Beste Jewish Studies podcasts (2024)

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Beha’alotcha 5784: Trumpets and Transitions 36:25

2d ago36:25

36:25

How do ancient trumpets teach us about modern journeys and transitions?In this episode, Rabbi Tzvi Hirschfield and Rabbi Rafael Polisuk delve into Parshat Behalotcha, highlighting the themes of journey and transition within the Torah portion. They discuss the creation and use of silver trumpets to signal movements and gatherings, emphasizing the de…

1
Klas-Göran Karlsson, "Lessons of History: The Holocaust and Soviet Terror as Borderline Events" (Academic Studies Press, 2024) 1:13:04

3d ago1:13:04

1:13:04

Lessons of history are often referred to in public discourse, but seldom in scholarly discussions. Klas-Göran Karlsson's book Lessons of History: The Holocaust and Soviet Terror as Borderline Events (Academic Studies Press, 2024) seeks to change this by introducing an innovative scholarly, analytical model of historical lessons, starting from the b…

1
Julia Cohen & Devi Mays, "Global Threads: An Alternative History of Fin-de-Siecle Parisian Fashion" 17:33

14d ago17:33

17:33

The history of European fashion typically focuses on singular, Christian European geniuses who conjured bold designs and created cutting-edge garments. But in Paris in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Jews from the Middle East and North Africa played important roles in shaping European tastes in fashion.In this episode, Devi Mays, an associa…

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Peter Bergamin, "The Making of the Israeli Far-Right: Abba Ahimeir and Zionist Ideology” (I. B. Tauris, 2019) 37:58

8d ago37:58

37:58

Peter Bergamin’s, new book, The Making of the Israeli Far-Right: Abba Ahimeir and Zionist Ideology (I. B. Tauris, 2019), is an intellectual biography of one of the most important propagators of the Maximalist Revisionist stream in Zionism ideology. The book positions Ahimeir within the contexts of the Israeli right and the Zionist movement in gener…

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Naso 5784: Counting on Each Other 32:06

9d ago32:06

32:06

How does our unique role strengthen the Jewish communities? In this episode, Rabbi Tzvi Hirschfield and Rabbi Michael Hatton delve into Parshat Naso, highlighting the importance of each person's contributions to the community. They discuss how the counting of the Jewish people and repetitive sacrifices emphasize individual roles while promoting com…

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Joseph A. Skloot, "First Impressions: Sefer Hasidim and Early Modern Hebrew Printing" (Brandeis UP, 2023) 56:29

10d ago56:29

56:29

Joseph A. Skloot joins Jana Byars to talk about his new book, First Impressions: Sefer hasimdim and Early Modern Hebrew Printing (Brandeis UP, 2023). First Impressions uncovers the history of creative adaptation and transformation through a close analysis of the creation of the Sefer Hasidim book. In 1538, a partnership of Jewish silk makers in the…

1
Asaf Elia-Shalev, "Israel's Black Panthers: The Radicals Who Punctured a Nation's Founding Myth" (U California Press, 2024) 1:03:18

11d ago1:03:18

1:03:18

Asaf Elia-Shalev's book Israel's Black Panthers: The Radicals Who Punctured a Nation's Founding Myth (U California Press, 2024) tells the story of the young and impoverished Moroccan Israeli Jews who challenged their country's political status quo and rebelled against the ethnic hierarchy of Israeli life in the 1970s. Inspired by the American group…

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Glenn Dynner, "The Light of Learning: Hasidism in Poland on the Eve of the Holocaust" (Oxford UP, 2024) 1:13:50

13d ago1:13:50

1:13:50

In The Light of Learning: Hasidism in Poland on the Eve of the Holocaust (Oxford University Press, 2024), Glenn Dynner tells the story of an unexpected Hasidic revival in Poland between the two World Wars. In the aftermath of World War I, the Jewish mystical movement appeared to be in shambles. Hasidic leaders had dispersed, Hasidic courts lay in r…

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Victoria Khiterer, "Jewish City Or Inferno of Russian Israel?: A History of the Jews in Kiev Before February 1917" (Academic Studies Press, 2017) 1:16:59

13d ago1:16:59

1:16:59

Victoria Khiterer's book Jewish City Or Inferno of Russian Israel?: A History of the Jews in Kiev Before February 1917 (Academic Studies Press, 2017) describes the history of Jews in Kiev from the tenth century to the February 1917 Revolution. At the turn of the twentieth century, the Kiev Jewish community was one of the largest and wealthiest in t…

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Thomas Sparr, "German Jerusalem: The Remarkable Life of a German-Jewish Neighbourhood in the Holy City" (Haus Publishers, 2021) 25:59

14d ago25:59

25:59

In the 1920s, before the establishment of the state of Israel, a group of German Jews settled in a garden city on the outskirts of Jerusalem. During World War II, their quiet community, nicknamed Grunewald on the Orient, emerged as both an immigrant safe haven and a lively expatriate hotspot, welcoming many famous residents including poet-playwrigh…

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Bamidbar 5784: Embracing the Wilderness

15d ago

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How does the Jewish people's journey through the desert shape our approach to Torah?In this week’s episode, Rabbi Leon Morris and Rabbi Tzvi Hirschfield explore the theme of openness in Torah study, using the wilderness in the Midbar as a metaphor for the mindset required. Drawing from the Midrash and personal experiences, they explore the concept …

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Benjamin Balint, "Kafka's Last Trial: The Case of a Literary Legacy" (Norton, 2019) 41:00

15d ago41:00

41:00

When Franz Kafka died in 1924, his loyal friend Max Brod could not bring himself to fulfill Kafka’s last instruction: to burn his remaining manuscripts. Instead, Brod devoted his life to championing Kafka’s work, rescuing his legacy from both obscurity and physical destruction. Nearly a century later, an international legal battle erupted to determ…

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Joshua Paul Smith, "Luke Was Not a Christian: Reading the Third Gospel and Acts Within Judaism" (Brill, 2024) 1:42:48

15d ago1:42:48

1:42:48

One orthodoxy of critical biblical scholarship on the Third Gospel, attributed by later Christian tradition to a companion of Paul named Luke, holds that its author was not ethnically Jewish but rather a Gentile of some kind, either a proselyte to Judaism, a “Godfearer” once attached to a diasporic synagogue, or perhaps a pagan convert to a form of…

1
Thea Gomelauri, "The Lailashi Codex: The Crown of Georgian Jewry" (Taylor Institution Library, 2023) 1:08:03

17d ago1:08:03

1:08:03

From a remote mountain village in the Caucasian mountains of Georgia came the most surprising discovery since the Dead Sea Scrolls: a rare, beautiful, and valuable Hebrew Bible known as the Lailashi Codex. In ancient tradition, scribal art possesses supernatural powers. The provenance of this Codex is shrouded in mystery. Questions about the author…

1
Daniel Matt et al., "The Zohar: Pritzker Edition" (Stanford UP, 2004-2017) 1:04:50

20d ago1:04:50

1:04:50

Sefer ha-Zohar (The Book of Radiance) has amazed readers ever since it emerged in Spain over seven hundred years ago. Written in a lyrical Aramaic, the Zohar, the masterpiece of Kabbalah, features mystical interpretation of the Torah, from Genesis to Deuteronomy. The Zohar: Pritzker Edition (Stanford UP, 2004-2017) volumes present the first transla…

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Nathan Lovell, "The Book of Kings and Exilic Identity: 1 and 2 Kings as a Work of Political Historiography" (T&T Clark, 2022) 20:59

20d ago20:59

20:59

Is the purpose of the Book of Kings merely to provide a reason for the exile, or is there a greater message of hope? Tune in as we speak with Nathan Lovell about his monograph, The Book of Kings and Exilic Identity: The Book of Kings and Exilic Identity: 1 and 2 Kings as a Work of Political Historiography (T&T Clark, 2022). Approaching the Book of …

1
Judy Batalion, "The Light of Days: The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler's Ghettos" (William Morrow, 2021) 44:19

22d ago44:19

44:19

Witnesses to the brutal murder of their families and neighbors and the violent destruction of their communities, a cadre of Jewish women in Poland--some still in their teens--helped transform the Jewish youth groups into resistance cells to fight the Nazis. With courage, guile, and nerves of steel, these "ghetto girls" paid off Gestapo guards, hid …

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Jan Grabowski, "On Duty: The Role of the Polish Blue and Criminal Police in the Holocaust" (Yad Vashem, 2024) 1:06:13

22d ago1:06:13

1:06:13

"The Polish Police, commonly called the Blue or uniformed police in order to avoid using the term “Polish,” has played a most lamentable role in the extermination of the Jews of Poland. The uniformed police has been an enthusiastic executor of all German directives regarding the Jews." -Emanuel Ringelblum, Warsaw, 1943. Shortly after the occupation…

1
Adi Mahalel, "The Radical Isaac: I. L. Peretz and the Rise of Jewish Socialism" (SUNY Press, 2023) 1:10:00

23d ago1:10:00

1:10:00

In The Radical Isaac: I. L. Peretz and the Rise of Jewish Socialism (SUNY Press, 2023), Adi Mahalel presents Yiddish and Hebrew writer I. L. Peretz (1852–1915) in a new radical light we've never seen him in before. Conceived in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, the 2011/12 Occupy Wall Street movement and social protests in Israel/Palestine, an…

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Bechukotai 5784: Between Philosophy and Spirituality 38:40

23d ago38:40

38:40

Can we approach the Torah as a rational guide for living wisely while allowing space for genuine emotional and spiritual experiences?In this week's episode, Rabbi Dr. Elisha Ancselovits and Rabbi Zvi Hirschfield delve into the concept of reward and punishment. Elisha offers an intriguing interpretation - rather than God actively intervening, the To…

1
Mark Jantzen and John D. Thiesen, "European Mennonites and the Holocaust" (U Toronto Press, 2021) 1:08:11

24d ago1:08:11

1:08:11

During the Second World War, Mennonites in the Netherlands, Germany, occupied Poland, and Ukraine lived in communities with Jews and close to various Nazi camps and killing sites. As a result of this proximity, Mennonites were neighbours to and witnessed the destruction of European Jews. In some cases they were beneficiaries or even enablers of the…

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Yehonatan Eybeshitz, "Pearls of Wisdom from Rabbi Yehonatan Eybeshitz: Torah Giant, Preacher & Kabbalist" (Gerber's Miracle Publishers, 2021) 31:14

25d ago31:14

31:14

Rabbi Yehonatan Eybeshitz was one of the greatest rabbis of the eighteenth century. Even as a child, he was renowned as one of the rare geniuses of his time. Among the most revered Torah scholars of the last 300 years, Rabbi Eybeshitz was also a prolific writer, preacher, and Kabbalah master. His innumerable writings cover all areas of Jewish Learn…

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Arjen F. Bakker, "The Secret of Time: Reconfiguring Wisdom in the Dead Sea Scrolls" (Brill, 2023) 1:08:37

26d ago1:08:37

1:08:37

Arjen F. Bakker's book The Secret of Time: Reconfiguring Wisdom in the Dead Sea Scrolls (Brill, 2023) contributes to the rethinking of the Dead Sea Scrolls as an essential and integral part of Judaism in the Greco-Roman period. The Qumran manuscripts attest to the reconfiguration of Jewish wisdom concepts in this period. Strikingly, reflection on t…

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Mirjam Rajner, "Fragile Images: Jews and Art in Yugoslavia, 1918-1945" (Brill, 2019) 2:01:08

27d ago2:01:08

2:01:08

In Fragile Images: Jews and Art in Yugoslavia, 1918-1945 (Brill, 2019), Mirjam Rajner traces the lives and creativity of seven artists of Jewish origin. The artists - Mosa Pijade, Daniel Kabiljo, Adolf Weiller, Bora Baruh, Daniel Ozmo, Ivan Rein and Johanna Lutzer - were characterized by multiple and changeable identities: nationalist and universal…

1
Wally V. Cirafesi, "John Within Judaism: Religion, Ethnicity, and the Shaping of Jesus-Oriented Jewishness in the Fourth Gospel" (Brill, 2021) 21:58

28d ago21:58

21:58

While many have noted the general Jewishness of the Gospel of John, few have given it a seat at the ideologically crowded table of ancient Jewish practice and belief—until now. Join us as we speak with Wally Cirafesi, whose book, John Within Judaism: Religion, Ethnicity, and the Shaping of Jesus-Oriented Jewishness in the Fourth Gospel (Brill, 2021…

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Nicholas Underwood, "Yiddish Paris: Staging Nation and Community in Interwar France" (Indiana UP, 2022) 1:04:06

28d ago1:04:06

1:04:06

Nick Underwood's Yiddish Paris: Staging Nation and Community in Interwar Paris (Indiana University Press, 2022) is a captivating study of the culture and politics of the vibrant community of Yiddish-speaking immigrants to Paris in the 1920s and 1930s. Making their way to the French capital from various sites in Eastern Europe, members of this Jewis…

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Behar 5784: Feet on the Ground, Eyes on the Mountain 31:38

29d ago31:38

31:38

Why is Mount Sinai mentioned in connection with the laws of Shmitta (Sabbatical year) and Yovel (Jubilee year)?In this thought-provoking episode, Rabbi Zvi Hirschfield and Rachel Friedrichs delve into the profound significance of this week's Torah portion of Behar opening with a reference to Mount Sinai. Together, we'll explore the contrast between…

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Assaf Tamari, "God as Patient: The Medical Discourse of Lurianic Kabbalah" (Magnes Press, 2023) 40:56

29d ago40:56

40:56

In a broken world, in which even God Himself is in a state of deep crisis, what is required in order to mend the rupture? How can one heal God and His world? Moreover, what might allow our actions to be effective? These questions stand at the heart of the Lurianic Kabbalah, the apex of the Safedian intellectual and religious renaissance of the sixt…

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Daniel R. Schwartz, "Ancient Jewish Historians and the German Reich: Seven Studies" (de Gruyter, 2024) 1:13:39

30d ago1:13:39

1:13:39

Apart from an opening survey of modern study of ancient Jewish history, which emphasizes the foundational role of German-Jewish scholars, the studies united in Ancient Jewish Historians and the German Reich: Seven Studies (de Gruyter, 2024) apply philological methods to the writings of four of them: Heinrich Graetz, Isaak Heinemann, Elias Bickerman…

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Chaim Miller, "Turning Judaism Outward: A Biography of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson the Seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe" (Kol Menachem, 2014) 21:03

1M ago21:03

21:03

Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1902-1994), the Lubavitcher Rebbe, took an insular Chasidic group that was almost decimated by the Holocaust and transformed it into one of the most influential and controversial forces in world Jewry. Join us as we speak with Rabbi Chaim Miller about his biography of the Rebbe, Turning Judaism Outward (Kol Menache…

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Frédéric Bonnesoeur et al., "New Microhistorical Approaches to an Integrated History of the Holocaust" (de Gruyter, 2023) 1:10:07

1M ago1:10:07

1:10:07

In 1997, Saul Friedländer emphasized the need for an integrated history of the Holocaust. His suggestion to connect ‘the policies of the perpetrators, the attitudes of surrounding society, and the world of the victims’ provides the inspiration for this volume. Following in these footsteps, this innovative study approaches Holocaust history through …

1
Emor 5784: The Perfection Paradox 35:06

1M ago35:06

35:06

How do we approach texts in our traditions that seem to discriminate against or exclude certain groups of people?In this thought-provoking discussion, Rabbi Zvi Hirschfield and Rabbi Haim Shalom wrestle with the disqualification of kohanim (priests) with physical deformities or disabilities from serving in the Temple. We'll explore how to reconcile…

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Y. Tzvi Langermann, "Before Maimonides: A New Philosophical Dialogue in Hebrew" (Brill, 2023) 31:37

1M ago31:37

31:37

All can agree that the achievement of Moses Maimonides (d. 1204) set the standard for subsequent works of "Jewish philosophy". But just what were the contours of philosophical-scientific inquiry that Maimonides replaced? A fairly large array of diverse texts have been studied, but no comprehensive picture has yet emerged. The newly discovered Hebre…

1
Jason F. Moraff, "Reading the Way, Paul, and 'the Jews' in Acts Within Judaism" (Bloomsbury, 2023) 27:18

1M ago27:18

27:18

The book of Acts is often misunderstood as reflecting anti-Judaism or promoting supersessionism. Jason Moraff, however, argues that Acts binds the Way, Paul, and the Jewish people together in a shared identity. Taking a historically situated approach, Moraff frames Acts' portrayal of the early church and Paul in relation to the Jewish people as par…

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David Tal, "The Making of an Alliance: The Origins and Development of the US-Israel Relationship" (Cambridge UP, 2022) 36:16

1M ago36:16

36:16

Laying the foundation for an understanding of US-Israeli relations, this lively and accessible book provides critical background on the origins and development of the 'special' relations between Israel and the United States. Questioning the usual neo-realist approach to understanding this relationship, David Tal instead suggests that the relations …

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Kedoshim 5784: Empathy in a Divided World 36:46

1M ago36:46

36:46

In a world rife with conflict and oversimplified narratives about "the other," how can we embody true holiness by cultivating empathy, humility, and deeper human connection?Rabbi Brent Spodek joins our host Rabbi Zvi Hirschfield this week for a thought-provoking discussion exploring the Torah's call in Parshat Kedoshim to "be holy." Brent denounces…

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"The US Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933–1945, Volume IV" (Indiana UP, 2022) 1:29:24

1M ago1:29:24

1:29:24

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933–1945, Volume IV (Indiana UP, 2022) examines an under-researched segment of the larger Nazi incarceration system: camps and other detention facilities under the direct control of the German military, the Wehrmacht. These include prisoner of war (POW) camps (including…

1
Francesca Trivellato, "The Promise and Peril of Credit: What a Forgotten Legend about Jews and Finance Tells Us about the Making of European Commercial Society" (Princeton UP, 2019) 1:02:04

1M ago1:02:04

1:02:04

In 1647, the French author Étienne Cleirac asserted in his book Les us, et coustumes de la mer that the credit instruments known as bills of exchange had been invented by Jews. In The Promise and Peril of Credit: What a Forgotten Legend about Jews and Finance Tells Us about the Making of European Commercial Society (Princeton University Press, 2019…

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Prit Buttar, "Centuries Will Not Suffice: A History of the Lithuanian Holocaust" (Amberley, 2023) 1:29:50

1M ago1:29:50

1:29:50

Prit Buttar's book Centuries Will Not Suffice: A History of the Lithuanian Holocaust (Amberley, 2023) explores how different people responded to the Lithuanian Holocaust and the roles that they played. It considers the past history of the perpetrators and those who took great risks to save Jews, as well as describing the experiences of many who wer…

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Acharei Mot 5784: A People Apart 41:01

2M ago41:01

41:01

How can the Jewish people maintain a sense of unity and connection as a nation despite geographical separation and divergent experiences between the Diaspora and Israel?In this week's episode, Rabba Shani Gross joins us from afar for a discussion on the Torah portion's emphasis on centralized worship, linking it to the biblical story of the 2.5 tri…

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Chris Webb, "The Sobibor Death Camp: History, Biographies, Remembrance" (Ibidem Verlag, 2017) 1:05:20

2M ago1:05:20

1:05:20

The Sobibor Death Camp was the second extermination camp built by the Nazis as part of the secretive Operation Reinhardt--with intent to carry out the mass murder of Polish Jewry. Following the construction of the extermination camp at Belzec in south-eastern Poland from November 1941 to March 1942, the Nazis planned a second extermination camp at …

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Steven Nadler, "Spinoza: A Life" (Cambridge UP, 2022) 35:04

2M ago35:04

35:04

Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677) was one of the most important philosophers of all time; he was also one of the most radical and controversial. The story of Spinoza's life takes the reader into the heart of Jewish Amsterdam in the seventeenth century and, with Spinoza's exile from Judaism, into the midst of the tumultuous political, social, intellectual,…

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On the History and Evolution of Zionism 1:32:27

2M ago1:32:27

1:32:27

On today's episode of the New Books Network, we are privileged to have Professor Arie Dubnov joining us for an in-depth discussion on the multifaceted history and evolution of Zionism. Professor Dubnov is the Max Ticktin Chair of Israel Studies at George Washington University and a preeminent scholar on Zionist thought and nationalist movements. Hi…

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John Tolan, "England's Jews: Finance, Violence, and the Crown in the Thirteenth Century" (U Pennsylvania Press, 2023) 58:13

2M ago58:13

58:13

In 1290, Jews were expelled from England and subsequently largely expunged from English historical memory. Yet for two centuries they occupied important roles in mediaeval English society. England’s Jews revisits this neglected chapter of English history—one whose remembrance is more important than ever today, as antisemitism and other forms of rac…

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Pesach 5784: Unearthing Personal Freedom 42:20

2M ago42:20

42:20

Can we transform the "bread of affliction" into the "bread of redemption" this Passover?"Yiscah Smith returns this week with a call for us to see ourselves ("l'rot atzmo") as leaving spiritual enslavement each Passover. Drawing from the Piazner Rebbe and Rav Kook, Yiscah illuminates how painful self-examination can allow for divine blessings and pe…

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Robert Rozett and Iael Nidam-Orvieto, "After So Much Pain and Anguish: First Letters After Liberation" (Yad Vashem, 2016) 55:46

2M ago55:46

55:46

After So Much Pain and Anguish: First Letters After Liberation (Yad Vashem, 2016) comprises letters written by survivors and liberating soliders in the immediate aftermath of the Holocaust, reflecting their extreme mixed emotions. The survivors express their sigh of relief at liberation intertwined with the anguish of irreparable loss, and even utt…

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Stuart Halpern and Jacob Kupietzky, "The Promise of Liberty: A Passover Haggada" (Maggid, 2024) 17:52

2M ago17:52

17:52

In The Promise of Liberty: A Passover Haggada (Maggid, 2024) you will find, alongside the traditional Haggada text, how American abolitionists and artists, pilgrims and presidents, rabbis and revolutionaries, jazz critics and generals found inspiration in the Exodus story. From Sojourner Truth to the struggle to free Soviet Jewry, Harriet Tubman to…

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Debby Koren, "Responsa in a Historical Context: A View of Post-Expulsion Spanish-Portuguese Jewish Communities Through 16th- And 17th-Century Responsa" (Academic Studies Press, 2023) 49:11

2M ago49:11

49:11

Debby Koren's book Responsa in a Historical Context: A View of Post-Expulsion Spanish-Portuguese Jewish Communities Through 16th- And 17th-Century Responsa (Academic Studies Press, 2023) contains a collection of eight annotated translations of responsa, alongside the original Hebrew texts, focusing on the post-expulsion Spanish-Portuguese communiti…

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Metzora 5784: Transforming Curses into Blessings 31:35

2M ago31:35

31:35

Can we uncover hidden blessings, even from within painful experiences? Join us this week as we delve into the profound purification rituals surrounding the mysterious affliction of tzara'at (often translated as "leprosy") in the weekly Torah portion of Metzora.In a riveting discussion, Rabbi Jon Leener challenges the conventional view of this condi…

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