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Simcha Jacobovici

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Simcha Jacobovici (Template:PronEng) (born April 4, 1953 in Petah Tikva) is an Israeli-born Canadian controversial film director and producer. He holds a B.A. in Philosophy from McGill University and an M.A. in International Relations from the University of Toronto. He currently hosts the The Naked Archaeologist on VisionTV in Canada and The History Channel in the U.S. Recent films include Impact of Terror (CNN), Sex Slaves (CBC, C4, PBS Frontline).

As a journalist, Mr. Jacobovici’s pieces have appeared in the International Herald Tribune, The New York Times, The Boston Globe and The Globe and Mail. Mr. Jacobovici has been a guest lecturer on the campuses of Yale, Johns-Hopkins, UCLA, McGill and the University of Toronto.

Mr. Jacobovici has made guest appearances on numerous television shows, including “The Today Show”, “Oprah” and “Larry King Live”. Presently, he’s the host of the History Channel’s archaeology series “The Naked Archaeologist”, now in its second season.

Filmography

Jacobovici's films include:

Misleading media controversy

There are a lot of complaints and accusations raised by archaelogists and biblical scholars against Jacobovici's claims ranging from "controversial claims" up to accusing him of "falsifying facts", especially in The Exodus Decoded[1] . Jacobovici and Cameron's "The Lost Tomb of Jesus" presented the theory that the Talpiot tomb was the burial place of Jesus' family. The heart of Jacobovici's theory is that while Jesus, Joseph and other names found in the tomb were common names in Jesus' time, the probability of finding the particular combination of names found there pointed to the possibility that this was, in fact, Jesus' family tomb.

This theory has been widely denounced by biblical scholars.

A symposium at Princeton in January 2008 reignited media interest in the Talpiot tomb, with notably Time[2] and CNN[3] devoting extensive coverage, hailing the case as being re-opened. "I feel vindicated," Jacobovici told TIME. "It's moved from 'it can't be the Jesus' family tomb' to 'it could be.' " [4]

After three days of vigorous debate, the panel remained deeply divided. Opinions ranged from 'definitely yes' to 'impossible'.

Some scholars present at the symposium accused Simcha Jacobovici and James Cameron of misleading the media by claiming that the symposium bolstered the viability of their theory. Several scholars, including all of the archaeologists and epigraphers, who had delivered papers at the symposium issued an open letter of complaint at what they viewed as misrepresentation, saying that Jacobovici and Cameron's claims of support from the symposium are 'nothing further from the truth'[5].

Scholars accusing Jacobovici of manipulation

The list of scholars who signed the open letter's criticism included:

Joe Zias, Senior Curator of Archaeology/Anthropology for the Israel Antiquities Authority 1972-1997, cited a leaked memo issued from James Tabor before the symposium as proof of 'outside intervention by Jacobovici and Cameron in order to distort the agenda and skew the proceedings in a way that was favorable to their pre-conceived plan'[6]. Geza Vermes issued a statement saying that the arguments for the Talpiot tomb are not 'just unconvincing but insignificant'[7]. That "Discounting a handful, headed by James Tabor and Simcha Jacobovici, the maker of the documentary, The Lost Tomb of Jesus, most of the fifty or so participants shared this opinion"

Princeton Theological Seminary issued a letter following the controversy and reiterated concerns that:

"the press following the symposium gave almost the exact opposite impression (of the symposium's results), stating, instead, that the conference proceedings gave credence to the identification of the Talpiot tomb with a putative family tomb of Jesus of Nazareth. As is abundantly clear from the statements to the contrary that have been issued since the symposium by many of the participants, such representations are patently false and blatantly misrepresent the spirit and scholarly content of the deliberations."[7]

Jacobovici has also theorized that the graves found in Mycenae by Heinrich Schliemann belonged to runaway Jews. In particular, he claimed that one of the artifacts found at the site had a visual depiction of the Ark of the Covenant. According to Michael Wood in "In Search of the Trojan War," the graves were 1000 years older than the Trojan War and would, therefore, be about 750-800 years older than the Exodus. Additionally Jacobovici doesn't take his argument further than the supposed visual depiction of the Ark on the artifact. In short Jacobovici's claim is highly conjectural and has less validity than Schliemann's that one of the graves belonged to Agamemnon.

List of some controversial inferences made by Jacobovici

  • The Trojan gold and graves in present day Turkey are not actually Trojan (or Greek) but are those of a group of Hebrews that were fleeing Egypt, got separated and lost, and somehow ended up in Turkey[8]!
  • Jacobovici discovered the tomb of Jesus Christ because he found a tomb with an inscription that said Jesus son of Joseph as well as tombs with the names Maria, Mariamne(which is the name used for Mary Magdalene in the Greek Orthodox Church), Yoseh(a name of one of the brothers of Jesus), Matthew, and Judah son of Jesus.
  • Jacobovici claims that the reasons why Egyptian authority didn't grant him permission to dig around the border with Gaza and Israel during the making of the The Exodus Decoded[9] was because the Egyptians didn't want him to expose the truth that the biblical story of the Exodus is actually fact!
  • Hebrew slaves built the pyramids of Giza in Egypt. Although no religious (except the old testament), historical (Egyptologists or other) or scientific proof exists to validate such claim especially when the tombs of the builders have already been found, near the pyramids of Giza[10].
  • Jacobovici claims that the water at El Balah descended into sinkholes so that the Hebrews could pass. But this would contradict the very story in the old testament that Jacobovici is trying so hard to show that is true, when you read that in Psalm 78:13, Exodus 14:22 and 29 that the Hebrews walked specifically on dry ground and that the water stood as a wall to the right and left of them[11].

Personal life

Simcha is an Orthodox Jew.[12] He is married to Nicole Kornberg and has 3 girls and a boy.[13]

Awards

Bibliography

  • Jacobovici, Simcha; Pellegrino, Charles (2007). The Jesus Family Tomb: The Discovery, the Investigation, and the Evidence That Could Change History. New York: HarperLuxe. ISBN 0061252999. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)

References

  1. ^ http://www.biblearchaeology.org/post/2006/09/Debunking-The-Exodus-Decoded.aspx
  2. ^ Jesus 'Tomb' Controversy Reopened - TIME
  3. ^ Video - Breaking News Videos from CNN.com
  4. ^ http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1704299,00.html
  5. ^ Duke University Religion Department: The Talpiot Tomb Controversy Revisited
  6. ^ .[1][]
  7. ^ a b 2007 Alumni/ae Reunion
  8. ^ http://www.biblearchaeology.org/post/2006/09/Debunking-The-Exodus-Decoded.aspx
  9. ^ http://www.biblearchaeology.org/post/2006/09/Debunking-The-Exodus-Decoded.aspx
  10. ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giza_pyramid_complex
  11. ^ http://www.biblearchaeology.org/post/2006/09/Debunking-The-Exodus-Decoded.aspx
  12. ^ SimchaJ Online :: The Faith and Films of Simcha Jacobovici
  13. ^ The Faith and Films of Simcha Jacobovici from www.simchaj.ca Accessed April 3, 2008
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h "About Simcha Jacobovici".
  15. ^ "Broadcast Awards (UK) 2006".
  16. ^ "28th Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards".
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