Kamtza and Bar Kamtza
A party invitation goes to the wrong man, Bar Kamtza is thrown out in shame, and his revenge plot ends with Rabbi Zecharia ben Avkolos's fateful ruling.
The Gemara in Gittin (55b) tells the famously regrettable story of a wealthy man in the first century who sends his servant to deliver an invitation to his friend, a man named Kamtza, for an upcoming party. However, the servant mistakes the recipient as Bar Kamtza, an enemy of the wealthy man. Upon seeing the hated Bar Kamtza at his party, the host orders him to leave. Bar Kamtza, attempting to save face, thrice offers to make peace with the host, first offering to pay for the food he eats, then for half of the expenses of the party, and then for the entire party, and is each time rebuffed by the angry host.
Humiliated, Bar Kamtza vows revenge against the rabbis present who did not defend him and allowed him to be publicly embarrassed. He visits the Roman Caesar who controls the region and tells him the Jews are inciting to revolt against the Roman Empire. The Caesar, unsure whether to believe Bar Kamtza, sends with Bar Kamtza an animal to be sacrificed as a peace offering in the Temple in Jerusalem. On the way, Bar Kamtza deliberately wounds the animal in a way that would disqualify it as a Jewish sacrifice but not as a Roman offering.