Bartal, Israel. "Mizrchit ketana lelo tasbich"
Title trans.: "A Small, Eastern Nation Without Complex"
Divergence: 70 CE
What if: Rome did not destroy the second temple in Jerusalem, and the Jewish rebellion did not result in the exile of the Jews.
Summary: Dominated by the priesthood, Judea would have remained a small, insignificant nation, whether within the empire or, after its fall, without. Eventually becoming a European colony in the 18th century, a conflict between modernists and traditionalists would result in destruction of the temple and a century later in modern independent state.
Published: In Ha'aretz, 31 July 1998.
Original in: Hebrew.