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
An Immigration Dispute: Mantua, 1466
In 1466, a young Jewish moneylender who grew up in Mantua but had spent three years in Bologna asked the duke for permission to return and lend again. The local Jewish...
Nauseous or Not? Depends on Whether You’re in France or Spain
A dangerously ill person needs to eat chicken on Shabbos, and nonkosher is available. Do you feed him the nonkosher chicken, or slaughter one properly and violate Shab...
What An Honor! The History and Evolution of the Sandek and Kvatter
How and when did the bris take the shape we recognize today? When did the sandek and kvatter enter the ceremony, and what do those words even mean? Today’s class trace...
A Blast From the Past: The Shabbos Shofar Showdown in the Early 1900s (Part II)
Today we pick up where we left off: it's just before Rosh Hashanah 1904, and Rabbi Akiva Yosef Shlesinger's plan to sound the shofar on Shabbos looks promising. Today ...
A Blast From the Past: The Shabbos Shofar Showdown in the Early 1900s (Part I)
As Jews prepared for Rosh Hashanah 1904, Rabbi Akiva Yosef Shlesinger took up his pen and wrote to a rabbinic journal in Hungary, laying out why he believed the shofar...
