{"id":7957,"date":"2026-07-02T19:35:29","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T16:35:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themuseumguy.co.il\/?p=7957"},"modified":"2026-07-02T23:40:23","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T20:40:23","slug":"as-soon-as-the-war-is-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themuseumguy.co.il\/he\/post\/as-soon-as-the-war-is-over\/","title":{"rendered":"As Soon as the War Is Over: My New Age of Empires Tour"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here we are again, in the 17th of Tammuz. The day that kicks off all the bad stuff about Jewish history. Well, the defeats, the mistakes, the events in which things broke and were destroyed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It seems that in the past few years, more and more things have been breaking, and at an ever-increasing pace. Ideas and conceptions about Israel’s role in the world, our connection to the land of Israel, religious ideas, and leadership, not to mention politics, and the danger of civil war. And then there’s the world at large \u2014 globalization, technology, A.I.\u2026 need I say more?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Judaism, we don’t commemorate the past. We revisit<\/em> the ideas that brought us to where we are today. The past is a lens, a way to learn from it, and a reminder that some fundamental issues have not been solved yet (Rambam, Hilchot Ta’aniot, chapter 5<\/a>). Whether it’s the shattering of the tablets during the sin of the Golden Calf \u2014 an icon we erected for ourselves \u2014 or the shattering of the walls of Jerusalem \u2014 the icon we thought would outlast the Romans. These are paradigms that had to be shattered, for us to be free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is Artificial Intelligence the same? How many jobs will be lost, industries shattered, because we can’t adjust to a new reality? Perhaps this connection is too symbolic \u2014 A.I. isn’t a sin. But the instinct behind it is the same one our fast day is pointing to: our constructs are never infallible, and our security is always tenuous, at best. What changes do we have to go through, as individuals and as a society, to grow and to become better? Keep that question in mind, because it’s exactly the question that drives the story I actually want to tell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I want to discuss a transition, a paradigm shift, that changed the world, and impacted the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. I’m speaking about the Age of Empires \u2014 and this year, I’m running my flagship tour of the same name, rebuilt around a brand-new exhibition at the Bible Lands Museum, Jerusalem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"Pharaoh<\/a>
Pharaoh Ramesses II’s encampment in the Battle of Kadesh<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u05e2\u05d9\u05d3\u05df \u05d4\u05d0\u05d9\u05de\u05e4\u05e8\u05d9\u05d5\u05ea<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In the world of the Kings of Israel and Judah, also known as Iron Age II, empires were a new paradigm. Iron Age II<\/a> runs roughly from the kingdom of David and Solomon, about 2,900 years ago, until the destruction of the First Temple in 586 BCE, according to conventional chronology. During that time, the region was made up of regional kingdoms: Israel, Judah, Aram, Ammon, Moab, Edom. (Their Bronze Age predecessors were city-states \u2014 a different political structure entirely, and a story for another day.) Assyria was the first of these regional powers to become a true world empire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Historians call this the Neo-Assyrian period, because Assyria beforehand was a powerful kingdom, but not an empire. After this came the Neo-Babylonian empire, which defeated the Assyrians. Then came the Persian Empire, the Hellenistic empires of Alexander and his successors, and so on. I recommend this concise TedEd video as an introduction to the subject:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n