The Kotzk Podcast

This article explores how Cairo Geniza documents may demonstrate how two opposing Jewish factions sought Islamic religious edicts (Fatwas) to settle internal theological debates, during the 13th century. (Kotzk Blog 546)

This article discusses the increasingly widespread use of alcohol and psychedelics in our communities (Kotzk Blog 544)(http://kotzkblog.com)

This article examines how Zoharic Kabbalah may be read as a detailed mystical response to Christian polemics and persecutions. (Kotzk blog 542)

This episode looks at the resurgence of interest in Reb Shayele of Kerestir who had emerged the de facto protector of thieves and swindlers. (Kotzk Blog 539)

This podcast explores an interesting idea known as Halachic fiction, that may have become a legal methodology in recent times (Kotzk Blog 536)

Did the early rabbinic tradition understand the Seven Laws of Noah as a model for a universal religion for non-Jews? (Kotzk Blog 533)

Part II now turns the focus on its head and examines, theoretically, how Maimonides might view contemporary Judaism as we know it. (kotzk Blog 532)

How early layers of text from the Zohar and Bahir may shed light on the authorship, milieu, geography and dating of these two fundamental mystical works. (Kotzk blog 530)

In this episode: It’s commonly assumed that Jewish belief in G-d has remained consistent throughout history. In truth, Jewish perceptions of the have been strikingly diverse, shaped and reshaped across centuries, cultures, and theological currents.(Kotzk Blog: 528)

Kotzk Podcast 068: Tashlich, water and 'bribing' demons (Kotzk blog 525)texts, of demons and spirits inhabiting bodies of water, and how they can be manipulated by knowledgeable practitioners. These texts may relate to the notion of Tashlich originally being instituted to bribe the Satan into not revealing human sins before G-d.

Editing Jewish texts: Between reverence and revision (Kotzk blog 524)This episode examines how Isaac Benjacob's edition of 'Shem haGedolim' by the Chida, completely reworks the ethos of the original work. Benjacob's editorial methodology is then highlighted against that of Maimonides.

Confronting or Escaping? -Beyond the "Back of the Wagon of the Baal Shem Kotzk Blog 521This episode challenges the widespread belief that the Baal Shem Tov offered a straightforward, one-step path to joy. Rather than promoting effortless happiness, he appears to have called for profound and often unsettling introspection—urging individuals to confront their deepest fears and vulnerabilities. Joy, in his view, was not guaranteed, but perhaps only attainable through a rigorous inner journey.

When rabbis dared to challenge the Divine: The case of Midrash Tehillim (Kotzk Blog: 519) This episode—based extensively on the research by Professor Dov Weiss[1]— examines the rise and decline of rabbinic protest theology. It looks at the audacious attempts by some Mishnaic rabbis to defy a general ethos of protest prohibition, particularly upheld by the schools of R. Akiva and R. Elazar. By tracing the gradual evolution of rabbinic protest theology through the Talmudic period to its peak in post-Talmudic times, Weiss maps a distinct theological arc that eventually waned and merged into modern times as a subdued tradition.