In the 7th century, Islam spread like wildfire, taking down both the Byzantine and Persian Empires. With a thorough analysis of the tenets of Islamic theology, including the historical origins of the anti-Semitism of the Koran, Rabbi Wein uncovers the massive influence Islam held over the world in religion, technology, culture, and war.

• Mohammed's failed to attract and convert the Jews
• Conversion by the sword - a Moslem invention
• The march from Mecca to Medina and the original jihad
• The Biblical distortions, especially of the Akeida

With the fall of Rome, the non-Jewish world plunged into the Dark Ages, but for the Jews of Babylonia, these were times of enlightened scholarship. While war raged on in the world at large, the Talmudic scholars put the finishing touches on the monumental work which has sustained the Jews through the long centuries of exile.

• how Christian theology brought on the Dark Ages
• the strange theory of the "witness people"
• the Eastern Orthodox versus Roman Catholic Church
• how the end of Jewish autonomy in Babylonia meant the end of the Talmudic Era
• the mind-boggling accomplishment of writing the Talmud in the age before pen and paper

After 300 years of world domination, the Roman Empire was so big and unmanageable it had to split into two. Thus, the Byzantine Empire was born, but when its emperor Constantine converted to Christianity, once again, the Jews were caught in the cross-roads of war. Yet despite an official doctrine of anti-Semitism, the Jews clung on in Babylonia, producing the Talmud and preserving the Torah lifestyle at all costs.

• women as the vanguards of the early Church
• Helena, the mother of Constantine
• the theory of the "witness people"
• the development of the permanent Jewish calendar

The Talmud can be described as a transcription of the lectures, conversations, and stories told in the great yeshivas of Babylonia for 350 years. It collected together the entire Oral Tradition - the Mishnah and Midrash. Spanning a tremendous range of topics, the give and take discussions between its rabbis are truly awe-inspiring.

• Why was Babylonia such a haven for the Jews?
• What is the Midrash?
• Rav and Shmuel - the rivals who gave the Talmud its flavor
• Rabbi Yochanon and Reish Lakish - an unlikely pair

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