Mendelssohn’s story continues, but one man does not a movement make. The Berlin Haskalah was a whole generation of transition, one which struggled with the boundaries of Torah, society and identity. And one which saw some of the first battle lines of modernity being drawn. Want to help tell the Jewish Story? Become a Patron:…

Moses Mendelssohn was a critical philosopher of the German Enlightenment and the most controversial figure of the Jewish Enlightenment. Whether you think that he was a light to his generation or a boundary breaker who led many to sin, his life story deserves to be heard. Want to help tell the Jewish Story? Become a…

Just when you think the Sabbateans have had their last say in the story, one of the greatest conflicts of 18th century rabbinic culture breaks out. This episode explores the controversy between R’ Yaakov Emden and R’ Yonatan Eybeschuetz and how it contributed to the crisis of European Jewry’s encounter with the Enlightenment. Want to…

Within two decades after the Baal Shem Tov’s death, a movement sprung up from his revolutionary thoughts. This new current of Jewish life did not emerge without controversy; and as the chasidim and their opponents were struggling over the soul of Am Yisrael, the body of Polish Jewry was suddenly split in three by the…

The institutions of the middle ages have already run their course, and the way ahead into modernity is far from clear for Polish Jewry. Out of this darkness and confusion a new light will emerge, infusing religious life with vitality and joy. This is the first of two episodes on the rise of the Ba’al…

Baruch Spinoza the was the most famous philosopher the Jews ever produced, but he had to leave the fold in order to speak his truth. He crowned reason king of creation at the same time as the mythic imagination of the Sabbatean heretics was coming to a boil. Want to help tell the Jewish Story?…

The appearance of Shabbetai Zvi evoked a tidal wave of messianic hope which swept Jews and Christians in its wake. Was his advent just a case of the “perfect storm” conditions in history, or was there something more fundamental to the Jewish story which drove his ascent? Want to help tell the Jewish Story? Become…

Hope is a powerful force. The conversos who escaped from Iberia and built a new life were driven by the hope for freedom, prosperity and ultimately redemption. But even once the New World colonies were established, the one place in the world where the Jews were absent was the British Isles. Was their return to…

The Golden Age of Tzefat had more to it than the writing of authoritative legal texts. There was also a flowering of kabbalistic thought which returned the experience of the Divine to its central place in the culture of Am Yisrael. And the most powerful master of this esoteric wisdom was certainly R’ Yitzchak Luria…

Though the early modern era was a time of throwing off tradition for many Europeans, in the city of Tzefat its power was alive and well. This is the story of how R’ Yosef Karo became the greatest legal authority of his day, and wrote the work which would “set the table” for the legal…