HERITAGE: Civilization and the jews - PBS

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W O R K S H E E T S T U D E N T HERITAGE: CIVILIZATION AND THE JEWS PREVIEW QUESTIONS Answer these questions as you watch The Power of the Word or as you explore the accompanying multimedia presentations, historical documents, and maps. PROGRAM TWO: THE POWER OF THE WORD (586 B.C.E. - 72 C.E.) 1. How did Jewish worship change during the Babylonian Exile? 2. Why did Cyrus permit the Jews to return to Judea? What problems did they encounter on their return? 3. What were the achievements of Ezra and Nehemiah? 4. What threats did Hellenistic culture pose to the Jews? 5. Why was the festival of Hanukkah instituted? 6. How did life in Palestine change under Herod? 7. Why did the Jews revolt against Rome? What happened? Sadducee family gravestone, Syria MAP THE WORLD OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT, 323 B.C.E. USING PRIMARY DOCUMENTS THE SAYINGS OF HILLEL During the time of the Romans, the Pharisees were a major religious group in Palestine.They believed that the Torah applied to all aspects of life, that a good life required people to be kind, merciful, generous, and charitable, and that study should be part of the lives of ordinary people, not just those of the priestly caste. The most important of the Pharisee teachers was Hillel, who is remembered for his wisdom, kindness, patience, and respect for learning. Below are a few of his more memorable sayings. They are representative of those elements of Phariseeism that helped form the foundations of rabbinic Judaism. Many of the sayings of Jesus are similar to Hillel’s maxims, suggesting that Jesus, who was a practicing Jew, was sympathetic to the Pharisees’ teachings. • Whatever you do not wish your neighbor to do to you, do not do to him. —From the Talmud, Shab. 31a, Avot-de-Rabbi Nathan 15,61 Below are the names of five cities in Alexander the Great’s empire. Indicate their location on the map above by matching them with the correct letter (write in number). Put a check next to the cities that still exist today. 1. Jerusalem 4. Athens 2. Babylon 5. Alexandria 3. Damascus • A name made great is a name destroyed. • He who does not increase his knowledge decreases it; he who does not study deserves to die [...] • If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when? • Do not judge your fellow-man until you put yourself in his place. • Neither say, “When I have leisure I will study”—perhaps you will have no leisure! • Someone who is too engaged in business cannot grow wise. • In a place where there are no human beings, you must try to be a human being. —From Sayings of the Fathers
T E A C H E R ’ S PROGRAM THREE: THE SHAPING OF TRADITIONS (30 - 732) Once, as Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai was coming forth from Jerusalem, Rabbi Joshua followed after him and beheld the Temple in ruins. “Woe unto us!” Rabbi Joshua cried,“ that this, the place where the iniquities of Israel were atoned for, is laid waste.” “My son,” Rabban Johanan said to him, “be not grieved; we have another atonement as effective as this. And what is it? It is acts of loving-kindness, as it is said, For I desire mercy and not sacrifice.” [Hosea 6:6] — Judah Goldin, tr., The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan, (New Haven: The Yale University Press, 1955). HISTORICAL BACKGROUND Jerusalem and the Temple served as the political and religious center of Jewish life for almost 1,000 years. The destruction of the Temple in 70 was a catastrophe, affecting not only Jews in the Land of Israel, but also large numbers already living in the Diaspora. Fortunately for the survival of Judaism, however, the Pharisaic belief that religious authority should rest with rabbis (teachers) rather than with the Temple priesthood had already firmly taken hold. Under the leadership of Johanan ben Zakkai, a group of rabbis assembled in Jabneh, a small town south of Jerusalem, where they established a synagogue and rabbinical academy. Over time, individual synagogues assumed a heightened importance throughout the Diaspora as places of prayer, learning, and social activity. Religious authority shifted to the new rabbinical institutions that were developing in Palestine and Babylonia. The Pharisees conceived of Torah, or divine law, as composed of two dimensions: a written law and an oral law, which interpreted, refined, and elaborated upon the written text. This concept reinforced the pliability of Judaism’s sacred tradition, allowing it to adjust and modify itself to the needs of Jewish life in subsequent centuries. In about 200 C.E., a selection of oral law was compiled into the Mishnah, the work that became the foundation for the continued development of Judaism. Economic conditions in the devastated Land of Israel led many Jews Drawing of the Temple, 18th-century manuscript to settle elsewhere in the Roman Empire or beyond the empire’s borders, in Babylonia. The Babylonian Jewish community, established in biblical times, eventually became the largest and most influential of Diaspora Jewish settlements. It was here that the Babylonian Talmud (a compilation of the Mishnah and rabbinical commentary) was completed in around 500 C.E. In the Roman Empire, Christianity had grown from a Jewish sect to a separate religion whose differences with Judaism had become irreconcilable by the end of the 1st century. The emperor Constantine began to favor Christianity in 312 C.E., and by the end of the 4th century, the once-persecuted faith had become the official religion of the Roman Empire. Jews found their civil status reduced under imperial Rome. By the beginning of the 5th century, they were subject to civil and economic restrictions that eventually served as the basis for the legal status of Jews in medieval Europe. By 476, the once-mighty Roman empire had fallen victim to poor government and barbarian invasions. Centralized government deteriorated and countless petty chiefs set themselves up as lords. Government and classical culture crumbled, the old Roman roads decayed, and what later generations would call the Dark Ages settled upon Europe. On the Arabian peninsula, Islam, the third great monotheistic religion, was born in the 7th century. Influenced by both Judaism and Christianity, Islam is based on divine revelation in the form of a text—in Islam’s case, the Quran.The new religion spread quickly throughout the Arab world. Less than a century after the death of the prophet Muhammad, Muslim rule extended over a vast empire stretching from Afghanistan to Spain. A cultured and sophisticated Islamic civilization flourished in the great cities of Baghdad and Cordoba.The treasures of classical Hellenistic civilization were translated into Arabic by Muslim scholars. During this period of Islam’s flowering, the Jews in Muslim lands constituted the majority of world Jewry and shared in the vigorous cultural awakening. ACTIVITIES JEWS IN THE ANCIENT WORLD Refer to the map activity on the Student Worksheet. Students are asked to give the latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates for major Jewish population centers. Approximate answers are given below. Latitude / Longitude 1. Babylon 33ºN / 45ºE 2. Baghdad 34ºN / 45ºE 3.Toledo 40ºN / 5ºE 4.Tiberias 33ºN / 36ºE HERITAGE: CIVILIZATION AND THE JEWS Latitude / Longitude 5. Jerusalem 32ºN / 35ºE 6. Sardis 39ºN / 29ºE 7. Rome 42ºN / 12ºE 8. Antioch 37ºN / 36ºE R E S O U R C E 19
Page 1 and 2: DVD-ROM Resource Guide www.thirteen
Page 3 and 4: INTRODUCTION In 1984, PBS broadcast
Page 5 and 6: Exploring Heritage via the historic
Page 7 and 8: Conservative, and Reconstructionist
Page 9 and 10: (Settlement in Canaan) • Babyloni
Page 11 and 12: Indeed, Jewish history is a repeati
Page 13 and 14: of the Jerusalem Temple in 70 C.E.,
Page 15 and 16: PROGRAM ONE: A PEOPLE IS BORN (3800
Page 17 and 18: PREVIEW QUESTIONS PROGRAM ONE: A PE
Page 19: PROGRAM TWO: THE POWER OF THE WORD
Page 23 and 24: S T U D E N T PREVIEW QUESTIONS PRO
Page 25 and 26: PROGRAM FOUR: THE CRUCIBLE OF EUROP
Page 27 and 28: PROGRAM FIVE: SEARCH FOR DELIVERANC
Page 29 and 30: S T U D E N T PREVIEW QUESTIONS PRO
Page 31 and 32: PROGRAM SIX: ROADS FROM THE GHETTO
Page 33 and 34: PROGRAM SEVEN: THE GOLDEN LAND (AME
Page 35 and 36: PREVIEW QUESTIONS PROGRAM SEVEN: TH
Page 37 and 38: PROGRAM EIGHT: OUT OF THE ASHES (19
Page 39 and 40: PROGRAM NINE: INTO THE FUTURE (1880
Page 41 and 42: PREVIEW QUESTIONS Answer these ques
Page 43 and 44: SELECTED JEWISH HISTORY RESOURCES S
Page 45 and 46: The Israel Museum www.imj.org.il/ A
Page 47 and 48: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This guide was pro

HERITAGE: Civilization and the jews - PBS

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