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I enthusiastically recommend Brown University Judaic Studies professor Michael Satlow's series of 23 half hour long free podcasts "From Israelite to Jew," a secular academic college level history of the Second Temple period on iTunes.
Although New York offers a cornucopia of Jewish adult education programs some people who would be interested in ongoing learning cannot commit to showing up at a particular place at at specified time, while others find the fees prohibitively expensive. To them I enthusiastically recommend Brown University Judaic Studies professor Michael Satlow's series of 23 half hour long free podcasts "From Israelite to Jew" on iTunes. Professor Satlow earned his Ph.D. in Ancient Judaism at New York's Jewish Theological Seminary.
"From Israelite to Jew" is a secular academic college level history of the Second Temple period, though it starts with a brief survey of earlier Jewish history with particular attention to the final decades of the First Temple. I have a decent knowledge of Judaic studies, and the first four episodes did not tell me anything I didn't already know, but starting with the Persian period things get interesting.
Professor Satlow considers Ezra and Nehmiah complete failures who did not accomplish what they set out to achieve. Their prohibition of intermarriage between returning exiles and the native Judaeans who remained in Judah during the exile was largely ignored outside of a small elite in Jerusalem.
Also interesting is the continuation of Jewish polytheism in the Persian period. I had previously thought that the reforms initiated by King Josiah thirty years before the exile developed into the adoption of monotheism during the exile. But correspondence from the Jewish community in Egypt during the Persian period shows that polytheism persisted.
Jewish mercenaries in the Persian army stationed on Elephantine Island in the Nile River built their own Temple which the resentful native Egyptians destroyed during a rebellion. In letters the Elephantine Jews complain that they can no longer offer sacrifices not only to Yahweh but also to other deities.
In the Hellenistic period Professor Satlow teaches us that the Maccabean rebellion had as much to do with power struggles among rival priestly families as it did resistance to a Seleucid policy of compulsory assimilation. Professor Satlow's discussion of the Hasmonean and Roman periods is equally fascinating.
Give yourself an early free Hanukkah present and download and listen to "From Israelite to Jew." If you would like to compensate Professor Satlow he has a paypal "Donate" button on his blog and welcomes voluntary contributions.
