Film on myth of exile to see light of day

The Arch of Titus, Rome, celebrating the Roman emperor’s sacking of Jerusalem and, in myth, sending the entire Jewish ‘nation’ into a two thousand year exile.

Film alleges Jewish exile was a myth

By Simon Rocker, Jewish Chronicle
November 01, 2013

For most Jews, it is an article of faith: after being “forcibly exiled” from their land, says Israel’s Declaration of Independence, the Jews never stopped praying for their return.

But Israeli filmmaker Ilan Ziv, whose documentary Searching for Exile is finally aired on the BBC on Sunday after its postponement in the spring, attempts to drive a coach and horses through this foundation story.

Detail of the frieze on the Arch of Titus showing the Romans carrying off their spoils from the temple.

Its argument echoes that of Tel Aviv University historian Shlomo Sand’s controversial 2008 book, The Invention of The Jewish People, although the film does not cite him. This is that the idea of mass Jewish exile, following the Romans’ destruction of the Temple in 70 AD and the brutal suppression of the Bar Kochba rebellion 60 years later, is simply a myth.

Ilan Ziv

“What has been considered a fact for centuries is now being challenged by archaeological evidence unearthed across Israel,” states the narrator of Mr Ziv’s film.

Whereas Jerusalem rose up against the Romans, much of Galilee did not join the revolt. Instead, the archaeological record suggests that towns like Sepphoris in the north of the country flourished for many years afterwards, with a greater openness to other cultures than the more nationalistic south.

Instead, it is contended, the notion of Jewish exile, paradoxically, derived from early Christian belief that the suffering of ancient Judea at Roman hands was divine punishment of the Jews.

The final quarter of the film switches from history to polemic, observing that on the site of ancient Sepphoris stood the Palestinian village of Saffuriya: after its destruction in the 1948 War, its inhabitants were barred from return.

“There are missing pieces in the story of this village of both Jewish and Arab history,” the narrator says, “but the only clear evidence of actual exile is that of the 5,000 Palestinians in 1948.”

Sepphoris’s multi-ethnic past is held out as a beacon of hope against the narrowness of nationalist myth. The BBC complaints department should anticipate a busy week.

Searching for Exile: Truth or Myth?
Film exploring the evidence for the Exile of the Jews after their defeat by the Romans.

Ilan Ziv’s documentary will be shown on BBC 4 on Sunday, November 3rd, 2013 at 9pm. The film will be followed by a panel discussion chaired by Ed Stourton

See also Documentary that questions Israel’s myth of exile dropped by BBC, by Ilan Ziv, April 2013
BBC bias raised again by vanishing programme on myth of Jewish exile, June 2013

Making Mourning Matter (Jerusalem Post), Daniel Gordis of the Shalem Centre wonders whether Jews ever constituted a nation in their years of ‘exile’, July 2013.