Podcast Episodes

Come on and Ride the Train: The Kastner Story Part IV

Episode 473

What were the actual negotiations between Kastner and other Jewish rescue leaders and Eichmann and the SS? How were the negotiations initiated and how did they develop? When did they take place? Who …

Published on 17 hours ago

Come on and Ride the Train: The Kastner Story Part III

Episode 472

On April 7, 1944 two Slovakian Jews named Rudolf Vrba & Alfred Wetzler made a daring escape from Auschwitz and made their way back to Slovakia. They submitted a detailed and accurate report of the ho…

Published on 1 week ago

Come on and Ride the Train: The Kastner Story Part II

Episode 471

What did Hungarian Jewry look like on the eve of World War II? What was its size, religious composition and communal organization? What happened to Hungarian Jewry prior to the Nazi invasion in March…

Published on 2 weeks ago

Come on and Ride the Train: The Kastner Story Part I

Episode 470

NEW SERIES ON JEWISH HISTORY SOUNDBITES

On June 30, 1944, a train departed Budapest, Hungary, carrying 1,684 Jews as its passengers. This occurred during the peak of the Nazi deportations of Hungaria…

Published on 3 weeks ago

Self-hating Jews in Jewish History

Episode 469

Unfortunately the phenomenon of isolated instances of Jews consumed with self hatred, while projecting antisemitic stereotypes on their brethren is nothing new. It has existed in one form or another …

Published on 1 month, 3 weeks ago

Marriage Age in Jewish History

Episode 468

During the 18th & first half of the 19th centuries, many members of the financial and rabbinical elite in Jewish Eastern Europe engaged in the practice of marrying off their children at a very young …

Published on 2 months ago

RERELEASE: Tales of Sukkos & Simchas Torah (update)

Episode 467

In honor of the upcoming Sukkos & Simchas Torah holidays, here's an updated version of an old episode of Jewish History Soundbites, containing entertaining historical tales & tidbits from Jewish hist…

Published on 2 months, 3 weeks ago

Tribute to Rav Dovid Kamenetsky

Episode 466

Torah scholar, author of many acclaimed seforim on the Torah of the Vilna Gaon and others, historian and author of the definitive work on Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzinski, are just a few of the many accompl…

Published on 3 months, 1 week ago

Tourbites: Paris

Episode 465

Aside from the generic tourist attractions & fantastic restaurants, Paris is also rich in Jewish history. Some locations evoke tragedy such as the Drancy transit camp which was the point of deportati…

Published on 3 months, 2 weeks ago

Book Review: Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzinski Volume II By Rav David Kamenetsky

Episode 464

The newly published excellent book in Hebrew about the life and times of Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzinski (1863-1940) by Rav David Kamenetsky, entitled Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzinski: Rabban shel Kol Bnei Hagola…

Published on 3 months, 3 weeks ago