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Short Summary
Main recommendation: Jewish survival depends on Jews living peaceably and in unity with one another, because internal division, not external force alone, has caused each of the three major exiles. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks argues that Jewish history shows the people's greatest threat is itself, citing the story of Joseph, the division of the united monarchy, and the infighting before the destruction of the Second Temple.
Key Points
- The Jewish people have experienced three exiles, the longest lasting almost 2,000 years, and each was caused by a failure to live peaceably together.
- The first exile began with the brothers' hatred of Joseph (Genesis 37), which led to his sale into slavery and the enslavement of the Jewish people in Egypt.
- After Solomon's death the kingdom split into the northern kingdom of ten tribes and the southern kingdom of Judah; the north fell to Assyria in 722 BCE and the south later fell to Babylon, destroying the First Temple.
- Before the Second Temple's destruction, Jews were divided into Essenes, Sadducees, and Pharisees, and the Pharisees were further split between the schools of Hillel and Shammai.
- Sacks cites the Talmud's judgment that Jerusalem was destroyed because of sinat chinam ("baseless hatred").
Details Worth Noting
- Concrete instructions: No step-by-step instructions, checklists, or actions for the viewer are given; the video is a historical argument. The only implied guidance is that Jews must cultivate unity to survive.
- Josephus, an eyewitness to the siege of Jerusalem under Vespasian and Titus, reported that besieged Jews were more intent on killing one another than fighting the Romans outside.
- Among the Pharisees' splits, the school of Hillel and the school of Shammai disagreed so sharply that the rabbis said the division at one point threatened to split all of Judaism.
- Political factions within the period included accommodationists, moderates (doves), and zealots, and the zealots were themselves internally divided.
- Sacks notes that many great powers, including Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Greece, Rome, medieval Christian and Islamic empires, and the Third Reich and Soviet Union, tried to destroy the Jewish people, yet the Jewish people endure.
Bottom Line
The video frames Jewish history's recurring catastrophes as self-inflicted through internal discord, and concludes that the only nation truly capable of endangering the Jewish people is the Jewish people themselves.
