Podcast Episodes
Back to Search
Tribute Episode: Rav Meir Wunder
Episode 423
The recent passing of Rav Meir Wunder (1934-2024) is an opportunity to pay tribute to this great man and his vast accomplishments as a historian, scholar and pioneer tour guide to Europe. Having atte…
Published on 1 year, 6 months ago
Non-Ashkenazi Jews in Czarist Russia
Episode 422
Far from the Pale of Settlement, the Jews of Georgia, Bukhara, the Caucasus (Mountain) Jews, and other Jewish communities of Central Asia, found themselves under the jurisdiction of the Russian Empir…
Published on 1 year, 7 months ago
The Machine Matzah Controversy
Episode 421
The Industrial Revolution brought the mechanization of manual labor, and this reached the matzah baking industry in the mid-19th century. Although it was initially accepted in Western Europe, when it…
Published on 1 year, 8 months ago
Beyond the Pale: Russian Jewry outside the Pale of Settlement
Episode 420
The Russian Czarist government restricted Russian Jewry to the western provinces of the empire through a series of legislative acts, which came to be known as the Pale of Settlement. Starting in the …
Published on 1 year, 8 months ago
The Yeshiva Elite in 19th Century Lithuania
Episode 419
A dominant feature of religious life of the 20th century has been the centrality of the Yeshiva institution for intensive Torah study. The modern yeshiva is a direct byproduct of its antecedents in t…
Published on 1 year, 9 months ago
Censorship in Czarist Russia
Episode 418
The Czarist government implemented a policy of censorship of all published material in the empire, whether it was imported or printed locally. Though this was a general policy, there were unique part…
Published on 1 year, 9 months ago
Cantonists & The Czarist Military (+ Recap of a Trip to Ashkenaz/Germany) Featuring Dovi Safier
Episode 417
In 1827 Czar Nicholas I implemented the military draft on the Jewish community of Russia as a means of integrating Jews into Russian society. The Jewish kahal was required to supply the young recruit…
Published on 1 year, 9 months ago
The Chassidic Movement in the Russian Empire
Episode 416
The cradle of the Chassidic movement was in the areas of the Polish Kingdom which were soon annexed to the Russian Empire during the partitions of Poland in the last quarter of the 18th century. This…
Published on 1 year, 10 months ago
Russian Jewry under the Czars 1881-1914
Episode 415
The aftermath of the assassination of Czar Alexander II in 1881 was a watershed time period in Russian Jewish history. A reactionary phase led to the passing of the infamous May Laws which restricted…
Published on 1 year, 10 months ago
Russian Jewry under the Czars 1772-1881
Episode 414
From the time of the first partition of Poland in 1772, until the Russian Revolution in 1917, the Czarist Russian Empire was host to the largest Jewish population in the world. The generally antisemi…
Published on 1 year, 10 months ago