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PERSECUTIONS AND MARTYRDOM IN HADRIAN'S DAYS * MOSHE DAVID HERR I A Baraita preserved in Talmudic literature attributes the revocation of the Hadrianic decrees against Jewish religious practice after the Bar Kokhba revolt to the consequences of a public demonstration . What did Judah b . Shammua' and his colleagues do ? — They went and took counsel with a Roman matron whose house all Roman notables frequented . She said to them : "Go and demonstrate at night" . They went and demonstrated at night . They said : "O ye heavens , are we not your brothers ? Are we not the children of one father ? Are we not the children of one mother ? Wherein are we different from every other nation and tongue , that you issue harsh decrees against us ?" against all wars , oppressions , subjugations and restrictive decrees ? If so , what was the novelty in applying them to the Hadrianic persecutions ? Even a cursory glance at the Roman world and the mood prevailing there at the beginning of the second cent...
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