History for the Curious - The Jewish History Podcast

Over a period of 30 years, Rav Yosef Karo wrote of his encounters with a divine messenger,  an angel which identified itself as the living essence of the Mishna. The most public manifestation took place on an extraordinary night of Shavuos in Salonika in 1533. 

19th-century critics dismissed the mystical journal as a complete fabrication, but ground-breaking research and archaeological evidence have vindicated its authenticity.  

 

The personal side of his halachic decision making is clearly evident throughout his numerous responsa, whereas the Printing Press allowed his Shulchan Aruch to become available across the Jewish world, despite various omissions - when publishers cut introductions to save space !

 

Timestamps:

00:00 – Printing omissions and errors in early Jewish texts
00:32 – Introduction to History for the Curious
01:12 – Episode dedication and sponsorship
01:40 – Return from Radin and introduction to Part 2
02:33 – Pronouncing Rabbi Yosef Karo’s name and the episode’s main topics
03:07 – The Maggid Mesharim: Rabbi Yosef Karo’s private spiritual diary
03:37 – What is a Maggid?
05:23 – How Rabbi Yosef Karo’s Mishnah study led to revelation
06:10 – The Maggid’s guidance on Torah study and daily life
08:02 – Other rabbis associated with Maggidim and heavenly revelations
08:32 – The contents of the Maggid Mesharim
09:25 – Using the Maggid’s teachings in public sermons
10:24 – Practical halachic rulings attributed to the Maggid
14:09 – Why Rabbi Yosef Karo recorded the Maggid’s words
14:35 – The famous Shavuot-night revelation in Salonica
16:24 – How the group recognized the Maggid’s voice
16:51 – Can heavenly revelation influence halachic decisions?
18:46 – The Maggid’s authority outside practical halacha
19:30 – Chronological problems created by early editors
21:00 – Claims that the Maggid Mesharim was a forgery
24:37 – Manuscript evidence supporting the work’s authenticity
26:07 – Why Rabbi Yosef Karo did not cite the Maggid in his main legal works
26:30 – Joy, fear and fasting on Rosh Hashanah
29:30 – The three major authorities behind the Shulchan Aruch
31:09 – Resolving contradictions between the Beit Yosef and Shulchan Aruch
32:11 – The first printing of the Shulchan Aruch
33:39 – Missing introductions and mistakes made by printers
34:22 – Early editions and the monthly Shulchan Aruch study cycle
36:40 – The Rema’s additions to the Shulchan Aruch
38:15 – Rabbi Yosef Karo’s responsum concerning decorative images
40:30 – A disputed religious image on a gold object
41:32 – Rabbi Yosef Karo’s strict response and textual reasoning
43:15 – Eyewitness descriptions of Rabbi Yosef Karo and his yeshiva
44:20 – A modern controversy about truth, plagiarism and academia
46:48 – Aseret Yemei Teshuvah: confronting truth and reality
48:28 – Closing thanks, listener feedback and the next episode

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This 2-part series discovers the dramatic life of Rabbi Yosef Karo, which was lived far beyond the pages of his famous legal code, the Shulchan Aruch.

 

Born into the upheaval of the 1492 Spanish Expulsion, he fled across borders from Lisbon to Cairo to Greece and eventually to Eretz Yisrael and was instructed by a spiritual maggid. But the 16th century of mass migrations threatened to fracture Jewish tradition into "countless Torahs". So he embarked on a monumental mission to write a master legal framework and unite the diaspora, which fundamentally reshaped our lives.

 

His story included an attempt to hasten the Messianic era, that led to him being banned from the main synagogue of Tzfas and a son born to him in his old age.

 

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro & dedication
02:20 Who was Rabbi Yosef Karo?
05:57 Tzfas: The rise of a holy city
16:46 Karo’s authority in Tzfas
21:08 What was Smicha and why revive it?
26:25 The 1538 Smicha controversy
35:44 Challenges to reviving Smicha
40:57 Rabbi Yosef Karo and Smicha
45:29 Why Karo wrote the Beis Yosef & Shulchan Aruch
50:19 Why the Tur? Karo’s method of codification
54:33 Ashkenazi vs Sephardi practice & local Minhag
57:38 Modern implications & the post-Holocaust world
1:00:23 Closing & Part 2

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Be Courageous, be Honest, be a Jew. Those were the words with which a parent took leave of his son during the Holocaust. 
 
However much we are aware of the terrible years that befell our People, the words and testimonies shake us and make us rethink Faith & Suffering
 
Mrs Zahava Ungar & Mr Yisrael Diamond are living proof to the tragedies and perseverance that took them through 5 years of torment. They are both heads of a families today which have continued the Yiddishkeit of pre-war generations. Their words need to be heard.
 

Timestamps:

[0:00:00] – Survivor vignette: sneaking out for water, sister taken

[0:00:38] – Podcast introduction and dedication

[0:01:50] – Framing the episode: from numbers to personal stories; link to Tisha B’Av

[0:03:33] – Reading and discussion of the three Holocaust letters (to ~[0:07:30])

[0:07:37] – Introduction to Mrs. Sahava Unger

[0:08:17] – Early life, Nazi occupation, father taken to labor

[0:10:28] – Ghetto, deportation to Auschwitz

[0:13:47] – Birkenau, living conditions, selection, loss of sister

[0:18:47] – Liberation, aunts in “Canada,” uncle in Sonderkommando, journey after the war

~[0:24:27]–[0:29:00] – Reflections on fear, hunger, cold; her later life and family

[0:29:00] – Introduction to Mr. Yustral Diamond

[0:29:23] – Leaving Antwerp; journey to Montpellier, south of France

[0:31:08] – Round-up orders; warning and help from French gendarmerie chief

[0:38:21] – Hiding in villages, resistance environment, daily terror

[0:45:32] – Post-war: yeshiva, return to Antwerp, move to Golders Green, religious perseverance

[0:48:07] – Introduction to Rav Yeshua Grunwald

[0:49:57] – Excerpts from his writings; Holocaust suffering as “mizbeach” / Kodesh Kodashim

[0:53:29] – His closing prayer for justice and redemption

[0:54:17]–end – Host’s closing words and Tisha B’Av message

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George Mandel-Mantello was one man on his own, a Jew living in Switzerland, who ignited an international outcry against the destruction of Hungary’s Jewish community and stopped the deportation of the last 250,000 Jews. Mantello’s weapon was not a gun or an army — it was information.  

With extraordinary courage and ingenuity, he forged papers, sent a courier into Hungary to gather first-hand reports about Auschwitz and forced the allies to react. But for decades afterwards, the actions of this saviour were deliberately minimised and censored.  

Meanwhile in nearby Germany, the brother of the highest ranking member of the SS, was helping Jews escape the Nazi inferno. His courage also went unheralded for many years. 

 

Timestamps:

[0:03:55] – George Mantello – An Overlooked Hero of the Holocaust

[0:15:14] – The Auschwitz Protocols & Mantello’s Information Mission to Hungary

[0:26:30] – Emergency Meeting in Switzerland & Decision to Act

[0:29:12] – Breaking Swiss Censorship & Media Avalanche

[0:33:31] – Global Political Impact & Halting the Hungarian Deportation Trains

[0:37:08] – Raoul Wallenberg and the International Ghetto in Budapest

[0:38:45] – Arrow Cross Takeover, Death Marches & Survival of Budapest Jewry

[0:41:08] – Post-War Rescue Operations and Salvadorian Papers Reused

[0:49:42] – Reinhard Heydrich – Architect of the Final Solution

[0:54:40] – Heinz Heydrich – The Brother Who Turned Rescuer

[0:58:25] – Lina Heydrich & Persistence of Nazi Ideology

[1:00:45] – Closing Reflections & Recovering Mantello’s Legacy

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This two-part podcast explores what sets the Holocaust apart from other atrocities in history, focusing on its intent and ideological foundations and providing two unsettling responses.
 
It then turns to the United States. By 1942, news of the genocide had reached American shores—but to what extent were Americans made aware of its scale and purpose? 

 
How do we explain why the story of mass murder was often minimized, buried, or delayed by the major American newspapers? What did that relative silence ultimately mean for the Jews of Europe?
 

Timestamps

00:00 – **Liberation Shock & Media Blindness**  

00:41 – **Intro, Dedication & 5-Year Anniversary**  

01:57 – **New WhatsApp Community**  

03:34 – **What Makes the Holocaust Unique?**  

06:04 – **Ideology, WWII & Other Victim Groups**  

23:24 – **Dehumanization, Cruelty & Practical Uniqueness**  

31:26 – **From Discrimination to the Final Solution**  

35:06 – **How American Media Failed the Jews**  

45:06 – **NYT, Assimilated Elites & Hashkafic Lessons**