How (and why) did the First Temple Period end? First, examine the reign of King Josiah, whose popular religious reforms reasserted the importance of Jerusalem’s Temple. Then, investigate the Temple’s traumatic destruction—and its relationship to Gospel accounts about the destruction of the Second Temple..

Follow the turbulent story of the Maccabean Revolt after the outlawing of Judaism under Antiochus IV. Then, examine how the Book of Daniel (written around the time of the revolt) dealt with the concept of “desolating sacrilege,” and how this is repeated in Jesus's own prophesies about the destruction of the Temple..

Unpack the hidden meaning and significance of the Dead Sea Scrolls themselves—some of ancient history’s most fascinating texts, which date back to the time of Jesus. Among the findings you’ll explore here: early copies of the Hebrew Bible, fragments of a Greek translation of the Septuagint, and early biblical commentaries..

In this lecture, probe the rise of the Sadducees and Pharisees during the late Second Temple Period. You’ll learn how the Pharisaic approach became dominant in Judaism, and you’ll spend time investigating what the Gospels say about whether or not Jesus identified as a Pharisee..

Turn from the Pharisees to the Essenes, the sect associated with the Dead Sea Scrolls. In the first of three lectures on this fascinating sect, focus on how a strict system of ritual purity was a fundamental part of everyday life at Qumran (the site where the Scrolls were found)..

2013 Academy Award nominee for Best Documentary Short Subject, KINGS POINT tracks the stories of five residents of a retirement community in Florida who arrived decades ago with their health intact and spouses by their sides. Now that they and their community, comprised primarily of widowed women, face advanced age and mortality, paradise demands a higher price.. Through candid interviews the film exposes the dynamic interplay of their desire for...

A look into the complex and contradictory personality of Yossef Nachmani, the man largely responsible for the first Zionist settlements in the Galilee. As director of the Jewish National Fund office in the Galilee, Nachmani acquired as much land from Arabs as possible to establish Jewish settlements upon it. The film focuses on events in Tiberius, Nachmani's hometown, a mixed community where Arabs and Jews coexisted harmoniously. Nachmani left behind...

Victor "Young" Perez , tells the astonishing, harrowing and incredible true story of a Tunisian Jewish boxer, who became the World Flyweight Champion in 1931 and 1932. His romance with the French-Italian actress Mireille Balin increased his fame. But because of his Jewish heritage, Perez was arrested in Paris on September 21, 1943 and transported to Auschwitz. Whilst there he was forced to participate in boxing matches for the amusement of the Nazis....

This personal documentary reveals the complexities of a single woman living in a beauty-obsessed world with her original yet imperfect nose. It's a tale that anyone who has ever obsessed over their own "imperfection" will easily relate to. MY NOSE explores filmmaker Gayle Kirschenbaum's mother's preoccupation with her nose, the intricacies of the mother/daughter relationship, and asks what drives people into the plastic surgeon's office. Will she...

A small municipality in Montreal finds two very different cultures living side by side: Hassidic Jews and their mostly French-speaking neighbors. Intent on preserving their religious traditions, the Hassidim meet outsiders with a kind of protective wall. Misunderstanding the Hassidic way of life, many of the French residents respond to their neighbors with a mixture of mistrust, frustration and curiosity. Faced with a growing transformation of their...