The remarkable persistence of Am Yisrael as an ethnic entity, despite the best efforts of emancipation, is what poses the Jewish Question to European society. And while Europe is asking what to do with the Jews, the Jews will be asking what we do with ourselves, In both cases it will be the power of a scientific approach to historical research which seems to offer the answer.

Sometimes I just gotta be me, but the problem is knowing just exactly where to find myself. In this interlude from the flow of the Jewish Story, Rav Mike explores how the various paths that Am Yisrael took into modernity can inform our understanding of the search for authenticity.

As the Emperor of France spreads the ideals of the revolution through Europe, the question arises - is emancipation a right, a privilege or a threat? Every action had an equal and opposite reaction, and this episode will outline the origins of both the Reform and Orthodox movements.

Mendelssohn's story continues, but one man does not a movement make. The Berlin Haskalah was a whole generation of transition, one which struggled with the boundaries of Torah, society and identity. And one which saw some of the first battle lines of modernity being drawn.

Moses Mendelssohn was a critical philosopher of the German Enlightenment and the most controversial figure of the Jewish Enlightenment. Whether you think that he was a light to his generation or a a boundary breaker who led many to sin, his life story deserves to be heard.

Just when you think the Sabbateans have had their last say in the story, one the greatest conflicts of 18th century rabbinic culture breaks out. This episode explores the controversy between R' Yaakov Emden and R' Yonatan Eybeschuetz and how it contributed to the crisis of European Jewry's encounter with the Enlightenment.

Rav Mike joins up with Eve Harow at Limmud UK. Surrounded by 2500 Jews from around the world they discuss the nature of community, the challenges of orthodoxy and the limits of tolerance for diversity.

Within two decades after the Baal Shem Tov died, a movement had sprung up from his revolutionary thoughts. But this new current of Jewish life did not emerge without controversy. And as the chasidim and their opponents were struggling over the soul of Am Yisrael, the body of Polish Jewry was suddenly split in three by the partition of Poland.

The institutions of the middle ages have already run their course, and the way ahead into modernity is far from clear for Polish Jewry. Out of this darkness and confusion a new light will emerge, infusing religious life with vitality and joy. This is the first of two episodes on the rise of the Ba'al Shem Tov and the chasidic movement.

Rav Mike's annual shiur in memory of his father, Charles Feuer ob'm. This year he explores the role which martyrdom and the power of story play in the events of Hannukah, and how they answer the question: what is life?