Jewish History with Rabbi Dr. Dovid Katz

Haftarah of the Three Weeks: Digging wells that turn out to have no water 13.07.2023 26:38 ↓

What were the faults of the kohanim and the Rosh yeshivas?

Parshas Matos: Wars of Revenge? 13.07.2023 36:48 ↓

Were the Jewish soldiers unaffected by their killing of children?

Traditionalist Jews in Israel and the Question of Religious Coercion 10.07.2023 33:33 ↓

What is the meaning in Judaism of מִכָּאן מוֹדָעָה רַבָּה לְאוֹרָיְתָא?

Bastille Day 2023 - The Riots in France, and Jewish History 09.07.2023 43:39 ↓

The differences between the American and French Revolutions and their effects upon כְּלַל יִשְׂרָאֵל

Shivah Assar B’Tammuz: Who was Apostomus? What Exactly Did He Do? 06.07.2023 32:49 ↓

Did he burn A Torah physically? Or THE Torah spiritually?

Haftarah Pinchas: Jeremiah, the Descendant of רָחָב הַזּוֹנָה 05.07.2023 31:38 ↓

His losing battle against cynicism, skepticism, and sarcasm

Parshas Pinchas: What is the Meaning of the Vague Phrase: אֱלֹהֵי הָרוּחֹת לְכָל בָּשָׂר? 04.07.2023 35:04 ↓

How does Moshe define a successful general?

More on the Fourth of July and Klal Yisroel 04.07.2023 37:16 ↓

The significance of the events of the 1780s

Cordovero's extremely vivid description of the different "departments" of heaven and hell 03.07.2023 27:31 ↓

Hundreds of angels directing operations in different "rooms"

Thoughts on the Historical Legacy of R’ Yaakov Ruderman 03.07.2023 41:05 ↓

The role of culture in a society. Who gets to decide what parts of culture are important? Is it the power of ideas? The number of followers?

The Fourth of July and the Jews 02.07.2023 42:10 ↓

How the American Revolution affected the whole of כְּלַל יִשְׂרָאֵל

Haftarah Balak: What is the מוּסָר הַשְׂכֵּל the Prophet extracts from the Bilam story? 30.06.2023 27:48 ↓

When do קָרְבָּנוֹת appeal to God? When do they not?

Parshas Balak: Unlike Balaam, the Patriarchs built 7 altars but did not offer sacrifices on them 29.06.2023 32:15 ↓

What was Balaams pitch to Hashem? Why was it an historic moment?

Parshas Chukas: Are the Two Stories of Hitting the Rock (בשלח and חוקת) One and the Same? 29.06.2023 28:42 ↓

When exactly was the final חומש text dictated to Moshe?

Korach as a Leadership Type in Jewish History in the Diaspora 26.06.2023 58:00 ↓

Gentile authorities had more to do with the Korachs than the Moshes

Dvar Torah on כריתות at yahrtzeit siyum for R Katz's mother 23.06.2023 37:04 ↓

אָשָׁם תָּלוּי -אַהֲבָה אוֹ יִרְאָה?

Haftarah Korach: Why Did G-d (and Samuel) Choose the Inexperienced Saul? 23.06.2023 29:31 ↓

Shmuel ha-Navi: A Class-Act

The Burning of the Talmud in Paris on Parshas Chukas- Memory vs. History 22.06.2023 43:38 ↓

The Pope and the Church: How they viewed the Talmud

Parshas Korach: Korach and the Power of "Spin" 21.06.2023 33:43 ↓

Are the masses existentially gullible?

R’ Cordovero on the Summum Bonum- different departments of Heaven 20.06.2023 45:43 ↓

The different הֵיכָלוֹת and their different "rewards"

Capsali's History of the Turkish Empire 19.06.2023 55:15 ↓

Why Would a Chashuva Rov Write a History of the Turks? Could the Ottoman empire be the מַלְכוּת יִשְׁמָעֵאל, last of the Four Kingdoms, followed by מָשִׁיחַ?

Haftarah Shelach: Was Rachav HaZonah an Idealist or an Opportunist? 14.06.2023 35:43 ↓

What were the results of her marriage to Joshua?

Parshas Shelach: What is the Meaning of כִּי לַחְמֵנוּ הֵם? 14.06.2023 40:50 ↓

The Jews were afraid of a long, unending, bloody struggle. Moshe does not address these fears.

R’ Eliyahu Kapsali, Pt. 2: His Account of the Expulsion from Spain 12.06.2023 57:19 ↓

What would YOU do if you had been stuck in your house during Corona with zero phones, internet, etc…?

Summum Bonum: The Style of the Kabbalists in Relating to All the Differing Chazals on Olam Haba, etc 11.06.2023 35:18 ↓

Beginning the discussion on this complex matter