Jewish History with Rabbi Dr. Dovid Katz

Latest Episodes:

Parshas Matos 5785 What happened to the kids of the two and a half tribes while the fathers were away fighting on the other side of the Jordan River? Jul 23, 2025

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The kids lived in a rough neighborhood (מִפְּנֵי יוֹשְׁבֵי הָאָרֶץ), heavily armed and without paternal supervision for years. result? בְּגִלְעָד נְפִישֵׁי רוֹצְחִין!

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Haftarah Matos-Masei: A Famous Jeremiad Jul 22, 2025

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"Why are the Jews the only people who voluntarily switched their god?" The Prophet tears into them.

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Rashi's Raw Hatred of the Crusaders - The Vicious Poem תִּתְּנֵם לְחֶרְפָּה Jul 20, 2025

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Every kind of curse and imprecation in the Hebrew language . How Rashi felt when he learned about the Crusader massacres of 1096.

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Parshas Matos-Masei: The War of Revenge in Midian and the War Against Hamas in Gaza Jul 20, 2025

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Moshe (a former "Midianite") is told to lead the war. He tries to wiggle out, but as events unfold, he is dragged into the thick of it.

Haftarah Pinchas: The Relationship between Pinchas and Eliyahu -Are they literally the same person? Jul 17, 2025

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Moses says הָרְגֵנִי נָא הָרוֹג. Pinchas says קַח נַפְשִׁי. What is the difference?

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The Druze, Syria, Israel, and the USA - An Analysis Jul 16, 2025

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The Existential Dilemma facing Bibi: Making Peace with Syria, but also bombing Syria to save the Syrian Druze (thereby giving מְנוּחַת הַנֶּפֶשׁ to the Israeli Druze). A very complicated story!

The Influence of R' Saadia Gaon on the Rambam and all the other Medieval Jewish Philosophers Jul 16, 2025

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Many of the ideas in the מוֹרֵה נְבוֹכִים, הַכּוּזָרִי, הַחוֹבוֹת הַלְּבָבוֹת, יַד רמ"ה, הָעִקָּרִים, וְכוּלְהוּ actually were already written in the אֱמוּנוֹת וְדֵעוֹת

Isaac Ochberg of Cape Town (1878-1937): Rescuer of Orphans from World War I Jul 15, 2025

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A South African "Jewish Jew" who went to wartorn Ukraine in 1920, then in the midst of massacres of Jews, and brought 200 Jewish orphans to safety in South Africa

Parshas Pinchas: The Bloody Discrepancies Jul 14, 2025

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Why did the Civil Wars between the Tribes in the Desert degenerate into exterminatory massacres?

Bilam's observation of הֶן עָם לְבָדָד יִשְׁכֹּן and the current phenomenon of Jews being abandoned by their supposed "allies" Jul 10, 2025

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So many Jews have deluded themselves that they were building "alliances" only to discover on October 7th that they had been building on sand