When Antoninus succeeded Hadrian as the emperor of Rome, the Jews at last enjoyed a brief respite of peace. Rabbi Yehudah ha Nassi seized the moment by calling together a convention of Torah scholars in which the Mishnah, the first written record of Oral Law, was compiled and edited. With Talmudic stories illustrating the lives of the Mishnaic rabbis, listeners get a glimpse into the forces of genius that created the book that is the backbone of the Talmud.

• the miracle that gave Rabbi Meir Baal Ha Nes his name
• Roman pursuit of the Jewish sages
• Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai in the cave
• the origins of the Zohar

Rabbi Wein explores the two central figures in the most unfortunate incidents in Jewish history. With the endorsement of Rabbi Akiva, self-made Torah scholar and beloved Jewish leader, the charismatic Shimon Bar Kochba was able to organize an army of hundreds of thousands of Jews to attempt to rise up against Roman domination. The defeat of Bar Kochba and ultimate martyrdom of Rabbi Akiva sealed the fate of the Jews for a long, bitter exile.

• Rachel and the making of Rabbi Akiva
• the character and little-known origins of Bar Kochba
• messianism vs. self-aggrandizement - why Bar Kochba lost Rabbi Akiva's support
• the battle of Beitar - miracles after the defeat

The preservation of the yeshiva at Yavne is the prime example of Reb Yochanan ben Zakkai's lifework of keeping Jews and the Torah alive during the most turbulent of times. His five main disciples continued this lifework by doing all they could to ensure Jewish survival. Drawing on stories from the Talmud and Midrash, Rabbi Wein shows the tremendous personal integrity of the Mishnaic rabbis - even in their disagreements.

• living humbly vs. dying gloriously
• the moral lessons of the Talmud in historical context
• the greatness of being able to admit, "I was wrong."

Ancient Rome was a cutthroat world where murder was the accepted means of gaining power. Amidst this savagery lived the Jews, who espoused and lived according to principles of peace and justice. While the Roman rulers destroyed each other, a faction of Jews believed that Rome would inevitably fall. Seizing on this perceived opportunity, they arose to fight for the cause of Jewish liberation. The nine-year war that followed led to the destruction of the Temple and the worst carnage the Jews have suffered until the Holocaust.

• Claudius, Nero, and their legacy of murder
• the great yeshiva of Yavneh - an island of mercy and justice
• the Jewish zealots - who they were and what they did
• the traitorous Josephus Flavius
• sinas chinam - the internal conflicts that led to the ultimate tragedy

Two leaders named Agrippa succeeded Herod. Agrippa I had peaceful relations with the Jews and preserved the Torah lifestyle. But Agrippa II, opposite to his father, quickly became an oppressor of the Jews. With Christianity growing as a movement in Judea, the Jews dividing themselves into rival factions, and Rome cracking down on everybody, the stage was set for the tragic destruction of the Temple.

• Philo, philosopher of assimilation
• the Essenes - more pious than the pious
• Jesus of Nazareth - just another messianic movement?
• the rabbinic response: ignore it
• Paul - the greatest PR man in world history

Rabbi Wein continues his examination of the reign of Herod by dissecting his relationship with the Torah scholars of the day, and Hillel and Shammai in particular. Hillel and his students acquiesced to his rule while Shammai's students launched open rebellion. Herod's subsequent persecution of Torah scholars was merciless, yet paradoxically, to "repent" of these sins, he restored the Temple to its former beauty and contributed so extensively to the architecture of Israel that his handprint endures to this day.

• the eternal legacy of Hillel
• the mass suicide at Masada
• the influx of Roman converts, such as the great Onkelus
• a survey of Herodian buildings, including many familiar ones

Rabbi Wein opens this most serious of lectures with an acknowledgment that no lecture can accurately depict all the horrors of the Holocaust or answer the nagging philosophical questions it raises. Nevertheless, he demonstrates how Hitler’s intense propaganda campaign created a genocidal environment. Anti-Jewish boycotts became anti-Jewish riots; riots were placed by mass shootings by the einsatzgruppen, and ultimately, the Jews faced the indescribable torture of the killing camps.

• the psychology of cruelty - how the Nazis dehumanized the Jews
• life in the ghettos
• the two sides of the Judenrat - helping the Jews or doing the Nazis' bidding?
• Thereisienstadt, the “show” camp
• Treblinka and Auschwitz - models of murderous efficiency
• the countries of Europe condemned, with the exception of courageous Denmark - Could more Jews have been saved?