An Attempt to Understand the Past

Exile, Adaptation, and Memory: Exploring Jewish Identity Over 2,000 Years

In this episode I sit down with Roee Peled Hanany, a history graduate from the University of Cambridge and a tour guide with 17 years of experience leading groups through sites such as Jerusalem and Auschwitz. Together, we trace nearly 2,000 years of Jewish history, from the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE to the rise of Zionism in the 19th century. We explore how cycles of destruction, dispersion, and minority life transformed Judaism from a temple-centered faith into a text-centered civilization. Roee explains the vital role of law, scripture, and communal structures in preserving identity and cohesion across centuries of upheaval. Learn how repeated cycles of integration, expulsion, and theological tension shaped a people whose survival has relied not on sovereignty, but on memory, text, and collective adaptation.