A dangerously ill person needs to eat chicken on Shabbos, and nonkosher is available. Do you feed him the nonkosher chicken, or slaughter one properly and violate Shabbos? The Raavad’s answer survives in conflicting versions, and the Ramban left a blank space when reaching this topic. We’ll discuss how that happened, then follow the debate across two centuries. We’ll find that in France and Germany, the rishonim gave a reason the Spanish rabbis dismissed. That gap likely reveals how differently these communities felt about their gentile neighbors and their place in those societies. Click here for the handout Nauseous or Not? Depends on Whether You’re in France or Spain

How and when did the bris take the shape we recognize today? When did the sandek and kvatter enter the ceremony, and what do those words even mean? Today’s class traces the development of the bris in Ashkenaz between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries. We’ll explore the origins and context of its specialized terms, the deals people made to secure coveted honors, a controversial practice that the Maharam of Rothenburg protested for years without success, and the role women played in the ceremony. Along the way, we’ll examine a panel painted around 1300 that brings at least one version of the medieval bris into sharper focus. Click here for the handout What An Honor! The History and Evolution of the Sandek and Kvatter

Today we pick up where we left off: it's just before Rosh Hashanah 1904, and Rabbi Akiva Yosef Shlesinger's plan to sound the shofar on Shabbos looks promising. Today we find out what actually happened that Rosh Hashanah and why, and how the conversation carried on through the following year, up to Rosh Hashanah 1905, which was also on Shabbos. And finally, we’ll reach the last scene of the story: the conversation leading up to Rosh Hashanah 1908. As we go, we'll see how the balance of Rabbi Shlesinger's reasoning shifted, and we’ll also examine how some of his colleagues answered him on his own terms.   Click here for the handout A Blast From the Past: The Shabbos Shofar Showdown in the Early 1900s (Part II)

(0:38) – General Introduction    (3:08) – Rabbi Jacobson’s introduction about תורת חב"ד   (7:36) –  Introduction about himself     (18:41) – How he got started in חזרה    (21:31) – Getting more involved in תשל"ח as Reb Yoiel’s sidekick    (25:34) – Becoming an official מניח in winter תשל"ח     (26:27) – First הנחה   (28:12) – The nightmare of מקץ תש"מ  (35:23) – How הגהה worked    (37:01) – How to tell if a random page is מוגה   (40:31) – Sichos that were difficult to remember/understand    (43:06) – The difficulty of the pre-הקפות farbrengen    (45:08) – Why they didn’t divide the task of remembering    (45:49) – His role in מאמרים  (46:56) – Keys to memory    (51:43) – Making a mental map; numbering ideas    (54:03) – Demonstrating samples    (58:23) – A sharp מענה to a complicated question    (1:01:43) – How he took the sharp מענות   (1:03:33) – Edits to באתי לגני תש"מ, and the mysterious cutting of the page    (1:08:18) – The Rebbe’s כתי"ק about radio    (1:14:06) – Did you ever get a galley back from the Rebbe without any corrections?    (1:15:03) – Cases when the Rebbe wrote מבהיל    (1:23:48) – Working relationship with Reb Yoel    (1:26:23) – Defying others to ask the Rebbe a personal question—and it paid off     – Yiddish, Hebrew, and other languages     – Adapting the spoken word to the written word     – Transitioning to a computer in the mid-1980s     – The Rebbe choosing fonts     – Identifying sources     – Sources that have not been found     – The struggle and adrenaline rush to keep up with the Rebbe     – The science and history of השמטות     – When the Rebbe said that certain things should not be printed     – Overview of ש"פ פנחס תשמ"ה     – Overview of ליל שמח"ת תשמ"ז     – The value of the בלתי מוגה even when there’s מוגה     – About באתי לגני תשכ"ג    Secrets of a Chozer: An Interview with Rabbi Simon Jacobson   In honor of shnas hakhel, Unzer-Chadash Shul hosted Rabbi Simon Jacobson and had the opportunity to ask him about his work of remembering, transcribing, and publishing the Rebbe’s sichos. Posted in honor of Yud Shvat.  

Sometime in the mid-1400s, Rabbi Shlomo Duran of Algiers penned a remarkable teshuvah directed at a group of conversos in Spain. These individuals, who had been forced to embrace Christianity since the 1391 persecutions, had managed to maintain their Jewish faith in secrecy. Their question centered on how they could refrain from the worst forms of chametz on Pesach without drawing the suspicion of the authorities—an endeavor fraught with challenges. This teshuvah touches on many halachic elements regarding chametz and reveals the Marranos' historical struggles in mid-fifteenth-century Spain. The Marranos’ Secret Pesach