Whether Jews may enter Har Habayis largely depends on whether we know where the Beis Hamikdash stood. A common assumption is that we don’t know for sure, but that assumption has a history. This class traces the story of this uncertainty, primarily through the accounts of Jewish travelers who visited Eretz Yisrael and recorded what they saw and heard. This is the third installment in a series about going up onto Har Habayis. Is the Dome of the Rock Where the Mikdash Stood?

The bar mitzvah ceremony didn’t always look the way it does today. In fact, for much of Jewish history, it barely looked like anything at all. In this episode, we investigate: When did a ceremony first appear? What did it look like? When did bar mitzvah boys start receiving an aliya? Leining? Leading davening? A derasha? We’ll trace its evolution among Ashkenazi Jews from the eleventh century through the seventeenth century. In celebration of the bar mitzvah of Meir Nosson Hakohen Dinerman The Boy at the Bimah: A History of Bar Mitzvah Celebrations

In the spring of 1096, crusading armies swept through the Jewish communities of the Rhineland, leaving devastation in their wake. This class traces how those events gave rise to rituals of memory. In the community of Worms, fast days were proclaimed on the 23rd of Iyar and Rosh Chodesh Sivan, accompanied by elaborate mourning customs. We’ll see how in 1716, when Rosh Chodesh Sivan fell on a Friday, rabbinic authorities clashed over davening Maariv early that afternoon. We conclude by tracing the demise of these fast days while noting how other rituals, such as the recitation of Av HaRachamim, have endured to this day. The First Crusade: The 1096 Massacres and the Rituals They Created

In the late 1920s, a Jerusalem rabbi cited an obscure passage describing a certain Rabbi Moshe’s pilgrimage to the Holy Land, including what appeared to be a visit to the Temple Mount itself. He seized on it as proof that going there was halachically permitted. This sparked a fierce debate over the passage: Was it even credible? Who exactly was this Rabbi Moshe? Did the text actually refer to the Temple Mount? And if a great rabbi really did go there, what would that mean for us today? This is the second installment in a series about going up onto Har Habayis.Did Rambam Actually Set Foot on Har Habayis?

Mechiras chametz is today a standard part of observing Pesach. But how did this practice come to be, and how has it evolved over the centuries? In this class, we analyze the relevant sources in Ashkenazic and Sefardic texts, revealing two distinct approaches to this topic. We’ll then find how the more the sale was refined to accommodate the seller, the more complications it introduced, requiring a series of complex adjustments and, eventually, triggering voices of opposition. All along, we’ll wrestle with a central issue—drawing the line between legal creativity and legal fiction. The Controversial History of Mechiras Chametz

There’s a well-known story about Sir Moses Montefiore going up onto Har Habayis during one of his seven legendary trips to Eretz Yisrael. But once you begin looking into it, you quickly discover that there are several versions of the story, each one telling it a bit differently: when he went up, why he did it, how he did it, and what the rabbinic community’s reaction was. As we’ll see, a great deal depends on who is telling the story. In this class, we’ll return to the sources and try to piece together what actually happened. This is the first installment in a series about going up onto Har Habayis. A Scandal on Har Habayis: The Montefiore Story

The Mishneh Torah printed in Venice in the 1570s was the product of a broad and deliberate program of censorship. Beyond removing the handful of references to the Christian founder, which we discussed in the prior class, the censors altered many other words and phrases. In some places, entire laws disappear; in others, the language is carefully adjusted to soften its force. In this class, we trace the principles that guided the censors and examine how their work left a lasting imprint on one of Judaism’s foundational texts. Censoring the Rambam: Part II

In October 1949, The New York Times announced a sensational discovery: an ancient manuscript of Mishneh Torah was discovered and it contained a long-lost provocative passage about the Christian founder. The headline sparked excitement, but the story was riddled with errors. In this class, we trace the real history of that controversial passage and examine when, how, and why it was cut by the censor. Censoring the Rambam

The class follows the paper trail in Rabbi Yosef Caro’s Kesef Mishneh to reconstruct how and when this major commentary actually came into being. After examining its printing history and the author’s stated purpose, the discussion turns to a key flashpoint: whether Kesef Mishneh represents Rabbi Yosef Caro’s final halachic word. We work through the evidence—internal cross-references, page numbers, textual features, and colophons—and ultimately arrive at a tentative conclusion. As one of the central commentaries on the Rambam, this investigation is a fitting and meaningful way to mark the start of the new Rambam learning cycle. Beis Yosef vs. Kesef Mishneh: Following the Paper Trail

Today, we explore Jewish life during Prohibition, when the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages were banned in the United States. While the U.S. government granted religious exceptions for wine, both the Reform and Conservative movements distanced themselves from this loophole, endorsing the use of grape juice instead. One contemporary posek passionately rejected grape juice, and we’ll examine the central arguments that shaped this debate. As we’ll see, this issue became a defining point for Orthodox Judaism in the early 20th century. Jews and Booze: Uncorking the Wine Debate During the Age of Prohibition