Reply To: Kamtza & Bar Kamtza

I heard from both Rav Reuven Netanel and Rav Avraham Korman that the background of the story was political. Rav Netanel pointed out that “Bar Kamtza” means “son of Kamtza” and said that political disagreements even split families. Rav Korman pointed out that “kamtza” is Aramaic for “grasshopper” and that it has a characteristic of forming a swarm that eats everything in sight and then flies into the sesert or sea and dies.He then said that Chazal were talking about two different political parties. He did not say this but it could be that Bar Kamtza was a breakaway faction of Kamtza.