Hadrian

(Publias Aelius Hadrianus)

(76–138)

   Roman emperor, 117–38. The Bar-Kochba revolt against Roman rule in Palestine (132–5) took place towards the end of Hadrian’s reign. After it had been suppressed, Hadrian brought in a number of harsh measures against the practice of the Jewish religion, even banning circumcision on pain of death. The Roman city of Aelia Capitolina was erected on the ruins of Jerusalem with a temple to Jupiter, and an equestrian statue of Hadrian on the site of the Jewish Temple. The repressive measures remained in force until repealed by Hadrian’s successor, the emperor Antoninus Pius.

   Rabbinic literature is ambivalent about Hadrian. Generally, he is referred to as wicked, with curses after his name. Yet, some of the aggadic stories about him present him in a more kindly light and no doubt derive from the period before the revolt. He is said to have had discussions with Rabbi JOSHUA BEN-HANANIAH, though the story is unverified. HAFFKINE, Waldemar Mordecai 1860–1930. Russian bacteriologist. Working at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, Odessa-born Haffkine in 1892. developed an anti-cholera vaccine, which was successfully tested in India the following year. In 1896 he produced a vaccine against bubonic plague that arrested an outbreak in Bombay. He continued to work in India and was given British citizenship. However, in the 1902. plague in the Punjab some inoculated cases died of tetanus, which led to Haffkine being suspended and his work severely criticized. He was rehabilitated by a scientific article in The Times (London) in 1907.

   An observant Jew, Haffkine set up a foundation for the benefit of eastern European yeshivot.