Jewish Exile (03:55)

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The destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple, which marked the start of the 2,000 years of Jewish exile, has long been acknowledged as a Jewish belief and historical fact. But archaeological evidence at Israeli sites like Sepphoris have called into questions the reasons and truth of Jewish exile.

Exile: Jerusalem vs. Sepphoris (35:07)

The Jewish rebellion that led to the destruction of the Temple was more likely about divisions within the faith and a dislike of religious leaders than a nationalistic uprising. But Josephus Flavius, the member of an elite religious family, wrote a book citing Jewish nationalism against Rome as the reason.

Exile: The Last Days of the Nation? (11:24)

Israeli archaeologist in the 1960s found evidence of Bar Kochva's rebellion and defeat by the Romans in 132 A.D. The Israeli government used it as a way to legitimatize Jewish claim to the area, but there was no evidence of an exile.

Exile As Religious Myth (07:52)

Refugees from the two failed Jewish rebellions flooded Sepphoris; rabbis established rituals that did not include the Temple in Jerusalem. The story of the Temple's destruction became a point of growth for Christianity, which would become the religion of the Romans, and never-ending exile and exclusion for Judaism.

Exile: A Religious Concept is Transformed into a Political Reality (15:06)

At the time of Jerusalem's destruction, the majority of Jews were living in the Diaspora with a small number living in Judaea and Galilee. Stories in the Torah and the Bible of Jews being exiled from their homeland created a desire to return, which became a political fight for a Jewish state.

Exile: The Myth Meets Reality (25:32)

The Palestinian village of Safuri was built on the ruins of Jewish Sepphoris and was destroyed in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Residents were barred from returning and the area was turned into an Israeli archaeological park that ignored its 1,300 years of Muslim history.

Credits: Exile - A Myth Unearthed (01:02)

Credits: Exile - A Myth Unearthed