the renewal of the Temple’s construction, but Hadrian planned a completely new city: a Roman idolatrous city named Aelia Capitolina. The city’s name reflects its essence as a city named after the emperor and in honor of the Capitolinian gods, far removed from its original name, Jerusalem. The Jews, whose dreams were shattered, could not bear the thought that Jerusalem would not return to what it once was, so they rebelled. Their leader in the revolt was Bar Kokhba.
On the rebellion’s coins, the rebels imprinted their dream: the Temple. The revolt did not succeed in achieving its goal; the rebels apparently did not manage to reach Jerusalem. However, they did succeed in delaying the construction of Aelia Capitolina. The construction of the city itself was completed only after about four hundred years.
After the revolt, which was brutally suppressed, Hadrian issued severe decrees against the Jews to prevent another rebellion. Among these decrees was a ban on Jews entering Jerusalem. The destroyed city was left desolate, devoid of its children.
The Jews mourned the destruction of the city from afar, and only on the ninth of Av were they allowed to ascend to Jerusalem and mourn over its ruins.
The exposure of the theater precisely under the Western Wall completes the historical narrative that begins with the destruction of Jerusalem, continues with the desire to sever the connection between us and the city, and the circle closes with the Plaza crowded with the nation who continued to carry the memory of Jerusalem and returned to it.
