HERITAGE: Civilization and the jews - PBS

• Look for a specific word or combination of words by clicking the
WORD SEARCH tab on the second-from-the-top menu bar. Type
your word in the pop-up box. To refine or limit your search, click
one of the Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) under the search
term window and add an additional term in the window that appears.
index screen
with search results
When you have finished specifying your terms, don’t forget to
press the SEARCH button at lower left. Your search results appear on
the right side of the page sorted into media categories (ATLAS,
VIDEO, ENCYCLOPEDIA, HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS, MULTIMEDIA
PRESENTATIONS). Any item on the search result list can be accessed
by clicking on its name. (Click on I on to return to your search result
list.) You can also “cross search”—looking for the occurrence of specific
words in a set of items found by a category search or applying a
category filter to items found by a word search.
Exploring Heritage via the timeline
You can view the multimedia content of the Heritage: Civilization and
the Jews DVD-ROM in a historical context by means of the timeline,
which can be accessed by clicking TIMELINE on the opening screen,
and by clicking “T” on the top right of the most other screens. The
timeline, like the atlas, is organized into seven different date ranges
that correspond to the dates covered in the video programs of
Heritage. It lists key events in Jewish and general history, and contains
links to all multimedia presentations and historical documents
on the disc.
Each timeline screen is divided into the following components:
• A TITLE BAR showing the date range currently being displayed
and the title of the corresponding video program. Click the title
bar for a drop-down menu of all available date ranges, and click
on any menu item to change the active date range.
• A TIMELINE subdivided into columns representing specific dates
or approximate date ranges. Years are indicated in yellow in the
top row of the timeline, and time progresses from left to right.
Listed under the years are significant historical events pertaining
to general history (black text) and Jewish history (white text).
Beneath the events are icons with descriptions of multimedia presentations
and historical documents relevant to the currently displayed
time period. Click on the large rectangular buttons to
access multimedia presentations, and the small round buttons
to access historical documents. Then click on the “BACK” or
“EXIT”button in the lower right corner of the screen to return
to the timeline.
• A TIMELINE SLIDER allowing navigation within the currently
active timeline. Click and drag on the oval slider controller to
scroll forward and backward in time. Seminal historical trends
and events are indicated at various points along the slider.
• LAST and NEXT buttons on either end of the slider bar.
Click these buttons to instantly jump to the previous or follow
ing date range in the timeline without needing to use the title
bar menu.
SPECIAL FEATURES
Multimedia Presentations
The original Heritage: Civilization and the Jews video series has
been enhanced by a set of more than 90 multimedia presentations
that have been specially created for this edition. Linked to
specific video subchapters, these presentations are designed to
help teachers and students break away from the linear framework
of the documentary in order to further explore selected topics in
Jewish and world history.
Highlights include:
Writing Discover the origins of writing by exploring an audiovisual chart that
traces the evolution of pictures and sounds into written symbols. (A People is Born,
Mespotamia, “Writing, 3800-1500 B.C.E.”)
Letters from Babylon Learn about everyday life in the ancient world by listening
to dramatic readings of letters written by ordinary Babylonians and by exploring
annotated versions of the texts. (The Power of the Word, Babylon, “The
Babylonian World, 605 - 450 B.C.E.”)
A Page of the Talmud Get a hint of the complexities of the Talmud through a
multimedia presentation that examines the structure and text of a sample page.
(The Shaping of Traditions, Talmud, “Words of the Rabbis, 400s - 600s C.E.”)
Origins of Yiddish Explore the German, Hebrew, French, and Slavic roots of
Yiddish, the everyday language of Ashkenazic Jews. (The Crucible of Europe, Europe
Awakens, “Jewish Prosperity, 1100s”)
Portrait Gallery of German Court Jews Through portraits and capsule biographies,
learn about Jewish families who helped German rulers increase the power
and prosperity of their realms. (Search for Deliverance, Merchants, “Court Jews, Late
1500s-Early 1700s”)
Oranienburgerstrasse Synagogue Explore 19th-century Reform Judaism
through the architecture of a Berlin synagogue. (Roads from the Ghetto, Religious
Reforms, “Innovation in Judaism, 1796-1880”)
Statue of Liberty Learn how the symbolism of the Statue of Liberty has changed
over time by hearing a recitation of Emma Lazarus’s poem “The Great Colossus,”
by exploring a Yiddish cartoon from the 1920s, and by listening to arriving
Holocaust survivors as they see the Statue for the first time in 1947. (The Golden
Land, Introduction, “Statue of Liberty, 1886-1947”)
Timeline of American Judaism, 1919-1940 Learn about important developments
within the four major branches of American Judaism (Orthodox, Reform,
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