Behind The Times
Discover the critical moments and big concepts at the intersection of world and rabbinic history, with Rabbi Ephraim Zalman Galinsky and Gedalia Guttentag. This is the Jewish past and present – as you’ve never heard it before.
14 episodes
Built by knights, seized and retaken by the IDF, what is the secret of Lebanon's Crusader castle? Join Gedalia Guttentag as he explores the history, mystery, and strategic importance of…
After the Yom Kippur War, a collection of Israeli tinkerers and visionaries pioneered unmanned warfare - so why was the IDF caught unawares by Hezbollah's deadly drones? Gedalia Guttentag breaks…
In the summer of 1929, two worlds met as German Orthodox rabbis journeyed across Eastern Europe’s Torah centers. Join Rabbi Efraim Zalman Galinsky and Gedalia Guttentag as they explore an…
From Frankfurt to Rhodes, Jewish communities that have faced destruction and were rescued at the last minute went on to celebrate their salavation through a local Purim. Join Rabbi Ephraim…
As claims of Jewish control over America’s president go mainstream, echoes of the medieval blood libel return. How did the Rishonim respond to the libels of their day, and what…
Baron Wilhelm (Shimon Wolf) von Rothschild: a Rothschild who chose an Orthodox life, backed yeshivas, advised emperors — and met a tragic end. Rabbi Efraim Zalman Galinsky and Gedalia Guttentag…
As a new Iran showdown looms, history reminds us of the devil's bargain of the 1980s as thousands of Jews fled revolutionary Iran, and hundreds of Israelis moved in to…
In an era when intellectuals were celebrities, Dr Nathan Birnbaum was a household name across the Jewish world. When one of the most famous secular Jews of the age rediscovered…
Ten years before Theodor Herzl attended the Dreyfus Trial, a Jewish law student from Vienna coined the term Zionism, and effectively founded the movement that Herzl later took over. But…
A century ago, Elul in the great yeshivas of Europe was soaked with the spirit of the Mussar movement, which was soon to vanish in the flames of World War…
If Hitler’s rise brought German Jews back to shul, and 1967 to 1973 triggered the baal teshuva movement, what does October 7 mean for Jewish faith? Join Rabbi Ephraim Zalman…
As public pressure mounts to draft yeshiva bochurim in the wake of a war, the Israeli defense minister meets a delegation of senior roshei yeshiva. The late 1960’s encounter between…
In the mid-20th century, the Reform movement conquered America, yet in Britain it failed to make headway – and a key reason for that failure was a talmid of Rav…
As the police phalanxes moved in to evict Gush Katif's bereaved inhabitants two decades ago, a court battle heated up that drew in major halachic authorities and the United Nations.…
