Podcast
Jewish History Nerds
Hosted by Unpacked · EN
Whoever said history was boring clearly never heard these stories…Welcome to Jewish History Nerds! Join hosts Yael and Schwab each week as they take a dive into some deep cuts of Jewish history. From the Jewish Da Vinci Code to mass suicide pacts, explore true stories that feel larger than life.
Be in touch: nerds@unpacked.media
33episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
The Jews of 1789: The Constitution (Part 2)
2d ago00:44:00Tap to summarizePlease take a few minutes to fill out this short survey. Go to: unpacked.bio/podsurvey. We want to hear from you! Winning the war was one thing. Becoming citizens was another. In Part 2, Yael and Schwab follow the colonies' 2,500 Jews from revolution to ratification, as the Constitution and the Bill of Rights turned religious liberty from a favor into a right. Not tolerance. Citizenship. Note: All states ratified the Constitution in 1790, the amendments were ratified in 1791. This episode refers to the important Jewish figures discussed in part 1. If you missed that episode, please check it out here or in your podcast feed. If you like this show, please rate and write a review wherever you get your podcasts. And be in touch. Write to us at nerds@unpacked.media. A Promised Land: Jewish Patriots, the American Revolution, and the Birth of Religious Freedom by Adam Jortner Summary and Additional Sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XMLFbbR0J0wOFTMqIZnPPF-XHQ_DM6XCB66vvO-2JUI/edit?usp=sharing This podcast was brought to you by Unpacked, a brand of OpenDor Media. Follow @unpackedmedia on Instagram and check out our videos on youtube and Spotify. For other podcasts from Unpacked, check out: Soulful Jewish Living Stars of David with Elon Gold Unpacking Israeli History Wondering Jews
Transcribe →The Jews of 1776: The Revolution (Part 1)
4d ago00:39:46Tap to summarizePlease take a few minutes to fill out this short survey. Go to: unpacked.bio/podsurvey. We want to hear from you! A broker who bankrolled the Continental Army and died penniless. An officer who refused pork in a British prison. A bill sent to George Washington for a missing fork. In Part 1 of Jews and the American Revolution, Yael and Schwab explore how the colonies' 2,500 Jews showed up for the fight for independence. Winning the war was one thing. But would the new nation count Jews as full citizens? That's Part 2. If you like this show, please rate and write a review wherever you get your podcasts. And be in touch. Write to us at nerds@unpacked.media. Summary and Sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/15pU3SbYQ8gHrUNBropQ54zj2GUwvLBkH9OGr1TGugbY/edit?usp=sharing This podcast was brought to you by Unpacked, a brand of OpenDor Media. Follow @unpackedmedia on Instagram and check out our videos on youtube and Spotify. For other podcasts from Unpacked, check out: Soulful Jewish Living Stars of David with Elon Gold Unpacking Israeli History Wondering Jews
Transcribe →Why The First Jews in Colonial America Nearly Vanished
1w ago00:49:35Tap to summarizePlease take a few minutes to fill out this short survey. Go to: unpacked.bio/podsurvey. We want to hear from you! Well over a century before the Declaration of Independence, a boatload of Jewish refugees landed in New Amsterdam with no money, no synagogue, and a governor who desperately wanted them gone. What followed was a century of scrappy survival — building communities in port cities from Newport to Charleston, pioneering mutual aid societies, suing for the right to do guard duty, and trying very hard not to disappear into the American melting pot. Spoiler: a lot of them did. If you like this show, please rate and write a review wherever you get your podcasts. And be in touch. Write to us at nerds@unpacked.media. Summary and Sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mX-mTHjm4iKuF1LWaqJeTHJ0CMh4O-OVo4Jq0-zsvXM/edit?usp=sharing This podcast was brought to you by Unpacked, a brand of OpenDor Media. Follow @unpackedmedia on Instagram and check out our videos on youtube and Spotify. For other podcasts from Unpacked, check out: Soulful Jewish Living Stars of David with Elon Gold Unpacking Israeli History Wondering Jews
Transcribe →Jewish Pirates and the Caribbean
2w ago00:44:41Tap to summarizeWere there really Jewish pirates in the Caribbean? The answer is far more complicated (and fascinating) than the legend. From Samuel Pallache, the so-called Pirate Rabbi, to the thriving Jewish communities of Curaçao and beyond. Schwab walks Yael through the story of Jews navigating empire, trade, exile, and opportunity in the Americas. This is the second episode in a mini series on Jews in the Americas. If you like this show, please rate and write a review wherever you get your podcasts. And be in touch. Write to us at nerds@unpacked.media. We really want to hear from you. Summary and Sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LnWiM6uDCHMSpQpW8TKtntiqyNmeFO00whCz6kJDRH4/edit?usp=sharing This podcast was brought to you by Unpacked, a brand of OpenDor Media. Follow @unpackedmedia on Instagram and check out our videos on youtube and Spotify. For other podcasts from Unpacked, check out: Soulful Jewish Living Stars of David with Elon Gold Unpacking Israeli History Wondering Jews
Transcribe →The First Jews in the Americas: Fleeing the Inquisition
3w ago00:49:40Tap to summarizePlease fill out this short survey. Go to: unpacked.bio/podsurvey. We want to hear from you! Fleeing the Inquisition, Crypto-Jews who had been forced to hide their faith for generations found refuge in Recife, Brazil — and for the first time, rebuilt Jewish life in the open. When Recife fell, twenty-three Jewish refugees set sail for New Amsterdam, launching the birth of Jewish America. Schwab and Yael tell the remarkable story in the first episode of a new series on Jews in the Americas. If you like this show, please rate and write a review wherever you get your podcasts. And be in touch. Write to us at nerds@unpacked.media. We really want to hear from you. Summary and Sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ETNBOm2XE9LHs4HqGflJVmEHVKopKe8tY3wxmdGl4OY/edit?usp=sharing Follow @unpackedmedia on Instagram and check out our videos on youtube and Spotify. --------------- For other podcasts from Unpacked, check out: Soulful Jewish Living Stars of David with Elon Gold Unpacking Israeli History Wondering Jews
Transcribe →Yitzhak Rabin: Not the Peacenik You Think He Was | with Noam Weissman
4w ago01:03:00Tap to summarizePlease fill out this short survey. Go to: unpacked.bio/podsurvey. We want to hear from you! Jewish History Nerds welcomes its first-ever guest, Noam Weissman, host of Unpacking Israeli History. Yael, Schwab and Noam explore the life and legacy of Yitzhak Rabin through the lens of Itamar Rabinovich's Yitzhak Rabin: Soldier, Leader, Statesman from the Jewish Lives series. Rabin's life is the story of Israel itself. But who was the real Rabin? Known as a peacenik, he was in fact "Mr. Security" — a soldier-statesman whose life and death still echo through Jewish history. Two Unpacked shows, three hosts, one conversation you don't want to miss. If you like this show, please rate and write a review wherever you get your podcasts. And be in touch. Write to us at nerds@unpacked.media. We really want to hear from you. This episode is sponsored by Jewish Lives, a prize-winning series of biographies from Yale University Press. To learn more about Yitzhak Rabin's life, identity, and legacy, check out Yitzhak Rabin, Soldier Leader Statesman by Itamar Rabinovich at www.jewishlives.org. Use promo code RabinPod for 30 % off. That's R-A-B-I-N-P-O-D. Visit jewishlives.org to explore and buy books from the Jewish Lives book series. Use the discount code JLIFE to get a discount. You can listen to Unpacking Israeli History here: https://unpacked.media/podcast-series/unpacking-israeli-history/ ------------------ For other podcasts from Unpacked, check out: Soulful Jewish Living Stars of David with Elon Gold Unpacking Israeli History Wondering Jews
Transcribe →The Many Lives of Anne Frank - Turning 97
Jun 1101:05:14Tap to summarizeJune 12th marks Anne Frank’s birthday, and it was on her 13th birthday that she received the diary that would later become one of the most widely read books in the world. Anne Frank remains one of the most recognizable voices in Jewish history, and one of the most misunderstood. In this bonus episode sponsored by the Jewish Lives series from Yale University Press, Schwab walks Yael through Ruth Franklin's The Many Lives of Anne Frank. They trace the full arc of her life, the multiple versions of the diary, and the choices her father Otto made in assembling the text the world came to know. In this powerful episode, Schwab and Yael wrestle with the bigger questions her legacy raises about how we remember the Holocaust. If you like this show, please rate and write a review wherever you get your podcasts. And write to us at nerds@unpacked.media. We really want to hear from you. This episode is sponsored by Jewish Lives, a prize-winning series of biographies from Yale University Press. To learn more about Anne Frank’s life, identity, and legacy, you should check out The Many Lives of Anne Frank by Ruth Franklin at www.jewishlives.org and you can use the special promo code FRANKPOD to get 30% off. Watch Jonathan Schwab interview his grandfather, Holocaust survivor, Ernest Rubinstein, born in Nitra in Slovakia, recorded on Yom Hashoah at Yeshiva University. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rq2V0C90xMc&feature=youtu.be Here are some of sources discussed in the episode. The Diary of Anne Frank: The Revised Critical Edition by Anne Frank The Book of Tales from the Secret Annex by Anne Frank (her short stories written in hiding) People Love Dead Jews by Dara Horn What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank by Nathan Englander A Small Light This podcast was brought to you by Unpacked, a brand of OpenDor Media. Follow @unpackedmedia on Instagram and check out Unpacked on youtube. Visit jewishlives.org to explore and buy books from the Jewish Lives book series. Use the discount code JLIFE to get a discount. ------------------ For other podcasts from Unpacked, check out: Soulful Jewish Living Stars of David with Elon Gold Unpacking Israeli History Wondering Jews
Transcribe →King David: A Divided Heart
Jun 900:53:17Tap to summarizePlease fill out this short survey. Go to: unpacked.bio/podsurvey. We want to hear from you! Few figures in all of Jewish history are as celebrated, as contradicted, and as human as King David. But how well do we really know him? We're kicking off new bonus episodes in partnership with the Jewish Lives series from Yale University Press by going back to the Hebrew Bible. Drawing from Rabbi David Wolpe's David: The Divided Heart, Yael and Schwab unpack the shepherd-turned-king who wrote our prayers, betrayed his allies, and cast a shadow on Jewish history that endures to this day. If you like this show, please rate and write a review wherever you get your podcasts. And be in touch. Write to us at nerds@unpacked.media. We really want to hear from you. This episode is sponsored by Jewish Lives, a prize-winning series of biographies from Yale University Press. To learn more about King David's life, identity, and legacy, you should check out David: The Divided Heart by David Wolpe at www.jewishlives.org and you can use the special promo code DAVIDPOD to get 30% off. Note: Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah places Bathsheba on the roof. But in the Book of Samuel, King David is on the roof when he spots her bathing below. Please write a review wherever you get your podcasts. And write to us at nerds@unpacked.media. We really want to hear from you. This podcast was brought to you by Unpacked, a brand of OpenDor Media. Follow @unpackedmedia on Instagram and check out Unpacked on youtube. ------------------- Visit jewishlives.org to explore and buy books from the Jewish Lives book series. Use the discount code JLIFE to get a discount. ------------------ For other podcasts from Unpacked, check out: Soulful Jewish Living Stars of David with Elon Gold Unpacking Israeli History Wondering Jews
Transcribe →New Episodes, Coming Next Week
Jun 400:02:54Tap to summarizePlease fill out this short survey. Go to: unpacked.bio/podsurvey. We want to hear from you! Yael and Schwab are back — and this season, they're diving into the history of Jews in the Americas, just in time for the US's 250th birthday. But first: special episodes sponsored by The Jewish Lives Series. Catch up on past episodes, subscribe wherever you listen. If you like this show, please rate and write a review. Write to us at nerds@unpacked.media. We really want to hear from you.
Transcribe →Voices of the Warsaw Ghetto: A Yom HaShoah Re-Release
Apr 1400:37:51Tap to summarizePlease fill out this short survey. Go to: unpacked.bio/podsurvey. We want to hear from you! Yael and Schwab revisit the remarkable story of the Oneg Shabbos archive from the Warsaw Ghetto in honor of Yom HaShoah. The tins held the second of three caches of the Oneg Shabbos archives: a collection by ordinary people turned archivists who risked their lives to preserve the darkest moment of Jewish history. Among the photographs and diary entries, concert tickets and poems, lay the collected sermons of Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, also known as the Piaseczno Rebbe. In this episode, Yael and Schwab ask, what can we learn from Rabbi Shapira's works? And what debt do we owe to the brave Oneg Shabbos archivists? If you like this show, please rate and write a review wherever you get your podcasts. And be in touch. Write to us at nerds@unpacked.media. We really want to hear from you. For more on the Aish Kodesh and this episode: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UPT1ADfGLblgPOaViGeyquYRE6l8V0Rvutxlk3CTgE8/edit?usp=sharing Visit jewishlives.org to explore and buy books from the Jewish Lives book series. Use the discount code JLIFE to get a discount. This podcast was brought to you by Unpacked, a brand of OpenDor Media. Follow @unpackedmedia on Instagram and check out Unpacked on youtube. ------------------- Visit jewishlives.org to explore and buy books from the Jewish Lives book series. Use the discount code JLIFE to get a discount. ------------------ For other podcasts from Unpacked, check out: Soulful Jewish Living Stars of David with Elon Gold Unpacking Israeli History Wondering Jews
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