Jewish History Uncensored

In this week's episode we look at the shocking massacre in Bondi Beach. What factor makes this even more shocking? What lessons can we learn from this? We similarly examine the issue of how distant we are in a practical sense from the times of Moshiach.     This week's episode is sponsored לעילוי נשמת ר׳ אליהו בן יוסף    Nach Yomi:   Join R' Wittenstein's Nach Yomi on WhatsApp. We learn a perek a...

In this episode we look at the basic communal tensions that existed in the Polish Lithuanian Jewish Community during the 1700's. What were the main causes of these tensions? What were the main factors in determining communal leadership? Did these natural tensions contribute to the challenge of determining practical leadership? Nach Yomi:   Join R' Wittenstein's Nach Yomi on WhatsApp. We learn a pe...

  In this episode, we look at how to understand the second half of the Sefer. How is Shlomo dealing with all the problems he raised in the first half of the Sefer? What are the key tools that we need to employ in order to not get utterly confused by the turmoil that naturally exists in all forms of human society? Nach Yomi:   Join R' Wittenstein's Nach Yomi on WhatsApp. We learn a perek a day five...

In this week's episode, we take a closer look at the first half of Koheles. What are the tools that G-d placed in the world and in man himself that should teach us the importance of careful adherence to Torah? Similarly, Shlomo prophetically looks at the outcome, how have we done with all these tools? And similarly, Shlomo looks at human failure and tragedy, and distinguishes between the common tr...

 In this week's episode, we look at the challenge of dividing Koheles into smaller subsections. What criteria can one use to do this?    We also examine what issue is Shlomo dealing with in Koheles? Who is the Sefer addressing? What are the key components of the life level challenges that Shlomo is dealing with?  Nach Yomi:   Join R' Wittenstein's Nach Yomi on WhatsApp. We learn a perek a day five...

In this week's episode we discuss the basics of Free Will. What is the difference between Free Will and Freedom? What is the purpose of Free Will? What can proper use of Free Will do? How does a person's background affect their Free Will? How important is Free Will in determining how G-d interacts with the world? When done actually exercise Free Will? Nach Yomi:   Join R' Wittenstein's Nach Yomi o...

   In this week's episode, we discuss the election of Mamdani as Mayor of New York City. How surprising was his victory? What were the main factors in why he was elected? What were the main flaws of the Coumo campaign? What lessons can we learn from this? How concerned should we be because of his election? Are there any historical parallelisms to his election? Nach Yomi:   Join R' Wittenstein's Na...

 In this week's episode we discuss the basic challenge of understanding the Sefer Level structure of Koheles. What makes Koheles so difficult at Sefer level? What do we definitely know? We also discuss how I decided to break the Sefer down into subsections.    We also discuss if there is any relationship between Koheles and any school of Philosophy Nach Yomi:   Join R' Wittenstein's Nach Yomi on W...

    In this week's episode we look at more of the lessons of the Gaza War and the Ceasefire.  How do we understand the phenomenon of party politics? Where did this develop? How should one ideally react to party politics? Did the founding fathers of the Constitution think this would occur in the United States?    Similarly we look at the world reaction to the conclusion of the Gaza War. How much of...

  In this episode we look at the Ceasefire Agreement and also look back at the two years of this war. What lessons can we learn from this? What happened to all the National Unity that existed in the beginning of the war? How should Israel deal with diplomatic pressure? Are there any specific references to this war in Tanach? Why do so many people think there should be references to this in Tanach?...

  In this episode, we look at why Koheles is a controversial Sefer in Tanach. Chazal weren't sure if Koheles should be included in Tanach, why is this true? Is there a connection in how we understand this issue and the machlokes in Chazal if Koheles was authored with Ruach HaKodesh?    We also look at the basic difficulties people have in learning and understanding the Sefer. I also discuss my per...

In this week's episode, we look at what is called the replication crisis. This academic crisis questions the accuracy of accepted psychological studies. In order to properly understand this phenomenon, we look at how the deep changes in society have affected how we view authority. Similarly, we look at the different levels of obligation we find in Chazal. And we also look at how people react very...

  In this week's episode, we look at one of the deepest expressions of the Human Soul - man's quest for cohesive narrative.  What part of human behavior do we see this from? What can we learn from this? Where is this phenomenon properly explained in Torah? What is the ultimate potential of this phenomenon?    This week's episode is dedicated by Ben and Talia Silver in honor and for the merit for t...

  In this episode we look at the deep dualism of Rosh HaShana. On one hand it is a chag, on the other hand it is a time of Divine Justice. How does this connect to the fact that Rosh HaShana is the day Man was created.    We also look at some of Daniel Kahneman's ideas about the nature of Human thought process. When is a phenomenon an expression of the soul? How should this affect how we perceive...

   In this episode, we look at one of the most puzzling stories of Bayis Shani, the story of Sukkos. The possuk seems to imply that this was the first time they kept Sukkos since Yehoshua. How do we understand this?   We also look at the basic dynamics of the times of Moshiach. How does the dynamic between Israel and the other nations change? And similarly we discuss the Ingathering of the Exiles....

   In this week's episode, we start by revisiting the Kinos and the difficulty they pose. Is there a way to turn the Kinos into a normal davening experience? We take another look at why we try to relate to the Churban in this complicated fashion.    We look carefully at the Bayis Shani era and how to understand the narrative. How do the possukim describe the Rosh HaShana or Ezra and Nechemia? What...

  In this week's episode, we take a closer look at why people from the Yeshiva world have significant problems relating to the issues of Moshiach. How much of this issue is clearly discussed in Shas? Where in fact is this issue discussed?   We also examine the question of is there any reason to think the structure of Bayis Shlishi should be similar to Bayis Shani?  And we also discuss  the structu...

  In this episode, we take a careful look at how the Halacha looks at ultimate loss based on Hilchos Availus. We also look at how people generally speaking react to this situation. And similarly, we discuss how this should affect how we relate to The Bais HaMikdash and Moshiach.    We also start looking at the basic structure of Moshiach based on the parallelisms in Tanach. What are the basic para...

   This week's episode is sponsored in honor of the magid shiur by an old friend who is one the great askanim of our times. In this episode, we take a careful look at how the Halacha looks at ultimate loss based on Hilchos Availus. We also look at how people generally speaking react to this situation. And similarly, we discuss how this should affect how we relate to The Bais HaMikdash and Moshiach...

  In this episode, we look at one of the key issues we have relating to the Moshiach issues, grasping the National Level situation. Where do people have a greater level of understanding the lack of the Jewish People's national status, in the USA or in Israel? Why is this true? How does this relate to understanding the importance of Moshiach?    We also examine the phenomenon of why people tend to...

  In this episode, we look at the basic challenge we have in understanding and relating to what the concept of Moshiach really means. One of the key concepts we have to understand is what does Shchina and Prophecy mean. Why don't we aspire to that lofty goal? Is this a mistake?    We also discuss the issue of when it is proper for a person to take on lofty spiritual acts.  Nach Yomi:   Join R' Wit...

   This week's episode is sponsored לעילוי נשמת עלקא עליזה בת ר יעקב     In this week's episode, we look at the last part of Yechezkel. What is the common theme of these Prophecies? What makes this section of Prophecies unique, the topics covered or the presentation?    We also take a careful look at the issue of Chronology in Tanach. What are the basic approaches to this issue? Which among the cl...

 This week's episode is dedicated in honor of the Magid Shiur of the Daf Yomi Shiur in Kehilas Bais Yisroel in Cedarhurst        In this week's episode, we look at the basic structure of Sefer Yechezkel. Yechezkel is the most clear of Neviim Achronim. Why is this true? Similarly, we find a number of Prophecies repeated almost identically in the Sefer, why does this happen? What is the basic differ...

  This week's episode is dedicated in honor of the Magid Shiur of the Daf Yomi Shiur in Kehilas Bais Yisroel in Cedarhurst   In this episode we look at the very basic challenges we have today truly waiting for Moshiach. Why weren't we challenged by this in the past the way we are today? Similarly we take a quick look at the second part of Yeshaya that deals with these issues. How many parts are th...

This week's episode is dedicated in honor of the Magid Shiur of the Daf Yomi Shiur in Kehilas Bais Yisroel in Cedarhurst    In this week's episode we look at the issue of the Authorship of Yeshaya.  The second part of the Sefer has a very different set of topics it deals with. Why is this true?   Similarly, this issue used to be heavily discussed and was a live issue. Today the discussion about th...