Jewish History with Rabbi Dr. Dovid Katz

Latest Episodes:

Haftarah Noach: The Flood as a metonymy for Jewish suffering down the Ages... Oct 20, 2025

Show notes

Just as G-d promised no more floods that can destroy the entire human race, so too He promises not to destroy the entire Jewish People.

Parshas Noach: Noah and "the Day After" Oct 20, 2025

Show notes

Noah walked "with G-d," but could not get ahead of G-d, that is, he did not establish rules for the survivors of the Flood to ensure they would not revert to sin. IOW Noah was good but not great.

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Is Donald Trump a "Second Cyrus"? Oct 19, 2025

Show notes

The first Cyrus was a complex figure in Jewish history. The battle of the lobbyists at the ancient Persian Court. A playbook for Qatar?

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Rabbeinu Tam and Count Henry I of Champagne (and Countess Marie) Oct 19, 2025

Show notes

Was Rabbeinu Tam a kind of French nobleman? Why did he practice falconry ? Why did the Count of Champagne turn to him to explain the David-Saul story?

Haftarah Bereishis: Israel will survive (Al Aqsa) Floods and even the fires of internal strife Oct 16, 2025

Show notes

Who is it that 'has eyes but does not see, ears but does not hear"?

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Parshas Bereishis: The world was created for a UNITED Klal Yisroel Oct 16, 2025

Show notes

In a Jewish world with unbridgeable divisions, we must be alert to divinely-sent "opportunities that pass"

The Strage history of Hoshanah Rabbah in the Temple: The Willow vs. the Palm Frond ( הַלּוּלָב שֶׁנִּפְרְדוּ עָלָיו) Oct 13, 2025

Show notes

What is the meaning of striking the ground?

The Chasam Sofer, the Yad haMelech and the "Overused" Esrog - Haredi vs. Maskilic notions of aesthetics Oct 10, 2025

Show notes

Intra-Jewish ideological politics underneath the dry discourse of the responsa literature

נִעֲנוּעִים: The ritual of lulav-waving and its contemporary relevance in the year 5786 (2025) Oct 09, 2025

Show notes

Warding-off the dangers from literally all directions. In both the personal life, and in the life of the Jewish People

Sukkos 2025: What's with the strange ritual of פָּרֵי הַחַג? Oct 09, 2025

Show notes

It is not enoughto embrace monotheism. The monotheism has to include a כְּלַל יִשְׂרָאֵל as the עַם הַנִּבְחָר (even thoughthey don't seem to fit the role)

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