Jewish history

Hello everyone and welcome to another installment of Jewish History in Daf Yomi.

So today we have a fascinating passage in the Gemara, it's actually in the Mishnah, which alludes to a practice which seems puzzling until you get a better sense of what Romans actually did with their time.

So the Mishnah says, you know, מֵי סְבֵיהּ לָקֵחַ גְרוּתוֹס מן עובד כוכבים.

There's a written law, an oral law, a Mishnah, and a Talmud, an entire system of transmission and interpretation that stretches from Sinai to today.

There are moments in Jewish history when the Torah was nearly lost, and extraordinary figures who fought to preserve it.

There are questions worth asking about how we know the text we have today is accurate, and what the Dead Sea Scrolls revealed about that.

And there is a process, still alive right now, by which rabbis derive Jewish law from these ancient sources.

Rabbi Ken Spiro is a historian, author, and senior lecturer for Asha Torah in Jerusalem with an MA in history and rabbinic ordination from Asha Torah.

He has lived in Israel since 1982, served in a combat infantry unit in the IDF, and is a licensed Torah guide in Israel.

He is the author of World Perfect, The Jewish Impact on Civilization, Crash Course in Jewish History, and Destiny, Why a Tiny Nation Plays Such a Huge Role in History.

His writings and presentations can be found at kenspiro.com and age.com, and he is the host of the weekly podcast on Jewish history and current events, Remember What's Next.

That's right.

And I feel like my – I reached a second level of not only appreciation of history but how to share Jewish history from sticking with you and Svaram Chowder.

No, I think you're revolutionary, genuinely.

Thank you.

But I think also there's – We have many more options today because we have podcasts.

Correct.

We have 1840, we have Swarm of Tragedy, Who the Gabber, Jewish History Soundbites.

Yeah, yeah.

Welcome to another video in the Jewish History in Daf Yomi series.

Today I'd like to look at the historical background to this amazing piece of aggadata, uh, in which there is a debate between a great rabbi and the mysterious Sabeatuna, the Elders of Athens.

So the first thing I, I wanna say about this historically is that the Elders of Athens were for real.

2.

Outline of Jewish History.

After the conclusion of the Old Testament period, the Jewish nation had undergone important changes.

If, therefore, the Judaism of the 1st century is to be understood, the student must have in mind at least a bare outline of the history between the Testaments.

The result was a heroic uprising led by Mattathias and his sons, who are called the Maccabees.

The tyranny of Antiochus had caused a mighty popular reaction against the Hellenizing party among the Jews.

Devotion to the religion of Israel, with exclusion of foreign influences, was ever afterwards the dominant tendency in Jewish history.

The Maccabees were, at first, wonderfully successful against overwhelming odds.

Hello and welcome to Jewish History in Daf Yomi.

Today we're looking at Daf Vav.

One of the most fascinating enigmatic characters is a figure mentioned here, Shimon Ha'amasoni.

Of all the holidays, Sukkot is the one Jewish tradition identifies as the holiday of the messianic era, the holiday that belongs to all of humanity's future.

And yet, for how central the idea of the Messiah is to Judaism, it appears in our daily prayers, it's one of Maimonides' 13 principles of faith, it's woven into the very structure of Jewish history and Jewish hope, most Jews would struggle to explain what the Messiah actually is, what Messiah must accomplish, and how we would even know who the real one is.

In the next hour, we're going to change that.

Rabbi Ken Spiro is a historian, author, and senior lecturer for Eish HaTorah in Jerusalem, with an MA in history and rabbinic ordination from Eish HaTorah.

He has lived in Israel since 1982, served in a combat infantry unit in the IDF, and is a licensed tour guide in Israel.

He is the author of World Perfect, The Jewish Impact on Civilization, Crash Course in Jewish History, my favorite, and Destiny, Why a Tiny Nation Plays Such a Huge Role in History.

His writings and presentations can be found at kenspiro.com and age.com. And he is also the host of the weekly podcast on Jewish history and current events, Remember What's Next.

He's not new to the studio.