Tikvah
Editors’ Pick

July 1, 2026

Mike Huckabee and Bar Kokhba Meet at Herod’s Palace

A play, a speech, and what makes the U.S.-Israel relationship different.

Last month, Sarah Rindner attended a performance of a play, staged at the Herodium—the eponymous king’s gargantuan palace in the Judean desert—titled Herod vs. Bar Kokhba: The Battle for Eternity. As tomorrow begins the three-week period of morning for the destruction of the Temples, the subject matter is apt: Herod was effectively the last king of a Judea, and the Roman defeat of Bar Kokhba’s revolt in 135 CE spelled the end of Jewish hopes to restore independence. 

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