Taught by Dr. Malka Simkovich

Where did antisemitism start? This question is often asked, especially of late. We will study with a scholar of early Judaism and learn about the history of Jews in the Second Temple Era, their relationships with one another and with other peoples in ancient Israel. We’ll learn about the Second Temple and Hellenistic eras, what the Greeks and Romans were saying about Jews, and how our Jewish forebears responded to anti-Jewish accusations.

Dr. Malka Z. Simkovich is the Crown-Ryan Chair of Jewish Studies and director of the Catholic-Jewish Studies program at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. She is the author of The Making of Jewish Universalism: From Exile to Alexandria (2016) and Discovering Second Temple Literature: The Scriptures and Stories That Shaped Early Judaism (2018), which received the 2019 Association of Jewish Libraries Judaica Reference Honor Award. Simkovich speaks widely to audiences across North America and beyond on the topics of the Hebrew Bible, Jewish history, and contemporary Jewish-Christian relations. Her forthcoming book, Letters From Home: The Creation of Diaspora in Jewish Antiquity, will be published in June 2024. To read Dr. Simkovich's most recent article, Diaspora Identity in the Wake of October 7th, click here.

The Nachman Family Adult Education Series was conceived by Rosalind (z” l) and Dr. Adolph Nachman (z” l) as an opportunity to bring exciting outside scholars to teach adult learners here at NSCI. The Nachmans, themselves eager students of Jewish learning, generously provided the resources and, importantly, gave us a key criterion for our scholars: they must be excellent teachers. Tze u’lmad – go and study.