17th century Jewish Amsterdam

This final part in David’s four-part Zoom series in the lead-up to Yom Kippur, The Power of Challenge, the Challenge of Teshuva, looks at the issue of repentance and forgiveness within community.

David examines three fascinating and, at times, heartbreaking stories from Jewish History of people who have:

accepted their mistakes,
sought communal acceptance of their penitence,
found revelation in teshuva.

Exploring the experiences of:

Rabbi Yonah of Girona, a medieval rabbi who explored the concept of seeking forgiveness for misdeeds from the deceased;
Uriel de Costa, a 17th-century radical thinker with a tragic story of communal punishment; and
Franz Rosenzweig, the 20th-century philosophy who found inspiration in the idea of teshuva.

In each of these episodes, David draws out the principle of individual repentance and its relationship to communal acceptance, connection, and redemption. He also provides essential historical and cultural background to the stories, giving context and depth to the ideas and events discussed.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 32:26 — 44.5MB)

Continue reading “#101 The Power of Change, the Challenge of Teshuva (4)”

A Jewish History Podcast

The final lecture in this four-part series provides a fascinating overview of the closing decades of the 17th century and the historical events and characters that would prepare the world for the new century. In this podcast episode, David examines the extraordinary stories of a Portuguese explorer; of the reputed appearance of the lost ten tribes; of the well-argued lobbying that allowed Jews to return to England; of the enormous spiritual and intellectual whirlwind that was Baruch Spinoza; of communal tragedy in Yemen; and of the remarkable story of a mass immigration to the Land of Israel that went terribly wrong – only to be resolved in the 21st century.

Emanuel de Witte, Interior of the Portuguese synagogue in Amsterdam. Public Domain.

Continue reading “#44 Communities in Search of Meaning: Jewish History of the 17th Century (part 4)”