Center for Judaic Studies – Religion and Identity Videos

Abraham Joshua Heschel Remembered

The prophets of ancient Israel spoke with great urgency for the late Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. A refugee from Germany who became professor of Jewish ethics and mysticism at the Jewish Theological Seminary, Heschel combined deep scholarship with a strong moral passion which led him to march with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and to oppose the Vietnam War. This film begins with a discussion by scholars Ismar Schorsch and Comel West, who focus on Heschel’s efforts regarding Black-Jewish relations. Following this is an interview Heschel gave shortly before his death in 1972, in which he discusses his philosophy of God, his involvement in social and political causes, the value of Bible study, the abrasive nature of prophets, and his thoughts on the hereafter. He defines humanity’s deepest passion as “a craving for the meaning of existence.”

The Disputation

For Christianity in the Middle Ages the only impediment to the Second Coming was the refusal of the Jews to accept Christ. “Disputations” were arranged between Christian and Jewish theologians to convince the Jews to convert. One of the most famous of these debates took place before King James of Aragon in Barcelona in 1263 between the monk Pablo Christiani and Rabbi Moses ben Nachman. Absorbing and elegantly mounted, The Disputation recreates the extraordinary exchange and the drama surrounding it. Pablo Christiani is himself a Jew converted to Christianity; Rabbi Moses courageously takes advantage of a royal guarantee of free speech to argue his side; King James grapples with his “pagan” soul throughout; and his Queen would as soon see the matter settled by sword.

The Eighth Day

Syrian King Antiochus ruled over Judea from 175 to 163 B.C., outlawing all ritual observance in his effort to Hellenize the Jews. In 167 B.C.E. the Maccabees rose to challenge him, attacking from the Judean hills where they fled to continue practicing their faith. In The Eighth Day a mother summons a Maccabee physician to circumcise her son. The father, a Hellenized Jew named Micha, forbids the ceremony. It is not only punishable by death, it will mark his child forever, excluding him from the ‘right’ contacts. Micha is amazed when the physician turns out to be one Joseph, distinguished for his mastery of Greek philosophy. Spotted by soldiers, the family hides overnight with the Maccabees. There the two men debate over religious tradition until dawn, when Micha must decide whether or not to bind his son to his people.

Genesis

From the creation of the world to Joseph’s exile in Egypt, each episode focuses on two different biblical stories – as fresh and relevant as they were thousands of years ago.

Episodes include:

1. “In God’s Image” and “Temptation”
2. “The First Murder” and “Apocalypse”
3. “Call and Promise” and “A family affair”
4. “The Test” and “Blessed Deception”
5. “God Wrestling and Exile”

Great Figures of the Bible

With the presence of a master storyteller and the scholarly insights of a historian, Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel explores the human condition through tales of key Biblical figures in this six-part series. The programs are:

• The Story of Temptation: Adam and Eve
• After Greatness and Passion: The Story of David
• The First Murder: The Story of Cain and Abel
• The Agony of Power: The Story of Moses
• About Fathers and Sons: Abraham and the Binding of Isaac Suffering
• Sacrifice: The Story of Job

Wiesel ’s fresh interpretations recall Jewish heritage and apply directly to the challenges of today’s society. This magnificent series is set against the Israeli landscape, and includes art from the finest museums in the world.

Half the Kingdom

One of the most vital aspects of contemporary Jewish life is the reexamination of the role of women within a historically patriarchal religion. At time when female rabbis and cantors have become increasingly visible within Reform, Conservative, and Reconstructionist Judaism, many Jewish women in all denominations seek greater inclusion in ritual and communal life. Half the Kingdom focuses on a group of Jewish women in North America and Israel who are committed to achieving a larger role in religious observance. The group includes a rabbi, a novelist, a professor of religion, a Jewish feminist scholar, a Hebrew School principal, a member of the Knesset, and a journalist. They explore the challenges of reconceiving rituals and ceremonies – such as saying kaddish and welcoming a new baby into the Jewish community. The film captures their struggle and the obstacles they face in attempting to reshape Judaism to include them.

In Her Own Time

When Barbara Myerhoff, whose life as an anthropologist has been dedicated to the studies of community, learns that she is dying of lung cancer, she decides to document her own search for solace in the spiritual community of Jewish religious observance. Myerhoff engages in a journey through the pathways of Judaism while studying the life of an Orthodox community in Los Angeles. A secular academic accustomed to a life of individuality and independence, she nonetheless feels herself drawn to living in a way that is more intensely Jewish, more bound by rituals and traditions. Her quest for a place for her soul is the basis of In Her Own Time, as much about life as about dying.

Heritage: Civilization and the Jews

The history of the Jewish people is also the history of the great civilization of the world. Indeed, even as Jews absorbed ideas and styles from surrounding cultures – Egyptian and Greek, Persian and Roman, Christian and Arab – they also influenced the culture with which they came into contact. These interactions kept the Jewish tradition creatively growing. At the same time, the Jews retained their unique identity and their ideas about a universal God and the moral purpose of human existence. This nine-part survey of these fascinating encounters is narrated by Abba Eban, the distinguished Israeli diplomat, linguist, and scholar. The programs currently available are:

• Volume 1: A People Is Born, and The Power of the World
• Volume 2: The Shaping of Traditions, and The Crucible of Europe
• Volume 3: The Search for Deliverance, and Roads From the Ghetto
• Volume 4: The Golden Land, and Out of the Ashes
• Volume 5: Into the Future

Intermarriage: When Love Meets Tradition

Produced in association with the Reform movement, this film explores the realities of a growing phenomenon in American Jewish life: Between 40 and 50 percent of Jews today marry non-Jews. The five couples in the film are participants in a program designed to provide a Jewish orientation for interfaith couples not closely affiliated with the Jewish community. Their real-life stories and struggles are profound. The couples are shown during group sessions as well as at home with their families; several parents also speak out. Among the issues they grapple with are raising children, celebrating holidays and family milestones, and finding community. Viewers will see intermarriage close-up in this focused look at a major dilemma facing the American Jewish community, with far-reaching implications for the future.

The Journey

Russia, 1941. The U.S. sends advisors to help the Soviets fight the Nazis. American engineer Joe Levinson is among those sent. His work completed, he heads back to the U.S. via train to Velogda. By chance, young Nikolai Krohn shares the ride. Or is it chance? Hearing Levinson’s Jewish name at the station, Nikolai’s aunt begs the American to teach her nephew about Judaism. The boy’s thirteenth birthday – the start of his Bar Mitzvah year – is the next day. For Levinson, whose last Jewish experience was his own Bar Mitzvah, the request is too great – until he hears Nikolai mechanically quote Marx on religion. Challenged, the engineer takes advantage of a train delay to spirit the boy away from their guards and teaches Nikolai to at least seek to learn about his heritage.

A Jumpin Night in the Garden of Eden

By turns rollicking and plaintive, klezmer was the popular “soul” music of Eastern European Jews. More than a musical style, it encompassed the world of Yiddish culture with roots extending to itinerant traveling musicians of the Middle Ages. In recent years klezmer has enjoyed a strong revival as skilled young musicians rediscovered early recordings and added their own sensibilities to the style. A Jumpin Night in the Garden of Eden highlights the best modern klezmer groups, such as the Klezmer Conservatory Band and Kapelye. The younger players seek out musicians from an earlier era, who provide them with technical insights and historical perspective. The film details klezmer’s ability to embrace other influences, ranging from gypsy musical styles to new drumming techniques. At the same time, it shows the broadening interest in klezmer, through the Yiddish Folk Arts Institute and Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion.

Kaballah: The Way of the Jewish Mystic

2 audio tapes. Kaballah has reached the mainstream, with people from all walks of life studying this formal meditation system from Judaism’s mystical past. Yet when Perle Besserman published the first edition of Kaballah: The Way of the Jewish Mystic over 20 years ago, few outsiders had access to the rich lore and practices associated with it. With this new audio edition of her landmark work, Besserman shares the Kaballah “from mouth to ear” in the oral tradition as it was originally taught almost 1,000 years ago. Besserman tells how today’s Kabbalists are the direct heirs to a mass movement of everyday mystics stretching back many centuries. She guides listeners through the wonders of the Kabbalah’s unique system for oneness with God: the precepts for righteous living; its esoteric view of the universe; and meditation practices, including those for beginners. Kabbalah has long been thought of as “impenetrable at best.” Now it has been made available to every listener curious about this mystical way of life.

The Longest Hatred

This documentary follows the 2,000-year history of anti-Jewish sentiment and its frequent expression in acts of hatred and violence. It’s three segments cover the history of Christian anti-Semitism, its presence and prevalence in Europe today, and changing Muslim attitudes toward Jews. It offers the views of Christian as well as Jewish scholars who trace the origins of anti-Semitism to early Christianity, the validity of which was called into question by the very existence of Jews. Demonization of the Jews during the Middle Ages fed into pogroms and rampages of Crusaders on their way to “liberate” the Holy Land and found ultimate expression in the Final Solution of the Nazis. The film also shows anti-Semitism today, both in Eastern Europe and in Muslim countries, where opposition to the State of Israel has given rise to a new kind of virulent anti-Jewish sentiment.

Nova: Secrets of the Dead Sea Scrolls

In 1946, three Bedouin shepherds in the Judean desert stumbled across one of the greatest archeological discoveries of the century; in caves near Kumran, 40 miles from Jerusalem, 800 manuscripts were found. They contained the oldest biblical texts extant, as well as unknown material that could shed light on the origins of Christianity and the variety and richness of Jewish life prior to rabbinic Judaism. Who wrote the scrolls and why? Secrets of the Dead Sea Scrolls traces the political and academic controversy that has surrounded them, culminating in the crumbling of a monopoly of scholars who controlled publication and interpretation for decades. The search for the scrolls’ true meaning is a fascinating historical detective story.

Raising the Sparks: A Personal Search for a Spiritual Home in Judaism

After twenty years of Buddhist practice and the birth of his first son, Chuck Davis found himself with many questions about spirituality in midlife. He set out to discover a true spiritual path in his Jewish roots, one that he hoped he could authentically ask his sons to take on. In Raising the Sparks we follow not only his exploration of the Jewish path, but of spirituality as a whole. Davis begins his journey with Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi – the founder of the Jewish Renewal Movement and the former wisdom chair at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. Over the course of the Jewish liturgical year Rabbi Zalman acts as both guide and counselor in Davis’ quest. Davis also meets with Rabbis across Judaism’s spectrum and engages them about the issues that have kept him at a distance from his birth religion. Raising the Sparks is a remarkable documentary in its ability to allow us to follow a journey of ideas in the most personal of ways.

Ritual: Three Portraits of Jewish Life

The practice of ritual affirms our place within our faith, fosters a sense of continuity and identity, and affords stability. But does the process of performing a ritual guarantee a spiritual experience? Or are rituals merely tools that help us express spirituality? Ritual: Three Portraits of Jewish Life examines the place and nature of rituals in Judaism, and tries to answer these questions. The film explores the importance and meaning of ritual through examples drawn from life: a rabbinical student explains why she has incorporated daily prayer into her life; a family builds a sukkah to enhance their celebration of the Sukkot holiday; and a mother and father describe their emotions as they participate in the circumcision ceremony of their newborn son. Interspersed with these moving examples, theologians discuss the nature of rituals and try to define exactly what they are.

Saying Kaddish

A mother’s death brings together her husband and daughters for the week-long mourning period. The older daughter, Talia, returns home for the funeral. The younger daughter, Annie, was at her mother’s bedside throughout her lingering illness. In the days following the funeral, conflict arises between the sisters over each one’s relationship with the deceased and the way each chooses to express her loss. Reciting the kaddish, the Jewish memorial prayer said in the presence of ten Jews, becomes a point of contention. The father and Annie say it dutifully; Talia prefers private reflection. Their sparring eventually leads to a sharing both of grief and of the memories that make them a family.

The Talmud and the Scholar

A strong legal system helped Jews maintain a cohesive social structure for centuries. Ancient study houses worked with an oral tradition until the second century CE., when the process of writing down the Talmud began. However, spoken discussion of the Talmud remains a vibrant aspect of Jewish study, as students follow the many threads of commentary and argument. The text becomes a ” ‘script’ to be actively performed,” rather than passively read. One of the greatest contemporary scholars of the Talmud is Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz. The Talmud and the Scholar examines Steinsaltz’s thinking and teachings; it also discusses the Talmud’s history and shows methods of studying its endless pathways. Besides being a tireless instructor comfortable with both advanced and beginning students, Steinsaltz is publishing a multi-volume edition of the Talmud in English, bringing the tradition to a new generation. The Talmud and the Scholar also shows the rabbi’s personal side, following Steinsaltz to a wedding and the Biblical Zoo in Jerusalem.