Jewish History

Audio - Why Does God Desire Our Prayers?

by Rabbi Yitzchak Berkovits

If God always knows what we are thinking, why pray in the first place?

Aftermath of the Holocaust: Miracle of Israel #1

by Berel Wein / Destiny Films

Liberating the camps, and the Nuremberg trials. (Viewer discretion is advised.)

The Seven Wonders of Jewish History

by Rabbi Motty Berger and Rabbi Asher Resnick

Seven remarkable milestones of Jewish history that defy historical patterns and fulfill ancient prophecies.

Escape from the Inquisition

by Avraham Broide

Publicly, Dr. Nunez was serving Church dignitaries; privately he was committing religious crimes deserving of death at the stake.

America and Jewish Values

by Rabbi Ken Spiro

The United States was the first country to be created, from its inception, as a democracy. And the Bible played a major role in the process.

Crash Course in Jewish History #68 - Timeline: From Abraham to the Founding of the State of Israel

by Rabbi Ken Spiro

Four thousand years of Jewish history at a glance.

Crash Course in Jewish History #67 - The Miracle of Jewish History

by Rabbi Ken Spiro

In the final analysis, Jewish history makes no rational sense.

Crash Course in Jewish History #66 - War

by Rabbi Ken Spiro

Since its founding in 1948, Israel has been in a constant state of war and yet it has achieved great economic success.

Crash Course in Jewish History Part 65 - The State of Israel

by Rabbi Ken Spiro

After the British brutally turned away Holocaust survivors from Israel, the UN voted to partition the land.

Crash Course in Jewish History Part 64 - The British Mandate

by Rabbi Ken Spiro

The British promised to create a Jewish state. Instead they served their own Arab-linked interests as millions died in the Holocaust.

Crash Course in Jewish History Part 63 - Modern Zionism

by Rabbi Ken Spiro

The First Zionist Conference, held in 1897, was a major event in the establishment of the modern State of Israel.

Crash Course in Jewish History Part 62 - Return to the Land of Israel

by Rabbi Ken Spiro

The re-birth of Israel is an unprecedented phenomenon in human history.

Crash Course in Jewish History Part 61 - The Final Solution

by Rabbi Ken Spiro

Hitler was mindlessly focused on his goal: the elimination of all Jews from the planet.

Crash Course in Jewish History Part 60 - The Holocaust

by Rabbi Ken Spiro

While Nazi Germany proceeded to systematically round up and execute Jews, the rest of the world closed its eyes and its doors.

Crash Course in Jewish History Part 59 - The Face of Anti-Semitism

by Rabbi Ken Spiro

Even in such civilized nation as France and the United States, anti-Semitism never died out.

Crash Course in Jewish History Part 58 - Jewish Life in America

by Rabbi Ken Spiro

Jews gained untold riches in America, but lost their heritage and spirituality.

Crash Course in Jewish History Part 57 - The Czars and the Jews

by Rabbi Ken Spiro

In Czarist Russia, government-organized pogroms against the Jews kept the eyes of masses off the corrupt regime.

Crash Course in Jewish History Part 56 - Pale of Settlement

by Rabbi Ken Spiro

An area of Russia where Jews were most oppressed, the Pale of Settlement gave rise to amazingly good things.

Crash Course in Jewish History Part 55 - Jews and the Founding of America

by Rabbi Ken Spiro

The amazing story of Jewish influence on the founding of American democracy is a well-kept secret.

Crash Course in Jewish History Part 54 - Reform Movement

by Rabbi Ken Spiro

The German Jews who founded the Reform Movement emphasized their loyalty to the "fatherland" in order to be accepted in mainstream German society.

Crash Course in Jewish History Part 53 - The Enlightenment

by Rabbi Ken Spiro

The Age of Reason gave Jews civil rights, but its emphasis on a Godless society was bound to backfire.

Crash Course in Jewish History Part 52 - The Hassidic Movement

by Rabbi Ken Spiro

Initially a movement largely of the poor and uneducated, Hassidism introduced Kabbalah and spirituality into everyday life.

Crash Course in Jewish History Part 51 - The Kabbalists

by Rabbi Ken Spiro

In the 16th century, the mountaintop town of Tzfat became the center of Jewish mysticism – the Kabbalah.

Crash Course in Jewish History Part 50 - The Reformation and the Jews

by Rabbi Ken Spiro

The Reformation exposed the corruption of the Church and brought about the advent of Protestantism. For the Jews it just meant more bad news.

Crash Course in Jewish History Part 49 - The Jews of Poland

by Rabbi Ken Spiro

King Boleslav of Poland invited the Jews, granting them unprecedented rights and privileges.

Crash Course in Jewish History Part 48 - The Inquisition

by Rabbi Ken Spiro

The basic accusation of the Inquisition was that Jews who converted to Christianity were still secretly Jewish.

Crash Course in Jewish History Part 47 - The Black Death

by Rabbi Ken Spiro

Although the Europeans didn't know what brought on the bubonic plague, they had no trouble naming the cause -- it had to be the Jews!

Crash Course in Jewish History Part 46 - Blood Libel

by Rabbi Ken Spiro

Nothing can rationally explain the extreme Christian accusations leveled against the Jews at this time: Jews killed babies and drank their blood!

Crash Course in Jewish History Part 45 - The Crusades

by Rabbi Ken Spiro

The Crusaders came to liberate the Holy Land from the "infidels" and woe to any Jews who stood in their way.

Crash Course in Jewish History Part 44 - The Jews of Spain

by Rabbi Ken Spiro

The land of opportunity for Jews -- from the 8th to the 12th century -- was Spain.

Crash Course in Jewish History Part 43 - The Jews of Babylon

by Rabbi Ken Spiro

The oldest and most stable of Jewish communities was saved from the Christians by Muslims sweeping through the Middle East.

Crash Course in Jewish History Part 42 - The Rise of Islam

by Rabbi Ken Spiro

Mohammed reacted with anger when Jews refused to recognize him as the last of the prophets.

Crash Course in Jewish History Part 41 - From Paul to Constantine

by Rabbi Ken Spiro

At first, Christianity was the most successful where people had been attracted to Judaism but were unwilling to take on all its precepts.

Crash Course in Jewish History Part 40 - Seeds of Christianity

by Rabbi Ken Spiro

During a time of cruel oppression of the Jews, a number of splinter sects sprang up whose members believed that the Apocalypse was at hand.

Crash Course in Jewish History Part 39 - Talmud

by Rabbi Ken Spiro

In a time of chaos, the rabbis decide that they must do the unprecedented -- write down the Oral Law.

Crash Course in Jewish History Part 38 - Exile

by Rabbi Ken Spiro

The Romans sought to extinguish Jewish presence in Jerusalem by renaming it Aelia Capitolina, and by changing Israel to Palestine.

Napoleon And The Jews

by Dr. Ben Weider

When the Ghetto walls came tumbling down.

Crash Course in Jewish History Part 37 - The Bar Kochba Revolt

by Rabbi Ken Spiro

Despite the disastrous results of the Great Revolt, the Jews revolt again and again.

Crash Course in Jewish History Part 36 - Timeline: From Abraham to the Destruction of the Temple

by Rabbi Ken Spiro

Two thousand years of Jewish history at a glance.

Crash Course in Jewish History Part 35 - Destruction of the Temple

by Rabbi Ken Spiro

On the saddest day in the Jewish calendar, the 9th of Av, the Temple burns to the ground.

Crash Course in Jewish History Part 34 - War For Jerusalem

by Rabbi Ken Spiro

The Jewish nation fights to the death to save its spiritual center.

Crash Course in Jewish History Part 33 - The Great Revolt

by Rabbi Ken Spiro

In a seemingly suicidal move, Jews decided to take on the might of Rome.

Crash Course in Jewish History Part 32 - Hillel and Shammai

by Rabbi Ken Spiro

In a time when many things were going wrong for the Jews, Hillel and Shammai defined what was going right.

Audio - #15-The Great Revolt

by Rabbi Ken Spiro

Jerusalem, torn by civil strife, succumbs to the brutal Roman occupation that burns the Second Temple and murders hundreds of thousands of our people.

Crash Course in Jewish History Part 31 - Herod, the Great

by Rabbi Ken Spiro

A madman who murdered his own family and a great many rabbis, Herod was also the greatest builder in Jewish history.

Crash Course in Jewish History Part 30 - The Romans

by Rabbi Ken Spiro

Jewish tradition maintains the Romans were descendants of Esau, the red-haired and blood-thirsty brother of Jacob.

Crash Course in Jewish History Part 29 - The Revolt of the Maccabees

by Rabbi Ken Spiro

The Jewish revolt against the Greeks sets a precedent in human history - it becomes the world's first religious war.

Crash Course in Jewish History Part 28 - Greek Persecution

by Rabbi Ken Spiro

Terror reigned -- women who allowed their sons to be circumcised were killed with their babies tied around their necks.

Crash Course in Jewish History #27 - The Greek Empire

by Rabbi Ken Spiro

To the Greeks, what was beautiful was holy; to the Jews, what was holy was beautiful. These views were bound to clash.

Audio - Seven Wonders of Jewish History

by Rabbi Ken Spiro

Join Rabbi Spiro for a roller-coaster ride through Jewish history.

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More Articles

Most Popular In:

1.Guide to the Jewish Wedding

2.Star of David

3.4 Misconceptions Jews Have About Judaism

4.AishLuach (Luach means "Calendar" in Hebrew)

1.The Mediterranean Diet

2.Change

3.The Leica Freedom Train

4.Time to Let Go

SPONSORS

Aish.com Features

Aish Branches and more

LANGUAGES:

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