Despite inconceivable losses, Jews have miraculously survived the rise and fall of empires, exiles, expulsions and extermination. Indeed, the legacy of Jewish history is one of triumph over tyranny, terror and tragedy. Contrary to the disparaging passivity myth that Jews were led sheepishly” to killing fields and slaughterhouses during the Holocaust, they did resist on many levels and in many different ways against all odds. In this talk Dr. Berkowitz will provide a provide a sweeping analysis of the historic, symbolic and political significance of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising (April–May 1943). He will contrast this event with another well known historic parallel, the heroic last stand by Jews against the overwhelmingly superior military forces of Rome, the siege of Masada (70 CE). Dr. Berkowitz will underscore the legacy, inspiration and contemporaneous relevance of the “resistance” in both instances to the moral imperative of rising above fear and intimidation and pushing back against escalating Jew-hatred with the same courage, leadership, passion and defiance as the Ghetto fighters.