Jewish History Soundbites

Please Support the work of Jewish History Soundbites by rating us and writing a review for us on Apple Podcasts. Thank You!!! One of the most multi faceted Jewish personalities of the last century was the Seridei Aish, Rabbi Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg (1884-1966). A prodigy in Slabodka, who was embedded in the world of the Mussar movement, he later found himself in the Rabbinate in a small Lithuanian town. A complicated family situation eventually led him to leaving that position and moving west in both a literal and metaphorical sense. From the University of Giessen he moved on to a position in the Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary in Berlin. His story is reflective of the challenges faced by the thinking youth at the turn of the 20th century. The personality that he formed for himself is a unique expression in resolving that inner conflict.

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The Bolshevik Revolution and it's aftermath wreaked havoc on the Jewish communities - both exiled and established - across the great expanse of the former Russian Empire. The Russian Civil War destroyed lives, property and entire communities. Following the establishment of Communist rule, Jewish religious, cultural and political life were quickly snuffed out. The Balfour Declaration hailed a new beginning for Jewish settlement in Palestine. This was followed by the Third Aliya which brought a new wave of immigration settle the land. The Old Yishuv had suffered greatly during the war, as the entire Chaluka system of funding had been completely cutoff. Finally, the American Jewish community emerged during and after the war with a new sense of identity and mission. Charitable projects on behalf of their brethren suffering from the ravages of war, started at the grassroots level. These eventually were dwarfed by massive philanthropic organizations such as the Central Relief and the Joint. The Jewish People emerged bruised and battered from the Great War, but were able to rebuild and flourish on an even larger scale than before.

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Asara B'Teves is known in Israel also as "Yom Hakadish Haklali", and is a day which the victims of the Holocaust are commemorated with the recital of Kaddish. When focusing on the attempted rescue efforts during the Holocaust, one of the most controversial sagas is undoubtedly that of the one known as the "Kastner Train". Rudolf Kastner, a Hungarian Zionist leader, attempted to save a trainload of Jews from the deportations to Auschwitz. Ultimately, through direct negotiations with the Nazis, a train with over 1,600 Jews were saved. In doing so, Kastner did not reveal to the Jewish masses about the impending deportations that were to commence. Had he done so, his train would not have been saved. What was the responsibility of a Jewish leader at the time? To warn the many or to save the few? Was his identity as a secular Zionist a catalyst for his actions? And the ultimate question which perhaps might never be answered: Was he a hero or a villain?

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Amos Ben-Gurion was the son of David & Paula Ben-Gurion. While serving in the Jewish Brigade in the British Army during World War II, he was wounded and wound up in a Liverpool hospital. While there, he was taken care of by a nurse named Mary Callow. They eventually decided to get married despite the fact that Mary was Christian. There thus followed a sage of the attempted conversion of Mary to enable her to become Mary Ben Gurion. The conversion was eventually done by a German born American Reform Rabbi named Joachim Prinz, known for his activism in the Civil Rights Movement.

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We follow up the Siyum Hashas with an unpublished episode from the archives of Jewish History Soundbites on Rav Elchonon Wasserman HY"D. While most accounts of this great man focus on his leadership and scholarship, here is a shift to his noble ways and beauty of his character. Let's follow Rav Elchonon on his worldwide travels and witness his interactions with people from all walks of life.

 

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The movement spread around Europe and even across the world. Upon each completion of a cycle, the custom began of celebrating the occasion with a communal Siyum Hashas. The association of the Daf Yomi as well as the personality of Rav Meir Shapiro with the Agudas Yisroel led to limited opposition in some circles. Rav Meir Shapiro envisioned however, that the Daf Yomi would rise above politics and be a unifier among the factions of the Jewish community. Each successive Siyum Hashas brought more innovation, ever larger numbers of participants and new venues. Tracing the development of the various Siyum Hashas's over the 20th century is a window into the growth of the Torah community over the century. From the early and modest Siyum Hashas celebrations, following the destruction of the majority of the participants in the Holocaust, to the massive gatherings in the last quarter of the 20th Century and early part of the 21st, the story of the Siyum Hashas is a chapter in the story of the Eternal People.

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Commencing with his dramatic announcement in Vienna in the summer of 1923, Rav Meir Shapiro (1887-1933) dedicated vast energies to spreading the idea of the Daf Yomi program. He was a man of many talents, an innovator with boundless energy, charismatic, a fine and entertaining public speaker, an accomplished Talmudic scholar, a visionary, and most of all a relentless doer. Incredibly, his vision and action on behalf of the Daf Yomi was just one of a myriad of projects he initiated and carried out in his short life. Perhaps it was his most long lasting contribution though, and in the collective memory of the Jewish People, this is arguably his most enduring legacy.

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Recorded LIVE at the historic Ridinker Shteibel on the Upper West Side of Manhattan on the 2nd Night of Chanukah, Jewish Historian Yehuda Geberer delves into the incredible rebirth of the Chassidic movement in North America. Learn about the great leaders and holy tzadikim who helped revive Chassidic life in a new world.

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The worldwide study of the Daf Yomi, culminating in the Siyum Hashas celebration, is synonymous with the name of the founder of the movement - Rav Meir Shapiro. After conceiving the idea as a young communal Rabbi, he presented it to the assembled delegates at the first Knessia of Agudas Yisroel in Vienna, in the summer of 1923. Was he the first - and only - one to have the idea? Was there precedent of such a study format in Jewish History? Were there others who promoted the study of the daily daf? If yes, what makes Rav Meir Shapiro's program unique? And why is he truly the originator of the Daf Yomi?

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Commencing at Yeshivas Chaim Berlin while it was still in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn, Rav Hutner embarked on an illustrious career in Torah education. As the demographics of the neighborhood changed, the Yeshiva had brief stint in Far Rockaway before settling down in Flatbush, back in Brooklyn. Over the first couple of decades at the Yeshiva's helm, Rav Hutner solidified control over the Yeshiva, while imbuing it with his own unique flavor. Active in the public sphere as well, Rav Hutner took a leading role on many of the hot issues of the day. In his later years, he fulfilled his dream of returning to Israel and founding a Yeshiva there as well.

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