Jewish History with Rabbi Dr. Dovid Katz

Parshas Emor: May a kohen marry a promiscuous woman? 14.05.2025 26:55 ↓

The word זוֹנָה ends up not meaning what you think it means. Dealing with checkered pasts you have left behind

R ‘ Chaim Kohen Rapoport of Lvov, Pt. 3 14.05.2025 48:47 ↓

His famous disputation with the Frankist Heretics, who claimed that the Jews who follow the Talmud murder Christians and use their blood for Passover purposes. He tore into them , calling a spade a spade!

Lag B’Omer and the Story of R’ Shimon bar Yochai in the Cave: Critical considerations 12.05.2025 32:34 ↓

Raising a number of problematc aspects re: the text of the famous agadeta

Rabbi Katz's new lecture series in Baltimore: May 12, 14, 19, 21, and 26 12.05.2025 3:53 ↓

Five lecture covering the history of Baltimore Jewry and their various "Judaisms." History of a rather unique Jewish community, whose history is both like and unlike that o other American Jewish communities.

The Barbary Pirates, Jefferson and Donald Trump's Reported Deal with the Houthis 07.05.2025 35:17 ↓

Arab Piracy: Pay them off? Fight them? The machlokes between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson

Haftarah Acharei Mos-Kedoshim: Destruction and then Restoration 06.05.2025 24:07 ↓

Would you like to be a prophet of doom?

Parshas Achrei Mos-Kedoshim: Why is the Yom Kippur Ritual associated with the deaths of Nadav and Avihu? 06.05.2025 22:44 ↓

Was their sin בֵּין אָדָם לַחֲבֵרוֹ? If so, what does that have to do with Yom Kippur, which does not atone for that?

Rambam and Korbanos Part 3 05.05.2025 32:14 ↓

The World stands on תּוֹרָה, עֲבוֹדָה, וּגְמִילוּת חֲסָדִים. Each one individually? Or the combination of all three?

R’ Chaim Kohen Rapoport of Lvov (1699-1771) Part 2: Internal machlokes 05.05.2025 47:51 ↓

The Underside of Jewish Kehilah politics in the "Old World"

Haftarah Tazria-Mazora: Gechazi is "Attacked" by the Yetzer HaTov 02.05.2025 23:15 ↓

Though he was no saint, Gechazi redeems his character by eschewing revenge

Parshas Tazria-Metzora: Biblical Leprosy and Its Role in Promoting Sincere Social Relations 30.04.2025 29:01 ↓

Why is it so easy to get Biblical Leprosy and So Hard (Complicated Ritual) to become purified from it?

Rav Chaim Kohen Rappaport of Lvov (1699-1771), Pt. 1: A Great Gadol You Probably Never Heard of 30.04.2025 59:21 ↓

One of the Greatest Gedolim of the 18th century. The Noda B’Yehudah and the Hafla'ah sent him THEIR שְׁאֵלוֹת! Classic lomdus of the "Old School"

The Rambam and his different discourses on korbanos & other matters, Pt. 2 27.04.2025 40:35 ↓

TThe Rambam in the Mishneh Torah on the correct hashkafah re: Korbanos and other Mitzvos that make no sense. The remarkable anguish of King David re: such matters

הַפְטָרָה פָּרָשַׁת שְׁמִינִי תשפ"ה - Dovid vs. Nadav & Avihu 24.04.2025 22:02 ↓

The two parades of Dovid. The mistakes in the first. The corrections in the second. The quarrel with Michal based on a misunderstanding

Parshas Shmini: Nadav and Avihu 24.04.2025 22:29 ↓

Did they offer a ketores minus the חֶלְבְּנָא?

Conditions in Eretz Yisroel in the early 19th century - life under the rapacious Muslims and hope from England 23.04.2025 42:58 ↓

The strange situation of the English and American Missionaries interacting with the תַּלְמִידֵי הַגְּרָ"א

The Rambam and his different discourses on korbanos and other matters: Part 1 21.04.2025 31:04 ↓

An important difference between קָרְבָּנוֹת on the one hand, and תְּפִלָּה וּדְבֵקוּת on the other.

Haftarah Acharon shel Pesach: Discrepancies between the accounts of Hezekiah and Sennacherib 18.04.2025 29:38 ↓

"If the Jews can end their disunity, they wil together conquer the Gaza Strip and Syria." Really

Shevii Shel Pesach - The Splitting of the Sea: הֶאֱמִינוּ וְשׁוּב לֹא הֶאֱמִינוּ 17.04.2025 31:17 ↓

Moshe and the Jews: Belief, followed by loss of Belief, followed by new Belief

The Historical Background to the 1830s controversy re: הַקְרָבַת קָרְבַּן פֶּסַח בַּזְּמַן הַזֶּה - What was going on in Turkish Palestine at that time 16.04.2025 51:11 ↓

R Akiva Eger thought the Muslims would allow the Jews to offer sacrifices on the Temple Mount. The Chasam Sofer disabused him. Why did R Akiva Eger think this?

Seder Thoughts 2025 (תשפ"ה) 11.04.2025 37:10 ↓

R Akiva's seder and the question of the Premature Exodus. Also, Lavan and his role inthe Egypt story

When historical knowledge provides an insight into a Responsum: The Noda BiYhudah and the Ben Ish Chai 09.04.2025 21:09 ↓

Famous Responsa re: Adultery and Divorce

Pesach, Bitul Chametz, and the eternal battle of ideas between Jewish and Egyptian theological ideas. Really 09.04.2025 35:21 ↓

If you wanted the manna in the desert to become matzah, to transsubstatiate into matzah, did it really become matzah, not just in taste?

The Rambam and His Thoughts About the Hagadah 07.04.2025 25:26 ↓

In Chapter 7, the Rambam rearranges the order of the narrative, for philosophical/theological reasons

Haftorah Shabbos Hagadol - Elijah: Unite or Die! 07.04.2025 23:49 ↓

Is parnasaah bad because you give too much charity? Or the other way around?