Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai
What Can You Save When a World Collapses?
How he escaped Jerusalem in a coffin, and why he answered the Temple's loss with Hosea's words: "I desire kindness, not sacrifice."
New on Bible Plus
Jewish HistoryThrough the Lives of Israel's Sages
A new video course on how Jewish faith survived after Rome destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem.
With Rabbi Mark Fishman
See Membership OptionsA teacher lies inside a coffin. He is very much alive.
According to the Talmud, Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai escaped Jerusalem by pretending to be dead. When Rome offered him one request, he didn't ask for the Temple. He asked for a place to keep teaching. In this course, Rabbi Fishman tells the stories of the sages who lived in the time of Jesus and kept Jewish faith alive after the Temple fell.
What you'll learn
The true stories behind the great teachers of the Talmud and Mishnah, and what they teach us today.
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70 CE
Rome destroys the Second Temple
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c. 100 CE
Yavna becomes the center of Jewish learning
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132–135 CE
The Bar Kochba revolt
Rabbi Akiva
Laughter at the Ruins
Why he started learning to read at age forty, and why he laughed when he saw the Temple in ruins.
Rabban Gamliel of Yavna
When the Wisest Teachers Disagree
How a strict leader tried to hold the Jewish people together, and what happened when the other sages removed him.
What is Bible Plus?
Bible video courses you can watch at home
Bible Plus is an online library of video courses on the Bible, taught by rabbis and teachers in Israel. Watch on your computer, tablet, or phone, whenever it suits you.
When you join, you get:
- This new Jewish History course with Rabbi Mark Fishman
- Every course in the Bible Plus library, on Genesis, the Prophets, Psalms, the festivals, and more
- New courses added every month
- Short video lessons you can pause, rewatch, and finish at your own pace
- A personal dashboard that remembers where you left off
- A certificate each time you complete a course
There shall yet be old men and women in the squares of Jerusalem… and the squares of the city shall be crowded with boys and girls playing.
Zechariah 8:4–5
Join Bible Plus
Choose yearly or monthly. Both include every course.