Jewish History With Rabbi Dovid Katz

Some thoughts on the limited, philosophical approach to prayer vs. the mystical approach to prayer

Intensely partisan, a slaveholder, a great liar, Polk is one of the great presidents, who doubled the territory of the USA. In the words of Trump, "He got a lot of land!" Will this affect Gaza?

The opposite of today -  at that time there was civil war in Israel and peace in Syria ... or so they thought!

Why did Esther try to be nice to Haman?  Also, did Haman actually prohibit circumcision?

R Katz analyzes the religious effects of Israel's six foreign wars

How come Haman did not make a move against the Jews for FIVE years?

Why was אֵלִיָּהוּ a brilliant failure?

The Jews in the time of Esther ducked a planned "Oct. 7" pogrom multiplied all across the 127 provinces. Instead, it was the Jews who ended up perpetrating the pogrom against their mortal enemies

Could מִפְּנֵי שֶׁהִשְׁתַּחֲווּ לַצֶּלֶם (Megilah 12a) be an oblique reference to פָּרָשַׁת עֵגֶל הַזָּהָב?

Where did they get the ideas that the big sin of כְּלַל יִשְׂרָאֵל was either a.) נֶהֱנוּ מִסְּעֻדָּתוֹ שֶׁל אֲחַשְׁוֵרוֹשׁ or b.) הִשְׁתַּחֲווּ לַצֶּלֶם? It is not in the text of the Megilah, is it?

"How come there is no NCSY for the Marranos?" Frum complaints from Venetian Gedolim of the 17th century

Towards Amalek, Saul lacked moral clarity, but when it came to Nov and David, he acted with total (misguided) moral clarity!

Is וְעָשׂוּ לִי מִקְדָּשׁ referring to a מִשְׁכָּן? A בֵּית הַמִּקְדָּשׁ? Both? What's with the textual obscurity?

R Katz and the new ArtScroll edition of the עֵין יַעֲקֹב

A real life example of Psalm 130: מִמַּעֲמַקִּים קְרָאתִיךָ הַשֵּׁם

The Unusual Spanish-Portuguese Communities in 18th century Souther France. A different world

Whereas Hamas pursues an unabashed policy of Amalak, Russia pursues a policy of לָבָן (לְפִי פֵּרוּשׁ הַנְּצִי"ב)

A "rap song" about the angels surrounding the Heavenly Throne. Part of theSephardic liturgy. The cadence as well as the rhymes moves the worshiper to ectasy

What was the ultimate fate of צִדְקִיָּהוּ, the last King of Judah? The differing traditions

The difference between קְדוֹשִׁים תִּהְיוּ vs. וְאַתֶּם תִּהְיוּ לִי מַמְלֶכֶת כֹּהֲנִים וְגוֹי קָדוֹשׁ