How did the Erev Rav become so powerful in recent times? Was there a conspiracy in the 18th century by a small group of heretics to destroy Judaism? And how has it manifest itself in the world today? Plus: exploring Samson as a model for current events, pinpointing the exact number of Erev Rav souls, and what exactly happened in the aftermath of the Golden Calf incident?
For more on the significance of the year 1648 and the aftermath of Shabbateanism, see here.
I was recently a guest on Ari Lieberman’s Sparks of History podcast, and we discussed the “classical era” of Jewish history, including the Second Temple, Cyrus the Great, the last prophets of Israel; the Samaritans, Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes; Herod and the Hasmoneans, as well as Second Temple era messianism and what it means for us today.
A dear friend asked for a primer on the basics of Judaism, so I put together a list of the top ten things to know. Since Pesach is coming up and it is customary to sing Echad MiYode’a, I modelled it loosely after the song. My attempt was to condense all of the key concepts of Judaism, and the central beliefs (including mystical ones), plus introduce all the major texts of Judaism, the key historical figures, and the major holidays. It should be an interesting read even for a veteran talmid chakham.
I hope the following brief primer is helpful both as a useful resource to share with others, and to make the upcoming Pesach seder more meaningful. (You might even want to share it with guests at your Pesach seder that might be new to Judaism.) Wishing everyone a chag kasher v’sameach!
See the new ‘Judaism 101’ page here.