All Episodes
Displaying 61 - 90 of 126 in total
Rashba’s Rebuttal: Defending Judaism in Medieval Barcelona
Rabbi Shlomo ben Aderes (Rashba) took a maximalist position about the eternality of mitzvos, arguing that none of them could ever be suspended, not even in the era of ...
Censoring Rambam’s Mishneh Torah in Czarist Russia
In 1850, an unusual edition of Rambam’s Mishneh Torah was published in czarist Russia. A perusal of this work reveals that it was censored in a peculiar and unpreceden...
The Fate of the Marranos
In 1636, the Sephardic Jewish community in Amsterdam was embroiled in a heated debate over the fate of their converso relatives residing as Christians in Spain and Por...
First Edition: The Rebbe’s References to the 1485 Soncino Haggadah
In his commentary on the Haggadah, the Lubavitcher Rebbe referenced many different sources from the vast library of Judaism, but three of them stand out from a bibliog...
Vanished Hero: Exploring the Absence of Moshe in the Haggadah
Join us for an in-depth discussion exploring the enigmatic absence of Moshe’s name from the Haggadah text. While his name does appear once in the text, this fact alone...
The King’s Prayer: A Controversial Statement by a 19th-Century Rabbi
In today’s episode, we will step back in time to explore the controversy that erupted when a famous rabbi made a controversial statement about Dovid Hamelech and the r...
Zecher vs. Zeicher: Unraveling the Parshas Zachor Mystery
Join us on this episode as we explore the centuries-old debate surrounding the placement of a tzeirei or segol in the reading for Parshas Zachor. Through the lens of a...
History and Development of the Talmudic Page
Join us on a journey through the rich history of Talmudic manuscripts and print editions. You will learn that although we don’t have manuscripts that can be definitive...
Debating the Death Penalty
In 1615, the Jewish community in Poland was confronted with a disturbing accusation of murder against one of its members. At the time, contemporary rabbis engaged in a...
Dividing Tanach into Chapters: A Historical Overview
The division of Tanach into chapters didn’t originate with Jewish scholars or rabbis. This class surveys when, how, and why this became an accepted and standard Jewish...
Secrets of a Chozer: An Interview with Rabbi Simon Jacobson
(0:38) – General Introduction (3:08) – Rabbi Jacobson’s introduction about תורת חב"ד (7:36) – Introduction about himself (18:41) – How he got started in ח...
Loathing Our Clothing: The Despot’s Decree and Rabbinic Response
In 1844, the Czar of Russia issued a ban on traditional Jewish clothing worn by Eastern European Jews for centuries, leaving the community with a dilemma: should they ...
Burning of the Books: The Alter Rebbe, the Gra, and the Tzimtzum Tussle
In 1796, a work of the Baal Shem Tov’s teachings was consigned to the flames. What were the specific passages in this book that some deemed objectionable? This will he...
The Nile on Trial: 16th-Century Rabbis and Aquatic Science
In 1549, the rabbinical court in Cairo held hearings and engaged in extensive research to learn about the source of the annual flooding of the Nile. The rabbis of the ...
Evolution of the Tanya: Timely Lessons from the Eighteenth-Century Battle against Chasidism
The pre-print manuscripts of Tanya shed light on what the Alter Rebbe added to this seminal text at a later stage. Curiously, three of the most notable updates involve...
When A London Rabbi Was Accused of Heresy
In November 1703, Rabbi David Nieto delivered a controversial sermon at the Bevis Marks Synagogue in London, causing a rift in the local Jewish community. The cause of...
Between Ashkenaz and Sefard: Medieval Women, Biblical Dena, and the Public Square
We can learn about the public presence of women in a given society by examining how various rabbis understood the story of Dina. We’ll witness the difference between A...
The Meaning of Dreaming: Talmudic Perspectives
Are our dreams significant? Do they have predictive value? Should we pay heed to their warnings? The Talmud seems to offer contradictory teachings on this subject, and...
Liturgical Warfare Among 16th-Century Italian Jews
As Italian Jews immigrated to the Ottoman Empire during the sixteenth century, many wanted to switch to the Sephardic liturgical style. The question then was whether i...
Is It Kosher To Elope? Marriage Without Parental Consent
Does the mitzvah of honoring parents imply that parents wield halachic control over their children’s marriage? Intriguingly, this question became a factor in the tensi...
Friday Night Kiddush Between 6 and 7
This class traces the minhag of avoiding the recitation of the Friday night kiddush during the seventh hour after midday. When and why did this custom begin? Friday N...
After A Decade of Barrenness: What Actually Happens
The Talmud famously rules that a childless couple must divorce after ten years of infertility. Yet, this law has often been overlooked, a reality that goes back many c...
The Battle Over Machnisei Rachamim (Part 2)
In the previous episode, we witnessed some of the greatest halachic figures waging war against Machnisei Rachamim and a number of other piyutim. In Part 2, we hear the...
The Battle Over Machnisei Rachamim (Part 1)
It’s a beloved piece of liturgy, recited as we begin the new year. But some of the greatest halachic figures waged war against it, suggesting that it expresses quasi-h...
Buried Alive: The 18th-Century Halachic Debate
In 1772, the Duke of Mecklenburg decreed that Jews could not bury their dead until three days after death. The Jewish community faced difficult questions about the mit...
The Cracow Couple and Rama's Remarkable Responsum
A controversial wedding ceremony ca. 1550 sheds important light on the inner rabbinic process, the history of Jewish marriage, and the limits of rabbinic law. The Cra...
The Rebbe Rashab, Zionism, and Expediting the End
The Rebbe Rashab invoked “dechikas haketz” as one reason to be against Zionism. What are the contours of this prohibition? Does it still apply? The Rebbe Rashab, Zion...
The Barcelona Disputation: Was Moshiach Born on Tisha B’Av?
At two medieval disputations, a famous Midrash was invoked to argue that Moshiach had already come. The rabbinic approaches to this Midrash unveil different approaches...
The Mekashya Mystery
Tunisian Jews used to refer to Tanach as Mekashya, but few understood why. Fortunately, illuminated medieval Jewish manuscripts can help solve this mystery, revealing ...
Does Israel Amount to (the Beginnings of) Kibutz Goliyos?
The Rebbe Rashab addressed this issue when confronted with Zionism, and the Rebbe did the same a few decades later after the State of Israel was established. Does Isr...
