5000 Years of Jewish History with Rabbi
Berel Wein
Rabbi Wein and the Destiny Foundation present 33 short talks on
Jewish history. The Destiny Foundation produces educational and
entertaining media to tell the story of the Jewish people to the Jewish
people.
Ahmedinejad Invited to Auschwitz
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad has become the world's
leading denier of the Holocaust. In Jerusalem, Noah Flug, President of
the Auschwitz International Committee, of former prisoners of Auschwitz
has sent an invitation to the Iranian leader to visit the death camp to
see it for himself.
American Jewish Committee Archives
The AJC has launched ajcarchives.org, a massive online archive
that contains materials from AJC's last hundred years. The website
features speeches, radio programs, commercials, articles and much more.
See and hear Bella Abzug, George Burns, Gerson Cohen, Abba Eban,
Hank Greenberg, Mordecai Kaplan, Golda Meir, Arthur Miller, Molly Picon,
Neil Simon, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Rosalyn Yalow and much more.
Amos Oz Israel - Peace and War
Amos Oz, acclaimed Israeli novelist, peace activist, and professor
at the Ben Gurion University of the Negev, speaks about life in Israel.
Princeton University, November 10, 2003.
BBC reporter Patrick Gordon Walker was among the press corps
during the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in
Northern Germany on April 15, 1945. Over the next few weeks, he
documented what he saw, recording the first Sabbath ceremony openly
conducted on German soil since the beginning of the war, interviewing
survivors, and speaking to British Tommies about what they had witnessed
at liberation.
These podcasts were created from recordings of Louis
Brandsdorfer’s mother, who recollected her experiences of the Shoah. She
describes how many members of her family, from a small Polish town near
the German border, died, while she and her sister survived. The quality
of the recordings varies.
This website offers outstanding and timely lectures and music from
the Center for Jewish History in New York City. Topics include
considerations of Freud, anti-Semitism, Klezmer, Baruch Spinoza, and
Jews and genes, among others. The center is a joint venture of the
American Jewish Historical Society, the Leo Baeck institute, YIVO
Institute, Yeshiva University Museum, and the American Sephardi
Federation.
Center
for Online Judaic Studies
The Center for Online Judaic Studies (COJS), is an organization
which is revolutionizing the study of Jewish history with cutting-edge
internet and digital imaging technologies, including webcasting.
Their interactive encyclopedia, vast database of primary sources,
multimedia presentations, and innovative educational materials serve as
resources for students, teachers, adult learners, and scholars.
Centrality Of Jewish Values In Shaping The
Jewish Future
Professor Calvin Goldscheider of Brown University presents this
talk on Jewish values based on his interviews with European Jews who
survived WWII. Produced by University of Washington, May 2000.
Since 2000, Centropa has interviewed 1,350 elderly Jews still
living in the 15 countries between the Baltic and the Aegean (from
Estonia and Russia to Greece and Turkey), but we never use video nor do
we focus primarily on the Holocaust. Instead, we collect and digitize
family snapshots—tens of thousands of them. We spend between six to
twenty hours with each respondent, asking them to paint for us a picture
of the world they grew up in—as well as the world they rebuilt for their
families after the war (we also dutifully record everything our
respondents wish to share with us about the Shoah).
Constantine's Sword
The Church and the Jews
James Carroll's book, Constantine's Sword The Church and the Jews,
is both a powerful and disturbing analysis of the history of Christian,
especially Roman Catholic, dealings with the Jews. He argues that
Christians took anti-Semitic forks in the road when they might well have
written a less tragic history by following another road.
Countering Holocaust Denial in Arab and
Muslim Societies
On October 20, 2006, Robert Satloff, Akbar Ahmed, and Gregg
Rickman addressed The Washington Institute’s Special Policy Forum. Dr.
Satloff is the Institute’s executive director and author of Among the
Righteous Lost Stories from the Holocaust’s Long Reach into Arab Lands.
Dr. Ahmed is the Ibn Khaldun chair of Islamic Studies at American
University and former Pakistani high commissioner to Great Britain. Dr.
Rickman is special envoy for monitoring and combating anti-Semitism with
the State Department.
Crash Course in Jewish History
Jewish history "in 24 hours"; 32 classes of 45 minutes each, with
Ken Spiro, overviewing 4,000 years of Jewish history!
Deborah Hertz How Jews Became Germans
UCSD Professor of Modern Jewish Studies Deborah Hertz discusses
her new book, which traces the social history of German Jewish families
from 1645 through the 1930s.
Dennis Ross - at the World Affairs Council of Northern California
Ambassador Dennis Ross' address on "The Missing Peace The Inside
Story of the Fight for the Middle East Peace", delivered September 30,
2004. For more than 12 years, Ambassador Ross helped shape U.S.
involvement in the Middle East peace process.
Here, he discusses the lessons he learned and the advice he has
offered for bringing peace to the region.
A collection of over 4,200 videotaped interviews with witnesses
and survivors of the Holocaust, the Fortunoff Video Archive for
Holocaust Testimonies is part of the manuscripts and archives
collections at Sterling Memorial Library, Yale University.
From Golden Age to Expulsion History,
Society, and Culture of MedievalSephardic Jewry
"120 Minutes With JTS" provides an in-depth exploration of a wide
range of Jewish topics and interests. Each issue is covered in six
distinct twenty minute learning modules by a noted JTS scholar and is
designed to educate and inspire. This installment covers "From Golden
Age to Expulsion History, Society, and Culture of Medieval Sephardic
Jewry".
Haven to Home An American Journey (Library
of Congress)
This live performance tells the stories of Emma Lazarus, an
immigrant's daughter who became known as Lady Liberty's poet, and Irving
Berlin, an immigrant who became one of America's best loved composers.
Holocaust and the Importance of Museums
Anthony Platt's Bloodlines is the story of how an original copy of
the 1935 Nuremberg Laws, signed by Hitler and turned over to General
George S. Patton, ended up in the Huntington Library vault and remained
there – unknown to the world - for 55 years.
Platt discusses wartime looting, Patton’s bigotry, the Holocaust,
eugenics, Jewish identity, and the responsibility of museums and
cultural centers.
Introduction to the Old Testament (Hebrew
Bible) with Professor Christine Hayes
This Yale College course examines the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible)
as an expression of the religious life and thought of ancient Israel,
and a foundational document of Western civilization. A wide range of
methodologies, including source criticism and the historical-critical
school, tradition criticism, redaction criticism, and literary and
canonical approaches are applied to the study and interpretation of the
Bible. Special emphasis is placed on the Bible against the backdrop of
its historical and cultural setting in the Ancient Near East.
Iran Hosts Holocaust Deniers Conference -
from NPR
NPR report, December 11, 2006, on the two-day conference that
brings together Holocaust deniers and foes of Israel from around the
world
Iranian Jewry From Past to Present
Webcast of lectures from the 2008 conference organized by the
University of Maryland and the Library of Congress.
The Jews of Iran comprise not only one of the oldest populations
of Jews in the world, but also one of the most ancient threads in the
diverse fabric of the ancient Iranian community. Beginning with the
Achaemenid period (550-330 B.C.) and lasting beyond the emigration of a
portion of Iran's Jewish population to the United States and Israel in
the late 1970s, Jews have had a complex interaction with the Persian
state and culture. The
morning session focused on Jews in Medieval Persian Cultures and
Resources for the Study of Iranian Jewry.
Click here for the Morning session
http//www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/feature_wdesc.php?rec=4507 .
The afternoon session focused on Jewish Material Culture and Folk
Art and Jewish Culture in Twentieth Century Iran. Click here for the
Afternoon session
http//www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/feature_wdesc.php?rec=4508
Iraqi Jewish Archives Lack Funds for
Restoration
“All Things Considered,” NPR, May 9, 2005. As related in this
audio piece, in 2003, U.S. forces discovered a cache of documents and
sacred texts that had belonged to Iraq's once-thriving Jewish community
in a flooded basement of Saddam Hussein's secret police. The records
were transported to the U.S., where efforts to restore them are stalled
by a shortage of funds.
Israel-Palestine Conflict, Davos 2007
Venue World Economic Forum - Davos, Switzerland.
The World Economic Forum “Enough Is Enough - Israel and the
Palestinian Territories”.
Middle East leaders talk about a proposed Arab peace plan and efforts to
achieve sustainable peace based on a two-state solution. Topics include
the major obstacles to negotiating a peace settlement, building trust
and momentum towards a resolution, and methods Israeli and Palestinian
politicians could use to end a self-perpetuating cycle of violence.
Jadio is a Jewish streaming audio site providing on-demand
delivery of Jewish lectures and discussions authored by some of the
world's most compelling and inspiring Jewish scholars, including Kenneth
Adelman, Yehuda Bauer, Dr. Sara Bloomfield, Shmuley Boteach, Abba Eban,
and Esther Jungreis
Jewish Book in America - Library of Congress
Jonathan Sarna, who here discusses the Jewish book in America, is
the Joseph H. & Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History at
Brandeis University and chairs the Academic and Editorial Board of the
Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives. He also is
the author most recently of American Judaism A History.
Jewish Education for Adults from the comfort
of your home
Got Torah? Comes to you from Oorah, a Jewish outreach organization
based in Lakewood, New Jersey. For more than two decades, Oorah has been
helping Jewish families connect to their heritage. Most of its
volunteers are young rabbinical students who are eager to share and
teach what they’ve learned.
The Jewish Giant began with photographer Jenny Carchman’s search
to uncover a story that remained secret for 25 years the story of the
very large man whom Diane Arbus photographed towering over an older
couple. The caption read, "Jewish giant at home with his parents in the
Bronx , NY, 1970,” and this man was Jenny’s cousin. The Jewish Giant is
a story of suffering, of not fitting in, of the body betraying itself,
and of the bizarre life-twists that can subsume a family.
Jewish Heritage on Beacon Hill
Ellen Smith, lecturer in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at
Brandeis University, discusses the history of Jewish immigration in
Boston. Boston's first Jewish congregation established a synagogue in
the South End in 1852. By 1907, Boston's Jewish population had grown to
60,000 with many families settling in the West End. The Vilna
congregation began to hold services on Beacon Hill in 1903 and remained
there until 1985.
Jewish History by Rabbi Berel Wein
Rabbi Berel Wein is a noted scholar, historian, speaker, and
educator who is admired the world over for his books and cassette tapes
– particularly on Jewish History.
JLTV is a 24/7 Jewish television channel serving all 50 states.
JLTV features news and sports, movies, music videos,
documentaries, magazine programs, shows for children and young adults,
comedy and more.
Jewish Museum - Online Exhibitions
Online exhibitions at The Jewish Museum of New York give viewers
opportunities for in-depth, interactive encounters with the collection,
as well as with featured special exhibitions.
Jewish National & University Library -
National Sound Archives
Nineteen songs we love to hear from the early days of Israel –
from the recording collection of the national sound archives.
JTN was founded in 1981 as an independent, not-for-profit,
production, distribution, and broadcasting company, the only producer
and distributor of Jewish television in the United States. Its
programming reflects the richness and diversity of Jewish traditions and
experience through children’s shows, network quality news, and
documentaries, as well as arts and entertainment.
JEWISH THOUGHT LEADERS is a production of the Koret Taube Center
for Jewish Peoplehood at the Osher Marin Jewish Community Center. This
podcast features talks that we have presented at our center. Each
presentation is introduced by Joanne Greene, Director of our Center for
Jewish Peoplehood.
Judah L. Magnes Museum of Berkeley
The Magnes is a museum of art and history focused on the Jewish
experience. The Museum
demonstrates a commitment to both tradition and experimentation through
wide-ranging collections, original exhibitions, provocative programs,
and research facilities, including the largest history center relating
to the Jews in the American West.
Here are public lectures on wideranging topics, from "Is there
Intelligent Art in Outer Space? to "Through the Eye of the Needle Fabric
Art of Esther Nisenthal Krinitz".
This is the TV station of the Israeli Knesset (Parliament).
It webcasts live
Knesset and committee meetings as well as other programs.
In Hebrew.
Lebanon, Before and After the
Israel-Hizballah War
On September 16, 2006, Jamil Mroue and Misbah al-Ahdab addressed
The Washington Institute’s annual Weinberg Founders Conference. Misbah
al-Ahdab is a member of the Lebanese parliament, and Jamil Mroue is
editor in chief of the Beirut Daily Star.
Michael Oren discusses "America and the
Shaping of
Venue Commonwealth Club - San Francisco, CA.
From the first cannonballs fired by American warships at North
African pirates to the Marines' conquest of Fallujah, the U.S. has been
dramatically involved in the Middle East. A senior fellow at Jerusalem's
Shalem Center, Oren explores the diverse and remarkable ways in which
Americans have interacted with this alluring, yet sometimes hostile,
land.
Michael Oren Interviewed by Harry Kreisler
Welcome to a Conversation with History, a program hosted by Harry
Kreisler of the Institute of International Studies at UC Berkeley. The
guest today is Michael B. Oren who is a historian and a novelist. His
publications include Six Days of War June 1967 and the Making of the
Modern Middle East, and a novel, Reunion. He is a senior fellow at the
Shalom Center in Jerusalem.
Middle East Media Research Institute
The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) explores the
Middle East through the region's media. MEMRI bridges the language gap
that exists between the West and the Middle East. It provides timely
translations of Arabic, Farsi, and Hebrew media, as well as original
analysis of political, ideological, intellectual, social, cultural, and
religious trends in the Middle East.
National Sound Archives Digitization Project
Jewish National and University Library, Hebrew University - Givat
Ram, Jerusalem, Israel. The
library collects books, periodicals, manuscripts, documents, recordings,
maps, and pictures that represent the history of the Jewish people.
Every year, some of the world’s most interesting writers, artists,
and scholars speak at the National Yiddish Book Center. The Center
offers complete sound recordings of these presentations. Just click on
the title you want to hear and the lecture will begin!
North African Jewry and the Trauma of World
War II
Aron Rodrigue, professor of History, Stanford University, Eva
Chernov Lokey professor in Jewish Studies.
Samuel and Althea Stroum Lectures in Jewish Studies - 2005.
This lecture addresses the neglected story of the Jews of
present-day Algeria, Morocco, and Libya during the Holocaust. The
complex webs of relations created by the diversity of ethnic and
religious communities, the history of colonialism, and thealliances
among fascist powers created a climate in which anti-Semitism
wasmitigated for much of the 19th and 20th centuries in various North
Africancommunities. Whole communities were destroyed by the same forces
that wreaked destruction on European Jews. This story of the
intersecting histories of colonialism, nationalism, and the modern
machinery of the Holocaust has been largely eclipsed by the history of
Ashkenazim during the war, but is one which is entirely parallel in its
traumatic effect.
Nostra Aetate
Seeking Understanding in Our Age - Georgetown University
On October 28, 1965, the Second Vatican Council issued a statement
that called for increased relations with non-Christian religions. This
revolutionary document, named Nostra Ætate for the first two words in
its original Latin text, translated as "In our age," marked a huge
transformation not only in the history of Jewish-Christian relations,
but of relations with Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and many others.
This is a unique series of radio programs that shows the progress
of American Jews from a trickle of poor immigrants to today's thriving
community of six million. The programs offer interviews with Elie
Wiesel, Abraham Foxman, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Michael Steinhardt,
Ambassador John L. Loeb, Jr., and others.
Ours to Fight For American Jews in World War
II
To accompany the new temporary exhibition at the Museum of Jewish
Heritage in New York, this is an online exhibit for “Ours To Fight For
American Jews In The Second World War”.
It features testimony, artifacts, and photographs that illustrate
the unique experiences of Jews during World War II.
A revealing 45-minute video documentary from the Military Channel
of the events leading to and after Israel's confidential military
mission "June 1981 - Eight
fighter jets are spotted in the skies of Baghdad in one of the most
potent military surprises of all time.
...This is a story of one of the most daring and most dangerous
operations ever attempted; this is the story of Israel's 'Raid on the
Reactor'."
This site of The Rhodes Jewish Museum provides information
regarding the historical exhibition located in the rooms formerly used
as the women's prayer rooms at the "Kahal Shalom" synagogue. The website
also offers other interesting subjects that are unique to the history of
the Jews of Rhodes.
Road To Peace A Conversation With Leah Rabin
Leah Rabin reflects on her life, the life of her late husband,
Israel’s former Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin, and Israel. She delivered
her talk, which is captivating, important, and informative, at the
Hillel Jewish Student Center, UCLA Jewish Student Union, February 22,
1999.
Royal Court Preacher and the Hebrew Book
(Library of Congress)
In his talk at the Library of Congress, "The Royal Court Preacher
and the Hebrew Book Early Enlightenment and Hebrew Publishing in
Prussia, 1700-1750," Menachem Schmelzer examines the role of an
influential figure in the Prussian court, Christian theologian and
scholar D.E. Jablonski, who founded the Hebrew press in Berlin in 1690.
Sephardi Jewries and the Holocaust with Aron
Rodrigue
The Holocaust devastated European Jewry and dealt a death blow to
the Ashkenazi heartland of Eastern Europe and Russia. What is less
commonly known is the fact that it was also disastrous for Sephardi
Jewries. The Sephardi communities of Southeastern Europe, the Ladino
speaking centers of the Judeo-Spanish world, with Salonica as a
principal center, were destroyed or disintegrated, leading to their
disappearance from an area where the exiles from the Iberian peninsula
after 1492 had reconstructed a transplanted Sepharad. Elsewhere, North
African Jewries saw considerable hardship and discrimination under the
rule of Vichy France and fascist Italy, and faced real dangers with the
German armed forces in Tunisia and Libya, leading in many cases to their
profound destabilization which contributed to their eventual mass
departures from these lands.
The Samuel and Althea Stroum Lectures in Jewish Studies of 2005 at the
University of Washington.
Shimon Peres
Israel's War Against Hizballah (8/1/06)
On August 1, 2006, Shimon Peres addressed the Washington
Institute’s Special Policy Forum to discuss Israel’s political and
military strategy in its war against Hizballah. Peres is the deputy
prime minister of Israel and a member of Knesset from the Kadima Party.
Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles
Hailed by The New York Times as "a lesson on how to connect the
eye to heart and mind," the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles has
established itself as one of the world's most dynamic Jewish cultural
institutions, and among the most prominent cultural venues in the United
States. The museum has a
number of interesting podcasts to choose from, based upon public
lectures at the museum.
Steven Spielberg Jewish Film Archive
The Steven Spielberg Jewish film archive
started to make its films accessible online in 2002; today, it
contains more than 300 full films viewable over the Internet, for the
purposes of study, research, or production.
Films cover topics including Jewish communities, Holocaust,
pre-State, State of Israel, and Hebrew University.
Stuart Eizenstat - Harvard University Great
Negotiator of 2003
On October 1, 2003, Former Deputy Treasury Secretary and author of
Imperfect Justice Stuart Eizenstat received the annual Great Negotiator
Award from the Program on Negotiation at Harvard University. His remarks
about leading negotiations for Holocaust restitutions on behalf of the
Clinton Administration are of particular interest.
A film about the mass exodus of Jews from the Middle East and
North Africa in the 20th century. The Forgotten Refugees explores the
history, culture, and forced exodus of Middle Eastern and North African
Jewish communities in the second half of the 20th century. Using
extensive testimony of refugees from Egypt, Yemen, Libya, Iraq, and
Morocco the film recounts the stories - of joy and suffering - that
nearly one million individuals have carried with them for so long. The
film weaves personal stories with dramatic archival footage of rescue
missions, historic images of exodus and resettlement, and analyses by
contemporary scholars to tell the story of how and why the Jewish
population in the Middle East and North Africa declined from one million
in 1945 to several thousand today.
There Are No Fears (Library of Congress)
Yevgeny Yevtushenko, a poet, novelist, film maker, and professor
of literature and cinema, recited his poetry in both English and Russian
in a program titled “There Are No Fears.” He was born in Siberia, where
his ancestors were sent into exile at the end of the 19th century. His
1961 poem "Babi Yar," a denunciation of both Nazi and Russian
anti-Semitism, brought him international recognition. Yevtushenko was
awarded the American Liberties Medallion of the American Jewish
Committee in 1991.
Two Russian Jews - Moshe Leib Lilienblum And
Osip Mandelstam
Professor Michael Stanislawski analyzes two of the most famous and
controversial autobiographies penned by Russian Jews the late
19th-century Hebrew writer and critic M. L. Lilienblum and the great
Russian poet Osip Mandelstam.
On January 24, 2005, the UN General Assembly held an unprecedented
session commemorating the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps. UN
Secretary Kofi Annan, Nobel prize laureate Elie Wiesel, Israeli Foreign
Minister Silvan Shalom, U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz,
and many other dignitaries spoke. The UN Special Session was accompanied
with a Virtual Exhibition about the Holocaust.
U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. offers a
unique collection of materials concerning the Holocaust. It also
contains important collections about crimes against humanity carried out
in other times and places. Online catalogs provide partial access to
some of the museum’s collections. Webcasts are available in the film and
video, music, and oral history collections. The multimedia archive of
events also holds important resources.
UN Debates Israeli Actions - Nov. 17, 2006
The United Nation’s webcast of the UN General Assembly debate
November 17, 2006, entitled “Illegal Israeli actions in Occupied East
Jerusalem and the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territory.” 2 hours
and 41 minutes.
Washington Institute for Near East Policy -
Current Webcasts
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy is in the news
virtually 365 days per year. Thanks to its reputation for solid,
objective research, the Institute has become a highly respected and
widely quoted source in the policymaking community and the media.
Institute scholars are regularly called upon to offer objective analysis
and timely commentary for television, radio, and print media.
Western Wall Heritage Foundation
The Foundation's objective is to convey
the values inherent in the heritage of the Western Wall, to
preserve and develop the Western Wall and its Tunnels, and to develop
educational frameworks that make Jews everywhere feel closer to
Jerusalem.
What Went Wrong... and Why (Library of
Congress)
Bernard Lewis of Princeton University and Mohammed Arkoun of the
Sorbonne University discuss relations between the Middle East and the
Western nations. May 7, 2002.
Yad Vashem The Holocaust Martyrs'and Heroes' Remembrance Authority
Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, is the Jewish people’s memorial to the
murdered Six Million and symbolizes the ongoing confrontation with the
rupture engendered by the Holocaust. Containing the world’s largest
repository of information on the Holocaust, Yad Vashem is a leader in
Shoah education, commemoration, research and documentation.
YIVO Institute for Jewish Research
The YIVO archives holds over 22 million documents, photographs,
recordings, posters, films, videotapes, and other artifacts. They
comprise the world's largest collection of materials related to the
history and culture of East European and American Jewry. YIVO has the
foremost collection of books and documents written in Yiddish.