Humanities Homework Help

The entire movie on DVD is found on youtube.com at

2. You paper should be 3-4 pages, double-spaced, use the textbook for citing: Aaron Hahn Tapper’s book, Judaisms,

3. READ THIS BEFORE YOU START: THE BACKGROUND!
This disputation or debate, one of many held in the Medieval period, was held over 5 days in June of 1263. The dialogue in the movie was written by a Jewish scholar named Hyam Maccoby, but it was based on a pamphlet published by Rabbi Moshe son of Nachman Gerondi. The individuals who appear in the movie are:

a. King James 1 of Aragon. Aragon was a kingdom in what later would become Spain. He was a very important king, as a crusader, a patron of literature and the arts, and a conqueror.
b. His wife Queen Yolanda who bore him 10 children.
c. His mistress (one of several lovers mentioned by historians).
d. Pablo Christiani, a monk from the Dominican order, who was formerly a Jew.
e. Rabbi Moshe son of Nachman Gerondi, known in Jewish circles as Ramban but also Nachmanides. He was a commentator on the Bible, a philosopher, and physician, and generally a leading Jewish intellect of the Middle Ages.
f. Raymond de Penyafort, the superior of Christiani and the confessor of King James.

Another aspect of the film you should understand before you watch is an issue of Jewish Law. Look at Judaisms, p.77, for the distinction between halakhah (legal material) and aggadah (stories or tradition intended for teaching purposes but which are not always to be taken literally.) See also the material on the messiah, Judaisms, pp.64-67.

Read the questions before you start the movie so you know what to look for and then take notes as you go. Here are the questions; there are 9; you can leave out 1 question.
a. What did Queen Yolanda and Raymond hope to accomplish by holding a disputation?

b. What is a disputation?

c. What stipulation allowed Rabbi Moshe to agree to participate?

d. From Rabbi Moshe’s arguments with Pablo Christiani, what did you learn about certain portions of the Talmud (and Judaism’s Scriptures)? Are Jews obligated to believe everything uncritically?

e. What were the subjects covered by the debate/disputation?

f. In what ways do Jews and Christians understand the messiah differently?

g. What circumstances put an end to the debate?

h. How does the movie portray King James? (Character flaws, virtues)

i. What did you learn about medieval Christianity from this film?