Naomi seems like a typical 11-year-old Orthodox Jewish girl, but watching her lift almost three times her bodyweight tells a different story. SUPERGIRL tells an empowering story about one girl who is coming of age while testing the limits of strength and endurance -- both inside and out.. Nominated for the Best Documentary at the Cleveland International Film Festival. Nominated in the New Jersey Films Competition at the Montclair Film Festival (MFF)....

How (and why) did the First Temple Period end? First, examine the reign of King Josiah, whose popular religious reforms reasserted the importance of Jerusalem’s Temple. Then, investigate the Temple’s traumatic destruction—and its relationship to Gospel accounts about the destruction of the Second Temple..

What was Jewish life like after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 A.D.? How did the religion survive this trauma? With insights from various historical sources, chart the rise of Rabbinic Judaism—the literature of Jewish sages who portray Jesus as an illegitimate child and magician..

The First Jewish Revolt against Rome culminated in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple. Explore how this cataclysmic event had profound aftershocks for subsequent Jewish history—as well as early traditions surrounding Jesus (for example, the “Parable of the Wicked Tenants” in the Gospel of Matthew)..

In the first half of this lecture, examine the growing anarchy that led to the First Jewish Revolt against Rome—including the rise of others who, like Jesus, claimed to be the messiah. Then, follow the story (as related by Josephus) of the trial and execution of Jesus’s brother, James the Just..

From 1 and 2 Maccabees to the Books of Daniel and Enoch, get a close reading of apocalyptic literary works composed in the aftermath of the Maccabean Revolt. Afterwards, Professor Magness probes possible meanings of the term “son of man” in both the Hebrew Bible and the Gospels..

Unpack the hidden meaning and significance of the Dead Sea Scrolls themselves—some of ancient history’s most fascinating texts, which date back to the time of Jesus. Among the findings you’ll explore here: early copies of the Hebrew Bible, fragments of a Greek translation of the Septuagint, and early biblical commentaries..

Learn how the expansion of the Hasmonean Kingdom provides a sharp context for understanding the birth narratives of Jesus from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. The authors of these Gospels went to great lengths to establish Jesus’s descent from David. The question is: Why?.

What insights into the ancient Jewish diaspora communities can we glean from close readings of the Book of Tobit and the Book of Esther? What do these books say about holiness and the treatment of other people (the “golden rule” of Jesus’s time)? Join the fascinating historical-literary debate..

Turn from the Pharisees to the Essenes, the sect associated with the Dead Sea Scrolls. In the first of three lectures on this fascinating sect, focus on how a strict system of ritual purity was a fundamental part of everyday life at Qumran (the site where the Scrolls were found)..