This film was produced in the UK and only shown once–as there was fear that Christians would watch it and conclude that the Rabbi had won the debate. The visual quality is poor–but please go ahead and watch it. You will be hooked by the story by 10-15 minutes in. The voices are clear and the script is very powerful! It was written by Hyam Maccoby and is closely based a debate or “Disputation,”that took place in 1263 in Barcelona, Spain during the rule of King James I of Aragon. The Rabbi portrayed is Moses ben Nachman, one of the great scholars of Judaism of all time, and Pablo Christian, who was born a Jew, converted to Christianity, and became a priest and head of the Dominican order in Spain. There was concern at the time that the Rabbi might have been so effective that he would convinced even Christian believers to reconsider their identification of the Messiah. Persecution of Jews was soon to come, and the explosion from Spain in 1492 led to many events in the New World, including the voyage of Columbus. For more information, citations and links see the Wiki article here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disputation_of_Barcelona
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