The Khmelnitsky Pogroms

Central to Judaism is the belief that there will come a time when the world with its challenges and problems as we know it will end and we will enter a new era without evil, struggling and challenges. There will be an individual who will lead us to this period called Moshiach - the anointed one. A fascinating discussion about the Jewish belief in the coming of Moshiach and what we believe will happen at the end of times. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/zalman-gordon/support

The Temple Mount in Jerusalem is the holiest site in Judaism. However, on the Temple Mount sit the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, Muslim shrines, marking the sites importance to Islam. Since Israel captured East Jerusalem in 1967, Jews have been able to go to the Temple Mount under limited conditions. Are Jews supposed to be going up to the Temple Mount? While it is the holiest spot in Judaism, is it too holy for us to be going there? Would Jewish law forbid us from exercising control over Judaism's holiest spot? A fascinating look at the debate over where Jews may go to the Temple Mount today.   --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/zalman-gordon/support

The Synagogue revolves around the Siddur, the prayer book, a book that can be quite think filled with readings and prayers. Who wrote it? How was it written? Why are there some many different prayer books?  A fascinating discussion about the history of the Siddur, the Jewish prayer book, how it developed over 2500 years and how it is structured today. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/zalman-gordon/support

One of the most persistent and dangerous anti-Semitic accusations against Jews has been the blood libel. While it came in various forms, it included the claim that Jews participated in slaughtering non-Jews for ritual purposes. Despite the absurdity and offensiveness of the claim, blood libels, led to countless arrests, torture, sham-trials and massacres against Jews over our long history.  A fascinating discussion about the history of blood libels and why despite the passage of time, these dangerous myths and similar anti-Semitic libels continue today.   --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/zalman-gordon/support

It is important to plan ahead and write a will while one is young and healthy to ensure their wishes are fulfilled after their death. For Jews, it's important that our wills not only conform with local laws that will ensure that the wishes of the deceased are carried out. We must also ensure that our wills conform with Jewish laws and values so that our estate is transferred to our heirs in a Jewish and Halachic ethical manner. A fascinating discussion about Jewish wills and estate planning. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/zalman-gordon/support

When Jews lived in the Land of Israel and our religious judicial system was in force, we had 6 cities of refuge for someone who killed a person unintentionally (manslaughter). The killer would flee to a city of refuge and be safe there from any relatives of the victim wanting to avenge the murder. A fascinating discussion about the Cities of Refuge.  --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/zalman-gordon/support

Jewish mysticism (Kabbalah) teaches that prior to creating our own universe, G-d creates a previous universe called Tohu (Chaos). The universe of Tohu could not survive and therefore crashed. Our universe called Tikkun was then created on top of the broken shards of Tohu leaving us humans with the job of cleaning up the shards of Tohu in our universe. A fascinating class explaining this esoteric concept of Tohu (the Universe of Chaos). --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/zalman-gordon/support

Jewish Aramaic was an ancient language spoken by most Jews for well over 1,000 years. Aramaic is used in Tanach (Jewish Scriptures) and many important Jewish works including the Babylonian Talmud, Jerusalem Talmud, Midrash Rabba and Zohar. A fascinating discussion about the forgotten language of Aramaic that is so central to our history and teachings. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/zalman-gordon/support

Many people believe is paranormal forces that can be invoked or tapped into to discover otherwise unknown information and advise or to manipulate the forces of nature. Many people reject that paranormal forces exist and claim such beliefs to be primitive.  What does Judaism say about magic and paranormal forces? Do we believe they are true? Do they work? Are we allowed to practice any magic? Join us this week for a fascinating discussion about magic in our tradition. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/zalman-gordon/support

Strife and divisiveness have challenged humans since the earliest of time. As long as we've had communities we've had divisiveness between people and as long as we've had nations we've had divisiveness between nations. What is the cause for this human tendency of fighting with each other? How can we counter it? A fascinating discussion about the human tendency towards divisiveness and how we can learn to get along. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/zalman-gordon/support