Printing Soncino Jewish | David Solomon

The 1400s in Jewish history was a time of turbulence and uncertainty while also a period of tremendous Jewish intellectual and mystical exploration. In this podcast episode, the last of the three-part series ‘Hope in Darkness: Jewish History of the 14th and 15th Centuries’, David examines the lives of several fascinating figures and their contributions to Jewish and world thinking. However, it is the enormity of the historical events that shaped the Jewish experience of the time, particularly in Europe, that dominates much of the material discussed in this episode. David explores the impact of printing on Jewish life and learning; the increasing interest in Hebrew and Jewish texts among Christian scholars; and the devastating consequences arising from the union of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile, leading to the unrelenting cruelty of the Inquisition and the eventual cataclysmic expulsion of the Jews of Spain.

Continue reading “#64 Hope in Darkness: Jewish History of the 14th & 15th Centuries (Part Three)”

In the first of this podcast series looking at Jewish History of the 16th century, David Solomon examines fascinating religious and secular developments of the early 1500s in Europe and Asia and the consequences they would have for Jewish populations – both positive and negative. David also discusses the emergence of a range of remarkable Jewish figures during this period as well as influential new texts in Jewish mysticism, history, law and commentary, and science – and an explosion in the printing of Jewish books which would have significant impact on the spread of learning and ideas across the world.

“Göke” (1495) was the flagship of Kemal Reis to save the Sephardic Jews of Spain from the Spanish Inquisition and granted them permission to settle in the Ottoman Empire. Public Domain

Continue reading “#12 Worlds in Transition: Jewish History of the 16th Century (part 1)”