Jewish History with Rabbi Dr. Dovid Katz

At different times, a Rav, Rosh Yeshiva, Historian, journalist. Seeking a footing when you are an original thinker but not a member of the "in club" in Hasidic society

Robert E Lee chose the Confederacy. George Thomas chose the Union. Which side did Major Mordecai choose?

Also: The historical origins of וְכֵן תֵּן פַּחְדְּךָ

Ramban, a Sephardi, spars with his Ashkenazic audience

A Sephardi take on עִנְיְנֵי רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה delivered in an Ashkenazi yeshiva (in the Capital of the Crusader Kingdom) in 1267

Did the predecessors of R’ Abahu also combine different meanings of תְּקִיעַת שׁוֹפָר that were "out there" into a single standard liturgy for all Jews? Was he merely following their example of uniformization?

Will Hashem Himself kill Edom? Or will it be the Archangel Michael? Different strands of Jewish Tradition.

Are courts, shul-rabbis, teachers, roshei-yeshiva and mashgichim, principals etc. obligated to organize spies and snitches in the institutions under their control?

Classic case of a Rishon (among the greatest, according to his contemporaries) whose writings were forgotten for centuries and then rediscovered in the Modern era.

A Hasidic-Kabbalistic metahistorical narrative from the בְּנֵי יִשָּׂשכָר

In the Messianic Era, will the Jews influence the gentiles to respect Judaism, or will the gentiles' respect for Judaism influence the Jews to value their own religion?

Aspects of the laws of תְּקִיעַת שׁוֹפָר reflect anti-heretical practices which are such an interesting part of Rabbanite Judaism

Already in 1945 organizations like the ADL & Co. feared some future technology (like the internet) which would empower antisemitic groups and even enable them to win elections

Thoughts on the social-history of rabbinic literature: How come some seforim take-off (like the Tur), while others remain obscure, despite their quality?

Talmud Bavli, Rambam, Zohar

The sharp (and deep) conversation between בְּרוּרְיָה and the Jew for J

Do these laws originate with Moshe, just Hashem confirms them? Were they told to him at an earlier time?

Worthy of its own miniseries: Rabbi Yom Tov Lipman Heller, Jacob Bassevi, Albrecht von Wallenstein and The Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II

Moshe was up on the Mountain for the third time with two blank tablets waiting for writing to appear...

Isaiah endeavors to inspire hope in a Jewish People suffering (understandably) from depression and hopelessness because of so much persecution. The future is brighter than you can imagine!

Also, Rambam vs. Ramban re: whether the Canaanites must be exterminated or not

כָּל פָּסוּק בְּלָשׁוֹן עִבְרִי סוֹבֵל כָּל צוּרָה שֶׁיִּרְצֶה הַמְּצַיֵּר, אֲבָל הַצּוּרָה הָאֲמִתִּית בְּמָה יִתְאַמֵּת הֲלֹא הוּא אִם נִמְשְׁכוּ שְׁאָר הַפְּסוּקִים עַל הַצּוּרָה הַהִיא.

The Rebbe of all the German Gedolim (in Germany and elsewhere) you ever heard of. Really

Only in the Messianic Era will Israel be totally free of terror. Sigh

The difference between living in the desert "panopticon" vs. living scattered on farms in Israel with the privacy (and therefore the option) to make bad choices.

Similarities between the current antisemitism and that of the era of Theodore Herzl

Is Spain dumping on Israel in order to kiss-up to the Muslim world and thereby get a pass and avoid criticism for the fact that Spain still colonially rules parts of Muslim N. Africa?

A fascinating set of interviews with leading Jewish communists in their old age, plus equally fascinating secret remarks re: Jews by Nikita Khrushchev, successor to Stalin. Communism was a religious faith!

Is the 21st century going to be the century in world affairs when religion returns to it position as the LEADING factor in world events ?

שִׁבְטֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל vs. כְּלַל יִשְׂרָאֵל

Tragedy, especially prolonged tragedy, brings depression in its wake

Do 18th century tactics work in a 21st century conflict with evil fanatics?

"You have been rebellious all the way through!"Even during those missing years?

The four obstacles to building a "Straight Road to Hashem"כְּנֶגֶד הָאַרְבַּע גָּלוּיוֹת?

The "war-crime" of Amaziah King of Judah re: mistreating the Edomite POWs

Were the pleas of Moses rejected out of anger? Because the request was premature? Out of a sense of Divine "pain?"

What is the difference between heresy and unbelief? Which more accurately applies to the חִלּוֹנִים in Israel today?

"You were not spared because you are righteous! In fact, God hates your so-called mitzvos!"

He is rebuking the CHILDREN of the sinners, not the sinners themselves. The challenge of rebuking constructively

Why is וּלְמַלְשִׁינִים juxtaposed to עַל הַצַּדִּיקִים?

The big difference between Judaism and Christianity re: Proselytizing. Origin of the Talmudic concept of עֵרֶב רַב?

You abandoned land which contained a natural spring of fresh water for arid land supplied by collected rainwater only to find the cistern which was supposed to hold the water had a leak!

בַּעַל הַ"מוֹדֶה וְעוֹזֵב יְרֻחָם"

The peculiar moral characteristics of a "War of Revenge" - נְקֹם נִקְמַת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל מֵאֵת הַמִּדְיָנִים

What does רשב"ג mean when he says (שבת י"ג ע"ב) אֵין אָנוּ מַסְפִּיקִין?

The Fall of Jerusalem to the Crusaders in 1099 and the accompanying massacres of Jews

His Divinely-ordained career of musar and tochechah begins in the middle of King Josiah's radical (and unpopular!) campaign to exterminate idols in the Kingdom of Judah

Were the 24,000 who perished Jews? Or erev rav?

How were the Crusader-Related events in Eretz Yisroel that took place in the 12th century interpreted by the Baalei Tosfos and their Jewish contemporaries? As עִקְבְתָא דִּמְשִׁיחָא!

What exactly is הַצְנֵעַ לֶכֶת עִם אֱלֹהֶיךָ?