When the Romans stormed the Second Temple, they faced a problem their swords could not solve: none of them wanted to be the first to walk into the sanctuary. The inner chambers were rumored to strike dead any unauthorized intruder, and legionary after legionary hesitated at the threshold.
They found a Jew willing to do it for them. His name was Josef Meshita. They offered him a deal: enter first, and whatever you bring out is yours to keep.
The Golden Menorah Is Not a Private Possession
Josef walked in. He emerged carrying the golden Menorah — the seven-branched lampstand that had stood in the Heichal, fed with pure olive oil by the priests for generations (Exodus 25:31-40). It was the single most identifiable piece of furniture in the Jewish world.
The Romans stopped him. "Not this. This is not fit for a private person. Bring something else."
They sent him back in for a second round.
The Refusal That Cost Him His Body
Josef Meshita refused. Whatever had happened to him in his first passage through the ruined sanctuary — whatever he had seen with the Menorah in his arms — had changed him. He would not go back.
The Romans increased the bribes. He still refused. And so, the Gaster exempla records, he was "sawn in two by these people" — executed with one of the cruelest deaths known to the ancient world.
The story, preserved in Bereshit Rabbah 65:22 and the medieval Ma'aseh Book, reads as a quiet corrective to every easy narrative about Jewish collaborators during the destruction. Josef Meshita crossed a line when he entered the Temple once. He drew a second line, and stood on it, when he refused to enter again. His body was not saved. His teshuvah — his return — was complete.