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Listen to noted Tour Guide, Lecturer and Yad Vashem Researcher of Jewish History Yehuda Geberer bring the world of pre-war Eastern Europe alive. Join in to meet the great personages, institutions and episodes of a riveting past. For speaking engagements or tours in Israel or Eastern Europe Yehuda@YehudaGeberer.com
Episodes

Thursday Apr 14, 2022
From Rugby to the World Stage: Rav Avigdor Miller Part III
Thursday Apr 14, 2022
Thursday Apr 14, 2022
With his appointment as congregational rabbi of the Young Israel of Rugby in East Flatbush in 1947, Rav Avigdor Miller embarked on the most famous aspect of his storied career. He saw his role as rabbi primarily as a teacher of Torah, and he envisioned a community committed to Jewish observance and Torah study. To that end he focused on teaching Torah, engaging in the delivery of classes for beginners in Gemara and a myriad of other topics.
With the demographics changing in East Flatbush in the early 1970’s, Rav Miller took the unprecedented step of moving his entire congregation to Flatbush. In his later years his impact and influence exponentially increased beyond the confines of his congregation through the publication of his books, the increased attendance of his lectures - especially his Thursday night lecture - and the dissemination of his recorded lectures on cassette tapes.
For sponsorship opportunities about your favorite topics of Jewish history contact Yehuda at: yehuda@yehudageberer.com
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Thursday Apr 07, 2022
Rabbi & Educator: Rav Avigdor Miller Part II
Thursday Apr 07, 2022
Thursday Apr 07, 2022
Rav Avigdor Miller assumed the rabbinate of Walnut Street Shul in Chelsea, Massachusetts in 1939, and would remain there for six years. Seeking better educational opportunity for his children, he moved to East Flatbush, Brooklyn in 1945 and would remain there for the next three decades. He assumed a position as mashgiach in Yeshiva Chaim Berlin in Brownsville, and began educating his young charges with the values he had brought from Slabodka.
At around the same time he was hired as congregational rabbi at the Young Israel of Rugby, where he would have a decisive impact on generations of congregants. Following his departure from Chaim Berlin in 1965, he expanded the scope of his activities with his involvement in other Brooklyn Yeshivos such as Netzach Yisroel, Mir and Eastern Parkway. In addition, he gave classes to the girls of Bais Yaakov in Williamsburg and Boro Park.
For sponsorship opportunities about your favorite topics of Jewish history contact Yehuda at: yehuda@yehudageberer.com
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Sunday Apr 03, 2022
The Maharal of Prague
Sunday Apr 03, 2022
Sunday Apr 03, 2022
The Maharal of Prague (c.1512-1609) was more legend than reality. His teachings and diverse scholarship seem to grow more popular with time, but who was he and what was the world that he lived and operated in?
The Maharal was a communal rabbi in his hometown of Poznan (Poland), Nikolsburg (Moravia) and Prague (Bohemia). He was a posek and kabbalist, a communal leader and a prolific author. He stood at a crossroads of Jewish history and made a decisive impact in his own time and through his legacy. Emperor Rudolf II of the Holy Roman Empire moved the seat of the royal court to the Prague Castle in 1583, and his religious tolerance coupled with his eccentric obsession with the occult sciences added to Prague’s mystical reputation. And it was in Prague where the Maharal would lead the community, teach his students and publish many of his acclaimed works.
This episode of Jewish History Soundbites on the Maharal is sponsored by “Short Machshava on the Daf”, a project of Machsheves Yechezkel. The Short Machshava Shiur aims to give an understanding of the Agadita/Machshava of every Daf in shas, following the Daf Yomi schedule, adding a new Depth to the Daf, and is given by Rabbi Yechezkel Hartman, a Talmid of Rabbi Moshe Shapiro zt"l, Maggid Shiur in Lawrence NY and son of Rav Yehoshua Hartman, the publisher and editor of many works of the Maharal.
Available on machshevesyechezkel.com
Whatsapp- https://bit.ly/shortmwa4
All Major Podcast Platforms - https://bit.ly/shortmpodcast
TorahAnytime- https://www.torahanytime.com/#/speaker?l=882
All Daf- https://alldaf.org/series/4102/
For sponsorship opportunities about your favorite topics of Jewish history contact Yehuda at: yehuda@yehudageberer.com
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You can email Yehuda at yehuda@yehudageberer.com

Thursday Mar 31, 2022
Baltimore meets Slabodka: Rav Avigdor Miller Part I
Thursday Mar 31, 2022
Thursday Mar 31, 2022
Rav Avigdor Miller (1908-2001) was a unique and influential rabbinical leader on the American scene of the 20th century. With his life spanning most of the tumultuous 20th century, his life story is somewhat a microcosm of Jewish life during historic times.
Born in Baltimore into a home of immigrants, he went to study in RIETS in New York and eventually made the courageous decision to cross the ocean to study in the Slabodka Yeshiva in Lithuania. It was there under the tutelage of his rebbi Rav Isaac Sher and other great mussar personalities that would come to define him and his teachings for the rest of his life. It was also there that he married his wife Chana Etel Lesin, the daughter of Rav Yaakov Moshe Lesin the rabbi of Neishtat-Sugind. After spending six years in Slabodka, he returned home in late 1938, at the cusp of a long career where he would transmit the legacy of the past to generations of students and congregants.
For sponsorship opportunities about your favorite topics of Jewish history contact Yehuda at: yehuda@yehudageberer.com
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You can email Yehuda at yehuda@yehudageberer.com

Friday Mar 25, 2022
The History of Soviet Jewry Part III: Refuseniks & Immigrants
Friday Mar 25, 2022
Friday Mar 25, 2022
Soviet Jewry in the 1970’s and 80’s was a large community which was struggling to define its Jewish identity. Following the Six Day War in Israel, the Refusenik movement gained traction, with many young Soviet Jews applying for exit visas, and willing to sustain the consequences when their applications were denied. Anatoly Sharansky, Ida Nudel, Eliyahu Essas, Yosef Mendelevich, Yuli Edelstein, and many others were exiled or went to prison for the crime of desiring to exit the Soviet Union. For some there was a resurgence of Jewish observance.
In the 1980’s emigration increased, and the last great emigration from Russia began. Many arrived in Israel, while others went to the United States or Germany. In Israel they integrated while maintaining elements of their own culture.
Rav Avraham Yaakov Pam thought it imperative to create a school system where children of immigrant families from the Soviet Union would be accommodated, and where they would be introduced to religious education.
This series on the history of Soviet Jewry is sponsored by Shuvu - Chazon Avraham, a network of schools in Israel whose student body is primarily composed of children of immigrants from the former Soviet Union. Support Shuvu’s educational projects here: https://www.shuvuusa.org/donate
For sponsorship opportunities about your favorite topics of Jewish history contact Yehuda at: yehuda@yehudageberer.com
Subscribe To Our Podcast on:
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You can email Yehuda at yehuda@yehudageberer.com

Sunday Mar 20, 2022
The History of Soviet Jewry Part II: Destruction & Memory
Sunday Mar 20, 2022
Sunday Mar 20, 2022
The Molotov-Von Ribbentrop non-aggression pact ultimately led to the annexation of large swaths of territory into the Soviet Union. The Jews of eastern Poland and the Baltic States now had to acclimate to the realities of Soviet Jewish life. With the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union - Operation Barbarossa - on June 22, 1941, the mass shootings of Soviet Jewry began.
The Holocaust in the Soviet Union was unique in many respects. The Einsatzgruppen SS killing squads, along with local collaborators, murdered the Jews of the Soviet Union through mass shootings outside of the towns. Survival under Nazi occupation was rare, and was only possible by escape to the unoccupied areas of the Soviet Union or by serving in the Red Army. The Soviet government appointed the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, headed by leading Soviet Jewish writers and intellectuals. They generated publicity regarding the Holocaust, and gathered data which was eventually published as the Black Book.
The postwar Stalinist repression of Jewish life was one of the darkest periods of Jewish history in the Soviet Union. Sustaining Jewish life became nearly impossible, and those who struggled to do so did it heroically and against all odds.
This series on the history of Soviet Jewry is sponsored by Shuvu - Chazon Avraham, a network of schools in Israel whose student body is primarily composed of children of immigrants from the former Soviet Union. Support Shuvu’s educational projects here: https://www.shuvuusa.org/donate
For sponsorship opportunities about your favorite topics of Jewish history contact Yehuda at: yehuda@yehudageberer.com
Subscribe To Our Podcast on:
PodBean: https://jsoundbites.podbean.com/
Follow us on Twitter or Instagram at @Jsoundbites
You can email Yehuda at yehuda@yehudageberer.com

Sunday Mar 13, 2022
The History of Soviet Jewry Part I: From the Pale to the Revolution
Sunday Mar 13, 2022
Sunday Mar 13, 2022
The Russian Revolutions of 1917 drastically transformed the lives of the largest Jewish community in the world. Emancipation was finally achieved, the hated Czar was finally deposed and they could finally reside outside the Pale of Settlement. With the founding of the Soviet Union in 1922, new challenges arrived on the scene. The new found freedom led to widespread assimilation. Couple with the mass internal migration to urban centers, this brought a great breakdown of traditional Jewish life. The Soviet communist government was openly hostile to organized religious life, and its rabbis were hounded and exiled.
This series on the history of Soviet Jewry is sponsored by Shuvu - Chazon Avraham, a unique network of schools in Israel whose student body is primarily composed of children of immigrants from the former Soviet Union. The students represent a closing chapter of Jewish history, a bookend effect as it were as descendants of the Soviet Jews who experienced the Revolution and its results. Support Shuvu’s educational projects here: https://www.shuvuusa.org/donate
For sponsorship opportunities about your favorite topics of Jewish history contact Yehuda at: yehuda@yehudageberer.com
Subscribe To Our Podcast on:
PodBean: https://jsoundbites.podbean.com/
Follow us on Twitter or Instagram at @Jsoundbites
You can email Yehuda at yehuda@yehudageberer.com

Tuesday Mar 01, 2022
Brisk Management: Another Look at Rav Chaim Brisker
Tuesday Mar 01, 2022
Tuesday Mar 01, 2022
Rav Chaim Soloveitchik, known as Rav Chaim Brisker (1853-1918), has enjoyed an outsized influence on the methodology of Talmudic study and the development of the modern Torah world. As a historical figure he was not only influential but beloved as well, with countless stories of his kindness, care and leadership initiative as rabbi in Brisk as well as in wider rabbinic circles across the Pale of Settlement.
From his adopting abandoned children on his doorstep to his attempts at implementing pension plans for deceased rabbis widows and orphans, his care and attention to detail bespoke the responsibility he felt towards the less fortunate of society. His Torah teaching career commenced at age 27 in the Volozhin yeshiva, and he later had informal interactions with students while in Brisk. From these oral teachings, together with a limited textual legacy in the form of his published works, his imprint on the development of the Torah world is felt until this very day.
See previous episode about Rav Chaim Brisker: https://jsoundbites.podbean.com/e/voice-of-clarity-a-tribute-to-rav-chaim-brisker/
For sponsorship opportunities about your favorite topics of Jewish history contact Yehuda at: yehuda@yehudageberer.com
Subscribe To Our Podcast on:
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You can email Yehuda at yehuda@yehudageberer.com

Wednesday Feb 23, 2022
From Slonim to Tverya: The Nesivos Shalom Part II
Wednesday Feb 23, 2022
Wednesday Feb 23, 2022
Rav Shalom Noach Berezovsky was appointed Slonim Rebbe shortly prior to his father in law’s passing in 1981. As he had served as the rosh yeshiva of Slonim for decades, this enabled him to enjoy a close relationship with his followers who were for the most part his own students.
The background of the Slonim dynasty has its roots in White Russia, with antecedents in the court of Rav Mordechai of Lechovitz and Rav Moshe of Kobrin. Rav Avraham Weinberg, the Yesod Ha’avodah, founded the Slonim dynasty. He was succeeded by his grandson Rav Shmuel Weinberg, who passed away in exile in Warsaw. Following World War I, his son Rav Avraham Weinberg, the Bais Avraham, reestablished the Slonim court in Baranovich.
For sponsorship opportunities about your favorite topics of Jewish history contact Yehuda at: yehuda@yehudageberer.com
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Thursday Feb 17, 2022
A Teacher from Slonim: The Nesivos Shalom Part I
Thursday Feb 17, 2022
Thursday Feb 17, 2022
The Slonim Rebbe, Rav Shalom Noach Berezovsky (1911-2000) was known by his popular work the Nesivos Shalom. Having grown up in Baranovich in the center of the Slonim chassidic dynasty, he was appointed by the rebbe the Bais Avraham to record his weekly discourses. Following his marriage and move to Tverya in 1935, he first found employment as a rosh yeshiva in Achei Temimim-Lubavitch in Tel Aviv.
Having heard of the decimation of the Slonim community in Europe during the Holocaust, he embarked on ambitious mission: to found a Slonim yeshiva in Yerushalayim with the goal of rebuilding the chassidus. With his father in law election as the Slonim Rebbe, he was now the rosh yeshiva of a fledgling chassidic community. He then succeeded his father in law the Birkas Avraham as rebbe in 1981.
For sponsorship opportunities about your favorite topics of Jewish history contact Yehuda at: yehuda@yehudageberer.com
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You can email Yehuda at yehuda@yehudageberer.com