This is a short episode that rounds up a few other things that I've done recently:

1. I was interviewed by Rabbi Drew Kaplan of "The Jewish Drinking Show" on the Noda BiYehudah's responsum on isinglass (a clarifying agent in beverages, made from the swim bladder of a non-kosher species of fish): https://open.spotify.com/episode/4iDlTVVbxfjaWuH9rT0goj?si=fbc49f6dde884380

2. 18forty has a series called "18 questions, 40 Israeli thinkers." I was interviewed as part of this series: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1WaUGr39CeDjS5H8vCC3n2?si=b7171897a99f4677

3. From Mizrachi UK: An Early Debate about Electricity on Shabbat - in the Pages of a London Jewish Newspaper: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3oFpJEQViUZfLbdkf0Wbj3?si=98ded40d3a6343ff

Here's a source sheet for the lecture: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PVFH2JNPApe_kRm_Z7T_VPgMBKZAWpyv/view?usp=sharing

4. For Mizrachi UK: An Intellectual Portrait of R. Nachum Rabinovich: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3wQvivlIrnAKU2uPPKZzjf?si=fcaf2d010cc447bd

5. For Mizrachi UK: "They Did Not Change their Names, Language, or Dress" https://open.spotify.com/episode/3NMdRMCLTo3rH9lHBAkRR6?si=0fcc0b8e90dd4d8a

I don't recall whether I have podcast this, but I've certainly written about it. Here's my article: https://www.academia.edu/28574595/_They_did_not_Change_their_Names_their_Language_or_their_Dress_The_Life_cycle_of_a_Peculiar_Midrashic_Variant

Today - 27 Adar, 5785/March 27 2025 - is the 150th yahrzeit of R. Yosef Shaul Natansohn, author of Shu"t Shoel U-Meshiv. In this podcast, we will explore a bit about who he was and the world in which he lived and operated.

Here's a link to the map of Shoel U-Meshiv's responsa

Link to the teshuvah on the abusive teacher: https://www.sefaria.org/Shoel_uMeshiv_Mahadura_I.1.185.1?lang=bi

English bio of R. Yosef Shaul Natansohn, by Haim Gertner, for YIVO: https://encyclopedia.yivo.org/article/1496

An idea developed by the Ketav Sofer on Megillat Esther resonates with something that appeared in Daf Yomi a few days ago and with the life and legacy of Senator Joe Lieberman.

The idea of the Ketav Sofer appears here: https://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=14083&pgnum=337

The idea that emerges on Bava Metzia 32b is here: Rashi s.v. אי אמרת https://shas.alhatorah.org/Full/Bava_Metzia/32b.9#e0n6

The link to Rabbi Ethan Tucker's eulogy for Senator Lieberman is here: https://www.youtube.com/live/_NTVjFB_FnU?si=8fu-kCINHVPhlHnc&t=5515

Two of the greatest rabbis of the Bavli Jewish community in recent centuries address the status of a new type of fruit that arrived from the Far East. Is it a kosher etrog?

The question is addressed in two responsa, one by R. Abdullah Somekh and one by his student, R. Yosef Hayyim, both of Baghdad.

Link to the responsum: https://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=32212&st=&pgnum=379

We generally think of confession and penance as either a private matter between a person and God, or as a matter between the perpetrator and victim of a wrong. But not that long ago there were forms of penance that were very public. What's the idea behind them, and what can they teach us about social healing today?

We will be studying and discussing a series of responsa by Maharam Lublin. Here is a link to the responsa: https://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=1937&pgnum=39