Narrator: THE JEWISH PEOPLE.

THEIR JOURNEY IS ONE OF HISTORY'S MOST IMPROBABLE SURVIVALS.

BEGINNING AS JUST A TRIBE OF DESERT NOMADS IN THE NEAR EAST SOME 40 CENTURIES AGO, THEY DEVELOPED A NEW RELIGION BASED ON A RELATIONSHIP AND COVENANT WITH ONE GOD.

FOR MILLENNIA, THEY HAVE WANDERED THE WORLD, ALMOST NEVER AT HOME -- TEMPORARY INHABITANTS OF FOREIGN LANDS.

THEIR STORY HAS INCLUDED ELAVEMENT IN EGYPT, CAPTIVITY IN BABYLON, EXILE FROM THEIR LAND, DESTRUCTION OF THEIR CAPITAL CITY, AND CENTURIES OF ANTI-SEMITISM.

INDEED, THEY COULD BE GONE...

BUT THEY'RE STILL HERE.

Narrator: THE STORY OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE BEGINS IN THE ANCIENT WORLD NEARLY 4,000 YEARS AGO, WITH A M CALLED ABRAHAM.

BY DEVELOPING A RELATIONSHIP WITH A SINGLE GOD, ABRAHAM WOULD FORM THE FIRST MAJOR MONOTHEISTIC RELIGIO THE EARLIEST SOURCE WE HAVE FOR TELLING THE STORY IS THE HEBREW BIBLE, A BOOK WRITTEN AS A DOCUMENT OF FAITH.

ACCORDING TO THE BIBLE, THE BEGINNINGS OF ISRAELITE, OR JEWISH, HISTORY OCCUR WHEN ABRAHAM RESPONDS TO THE CALL OF GOD AND MIGRATES FROM MESOPOTAMIA TO CANAAN.

Narrator: IT WAS IN CANAAN GOD SPOKE TO AAHAM AGAIN, OFFERING HIM A COVENANT.

IF ABRAHAM WOULD CIRCUMCISE HIMSELF AND ENSURE HIS OFFSPRING WOULD DO THE SAME, HIS DESCENDANTS WOULD BECOME A GREAT NATION.

ABRAHAM ACCEPTED THE OFFER.

AND SO BEGAN THE FIRST MAJOR TRADITION OF THE JEWISH FAITH.

FROM ABRAHAM'S DESCENDANTS WERE BORN A PEOPLE WHO CAME TO BE KNOWN AS THE ISRAELITES, AND IN LATER YEARS, THE JEWS.

Dever: THE NAME "ISRAELITE" FIRST APPEARS ON AN EGYPTIAN ICRIPTION WHICH IS DATED TO ABOUT 1206.

AND IT MENTIONS A GROUP OF PEOPLE LIVING SOMEWHERE -- PRESUMABLY IN CENTRAL CANAAN -- WHO ARE CALLED ISRAELITES.

AND THEY'RE DESIGNATED AS A PEOPLE TRIBALLY ORGANIZED, NOT YET HAVING A STATE OF SOME SORT.

Narrator: ABOUT 200 YEARS AFTER GOD'S COVENANT WITH ABRAHAM, THE ISRAELITES FACED ONE OF THEIR FIRST MAJOR CHALLENGES -- ENSLAVEMENT IN EGYPT.

ver: WE KNOW ABOUT SLAVES FROM CANAAN.

WE EVEN HAVE A WONDERFUL EGYPTIAN RELIEF SHOWING RAMSES II BEATING A CANAANE SLAVE.

Narrator: THE BIBLE EXPLAINS THAT A HUGE COMMUNITY OF ISRAELITES HAD BEEN ENSLAVED AND SUFFERED TERRIBLY UNDER THE EGYPTIAN PHARAOH.

THE PHARAOH FORCED THEM INTO HARD LABOR AND MADE THEM BUILD CITIES FOR HIM.

THE ISRAELITES PRAYED TO THEIR ONE GOD FOR HELP.

"WE CRIED TO THE LORD, THE GOD OF OUR FATHERS," THEY SAID.

"AND THE LORD HEARD OUR PLEAS, "SAW OUR PLIGHT, OUR MISERY AND OUR OPPRESSION."

RECALLING THE DIVINE COVENANT WITH ABRAHAM, GOD CTED A MAN NAMED MOSES TO LEAD THE ISRAELITES OUT OF BONDAGE.

MOSES WENT TO THE PHARAOH, DEMANDING THE RELEASE OF THE IAELITES.

HE REFUSED.

BUT AS THE BIBLE EXPLAINS, GOD SENT 10 PLAGUES OVER THE LAND OF EGYPT.

HE TURNED THEIR WATER TO BLOOD.

HE SENT SWARMS OF FROGS.

HE KILLED THEIR CATTLE.

THE EGYPTIANS RESISTED THEM ALL, UNTIL THE FINAL AND TENTH PLAGUE -- @@ THE SLAYING OF EVERY FIRSTBORN SON IN EGYPT.

THE ISRAELITE SONS WERE SPARED.

MOSES INSTRUCTED EACH ISRAELITE HOUSEHOLD TO MARK ITS DOOR WITH LAMB'S BLOOD TO LET GOD KNOW WHICH HOMES TO PASS OVER.

HIS OWN SON LOST IN THE TENTH PLAGUE, THE PHARAOH GAVE UP HIS FIGHT.

HE ORDERED THE ISRAELITES TO LEAVE.

AND WE CANNOT, IN AN ACADEMIC WAY, DETERMINE WHETHER THESE EVENTS HAPPENED.

AND IT'S SIMPLY A MATT OF RELIGIOUS BELIEF WHETHER ONE WANTS TO BELIEVE IT HAPPENED OR NOT.

THERE IS NO TEST OF THIS INFORMATION.

ONE THING WHICH IS INTERESTING, HOWEVER, IS, PEOPLE WILL OFTEN SAY, "THE ONLY ACCOUNT IS THE BIBLE."

APPARENTLY, THESE EVENTS, IN SOME WAY OR ANOTHER -- BECAUSE THE BIBLICAL ACCOUNTS SOMETIMES DIFFER -- WERE WIDELY BELIEVED TO HAVE HAPPENED BY ISRAELITES IN BIBLICAL TIMES.

BUT THERE IS NO EXTERNAL PROOF OF THESE EVENTS.

Narrator: THIS EARLY STORY OF SURVIVAL, ENDURING SLAVERY, AND THE EXODUS FROM EGYPT HAS BECOME THE BAS OF ONE OF JUDAISM'S MOST PASSIONATELY OBSERVED HOLIDAYS -- KNOWN AS PESACH IN HEBREW AND "PASSOVER" IN ENGLISH, BECAUSE THE HOMES THE ISRAELITES WERE PASSED OVER.

[ SINGING IN HEBREW ] AT A CELEBRATION KNOWN A SEDER, JEWS EACH YEAR REMEMBER THE NIGHT THE ENSLAVED ISRAELITES, WITH THE HELP OF GOD, DEFEATED THEIR TASKMASTERS, ESCAPED THEIR BONDAGE, AND BECAME FREE.

[ SPEAKING HEBREW ] WHAT IS A SEDER?

A SEDER SIMPLY IS A WAY OF SAYING TO EACH OTHER THAT WHATEVER HAPPENED 4,000 YEARS AGO IS STILL IN OUR LIFE.

WE SAY, FOR INSTANCE, AFTER THE FOUR QUESTIONS, SAYING, "WHY IS THIS NIGHT DIFFERE FROM ALL OTHER NIGHTS?"

THE ANSWER IS, "BECAUSE WE WERE SLAVES IN PHARAOH'S EGYPT."

WE WERE SLAVES.

AND WE TELL THE STORY ABOUT IT.

ANWE TELL THE MARVELOUS STORY ABOUT HOW A PEOPLE FREES ITSELF FROM BONDAGE AND BECOMES A PEOPLE.

[ SINGING IN HEBREW ] Woman: TODAY, THE JOKE IS, "THEY TRIED TO KILL US.

WE SURVIVED.

LET'S EAT."

BUT IN THE PAST, IT REALLY WAS, "YOU MAY THINK GOD HAS ABANDONED YOU," OR, "THE NATIONS MAY THINK "GOD HAS ABANDONED THE JEWISH PEOPLE.

BUT LOOK H GOD TAKES CARE OF GOD'S PEOPLE."

SO THERE IS THIS -- THE SENSE OF REDEMPTION PAST IS REALLY AN IMPORTANT, IT'S AN IMPORTANT LIFELINE TO MAKING SENSE OF THE PRESENT.

[ SINGG IN HEBREW ] [ APPLAUSE ] BRAVO!

FATHER ALWAYS LIKES TO DO A COMPAR -- I GUESS MANY SOVIET FAMILIES DO A COMPARISON OF THE -- DURING PASSOVER, A COMPARISON OF THE FLIGHT OF THE JEWS FROM EGYPT AND THE FLIGHT OF THE JEWS FROM THE SOVIET UNION.

Narrator: BEGINNING IN THE LATE 1960s, AFTER IMMENSE PRESSURE FROM JEWISH GROUPS AROUND THE WORLD, HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF JEW FLED THE USSR IN SEARCH OF THE RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL FREEDOMS THEY HAD BEEN DENIED BY THE SOVIETS.

RUSSIAN JEWRY WAS ABLE TO MAINTAIN SOME TYPE OF COHESION.

I KNOW THERE ARE ANSWERS -- THE RUSSIANS MADE THEM WRITE THAT THEY WERE JEWISH ON THE PASSPORT, THEY WERE SUBJECTED TO ANTI-SETISM -- EVERY SINGLE POINT AT WHICH THIS HAPPENS, THERE'S ANOTHER EXPLANATION, BUT THERE IS SOMETHING ABOUT JEWISH COHESION WHICH SOMEHOW WOS TO KEEP THEM TOGETHER.

Narrator: THE SOVIET JEWS FOUND FREEDOM IN THEIR MODERN-DAY EXODUS, JUST AS THEIR ANCESTORS HAD SO MANY CENTURIEBEFORE.

AFTER THEIR ESCAPE FROM EGYPT, FOR MOSES AND THE ISRAELITES, THE JOURNEY CONTINUED BACK TOWARD THE PROMISED LAND.

IT WOULD TAKE 40 YEARS OF WANDERING ACROSS THE BRUTAL SINAI DESERT, YET OM THIS JOURNEY, THE JEWISH RELIGION WOULD GAIN ANOTHER FOUNDATION FOR ITS BELIEFS AND UNITY.

Woman: TRADITION TELLS US THAT THE ISRAELITES GATHER AT THE BASE OF MOUNT SINAI, AT WHICH POINT GOD APPEARS TO THE ISRAELITES IN A REVELATION, ASKS MOSES TO COME FORWARD AND GO UP THE MOUNTAIN.

MOSES COMES DOWN FROM THE MOUNTAIN BEARING THE 10 COMMANDMENTS ON STONE.

THIS IS ACCORDING TO NARRATIVES IN EXODUS.

Narrator: THE 10 CMANDMENTS WERE MORE THAN JUST RANDOM RULES.

THEY BECAME AN ETHICAL CODE THAT INSTRUCTED THE ISRAELITES HOW TO LIVE.

ACCORDING TO JEWISH TRADITION, GOD ALSO GAVE TO THE JEWS THROUGH MOSES A SERIES OF TEXTS KNOWN AS THE TORAH.

THE TORAH WAS LATER COMBINED WITH OTHER BOOKS, KNOWN AS THE PROPHETS AND THE WRITINGS, WHICH TOGETHER FORMED THE HEBREW BIBLE.

THE HEBREW BIBLE IS THE OLDEST CONTINUOUS LIVING LITERARY TRADITION THAT HAS NEVER BEEN BROKEN, GOING BACK NEARLY 3,000 YEARS OR MORE.

WHY?

AN ARCHAEOLOGIST CAT ANSWER THAT QUESTION.

WE CAN TELL YOU HOW THE BIBLE ORIGINATED AND WHERE AND WHEN AND HOW ITS STORIES CAME TO BE HANDED DOWN AND HOW MUCH TRUTH THERE IS IN THEM.

BUT THE QUEST FOR ULTIMATE MEANG IS NOT ONE THAT AN ARCHAEOLOGIST CAN ANSWER, EXCEPT FOR HIMSELF OR HERSELF.

AND JEWS HAVE ALWAYS APPRECIATED THAT.

Narrator: THE TORAH AND THE REST OF THE BIBLE ID DOWN THE CENTRAL EVENTS OF ISRAELITE HISTORY, INCLUDING THE BEGINNING OF TIME, GOD'S COVENANT WITH ABRAHAM, THE EXODUS FROM EGYPT, AND COUNTLESS OTHER STORIES.

THE TORAH IS ONE CRYSTALLIZATION OF ORAL TRADITIONS THAT HAD BECOME SACRED TO THE COMMUNITY.

SOME OF THESE ARE NARRATIVES THAT ACCOUNT FOR HOW THE COMMUNITY CAME TO BE AS IT IS.

THERE IS RELIGIOUS POETRY IN THE HEBREW BIBL IT IS A SMALL LIBRARY OR ANTHOLOGY, WHICH REALLY CONTAINS THE LITERARY TREASURES OF THE COMMUNITY.

Narrator: THE HEBREW BIBLE ALSO WAS, AND STILL IS, THE SOURCE OF MANY JEWISH RELIGIOUS LAWS, KNOWN AS HALAKHA.

Hayes: LAW, FOR THE ANCIENT ISRAELITES, INCLUDED EVERY IMAGINABLE ASPECT OF LIFE, FROM THE WAY YOU SOWED YOUR CROPS IN THE FIELD TO HOW YOU DISTRIBUTED CHARITY TO MARRIAGE RELATIONS, PERSONAL STATUS LAWS, EVERYTHING THAT WE THINK OF AS CIVIL AND CRIMINAL AND PENAL LAW -- BUT IN ADDITION, MORAL LAW AND RELIGIOUS LAW.

THERE WASN'T AN AREA OF LIFE THAT WAS OUTSIDE OF GOD'S INTEREST AND CONCERN.

Narrator: WITH THE 10 COMMANDMENTS AND TORAH, THE ISRAELITES NOW HAD A DEFINITIVE SERIES OF TTS THAT UNIFIED THEM BEYOND MERE TRIBAL LOYALTY.

Hayes: THE TORAH, BECAUSE IT IS SUCH AN ANTHOLOGY OF SO MANY DIFFERENT KINDS OF MATERIALS, BECAME A RESOURCE, THEN, FOR JEWS IN LATER TIMES.

WHEN THEY NEEDED TO COMPREHEND WHAT WAS HAPPENING IN THEIR OWN EXPERIENCE, THEY COULD FIND ANY NUER OF PRIOR REFLECTIONS ON THE MEANING OF SUFFERING, THE MEANG OF HISTORY, WHAT IT IS TO LIVE ACCORDING TO GOD'S WILL.

Narrator: THESE TEXTS PROVIDED THE ISRAELITES WITH A SENSE OF SHARED HISTORY AND BELIEFS.

SOME 200 YEARS LATER, IN THE 10th CENTURY B.C.E., TWO SUCCESSIVE KINGS -- DAVID, THEN SOLOMON -- WOULD GIVE THEM A NATION, A CAPITAL CITY, AND A TEMPLE.

AT THIS TIME, THE JEWS WERE LIVING AS 12 LOOSELY AFFILIATED TRIBES IN THE LAND OF CANAAN.

DAVID, SEEKING TO UNITE THE TBES, CAPTURED JERUSALEM FROM THE LOCAL PEOPLE, KNOWN AS THE JEBUSITES, AND MADE IT HIS CAPITAL CITY.

Schiffman: AND WHY JERUSALEM?

BECAUSE JERUSALEM WAS MIDWAY BETWEEN THE NORTH AND SOUTH.

IT WASN'T ANYBODY'S TERRITORY.

BY MAKINTHIS PLACE THE PHYSICAL CENTER, WHICH IT WAS, HE MADE IT THE RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL CENTER, CREATED THE COHESIVE, QUOTE, "GOVERNMENT," WHICH SOLOMON WOULD INHERIT.

Narrator: DAVID BROUGHT THE ARK OF THE COVENANT, WHICH HELD THE 10 COMMANDMENTS, INTO THE CITY AND MADE A PROMISE THAT A TEMPLE WOULD BE BUILT FOR GOD.

AFTER DAVID DIED, HIS SON, SOLOMON, BUILT THE TEMPLE.

Schiffman: BY THE TIME HE BUILT THAT TEMPLE, IT BASICALLY CREATED A COHESIVE NATION -- WHICH WOULD SEE ITLF AS GROUPED AROUND THE TEMP, WHOSE RELIGION AND POLITICS WOULD TOGETHER BE BOUND UP IN THAT PLACE, JERUSALEM.

Narrator: THE TEMPLE BECAME THE CENTER OF LIFE FOR THE ISRAELITES AND SURVIVED FOR SOME 400 YEARS, UNTIL THE EARLY 6th CENTURY, WITH THE ARRIVAL OF THE ARMIES OF BABYLON, @@ LED BY THEIR KING, NEBUCHADNEZZAR.

THE BABYLONIANS SOUGHT TO FOLD THE ISRAELITE KINGDOM INTO THEIR EMPIRE.

AFTER A SERIES OF REBELLIONS BY THE ISRAELITES, THE BABYLONIANS DESTROYED JERUSALEM, EXILED COUNTLESS ISRAELITES TO BABYLON, AND IN A FINAL BLOW, DESTROYED THE ISRAELITE TEMPLE.

THESE EVTS WERE THE LARGEST CHALLENGE TO JEWISH EXISTENCE SINCE ENSLAVEMENT IN EGYPT.

JEREMIAH, A BIBLICAL PROPHET, OFFERED HOPE ANDIRECTION TO THE JEWS GOING INTO EXILE, TELLING THEM TO TAKE WIVES AND GIVE BIRTH TO CHILDREN, PLANT CROPS.

"YOU SHALL RETURN."

THE TEMPLE IS DESTROYED.

JERUSALEM IS DESTROYED.

THE ISRAELITE AND JUDEAN PEOPLES ARE EXILED.

AS AN ARCHAEOLOGIST, AS FAR AS I'M CONCERNED, THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE END OF THE STORY.

BUT IT WAS THBEGINNING.

Narrator: THE BABYLONIAN CONQUEST MIGHT HAVE BEEN THE END OF THE ISRAELITES, BUT AN UNFORESEEN EVENT OCCURRED IN 539 B.C.E.

THE EMERGING PERSIAN EMPIRE, LED BY CYRUS THE GREAT, VANQSHED THE BABYLONIANS.

SUDDENLY AND UNEXPECTEDLY, A NEW LIFE BEGAN FOR THE JEWS.

THE PERSIANS ALLOWED THEM TO RETURN HOME AND TO REBUILD THE TEMPLE.

Woman: BEFORE THE PERSIANS, THE OTHER ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN EMPIRES, LIKE THE BABYLONIANS, HAD BEEN VERY INTOLERANT IN THEIR RELIGIOUS POLICIES.

SO THE POLY OF THE PERSIANS WAS REMARKABLY TOLERANT AND PROBABLY THE REASON WAS THAT THE PERSIANS RIGHTLY RECOGNIZED TH IF OPLE HAD A CERTAIN DEGREE OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM, THEY WOULD BE LESS LIKELY TO REL AGAINST THE RULE.

AND IN FACT, THAT'S THE CASE.

THE JEWS NEVER REBELLED AGAINST THE RULE OF THE PERSIANS.

I PERSONALLY THINK THAT IF THE JEWS HAD NOT BEEN ALLOWED TO RETURN FROM BABYLONIAN EXILE TO JERUSALEM AND REBUILD THE TEMPLE SOME 60, 65 YEARS LATER, THAT THEY MAY WELL HAVE DISAPPEARED EVENTUALLY, BECAUSE IT WAS EVENTUALLY THE REBUILDING OF THE TEMPLE THAT ALLOWED THEM TO KEEP THEIR IDENTITY AS A SEPARATE RELIGIOUS GROUP.

Narrator: GOD,HEY BELIEVED, HAD HONORED HIS COVENANT WITH THEM, JUST AS HE HAD IN THE PAST.

THE JEWS WOULD NOT BE OVERCOME.

EY WOULD CONTINUE AS A PEOPLE.

IN THE FIRST CENTURY OF THE COMMON ERA, THE JEWS FACED YET ANOTHER THREAT TO THEIR EXISTENCE -- THIS ONE LARGER THAN ANYTHING BEFORE.

THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

THE JEWS, UNHAPPY WITH THEIR ROMAN OVERLORDS, REBELLED.

THE JEWS WON A FEW SMALL SKIRMISHES AGAINST THE ROMANS.

BUT THE ROMANS WERE FAR MORE POWERFUL.

IN THE YEAR 70 C.E., THE ROMANS CRUSHED THE JEWISH REBELLION, DROVE COUNTLESS JEWS INTO EXILE, AND DESTROYED THE TEMPLE FOR GOOD.

MAKING THIN EVEN HARDER FOR THE JEWS, THE ROMANS IN LATER YEARS BANNED THEM FROM JERUSALEM.

Magness: THE REAL KEY DEFINING MOMENT IS WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THE DESTRUCTION OF THE SECOND TEMPLE IN THE YEAR 70 C.E., BECAUSE THAT TEMPLE WAS NEVER REBUILT.

THE REASON JUDAISM WAS ABLE TO SURVIVE AS A RELIGION -- SURVIVE THE DESTRUCTION OF THE SECOND TEMPLE AND THE FACT THAT IT'S NOT REBUILT SOON AFTER THE DESTRUCTION -- WHAT MAKES JUDAISM DIFFERENT FROM OTHER ANCIENT RELIGIONS IS THAT JUDAISM NOT ONLY INCLUDED THE COMPONENT OF A SACRIFICIAL CULT IN A TEMPLE BUILDING, BUT ALSO A SET OF LAWS THAT THE GOD OF ISRAEL GAVE HIS PEOPLE.

SO REALLY IT WAS THE OBSERVANCE OF THE LAWS OF THE TORAH WHICH ENABLED JUDAISM TO SURVIVE THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE.

THE TEMPLE'S COLLAPSE TWICE -- FIRST UNDER NEBUCHADNEZZAR IN 587 BEFORE THE COMMON ERA, AGAIN UNDER THE ROMANS IN THE YEAR 70 OF THE COMMON ERA -- AND A SMALL GROUP OF PEOPLE CALLED "RABBIS" WHO SAID, "YOU KNOW, THE END OF THE BUILDING, "THE END OF THE LAND, DOESN'T HAVE TO BE THE END OF THE TRADITION."

ALL PEOPLE USUALLY CELEBRATE VICTORIES.

THE JEWISH PEOPLE ALONE REMEMBERS DEFEATS.

[ Laughing ] TWICE IN OUR HISTORY THE TEMPLE OF JERUSALEM WAS DESTROYED.

AND WE CONSIDER IT AS A DAY OF MOURNING.

LITERALLY, DAY OF MOURNING.

WE OBSERVE THE LAWS OMOURNING AS IF IT HAPPENED YESTERDAY -- WHICH MEANS WE SIT ON THE FLOOR, USUALLY FAST, ON TISHA B'AV.

Narrator: THE JEWS OF THE LAND OF ISRAEL HAD BEEN DEFEATED.

BUT OUTSIDE THE REGION, A NEW PHASE OF JEWISH LIFE WAS EMERGING.

MORE AND MORE JEWS WERE DISPERSING TO OTHER PARTS OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE AND BEYOND, SEEKING OPPOUNITY.

Klepper: THERE WERE ECONOMIC INCENTIVES -- GOOD REASONS FOR JEWS TO LIVE THROUGHOUT THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

WE'VE HEARD THE PHRASE PAX ROMANA, WE'VE HEARD ABOUT THAT NOTION THAT THE ROMAN EMPIRE CREATED CHANNELS OF TRADE, TRAVEL, CONNECONS, ONE PART OF THE WORLD TO ANOTHER, EUROPE, NORTH AFRICA, AND SO ON.

JEWS WERE PART OF THAT, AS WELL.

Magness: BY THE TIME THE SECOND TEMPLE IS DESTROYED IN 70 C.E., THERE'S A LGE JEWISH DIASPORA LIVING OUTSIDE THE LAND OF ISRAEL.

ALL THE WAY FROM BABYLONIA, MESOPOTAMIA ON THE EAST -- THAT IS THE AREA OF MODERN IRAQ -- THROUGH ASIA MINOR -- THAT'S THE AREA OF MODERN TURKEY -- ITALY, NORTH AFRICA, EGYPT.

SO THERE ARE JEWISH COMMUNITIE ALL OVER THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD BY THIS POINT.

Hirschfield: WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO GO FROM A GROUP OF PEOPLE WHO ARE DEFINED BY THEIR RESIDCY IN ONE SPECIFIC PLACE TO BEING A PEOPLE THATIVES ACROSS THE GLOBE, THAT HAS NO ONE CENTRAL PLACE OF WORSHIP, THAT MIXES FAR MORE FREELY WITH THE NON-JEWISH CULTURE AROUND THEM?

NOT JUST NON-JEWS AROUND THEM, THE CULTURE ITSELF.

Balin: IT MEANS BEING AN AM YISRAEL, THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL.

THERE IS AN UNDERSTANDING, BOTH INTERNALLY AND EXTERNALLY, THAT THE JEWS CONSTITUTE A GROUP LIVING COMMUNALLY, LIVING ACCORDING TO THEIR OWN LAWS AND ANCESTRAL TRADITIONS.

Narrator: MIGRATING TO NEW LANDS, THE JEWS WOULD COME FACE TO FACE WITH MANY NEW CHALLENGES.

YET, AS THEY HAD SO MANY TIMES BEFORE, THEY WOULD FIND THE TOOLS THEY NEEDED TO CONTINUE AS A PEOPLE AND SURVIVE.

Narrator: IN THE EARLY CENTURIES OF THE COMMON ERA, A NEW TRADITION FOR INTERPRETING JEWISH LAW EMERGED, ONE THAT CONTINUES TO THIS DAY -- THE ORAL TRADITION.

Hayes: THOSE ORAL TRADITIONS ARE GATHERED AND COLLECTED IN A NUMBER OF DIFFERENT WORKS.

AND THAT WORK -- THE TRADITIONS AND DISCUSSIS AND DEBATES -- ARE CONTAINED IN WHAT WE CALL THE BABYLONIAN TALMUD, OR JUST THE TALMUD.

IT WAS PROBABLY COMPLETED SOMEWHERE IN THE 7th CENTURY OF T COMMON ERA.

BUT IT'S VERY DIFFICULT TO PIN DOWN DATES FOR ANY OF THESE WORKS.

THEY WERE HUGE COLLECTIVE ENTERPRISES PRODUCED BY ANOMOUS GROUPS OF SCHOLARS WHO WERE ADDING AND EDITING AND REVISING AND INTERPOLATING CONSTANTLY.

PHYSICALLY, THE TALMUD REPRESENTS ITSELF AS A HUGE CONVERSATION.

AND IT WILL INCLUDE THE COMMENTS, THE DEFINITIONS, THE DEBATES, THE LIMITATIONS, AND THE ARGUMENTS OF SAGES FOR 300,00, 500 YEARS, DIFFERENT GENERATIONS.

BUT THEY'RE ORCHESTRATED WITHIN A LENGTHY DISCUSSION THAT ALMOST MAKES IT LOOK AS IF THEY'RE ALL IN THE SAME ROOM TOGETHER, TALKING TO ONE ANOTHER.

WE KNOW THAT ISN'T TRUE, BUT THAT'S STILL JUST THE CENTER OF THE PAGE, BECAUSE THEN, AROUND THE BOUNDARIES, WE HAVE LATER COMMENTARIES.

USUALLY ON THE INSIDE BOUNDARY OF EVERY PAGE OF TALMUD, THERE'S A COENTARY BY RASHI.

RASHI IS A SAGE FROM THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES.

TWO GENERATIONS AFTER RASHI, WE HAVE COMMENTS ON RASHI'S COMMENTS.

Narrator: THE STUDY OF THE TALMUD AND OTHER TEXTS CAME TO BE KNOWN AS RABBINIC JUDAISM.

[ SPEAKING HEBREW ] Balin: THE JUDAISM JEWS PRACTICE TODAY IN A RELIGIOUS SENSE DERIVES FROM THE RABBINIC PERIOD.

RABBINIC JUDAISM IS A FORM OF JUDAISM LINKED TO TEXT AND TEXT STUDY.

IT VENERATES TEXT STUDY.

TALMUD STUDY, TORAH STUDY OF ANY SORT.

Man: THE TALMUDIC METHOD -- THE METHOD OF CONSTANTLY PROBING AND ASKING QUESTIONS AND NOT HAVING FINAL SOLUTIONS OR ANSWERS -- HAS HAD A MAJOR IMPACT ON JEWISH INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT AND JEWISH CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT.

I THINK JEWS TEND TO BE A QUESTIONING PEOPLE, A PEOPLE WHO ALWAYS LOOK TO NEW WAYS OF INTERPRETINTHINGS.

AND THAT'S BEEN A TREMENDOUS GIFT THAT WE HAVE GOTTEN FROM THE GREAT TALMUDIC SCHOLARS.

Narrator: THE RISE OF RABBINIC JUDAISM IN THE FIRST CENTURIES OF THE COMMON ERA NOT LY MARKED THE END OF WHAT WAS KNOWN AS THE BIBLICAL PERIOD, IT CAME WITH AN IMPORTANT SHIFT IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GOD AND THE JEWISH PEOPLE.

THE BIBLE IS FILLED WITH PROPHETIC CHARACTERS WHO PLAY A VERY IMPORTANT ROLE IN THE NARRATIVES.

SO, FOR EXAMPLE, EACH KING HAD HIS OWN PROPHET, WHO VERY OFTEN FUNCTIONED AS HIS CONSCIENCE.

SO KING DAVID, FOR EXAMPLE, HAD A PROPHET BY THE NAME OF NATHAN.

WHEN GOD WAS UPSET WITH DAVID, ACCORDING TO THE BIBLICAL NARRATIVE, HE WAS ABLE TO SEND A MESSAGE TO DAVID THROUGH HIS PROPHET NATHAN.

THERE WERE OTHER ROLES FOR PROPHETS, AS WELL.

THERE WERE PROPHETS WHO CARRIED THE WORD OF GOD TO THE NATIONS.

THE RABBIS HAVE A SENSE THAT PROPHECY HAS ENDED.

THE CLOSE OF THE BIBLICAL PERIOD -- THE RABBIS HAVE A SENSE OF THEIR TIME AS A TIME IN WHICH GOD DOES NOT SPEAK TO HUMAN BEINGS THROUGH PROPHETS ANY LONGER.

THE WORD OF GOD OR THE WILL OF GOD CAN BE DISCOVERED BY THE APPLICATION OF ONE'S REASONING INTELLIGENCE TO THE INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.

THE PROPHET HAS GIVEN WAY TO THE SAGE.

WITH THE PASSAGE OF NOT ONLY PROPHETS, BUT ALSO PRIESTS, THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE -- WHICH WAS, OF COURSE, GANIZED AND RUN BY PRIESTS -- IS NOW NO LONGER AVAILABLE, EITHER, AS A MEDIUM TO THE DIVINE.

SO ACCESS TO GOD'S WILL FOR THE COMMUNITY WAS THROUGH THE SCRIBE, THE SAGE, THE RABBI, WHO EW HOW TO READ AND INTERPRET PAST REVELATION.

THIS IS A BRILLIANT STRATEGY, BECAUSE ON THE ONE HAND, THE RABBIS ASSERTED THAT THEIR WORLD WAS RADICALLY DISCONTINUOUS WITH THE WORLD OF THE HEBREW BIBLE.

BUT AT THE SAME TIME, THEY ASSERTED THEIR OWN ROLE IN INTERPRETING THE HEBREW BIBLE FOR THE NEEDS OF THE CURRENT DAY.

THE TALMUD IS A VERY SOPHISTICATED DOCUMENT, AND VERY MODERN IN LOTS OF WAYS.

YOU KNOW, SO THAT IT'S SOMETHING YOU CAN PASS ON, YOU CAN TEACH.

IT'S PORTABLE.

YOU CAN TAKE IT WITH YOU.

I OWN THE TALMUD, AND IT'S JUST A FEW BOOKS.

YOU CAN TAKE IT ON A PLANE.

YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE TO CHECK IT.

THAT'S THE REASON WHY JEWS SURVIVED.

JEWS SURVIVED BECAUSE JEWS ARE THE PEOPLE OF THE BOOKS.

Hayes: THE TALMUD IS CRITICALLY IMPORTANT FOR THE SURVIVAL OF JUDAISM.

THE TALMUD IS GOING TO BE A CENTRAL PART OF JEWISH RELIGIOUS SELF-DEFINITION FOR CENTURIES, REALLY UNT THE MODERN PERIOD.

IT'SSTONISHING HOW LONG IS TEXT REMAINS CENTRAL IN RELIGIOUS JEWISH IDENTIFICATION.

Narrator: THE TALMUD HAD STRENGTHENED JEWISH TRADITION AND OBSERVANCE.

IT HAD GIVEN JEWS ACROSS THE DIASPORA A NEW SET OF TEXTS TO HELP THEM RESPOND AND ADAPT TO A CHANGING WORLD.

AND IT STRENGTHENED AMONG THE JEWISH PEOPLE A TRADITION THAT CONTINUES TO THIS DAY -- A COMMITMENT TO STUDY, EDUCATION, AND LEARNING.

DURING THE PERIOD OF THE TALMUD'S DEVELOPMENT, THE JEWS -- MOST OF WHOM LIVED UNDER ROMAN RULE -- CONFRONTED AEW DIFFICULTY -- THE ADOPTION OF CHRISTIANITY BY THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

Balin: THE ROMANS ALWED THE JEWS TO PRACTICE THEIR RELIGION.

JUDAISM WAS KNOWN AS A LEGITIMATE RELIGION, A LEGAL RELIGION.

THE ROMANS, FOR THE MOST PART, UNTIL THE 4th CENTURY, THEY WERE POLYTHEISTS.

IT'S ONLY IN THE TIME OF THE 4th CENTURY, WHERE CHRISTIANITY IS ADOPTED AS THE OFFICIAL RELIGION OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE, AND THEN IT STARTS BECOMING TRICKY FOR THE JEWS.

Magness: THE LEGALIZATION OF CHRISTIANITY HAS A VERY STRONG IMPACT ON WHAT HAPPENS TO JUDAISM.

TH NEVER OLAWED THE OBSERVANCE OF JUDAISM.

THEY NEVER SAID, "YOU CANNOT CONTINUE TO OBSERVE JEWISH LAW IF YOU ARE A JEW."

WHAT THEY CLEARLY WERE TRYING TO DO IN THEIR LEGISLATION AS TIME WENT ON WAS TO RESTRICT THE EXPANSION OF JUDAISM.

Narrator: WHILE ROMAN LAWS CHANGED MANY TIMES UNDER NUMEROUS ROMAN EMPERORS, THE ENACTMENT LAWS THAT WERE OPPRESSIVE TO JEWS S COMMONPLACE.

JEWS WERE PROHIBITED FROM HOLDING MANY POLITICAL POSITIONS.

FOR A TIME, JEWS WERE FORBIDDEN TO BUILD SYNAGOGUES OR READ THE BIBLE IN HEBREW.

LAWS WERE ENACTED THAT PREVENTED JEW FROM TESTIFYING AGAINST CHRISTIANS IN COURT.

JEWS WERE NOT ALLOWED TO OWN LAND.

INTERMARRIAGE WAS FORBIDDEN, AS WAS CONVERSION TO JUDAISM.

BUT AS RESTRICTIVE AS THESE LAWS WERE, NONE CALLED FOR THE ELIMINATI OF THE JEWS AS A PEOPLE.

Man: JEWS ARE ALLOWED TO SURVIVE, ACTUALLY, UNDER CATHOLIC CHRISTIAN LAW, IN A FORMULA THAT WAS BEST ARTICULATED BY AUGUSTINE, AND THAT IS, "THERE HAVE TO BE JEWS AROUND TO WITNESS THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST."

AND JEWS WERE PRESERVERS OF THE HEBREW, OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.

THEIR SUFFERING IS EVERLASTING TESTIMONY TO THEIR REJECTION OF JESUS AS MESSIAH.

IT'S BOTH THEIR PRESERVATION AND THEIR DEBASEMENT WHICH PROVES THE TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY.

Narrator: AS CHRISTIANITY CONTINUED TO SPREAD, ANOTHER RELIGION -- ON THE ARABIAN PENINSULA -- WAS TAKING HOLD.

ISLAM.

FOUNDED BY A MAN NAMED MOHAMMED IN THE 7th CENTURY, ISLAM, LIKE OTHER MONOTHEISTIC RELIGIONS, HELD THAT GOD HAD SENT PROPHETS OF HIS WORD.

MOHAMMED, HOWEVER, WAS CONSIDERED BY MUSLIMS TO BE THE FINAL PROPHET SENT TO DELIVER GOD'S MESSAGE ON EARTH.

@@ Man: MOHAMMED BEGINS TO PREACH TO THE PEOPLE OF THE ARABIAN PENINSULA IN THE EARLY 7thENTURY OF THE COMMON ERA.

WHEN PRECISELY ISLAM BEGINS TO HAVE IMPACT, THOUGH, ON JEWS AND JUDAISM DOES NOT REALLY TAKE PLACE WITHIN MOHAMMED'S LIFETIME.

BUT AFTER THE FIRST CENTURY OF ISLAM AFTER MOHAMMED'S DEATH, ASSLAM HAS BEGUN TO SPREAD FROM SOUTHERN FRANCE ALL THE WAY TO PAKISTAN, IT'S AT THAT MOMENT THAT LAM IS IN CONTROL OVER 80% TO 90% OF THE WORLD JEWISH POPULATION.

Narrator: WHILE JEWS WERE, AT TIMES, PERSECUTED AND SOMETIMES KILLED UNDER MUSLIM RULE, THEY DID HOLD SPECIAL STATUS IN THE ISLAMIC WORLD BECAUSE THEY BIEVED IN THE BIBLE.

TO THE MUSLIMS, THEY WERE KNOWN AS AHL AL-KITAB, "THE PEOPLE OF THE BOOK."

THESE MINORITY GROUPS HAD FREEDOM OF SETTLENT AND MOVEMENT, THEY HAD FREEDOM OF OCCUPATION, THEY HAD FREEDOM OF RELIGION.

THERE WERE TIMES WHEN JEWS WERE HARMED.

MANY TIMES, THESE FREEDOMS WERE NOT NECESSARILY HONORED.

THERE WERE TIMES WHEN THE JEWISH RELIGION WAS NOT ALLOWED TO BE OBSERVED TOHE FULLEST EXTENT.

BUT IT'S PRECISELY THESE FREEDOMS THAT GAVE THE JEWS AN OPPORTUNITY TO SETTLE WITH RELATIVE COMFORT IN THE LANDS OF ISLAM.

Narrator: AS THEY HAD UNDER SO MY EMPIRES, THE JEWS AGAIN TURNED TO THEIR TRADITIONS AND TEXTS TO ENSURE THE CONTINUI OF THEIR RELIGION AND, WITHIN THEIR COMMUNITIES, BUILD EVER-INCREASING NUMBERS OF YESHIVAS AND SYNAGOGUES.

IN THE MUSLIM WORLD, I SHOULD SAY, THERE HAVE BEEN HIGH POINTS AND LOW POINTS, BUT SO THERE'S ALWAYS BEEN A DISTINCT IDENTITY ASEING JEWISH, AS APART FROM THE REST OF THE PEOPLE.

I THINK THE FACT THAT THERE'S BEEN A WRITTEN LAW FOR THIS LONG HAS REALLY HELPED CREATE A COHESIVENESS.

Narrator: IN THE CENTURIES THAT FOLLOWED, JEWS PLAYED VITAL ROLES IN MANY MUSLIM REGIONS.

NOWHERE WAS THIS MORE EVINT THAN IN AL-ANDALUS, ON THE IBERIAN PENINSULA OF WHAT IS TODAY SPAIN, A REGION WITH A LARGE JEWISH COMMUNITY THE MUSLIMS CONQUERED IN THE 8th CENTURY.

THERE, A CULTURAL EXPLOSION TO PLACE FOR JEWS UNDER THE PATRAGE OF AN AMBITIOUS MUSLIM LEADER NAMED ABD AL-RAHMAN.

Gampel: WHAT ABDL-RAHMAN REALIZED WAS THAT THE SUCCESS OF AL-ANDALUS WAS NOT ONLY DEPENDENT ON THE SUCCESS OF THE MUSLIMS, BUT ALSO ON THE SUCCESS OF THOSE MINORITY GROUPS, BOTH RELIGIOUS AND ETHNIC, THAT LIVED WITHIN HIS DOMAIN.

NOW YOU HAD WEALTHY JEWS, POLITICALLY SUCCESSFUL JEWS, CONNECTED TO THEIR JEWISH COMMUNITY, WHO ARE NOW WALKING AMONGST MUSLIM COURTIERS, WHO ARE LIVING IN THE GLITTERING MUSLIM CIVILIZATION.

Balin: WHAT HAPPENS FOR JEWS IS MAGICAL, SOMETHING KWN AS CONVIVENCIA OCCURS -- A MEETING OF THE MINDS, A MEETING OF CULTURES -- TO CREATE, IN WAYS THAT HAD NEVER BEEN DONE IN THE JEWISH WORLD.

Narrator: THE JEWS OF AL-ANDALUS CALLED THEMSELVES THE SEPHARDIM, BASED ON THE WORD SEPHARAD, FROM THE BIBLE.

OVER TIME, THIS WORD WAS UNDERSTOOD TO REFER TO SPAIN.

THEY SAW THEMSELVES AS THE NOBILITY OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE.

THEY SAW THEMSELVES, YES, AS THE EXILES OF JERUSEM.

Narrator: TO MANY, THE GREATEST OF THE SEPHARDIM WAS THE RABBI MOSES BEN MAIMON, BETTER KNOWN AS MAIMONIDES, OR THE RAMBAM.

BORN IN ISLAMIC SPAIN IN 1135, HE WON LASTING FAME AMONG BOTH JEWS AND MUSLIMS AS A SCHOLAR, PHILOSOPHER, AND PHYSICIAN TO THE LEGENDARY EPTIAN CALIPH SALADIN.

BUT HES BEST REMEMBERED FOR HIS 14-VOLUME CODE OF JEWISH LAW, THE MISHNEH TORAH.

Gampel: MAIMONIDES IS THE GRAND RENAISSANCE MAN.

MAIMONIDES IS SEEN AS THE PERFECT EXAMPLE OF THE JEW DEVOTED INTERNALLY TO JEWISH CULTURE, AND A JEW DEVOTED TO HIS PLACE AS A JEW AMONG OTHER JEWS, AND A JEW IERACTING WITH THE CULTURES AND THE PEOPLES AMONGST WHOM HE LIVED.

THE HEROIC IMAGE OF MAIMONIDES LOOMS LARGE OVER JEWISH HISTORY.

Narrator: BY THE 9th CENRY, ANOTHER MIGRATION OF JEW WAS TAKING PLACE, AS THEY BEGAN MOVING FROM MEDITERRANEAN LANDS AND THE NEAR EAST TO FRANCE, GERMANY, AND OTHER PARTS OF NORTHERN AND CENTRAL EUROPE, ENCOURAGED BY ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY ANINVITATIONS FROM CHRISTIAN EUROPEAN LEADERS.

THESE JEWS CAME TO BE KNOWN AS THE ASHKENAZIM.

Klepper: JEWS OF ASHKENAZ -- A TERM THAT COMES FROM THE BIBLE, MEANING "PEOPLE FROM THE DISTANT NORTH, FAR AWAY."

ASHKENAZ WAS NORTHERN FRANCE, GERMANY, ENGLAND CAME INTO THAT ORBIT.

SO JEWS WERE BROUGHT IN, GIVEN CHARTERS OF SETTLEMENT IN ORDER TO ESTABLISH BUSINESSES, IN ORDER TO BRING TRADE TO AREAS THAT WERE ONLY RECENTLY BECOMING INVOLVED IN A COMMERCIAL ECONOMY.

THE COMMUNITIES LIVED TOGETHER.

THEY ALSO LIVED APART.

THEY MUTUALLY TRIED TO BUILD FENCES SEPARATING, MAINTAINING WHAT THEY UNDERSTOOD TO BE THINTEGRITY OF THEIR OWN COMMUNITIES.

THE VERY IMPORTANT BOOK OF THE 13th CENTURY, THE SEFER HASIDIM, THE BOOK OF THE PIOUS, HAS A PASSAGE THAT SAYS, WN YOU'RE TRAVELING ABOUT IN THE LAND, AND YOU'RE LOOKING FOR A PLACE TO SETTLE, @@ PAY ATTENTION TO THE GENTILES WHO LIVE AROUND YOU AND HOW MORAL THEY ARE, HOW THEY LIVE, AND SO ON, BECAUSE AS THE GENTILES LIVE, SO YOUR CHILDREN WILL LIVE.

THAT IS, HERE YOU HAVE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF THE FACT THAT HOWEVER MUCH JEWS TRY TO MAINTAIN DISTINCT AND SEPARATE COMMUNITIES, THEY DO LIVE AMONG THE NATIONS.

AND THEIR CHILDREN WILL COME TO ABRB THE CULTURE OF THE NATIONS.

IT'S A REMINDER TO US THAT JEWS SURVIVED CAUSE THEY WERE ADAPTABLE.

IF JEWS HAD LIVED IN A BUBBLE, THEY WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN ABLE TO SURVIVE.

Narrator: HE JEWS HAD TO ADAPT, AND IN DOING SO, LEARN TO STAY TOGETHER AS A PEOPLE.

WHILE AN INCREASING NUMBER OF JEWS IN THE CHRISTIAN WORLD WERE ENJOYING ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL OPPORTUNITIES, STILL ANOTHER PROBLEM FOR THE JEWS WAS QUICKLY EMERGING -- ANTI-SEMITISM.

REFERRING TO AGE-OLD INTERPRETATIONS OF THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE, MANY CHRISTIANS BLAMED THE JEWS FOR THE SUFFERING AND DEATH OF CHRIST.

IT WAS A CHARGE OF "DEICIDE," A CHARGE OTHER RELIGION HAD EVER HELD AGAINST ANOTHER.

FOR CENTURIES, THIS ANTI-JEWISH SENTIMENT WAS WIDESPREAD IN EUROPE.

BUT UNTIL THE 11th CENTURY, IT HAD NOT LED WIDESPREAD BLOODSHED.

IN 1096, HOWEVER, THE CRUSADES BEGAN, AND TENS OF THOUSANDS OF CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS FROM EUROPE MOBILIZED TO WAR WITH MUSLIMS IN THE HO LAND.

THE JEWS WERE NOT THE INTENDED TARGET OF THE CRUSADERS.

@@ NONETHELESS, THEY SUFFERED THE RAGE OF SOME OF THE CHRISTIAN MOBS WHO VIOLENTLY ATTACKED JEWISH COMMUNITIES EN ROUTE TO THE HOLY LAND, KILLING THOUSANDS OF JEWS.

Gampel: THE CRUSADERS SAID TO EACH OTHER, "HERE ARE THE JEWS," WHO IN THEIR MINDS CRUCIFIED CHRIST FOR NO REASON.

THEY SAID, "LET US SHARPEN OUR SWORDS "AND MASSACRE THESE JEWS ON OUR WAY TO RECAPTURING THE HOLY LAND."

Narrator: AS ONE CHRONICLER OF T TIME REPORTED, THE CRUSADERS ARE SAID TO HAVE CRIED OUT DURING ONE OF THEIR ATTACKS ON THE JEWS, "YOU ARE THE CHILDREN OF THOSE WHO KILLED "OUR OBJECT OF VENERATION, HANGING HIM ON A TREE.

"WE ARE HIS CHILDREN, AND IT IS OBLIGATORY FOR US TO AVENGE HIM."

THROUGHOUT THEIDDLE AGES, ANTI-SEMITISM IN EUROPE SPREAD AND INTENSIFIED.

JEWS WERE FALSELY ACCUSED OF BRINGING THE BLACK PLAGUE TO EUROPE, WHICH KILLED OVER 20 MILLION PEOPLE.

SATAN RECRUITED THEM THE ACCUSERSLAIMED.

JEWS WERE FALSELY ACCUSED OF KIDNAPPING CHRISTIAN CHILEN AND USING THEIR BLOOD TO MAKE MATZOH.

THERE WERE MANY MORE FALSE ACCUSATIONS, AND THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF JEWS WERE IMPRISONED, TORTURED, AND MURDERED.

BUT ANTI-SEMITISM WAS NOT THE ONLY PROBLEM FACING THE JEWS.

PRESENTED YET ANOTHER CHALLENGE -- PRESSURE TO CONVERT TO CHRISTIANITY.

WHETHER PULLED TO CHRTIANITY BY PROSELYTIZERS FOR ITS MESSAGE OF REDEMPTION IN HEAVEN, ENCOURAGED TO CONVERT IN THE QUEST FOR SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC ADVANCEMENT, OR PUSHED TO CHRISTIANITY BYHE SWORD, THE PRESSURE BECOME CHRISTIAN COULD BE INTENSE, ESPECIALLY IN GERMANY IN THE 11th CENTURY AND SPAIN IN THE 14th.

NO MATTER THE REASON, MOST JEWS DID NOT CONVERT, EVEN WHEN THREATENED WITH DEATH.

Klepper: WHY DID JEWS RESIST CONVERSION TO THE POINT OF DEATH?

BECAUSE THEY HAD A PROFOUND SENSE OF CONNECTION TO A DESTINY, TO GOD.

THEY HAD A FAITH IN COVENANT THAT WAS VERY, VERY STRONG.

AND THERE WERE A SET OF TEXTS THAT ALL LINKED BACK TO SOME CENTRAL CORE THAT THEY FOUND MEANINGFUL.

SO ONE OF THE THINGS THAT I FIND MOST INTERESTING ABOUT THOSE JEWS, FOR INSTANCE, IS THAT THEY CONNECT THE BEHAVIOR OF JEWS CHOOSING DEATH DURING THE FIRST CRUSADE IN THE 11th CENTURY WITH THE BIBLICAL FIGURE OF ABRAHAM AND ISAAC.

OR WH ANY ONE OF A NUMBER OF TEXTUAL MEMORIES.

THE PRESENT RESONATES WITH THE EXPERIENCE OF THE PAST, AND THE PAST LIVES IN THE PRESENT FOR THESE MEDIEVAL JEWS.

Narrator: BY THE 13th AND 14th CTURIES, THE JEWS WERE FACING PERSECUTION AGAIN -- EXPULSION FROM EUROPEAN COUNTRIES.

BY THIS TIME, MANY JEWS, DESPERATE FOR WORK, HAD TAKEN UP THE ROLE OF MONEY-LENDING.

IT WAS ONE OF THE FEW JOBS OPEN TO JEWS.

THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH HELD THAT A CHRISTIAN COULD NOT LEND MONEY FOR INTEREST TO A FELLOW CHRISTIAN.

Gampel: THERE ARE CHRISTIANS ACROSS THE LAND WHO LOOK UPON THE JEWS AS MONEYLENDERS AND ARE ANGRY AT THEM WHEN THEY CAN'T REPAY THEIR OWN DEBTS.

THESE GREAT ENOMIC AND RELIGIOUS FORCES ALL SERVE EVENALLY FOR THESE CHRISTIAN RULERS TO DECIDE TH IT'S NO LONGER HELPFUL TO THEM IF THEY KEEP THEIR JEWISH POPULATION.

THOSE SAME JEWS WHO WERE INVITED IN IN THE 9th CENTURY AND INVITED IN GROUPS IN THE 11th CENTURY TO HELP POPULATE THE CITIES ARE NOW SEEN AS A FORCE, AS A GROUP OF PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT HELPING THEM ESTABLISH THE SECURITY OF THEIR KINGDOM.

Klepper: BETWEEN 1290 AND THE END OF THE 14th CENTURY, THERE WERE A SERIES OF EXPULSIONS FROM WESTERN LANDS.

AT A CERTAIN POINT, RISTIAN RULERS SEEMED TO THINK THAT THEY COULD GET MORE ECONOMIC BENEFIT OUT OF THE OUTRIGHT CONFISCATION OF JEWS' PROPERTY THAN FROM TAXING THEM, AS THEY HAD IN THE PAST.

Gampel: THESE JEWS ARE GOING TO TRAVEL EASTWARD INTO EASTERN EUROPE, AND ESPECIALLY INTO POLAND.

Narrator: THE JEWS HAD SUCCESSFULLY PERFORMED A DELICATE BALANCING ACT AND SURVIVED.

THEY HAD SURVID THE DESTRUCTION OF THEIR TEMPLE AND THEIR HOMELAND.

THEY HAD SURVIVED EXILE.

THEY HAD SURVIVED CENTURIES OF VIOLENT ANTI-SEMITISM AND COUNTLESS ATTEMPTS TO SWAY THEM FROM THEIR FAITH.

YET, DESPITE IT ALL, CALLING ON THE TORAH, THE TALMUD, THEIR TRADITIONS, AND THEIR COMMUNITIES, THEY PERSEVERED.

Narrator: AS THE MIDDLE AGES CAME TO A CLOSE, AN INCREASING MBER OF JEWS, PRIMARILY FROM WESTERN EUROPE, WERE MOVING EASTWARD TO SUCH LANDS AS POLAND, LITHUANIA, AND THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE.

JEWS BEGIN TO COME THERE BEGINNING IN THE 14th, 15th, 16th CENTURIES, BECAUSE THEY ARE INVITED BY POLISH MAATES.

POLISH MAGNATES EARN LAND AS PART OF THE NOBILITY, THEY'RE AWARDED LAND.

AND THE POLISH MAGNATES NEED PEOP TO MEDIATE THAT LAND, TO RUN THE COMMUNITIES IN THAT LAND.

Gampel: THIS WAS NEW TERRITORY FOR THE JEWS.

THESE ASHKENAZI JEWS WERE A PIONEERING SOCIETY, SETTLING AN AREA OF WHICH THERE WERE NO GREAT TRADITIONS OF JEWISH POPULATION.

Narrator: OVER TIME, THE JEWS IN EASTERN EUROPE AND THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE DEVELOPED TIGHTLY KNIT COMMUNITIES -- OFTEN, IN TOWNS KNOWN AS SHTETLS.

Balin: A "SHTETL" COME FROM THE YIDDISH SHTOT.

SHTOT MEANS "TOWN."

WHEN YOU ADD THE DIMINUTIVE "L," OR LAMEDH, AT THE END, SHTETL BECOMES "LITTLE TOWN."

Stanislawski: THE PROVERBIAL SHTETL IS NOT -- HERE'S A BIG "NOT" -- IS NOT A JEWISH TOWN OR A JEWISH VILLAGE, AS IS OFTEN UNDERSTOOD.

THE JEWS A LARGELY A MINORI IN -- A SUBSTANTIAL MINORITY, SOMETHING LIKE 40%.

THEY'RE LIVING INTERMINGLE WITH OTHER PEOPLE, BUT THE BARRIER IS STILL THERE.

RIGHT, THE BARRIER IS CLEAR BETWEEN WHO IS A JEW AND, SAY, WHO IS A CATHOLIC.

Narrator: THE RULERS IN EASTERN EUROPE AND THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE RESTRICTED WHERE JEWS COULD LIVE AND LIMITED WHAT JOBS THEY COULD HOLD.

BUT THEY DID ALLOW THEM TO GOVERN THEIR OWN COMMUNITIES D LIVE ACCORDING TO RABBINIC LAW AND CULTURE.

Stanislawski: BY 1900, THERE ARE PROBABLY AROUND SIX MILLION JEWS IN EASTERN EUROPE.

THEY'RE THERE BECAUSE THEY FIND, NOT RECEPTIVE GROUND, THAT ERYBODY LOVES THEM ETHER YOU LOVE THEM OR YOU DON'T LOVE THEM IS NOT THE QUESTION -- THEY SERVE A FUNCTION, IF YOU'RE LOOKING AT IT FROM THE OUTSIDE.

FROM THE INSIDE, TO DO SOMETHING WHICH THEY'VE LOVED -- WHICH THEY'VE TRIED TO DO EVERYWHERE ELSE -- IS TO BUILD COMMUNITIES BASED ON RABBINIC CULTURE, BASED ON RABBINIC LAW.

IN EVE PLACE IN THE DIASPORA, THE JEWS HAVE TRIED TO DO THIS.

BUT TH'VE BEEN STYMIED BY DIFFERENT KINDS OF CIRCUMSTANCES.

HERE, IN EASTERN EUROPE, FOR EXAMPLE, WITHOUT MAKING IT INTO A HEAVEN FOR THE JEWS, AS SOME POLISH NATIONALISTS DO, OR INTO A HELL FOR THE JEWS, IT'S A PLACE WHERE THERE ARE NO EXPULSIONS FOR SIX, SEVEN CENTURIES.

IT'S CONTRARY TO THE EXPERIENCE OF JEWS IN MOST OTHER PLACES THAT YOU CAN BE IN THE SAME PLACE, YOU CAN BE BORN IN THE SAME PLACE AS YOUR PARENTS, YOUR GRANDPARENTS, YOUR GREAT-GRANDPARENTS, YOUR GREAT-GREAT-GRANDPARENTS, YOUR GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-- GOING BACK HUNDREDS OF YEARS.

WHEN I RAISE THIS IN A CLASS AT COLUMBIA OR ANYWHERE I TEACH, I ASK THE CLASS, "HOW MANY YOU WERE BORN "IN THE SAME CITY AS YOUR PARENTS?

"HOW MANY OF YOU WERE BORN "IN THSAME CITY AS YOUR GRANDPARENTS?

"HOW MANY WERE BORN IN THE SE CITY AS YOUR GREAT-GRANDPARENTS?"

AND WHETHER IT'S A JEWISH AUDIENCE OR A NON-JEWISH AUDIENCE, IN AMERICA, THE RESULT IS ALWAYS THE SAME -- IT'S VERY FEW PEOPLE WERE BORN IN THE SAME PLACE AS THEIR GRANDPARENTS.

AND THIS IS ANOMALOUS IN JEWISH HISTORY.

AND IT'S BASICALLY A SUBSISTENCE ECONOMY.

THEY'RE JUST MAKING IT.

THEY'RE NOT RICH, BUT THEY'RE NOT POOR.

THEY'RE MAKING IT, AND THEY'RE MAKING ISUFFICIENTLY THAT THEY CAN LIVE AND RAISE THEIR CHILDREN AND DIE AND HAVE THEIR CHILDREN LIVE AND RAISE THEIR CHILDREN AND DIE IN THE SAME PLACE.

Narrator: THROUGHOUT THESE COMMUNITIES, A NEW LANGUAGE DEVELOPED -- YIDDISH.

SPOKEN ALMOST EXCLUSIVELY BY THE JEWS OF EASTERN EUROPE, YIDDISH BECAME ONE OF THE MOST DEFINING ANDNIFYING FEATURES OF THE COMMUNITY.

Stanislawski: THIS AMALGAM, THIS THING WHICH THEY CALL AND WE CALL NOW YIDDISH, WHICH IS AN AMALGAM OF DIFFERENT GERMANIC DIALECTS AND HEBREW ARAMAIC WORDS AND SLAVIC WORDS AND SOME OLD ITALIAN WORDS THAT ARE STILL IN THERE -- WHEN YOU SAY THE GRACE AFTER A MEAL, THAT'S BENTCHING IN YIDDISH, WHICH IS BENEDICERE IN LATIN, OKAY, "TO BLESS."

OKAY, IT REMAINS THERE FROM WHEN THEY PASSED THUGH ROMANCE-SPEAKING COUNTRIES.

Narrator: BY THE END OF THE 18th CENTURY, THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE HAD TAKEN OV MUCH OF EASTERN EUROPE.

IN DOING SO, IT BROUGHT MILLIONS OF JEWS INTO ITS POPULATION.

Balin: JEWS WERE PRIMARILY LIVING IN THE WESTERN BORDERLANDS, IN WHAT BECOMES KNOWN AS "THE PALE OF SETTLEMENT."

THE PALE OF SETTLEMENT IS A VAST TERRITORY OF LAND DELINEATED AS A BORDER TERRITORY IN 1791 UNDER CATHERINE II.

THE JEWS ARE LIMITED IN THEIR TRAVEL TO THAT AREA.

Narrator: AS IN WESTERN EUROPE, THERE HAD ALWAYS BEEN ANTI-SEMITISM IN THE PALE.

BUT IN THE LATE 19 CENTURY, POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC UNREST LED TO FAR MORE VIOLENCE.

DESTRUCTION OF JEWISH PROPERTY WAS ROUTINE.

PHYSICAL ATTACKS AGAINST JEWS, KNOWN AS "POGROMS," BROKE OUT IN INCREASING NUMBERS.

JEWS WERE OFTEN INJURED OR KILLED.

MORE RESTRICTIVE LAWS AGAINST JEWS WERE ENACTED, AND ECONOMIC COMPETITION MADE IT DIFFICULT FOR MANY JEWS TO EARN A LIVING.

Balin: AND A POLITICAL MOVEMENT EMERGES UNDER THE AEGIS OF THEODOR HERZL, WHO LIVED FROM 1860 TO 1904 AND THROUGHOUT HIS LIFE WORKED TOWARD A NORMALIZATION OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE.

HERZL SAW A PROBLEM AND A SOLUTION.

THE PROBLEM WAS ANTI-SEMITISM.

THE SOLUTION WAS THE CREATION OF A NORMALIZED JEWISH STATE.

Narrator: THE STATE HE HOPED TO CREATE FOR THE JEWS WAS ISRAEL.

Dershowitz: WHO COULD HAVE IMAGINED ZIONISM?

A GUY WHO COULDN'T SPEAK HEBREW, HAD NO KNOWLEDGE OF JUDAISM, WRITES A BOOK, AND SUDDENLY THERE IS SECULAR, POLITICAL ZIONISM?

WHAT A REINVENTION!

IT'S UNBELIEVABLE.

Narrator: THE IDEA OF A RETURN TO ISRAEL HAD BEEN AOST MYTHIC FOR JEWS.

FOR MILLENNIA, THEY ALWAYS ASKED IN THEIR PRAYERS TO ONE DAY RETURN -- A PRAYER ECHOED EACH YEAR DURING THE PASSOVER SEDER.

L'SHANA HABA-AH B'YERUSHALAYIM, "NEXT YEAR IN RUSALEM."

WE SAY IT SINCE WE ARE IN EXILE.

EVEN IN JERUSALEM, WE SAY IT.

Narrator: BY THE LATE 19th CENTURY, ZIONISM WAS VERY ACTIVE.

TENS OF THOUSANDS OF JEWS, KNOWN AS THE HALUTZIM, OR "PIONEERS," BEGAN MOVING FM EUROPE BACK TO THE REGION OF THEIR ANCESTORS.

ONE OF THE FIR TO MAKE THE TRIP, ARRIVING IN 1881, WAS A MAN KNOWN AS ELIEZER BEN-YEHUDA.

BEN-YEHUDA HAD A MISSI -- TO BRING BACK TO THE JEWISPEOPLE THE LANGUAGE THAT HAD LONG SINCE DIED FOR DAILY USE AND WAS ONLY USED INRITING AND PRAYER -- HEBREW.

MANY SAW HIS VISION AS IMPOSSIBLE, BUT N-YEHUDA BELIEVED THAT IF YOUNG CHILDREN COULD LEARN HEBREW IN SCHOOL, IT COULD BECOME A NATIONAL LANGUAGE.

HIS EFFORTS WERE SUCCESSFUL.

TO THIS DAY, HEBR IS THE MOST WIDELY SPOKEN LANGUAGE IN ISRAEL.

FOR MILLIONSF OTHER JEWS IN EASTERN EUROPE AND THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE, THE ANSWER WAS AMERICA.

BETWEEN THE 1880s AND 19s, BETWEEN 2 AND 3 MILLION JEWS CAME THROUGH SUCH AMERICAN RTS AS NEW YORK'S ELLIS ISLAND, BALTIMORE, AND PHILADELPHIA.

THEY SETTLED PRIMARILY IN LARGER CITIES, OFTEN RE-CREATING COMMUNITIES SIMILAR TO THOSE THEY HAD LEFT, SPEAKING YIDDISH, AND BUILDING RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS AND SYNAGOGUES.

MOST JEWS, HOWEVER, DID NOT LEAVE SSIA AND EASTERN EUROPE.

UPROOTING FROM THOSE PLACES THEY HAD LIVED FOR GENERATIONS SEEMED TOO UNSETTLING, TOO DAUNTING, OR TOO RISKY.

AND THERE WAS A NEW MOVEMENT IN THE REGION THAT SEEMED TO OFFER HOPE -- SOCIALISM.

Balin: AND JEWISH FORMS OF SOCIALISM BECOMES EXTREMELY APPEALING TO JEWS.

IN 1897, THE BUND IS FOUNDED, THE JEWISH SOCIALIST MOVEMENT.

LITERALLY MILLIONS OF JEWS WILL BECOME INTERESTED AND ASSOCIATED WITH SOCIALISM.

Narrator: TO MANY SOCIALIST JEWS, THE UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS, FOUNDED IN 1917, SEEMED TO BE AN ANSWER -- AN ALL-NEW RUSSIA, WHERE ALL PEOPLE WERE EQUAL, ALL WERE WELL FED, ALL WERE TAKEN CARE OF, ALL-NEW RUSSIA, WHERE JEWS FINALLY WOULD BE SAFE.

COMMUNIST RUIA BECAME A HOME FOR LLIONS OF JEWS, THOUGH NOT EXACTLY WHAT THEY HAD HOPED.

THERE WAS MUCH ANTI-SEMITISM UNDER SOVIET RULE.

BUT THE TREATMENT OF JEWS DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR OVERSHADOWED EVERYTHING.

FOR THOSE JEWS WHO HAD REMAINED IN EASTERN EUROPE AND THOSE WHO LIVED IN THE WESTERN LANDS OF THE SOVIET UNION, NOTHING COULD HAVE PREPARED THEM FOR WHAT LAY AHEAD.

THE WAR THAT DEVASTATED EUROPE AND RUSSIA IN THE MIDDLE OF THE 20th CENTURY WOULD HAVE CATASTROPHIC CONSEQUENCES.

Wiel: THE HOLOCAUST -- IT'S A WORD WHICH WE POORLY HAVE CHOSEN, BECAUSE THERE'S NO OTHER WORD FOR IT.

THERE SHOULD BE, BUT THERE ISN'T.

Narrator: HITLER'S WISH WAS TO ANNIHILATE THE JEWS.

UNDER HIS THIRD REICH, JEWSERE SUBJECTED TO VIOLENT PERSECUTION AND THEN EITR SHOT AND BURIED IN MASS GRAVES OR SHIPPED OFF TO BRAL CONCENTRATION CAMPS.

CONDITIONS IN THE DEATH CAMPS WERE HORRIFIC, BUT MANY JEWS FOUND WAYS TO HOLD ON TO THEIR IDEALS, THEIR FAITH, AND THEIR TRADITIONS.

Wiesel: MY FATHER AND I WOULD GET UP IN THE MORNING BEFORE EVERYBODY ELSE, BECAUSE SOMEBODY SNEAKED A PAIR OF TEFILLIN, OF PHYLACTERIES, INTO THE CAMP, FOR 10 PORTIONS OF BREAD OR SOMETHING.

HE WOULD GET UP JUST TO PUT ON THE TEFILLIN AND SAY THE PRAYER FOR HALF A SECOND OR A MINUTE.

AND THEN WE SAID THE PRAYERS EVERDAY.

THERE ARE CERTAIN THINGS THEY'RE SAYING -- [ WIESEL SPEAKING HEBREW ] "OH, HOW HAPPY OUR LOT IS."

HOW COULD WE HAVE SAID THAT?

IT'S A LIE.

BUT NOT THERE.

Balin: ONE OF THE MOST FASCINATING EXAMPLES OF SURVIVAL DURING THE HOLOCAUST IS T FACT THAT IN THE WARSAW GHETTO, UNDER THE LEADERSH OF EMMANUEL RINGELBLUM, THE JEWS COLLECTED ARCHIVE AND THOSE ARCHIVES WERE FOUND AFTER THE WAR IN THE DEEP RECESSES OF THE EARTH.

THEY KEPT THEM IN MILK JARS.

AND THESE ARE DOCUMENTS DESCRIBING THE EDUCATION GOING ON EVEN DURING THE WAR, WHERE CHILDREN WOULD COME AND BE TAUGHT HEBREW OR RELIGIOUS SUBJECTS, WISH SUBJECTS, WHATEVER COULD BKIND OF COBBLED TOGETH.

THEY WERE GROUPS OF JEWS WHO WOULD PRAY AS BEST THEY COULD, DAILY, WHO WOULD CELEBRATE HOLIDAYS.

AND THEY WOULD GET TOGETHER AND TELL EACH OTHER THE RECIPES OF THEIR MOTHERS AND THEIR GRANDMOTHERS AND THEIR GREAT-GRANDMOTHERS, AS A WAY TO KEEP ALIVE JEWISH MEMORY.

Narrator: BY THE TIME OF GERMANY'S DEFEAT IN 1945, SIX MILLION JEWS -- AN ESTIMATED 1/3 OF THE WORLD JEWISH POPULATION AND 2/3 OF EUROPE'S WISH POPULATION -- HAD BEEN SYSTEMATICALL MURDERED.

Wiesel: IN THE BEGINNING, THERE WAS A DANGER EVEN THAT OUR PEOPLE WOULD BE DEFINED BY IT.

AND SOME CRITICS ALREADY SAID, WE ARE TOO OBSESSED WITH THE HOLOCAUST.

BUT THE FACT IS THAT IN THE BEGINNING, 1945, THERE WERE JEWS WHO SAID THE OPPOSITE.

THEY SAID, "BECAUSE OF WHAT HAPPENED, I DON'T WANT IT TO HAPPEN AGAIN TO MY CHILDREN."

AND I KNOW CASES OF PEOPLE WHO SIMPLY CHANGED THEIR NAMES EVEN CHANGED THEIR RELIGION, TO SPARE THEIR CHILDREN.

THEY DIDN'T TRUST HUMANITY.

THEY DIDN'T TRUST CIVILIZATION.

THEY DIDN'T TRUST SOCIETY.

ANI UNDERSTAND THEM.

BUT THEY WERE A MINORITY.

Narrator: IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE WAR, THE VICTORIOUS ALLIES OF EUROPE, THE SOVIET UNION, AND THE UNITED STATES CONFERRED OVER THE FATE OF THE JEWISH SURVIVORS.

ZIONISM, THE MOVEMENT STARTED BY THEODOR HERZL BACK IN THE 1800s, SUDDENLY GAINED THE SUPPORT OF MANY IN THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY.

SOME ARGUED THEIR MOTIVES WERE NOT MERELY ALTRUISTIC.

EVERY JEW WHO SETTLED IN THE LANDS @@ THAT WOULD BECOME ISRAEL WAS ONE FEWER WHO WOULD COME TO NEW YORK, LONDON, PARIS, OR MOSCOW.

IN MAY OF 1948, JEWS WILL GET A LAND OF THEIR OWN, HOMELAND, A REFUGE, A HAVEN.

AND A STATE OF ISRAEL IS DEFINED IN POLITICAL TERMS IN 1948 AND RATIFIED BY THE UNITED NATIONS.

Narror: ISRAEL BECAME A NEW HOME FOR HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF JEWS FROM POST-HOLOCAUST EUROPE.

THEY HAD NO INTEREST ISTAYING WHERE SO MANY OF THEIR FRIENDS AND FAMILIES HAD BEEN KILLED.

AFTER 1948, ME 600,000 JEWS -- EITHER EXPELLED OR FLEEING FROM MUSLIM AND ARAB COUNTRIES -- MOVED TO ISRAEL.

THERE WERE OTHER DESTINATIONS.

HUGE NUMBERS OF JEWS MOVED TO THE UNITED STATES.

AND MANY MIGRATED TO SUCH COUNTRIES AS FRANCE, AUSTRALIA, AND CANADA.

Hirschfield: AM I WORRIED ABOUT THE FACT THAT WE'RE NOT STUCK BEHIND GHETTO WALLS?

NO.

ALL THE PEOPLE WHO ARE ROMANTIC ABOUT THE PAST -- IT'S AMAZING -- YOU ASK THEM, "I'M CURIO, "WHERE ARE YOUR PARENTS FROM?

"WHERE ARE YOUR GRANDPARENTS FROM?

WHERE ARE YOUR GREAT-GRANDPARENTS FROM?"

AND YOU GET "MINSK" AND "TEBSK" AND "ALGIS" AND WHEREVER ELSE.

AND I SAY, "I'M CURIOUS.

DO YOU WANT TO GO BACK?"

NO ONE WANTS TO GO BACK.

SO I THINK NOW THE TRICK IS TO ADMIT, WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE CONNECTED AND TO BE COMMITTED, WHEN IT'S NOT FORCED ON YOU BY WALLS THAT GUARANTEE YOUR MEMBERSHIP?

BECAUSE MEMBERSHIP THAT'S GUARANTEED BY WALLS -- WHO NEEDS THAT?

I WANT TO SEE JUDAISM SURVIVE BECAUSE OF ITS INHERENT QUALITIES, BECAUSE PEOPLE WANT TO BE JEWS.

NOT BECAUSE PEOPLE DON'T WANT TO BE VICTIMS OF PERSECUTION.

Hirschfield: I THINK THE FACT THAT SIMULTANEOUSLY THIS CULTURE WAS ABLE TO BE RICALLY DIFFERENT IN CERTAIN WAYS FROM ERA TO ERA AND MOMENT TO MOMENT, PROFOUNDLY OPEN TO GROWTH AND TO CHANGE, AND AT THE SAME TIME, ALWAYS CREATE A SENSE OF CONNECTEDNESS TO THAT WHICH CAME BEFORE IS REALLY CRITICAL.

USUALLY, WE'RE TOLD, "WELL, IS IT NEW OR IS IT OLD?"

AND THIS CULTURE SAID, "YES."

"IS IT CONTIGUOUS OR DIS-CONTIGUOUS?"

AND THIS CULTURE SAID, "OF COURSE!"

"IS THIS ABOUT THE PAST OR ABOUT THE FUTURE?"

"WHAT ELSE WOULD IT BE?"

AND THE ABILITY TO DO THAT IS ACTUALLY PRETTY PROFOUND.

YEARS AND YEARS AGO, I GOT A TELEPHONE CALL FROM THE DALAI LAMA.

HE WANTED TO MEET ME.

AND I CAME TO SEE HIM, AND THEN I SAID, "WHY DID YOU WANT TO MEET ME?"

"I'LL TELL YOU WHY," HE SAID.

"YOUR PEOPLE SUFFERED A LOT, "AND YOU WENT INTO EXILE 2,000 YEARS AGO, "BUT YOU ARE STILL HERE.

"MY PEOPLE JUST LEFT ITS HOMELAND.

"IT IS IN EXILE.

"AND I KNOW IT'S GOI TO BE A LONG EXILE.

TEACH US HOW TO SURVIVE IN EXILE."

[ CANTOR SINGING IN HEBREW ] [ WOMAN SINGING "HANUKKAH, O HAKKAH" IN YIDDISH ]