Talk:Simcha Jacobovici

Charitable work

Jacobovici has been involved in several not-for-profit organizations. From 1978-1980, he was the Chairperson of the North American Jewish Students’ Network, the then union of Jewish students in North America. In 1984, along with Dr. Mark Doidge and Henry Gold, he founded Canadian Physicians for Aid and Relief in response to the extreme famine and critical health crisis faced by Ethiopian refugees in Sudan. Today, CPAR is one of Canada’s major non-governmental organizations providing integrated development in Africa.

• Reason for the change:

I believe his charitable work should be included on the page.

Thank you for your help,

APJohnM (talk) 18:29, 11 April 2024 (UTC)

 Not done soures only support part of the CPAR claim and none of the other content. Rusalkii (talk) 07:28, 18 August 2024 (UTC)

References

pseudo lines in opening paragraph

Hi,

There seems to be someone out there that wants to personally attack by calling Simcha “pseudo” this and “pseudo” that. All his footnotes show that Simcha is involved in debates. These are unnecessary defamations and we want Simcha’s record to speak for itself without anyone interjecting insults in the opening lines.

Please revert back to the original opening or just leave those “pseudo” lines out.

Thanks, Nicole Naustin522 (talk) 17:24, 28 October 2024 (UTC)

I'm quoting the reply that admin Ad Orientem left on their talk page regarding this matter, because you clearly don't seem to have made any effort to understand why your WP:SOCK edits were reverted and you were subsequently blocked: "We do not determine what is and is not true. We repeat what is reported in reliable sources. If there is a difference of opinion in those sources it is noted while give due weight to the consensus position. Please see WP:TRUTH. You may propose any changes you wish to make on the article talk page where they can be reviewed and discussed by other editors."

Displaying the opinions of scholars and historians in a WP biography cannot be considered a personal attack, it's simply WP:WEIGHT, and it just looks ridiculous to demand their censorship on this free online encyclopedia, because Wikipedia is NOT censored. Throughout the article it is repeated numerous times that Jacobovici is an acclaimed documentary filmmaker and director, but he's not a scholar of ancient Judaism, neither of early Christianity, nor of Biblical studies, unlike James H. Charlesworth and Eric H. Cline, which are far more reliable and trustworthy than Jacobovici regarding their evaluation of those alleged archaeological artifacts found in Talpiot. GenoV84 (talk) 13:04, 6 November 2024 (UTC)

Struma

Struma indeed never made it to Palestine and was sunk, at least according to our article MV Struma. I am not sure what the Romanian source says, but Naustin522 tried to add this info and was reverted. I am not sure how this information can be rectified, but right now we have a factually incorrect sentence in the article. Ymblanter (talk) 22:21, 29 October 2024 (UTC)

I just fixed it. GenoV84 (talk) 12:48, 6 November 2024 (UTC)

COI Request

Hello editors,

I work for Simcha. I am not hiding this fact. I have admitted this in the past in my recent attempts to have some changes made to Simcha’s Wikipedia page. I am not trying to censor anyone’s comments. If someone wants to write that Simcha is a “pseudo-archaeologist” and “pseudo-historian” and have sources to back that up, then that’s fine. All I was trying to ask was that this line be moved to the section under “Controversies” rather than stating it in the opening paragraph because while some people believe this to be true, others do not. I have sources to show this. Please see my requested changes below.

I would like to change the first paragraph to the following:

• Specific text to be added or removed:

Simcha Jacobovici (/ˈsɪmxə jəˈkoʊboʊvɪtʃ/; born April 4, 1953) is a Canadian–Israeli journalist, documentary filmmaker and New York Times best-selling author.

• Reason for the change:

New sources to balance this statement out.

I don't believe that pseudo-archeologist and pseudo-historian should be included in the first paragraph as this is just a matter of opinion and not fact. While some people don't agree with the conclusions in some of Simcha's films/shows as cited i.e., the late Amos Kloner and Eric Cline, others do agree..

One of the books that is cited against Simcha “The Tomb of Jesus and His Family?: Exploring Ancient Jewish Tombs Near Jerusalem's Walls” edited by Professor James Charlesworth was the proceedings of a conference inspired by Simcha’s film! In its opening paragraph, Prof. Charlesworth says that the one topic for debate is “evaluating the Talpiot tomb in context” and the claim made “on the Discovery Channel that the tomb of Jesus, Mary Magdalene and their son had been recovered in Talpiot”. The paper on “The Authenticity of the James Ossuary and its possible link to the ‘Jesus Family Tomb’” by Drs. Amnon Rosenfeld, Howard R. Feldman and Wolfgang E. Krumbein, concludes “that the James ossuary exhibits the same geo-chemical fingerprints as the Talpiot cave…adding this ossuary…to the cluster of names found in this tomb has a great statistical weight. It raises the calculated odds (Feuverger 2008) in a combined probability equation…from 1 in 1600 to a compelling level or certitude that it is really the historic holy family tomb”. Other academics cited in the book spoke in a similar vain. Eldad Keynan concluded that Simcha’s thesis on the Talpiot tomb “cannot be totally dismissed as an option” and Andrew V. Sills concluded that Simcha’s thesis “should be taken seriously and studied further”. The list goes on.

It is unfair to cite two negative papers as if they are the objective truth, while ignoring the positive papers and the fact that the majority of scholars concluded that Simcha’s thesis needs further studies. User GenoV84 used WP:WEIGHT as a reason to keep the paragraph as is. I believe the above balances the weight evenly thus justifying its move.

Having said this the original paragraph, before it was changed on May 28th, was based on facts:

Simcha Jacobovici (/ˈsɪmxə jəˈkoʊboʊvɪtʃ/; born April 4, 1953) is a Canadian–Israeli journalist, documentary filmmaker and New York Times best-selling author.

I think this paragraph should replace what is currently there.

I would move the pseudo-archeologist and pseudo-historian on the page under the "Controversies" section where I believe it is a better fit.

Thank you for your time,

Naustin522 (talk)

I'm quoting the reply that admin Ad Orientem left on their talk page regarding this matter, because you clearly don't seem to have made any effort to understand why your WP:SOCK edits were reverted and you were subsequently blocked: "We do not determine what is and is not true. We repeat what is reported in reliable sources. If there is a difference of opinion in those sources it is noted while give due weight to the consensus position. Please see WP:TRUTH. You may propose any changes you wish to make on the article talk page where they can be reviewed and discussed by other editors."

Displaying the opinions of scholars and historians in a WP biography cannot be considered a personal attack, it's simply WP:WEIGHT, and it just looks ridiculous to demand their censorship on this free online encyclopedia, because Wikipedia is NOT censored. Throughout the article it is repeated numerous times that Jacobovici is an acclaimed documentary filmmaker and director, but he's not a scholar of ancient Judaism, neither of early Christianity, nor of Biblical studies, unlike James H. Charlesworth and Eric H. Cline, which are far more reliable and trustworthy than Jacobovici regarding their evaluation of those alleged archaeological artifacts found in Talpiot.

Moreover, the readers can judge his credibility for themselves based on the rest of the article. Enough said. GenoV84 (talk) 19:51, 12 November 2024 (UTC)

Questioning the Relevance of the NYT praise alongside academic institutions

I'm looking at the top of this page, and the first thing I see is how the New York Times, a news publication that he has worked for in the past.

See:

https://www.nytimes.com/1981/10/02/opinion/ethiopia-s-black-jews-a-periled-community.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1985/01/23/movies/film-falasha-limns-ethiopian-jews-plight.html

I'm of the opinion that the NY Times is a conflict of interest. Even if it isn't, comparing academia with the NYT is in poor taste and should be moved.

FluffedSylas (talk) 10:09, 13 March 2026 (UTC)

Considering that the linked page didn't even call him a Modern Day Indiana Jones, rather calling his personality "Indiana Jones-ish". Again, this isn't a fact. This is just calling someone wild and reckless. I've removed this snippet from the page. FluffedSylas (talk) 11:00, 13 March 2026 (UTC)

Small thing. I'm really new. It appears the person who added this in is a semi-retired Wikipedia editor with thousands of edits under their belt.

I feel too intimidated to reach out to the original author on their talk page. If someone could assist me, please feel free. FluffedSylas (talk) 11:13, 13 March 2026 (UTC)

From what I can see, I don’t believe Simcha Jacobovici has ever worked for The New York Times. The references cited appear to be op-ed contributions rather than an employment relationship, so describing him as having worked for the paper doesn’t seem accurate. But you’re right, saying The New York Times dubbed him a modern-day “Indiana Jones” was not accurate, so I adjusted the wording to more closely reflect the original article and used the paper’s own description referring to him as having an “Indiana Jones-ish persona.” JohnEUnited (talk) 21:53, 5 May 2026 (UTC)