The destruction of the First Temple in 586 BCE should have been the end of the Jewish people, but several generations later, King Cyrus of Persia miraculously enabled our ancestors to return to Zion. Explore the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah, which constitute the last chapters of the Biblical period and the beginning of something new. The stories of these original Zionists as well as the construction of the Second Temple expose the practical, religious, and psychological difficulties involved with returning to our homeland then and now, asking the question, can we ever go home again?
Rabbi Charles Savenor is the Executive Director of Civic Spirit, furthering the mission of civic education and its goals of educating, inspiring, and empowering faculty and students towards civic belonging, knowledge, and responsibility. He previously served for eight years as the Director of Congregational Education at Park Avenue Synagogue where he oversaw lifelong learning, inclusion, Israel engagement, and travel education. A graduate of Brandeis University, he received rabbinic ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary.