Jewish History with Rabbi Dr. Dovid Katz

Parshas HaAzinu: The Powerful Pessimism of HaAzinu 18.09.2023 26:08 ↓

A frustrated Moshe Rabbeinu lets loose on Klal Yisroel, calling them every harsh name he can

Rosh HaShanah: The Basic Three Sets of Blasts Correspond to מַלְכִיּוֹת זִכְרוֹנוֹת וְשׁוֹפָרוֹת 15.09.2023 28:10 ↓

Now מַלְכִיּוֹת זִכְרוֹנוֹת וְשׁוֹפָרוֹת are three sides of the Jew-G-d relationship

Observations on Devarim: Why is Moshe's Rhetoric Harsher in סֵפֶר דְּבָרִים Than Elsewhere in the Chumash? 13.09.2023 31:22 ↓

God sent a three-person team to lead כְּלַל יִשְׂרָאֵל . By Deuteronomy, two are dead

Eating Before Shofar: The Historical Source for the Yeshivos Having a Kiddush Before Shofar-Blowing 13.09.2023 36:14 ↓

Did this practice start in the 19th century in Lithuania?

R’ Joseph Ottolenghi: The One Whose Work You Skip Over in the Back of the Gemara 10.09.2023 44:25 ↓

When Cremona was a center of Torah, Torah printing, and Torah burning

Rabbi Katz is leading a tour of the Bible Museum in DC on חול המועד סוכות 08.09.2023 2:41 ↓

The tour will take place on Tuesday Chol haMoed

R’ Menachem Mendel Gluskin of Minsk and Leningrdad: Trying to Be Jewish Under Stalin 08.09.2023 58:56 ↓

The suffering of religious Jews at the hands of the regime and of the Jewish Communists

The First Zohar Ever Printed-Cremona 1559 - Offered by Genazym 06.09.2023 37:56 ↓

The same Pope who burned all the Gemaras and סִפְרֵי נִגְלֶה permitted publishing the Zohar...for nefarious reasons

Haftarah Netzavim-Vayelech: Isaiah's Vision of the Future - Redemption, But Not Followed By Peace 06.09.2023 27:34 ↓

Jerusalem is attacked. No one helps her, so Hashem personally intervenes and executes bloody vengeance

Parshas Netzavim-VaYelech: Moses' Demand for Perfection Runs into Human Nature 05.09.2023 33:06 ↓

Although he originally demanded the Jews circumcise their own hearts, in the end he acknowledges it will have to come from G-d

Elul: No Protection Against the Satan This Year on the First Day of Rosh Hashanah 04.09.2023 30:01 ↓

Why did the חכמים prohibit the shofar on Shabbos?

Responsa Mahari ben Lev From Genazym (1598) 04.09.2023 38:18 ↓

Printed in the luxurious palace of Gracia Mendes' daughter in Constantinople in 1598. Gracia, Joseph Nasi, Donna Reyna, a family of exemplary Sephardic richie-riches

More on the New שׁוּ"ת חוּט הַשָּׁנִי Edition and the Famous Controversies of Yesteryear 03.09.2023 56:17 ↓

The חוֹלֵץ who deliberately put the shoe on the wrong foot, to prevent his "in-laws" from cheating him

Parshas Ki Savo: Abarbanel Applies the תּוֹכָחָה to the Marranos 31.08.2023 35:00 ↓

Sforno decries the Jews who go to non-Jewish courts: אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים!

The Strange History of Shevarim 30.08.2023 36:41 ↓

מַחְלֹקֶת רַאְבַ"ד וּבְעַל הַמָּאוֹר עַל פֵּרוּשׁ "עִרְבּוּב הַשָּׂטָן"

Haftarah Ki Savo: Isaiah's Brilliant Use of אוֹר וְחֹשֶׁךְ, Not as Physical Light and Darkness 29.08.2023 27:46 ↓

The Jewish triumph will be moral, not military. It won't have to be!

Sefer HaManhig: Genazym is Offering the Original Edition, By a Talmid of the ר"י בעל התוספת 28.08.2023 35:14 ↓

This classic was written circa 1200, and is the first of the genre of minhag-litetature, evaluating the correctness of various halachic practices

Genazym Auction: Original סֵפֶר "תּוֹרַת הָעוֹלׇה" לִרְמָ"א 27.08.2023 35:04 ↓

The Rema"s unique Baroque explanation of the בֵּית הַמִּקְדָּשׁ וְהַקָּרְבָּנוֹת.

The שו"ת חוּט הַשָּׁנִי: Three Generations of Bacharachs 27.08.2023 57:44 ↓

The kohen who suddenly decided he was not a kohen (to marry a rich divorcee)

Elul: Why Do We Blow Shofar on Rosh Chodesh? Why the Rest of the Month? 23.08.2023 33:35 ↓

The controversial second "40 Days"

Haftarah Ki Seitzei: Will We Be Ashamed of Our Many Past Sins in the Messianic Era? 23.08.2023 27:39 ↓

Will G-d forget? Forgive?

Parshas Ki Seitzei: Is the Yefas Toar Just פָּשׁוּט פְּשַׁט, or is It a Wider Metaphor Too? 21.08.2023 32:04 ↓

When a person is חוֹשֵׁק, he doesn't consider the future consequences

A Conversation w/ Gabe Aaronson, Chief Numbers-Cruncher for the OU 21.08.2023 31:29 ↓

Has day-school enrollment in NYC plateaued? R' Katz and Gabe Aaronson analyze the latest statistics.

The Mateh Ephraim: The Richest Gadol in Many Centuries - How Did He Excel in Business and Torah? 20.08.2023 1:00:42 ↓

Wealthy enough not to be a rov or rosh yeshiva, but up there with the גְּדוֹלֵי הַדּוֹר

Rosh Chodesh Elul: Why is There a זֵכֶר for the Third Round of 40 Days, But Not for the Second? 17.08.2023 30:22 ↓

Which round was תְּשׁוּבָה מִיִּרְאָה , and which was תְּשׁוּבָה מֵאַהֲבָה?