Text-based classes on assorted Judaic topics, with a special emphasis on Jewish history.
New episodes every week.
Made Possible by Unzer-Chadash Shul, Brooklyn NY.
Latest Episodes
Bidding Wars: Inside the History of Selling Shul Honors
In this class, we’ll trace how the sale of mitzvos in shul began, why it caught on, and how it spread across the Jewish world. We’ll look at halachic debates about sel...
We’ve Been Singing It All Wrong? Solving the V'chol Maaminim Mystery
Ever feel like some piyutim just don’t flow right, as if the stanzas are out of order? Join us for a historical detective journey as we trace the piyut V'chol Maaminim...
The Saga of Shul Shmoozing: A Historical Look at Talking in Shul Across the Centuries
Jews have been talking in shul for centuries, and rabbis and communities have tried countless ways to stop it. From twelfth-century Cairo to the Lower East Side in the...
The Cantonist Crisis
In 1827, Czar Nicholas I decreed that Jewish boys and young men be conscripted into the Russian army, a policy that shook Jewish life in Russia to its core. Communitie...
The Four Halls That Never Were: A Critical Look at Yosifun’s Design of the Beis Hamikdash
In this class, we will delve into the architectural anomaly of the “four halls” described in Yosifun’s account of the Beis HaMikdash. This description contradicts the ...
