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Down The Rabbi Hole

Elli Fischer

41 episodes

1 week ago

Deep dives into forgotten corners of Jewish culture and social, material, and intellectual history.

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Religion & Spirituality

All content for Down The Rabbi Hole is the property of Elli Fischer and is served directly from their servers with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.

Deep dives into forgotten corners of Jewish culture and social, material, and intellectual history.

Show more...

Religion & Spirituality

Episodes (20/41)

Down The Rabbi Hole

Roundup of interviews and lectures (links in the notes)

This is a short episode that rounds up a few other things that I've done recently:

1. I was interviewed by Rabbi Drew Kaplan of "The Jewish Drinking Show" on the Noda BiYehudah's responsum on isinglass (a clarifying agent in beverages, made from the swim bladder of a non-kosher species of fish): https://open.spotify.com/episode/4iDlTVVbxfjaWuH9rT0goj?si=fbc49f6dde884380

2. 18forty has a series called "18 questions, 40 Israeli thinkers." I was interviewed as part of this series: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1WaUGr39CeDjS5H8vCC3n2?si=b7171897a99f4677

3. From Mizrachi UK: An Early Debate about Electricity on Shabbat - in the Pages of a London Jewish Newspaper: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3oFpJEQViUZfLbdkf0Wbj3?si=98ded40d3a6343ff

Here's a source sheet for the lecture: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PVFH2JNPApe_kRm_Z7T_VPgMBKZAWpyv/view?usp=sharing

4. For Mizrachi UK: An Intellectual Portrait of R. Nachum Rabinovich: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3wQvivlIrnAKU2uPPKZzjf?si=fcaf2d010cc447bd

5. For Mizrachi UK: "They Did Not Change their Names, Language, or Dress" https://open.spotify.com/episode/3NMdRMCLTo3rH9lHBAkRR6?si=0fcc0b8e90dd4d8a

I don't recall whether I have podcast this, but I've certainly written about it. Here's my article: https://www.academia.edu/28574595/_They_did_not_Change_their_Names_their_Language_or_their_Dress_The_Life_cycle_of_a_Peculiar_Midrashic_Variant

2 months ago

6 minutes 14 seconds

Down The Rabbi Hole

R. Yosef Shaul Natansohn, the Shoel UMeshiv

Today - 27 Adar, 5785/March 27 2025 - is the 150th yahrzeit of R. Yosef Shaul Natansohn, author of Shu"t Shoel U-Meshiv. In this podcast, we will explore a bit about who he was and the world in which he lived and operated.

Here's a link to the map of Shoel U-Meshiv's responsa

Link to the teshuvah on the abusive teacher: https://www.sefaria.org/Shoel_uMeshiv_Mahadura_I.1.185.1?lang=bi

English bio of R. Yosef Shaul Natansohn, by Haim Gertner, for YIVO: https://encyclopedia.yivo.org/article/1496

4 months ago

56 minutes 53 seconds

Down The Rabbi Hole

Picking up the Pieces: On the Oven of Akhnai

Some thoughts and ideas on the famous story of the Oven of Akhnai, which appears in tomorrow's Daf (Bava Metzia 59)

1 year ago

58 minutes 31 seconds

Down The Rabbi Hole

Some Thoughts on the Purim Story and Senator Lieberman zt"l

An idea developed by the Ketav Sofer on Megillat Esther resonates with something that appeared in Daf Yomi a few days ago and with the life and legacy of Senator Joe Lieberman.

The idea of the Ketav Sofer appears here: https://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=14083&pgnum=337

The idea that emerges on Bava Metzia 32b is here: Rashi s.v. אי אמרת https://shas.alhatorah.org/Full/Bava_Metzia/32b.9#e0n6

The link to Rabbi Ethan Tucker's eulogy for Senator Lieberman is here: https://www.youtube.com/live/_NTVjFB_FnU?si=8fu-kCINHVPhlHnc&t=5515

1 year ago

38 minutes

Down The Rabbi Hole

Radbaz vol. 1, no. 40 - Ransoming Captives

Radbaz, R. David Ibn Abu Zimra, addresses the question of what constitutes 'overpaying' to ransom a Jewish captive. This episode gets into the economic and political realities of the 16th century in the Mediterranean basin, including the burgeoning slave trade, and the resulting attention to the great mitzvah of pidyon shevuyim, ransoming captives. Here's a link to the responsum: https://www.sefaria.org/Teshuvot_HaRadbaz_Volume_1.40.1?lang=bi And here's a link to the first part of my series on Rav Ovadiah Yosef's teshuvah on the Entebbe hostages: https://jewishreviewofbooks.com/contemporary-israel/14972/rabbi-ovadia-yosefs-and-the-halakhot-of-hostages-part-i/

1 year ago

57 minutes 29 seconds

Down The Rabbi Hole

Krakenfruit (the Buddha's Hand Etrog)

Two of the greatest rabbis of the Bavli Jewish community in recent centuries address the status of a new type of fruit that arrived from the Far East. Is it a kosher etrog?

The question is addressed in two responsa, one by R. Abdullah Somekh and one by his student, R. Yosef Hayyim, both of Baghdad.

Link to the responsum: https://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=32212&st=&pgnum=379

1 year ago

49 minutes 53 seconds

Down The Rabbi Hole

Public and Private Penance (Responsa Maharam Lublin)

We generally think of confession and penance as either a private matter between a person and God, or as a matter between the perpetrator and victim of a wrong. But not that long ago there were forms of penance that were very public. What's the idea behind them, and what can they teach us about social healing today?

We will be studying and discussing a series of responsa by Maharam Lublin. Here is a link to the responsa: https://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=1937&pgnum=39

1 year ago

45 minutes 4 seconds

Down The Rabbi Hole

Book Journeys, Some Updates, and the Hoshanot Mosh Pit

The episode begins with some updates. First, an introduction to the "Book Journey" that I will begin next week. Sign up link: https://18forty.org/bookjourney/ This is an outgrowth of the 18forty podcast episode in which R. David Bashevkin and I discussed the vision and reality of a Jewish polity governed by Halakhah. Here's a link to the episode: https://18forty.org/podcast/elli-fischer-can-israel-follow-jewish-law/ I was also a recent guest on two other podcasts. First, Rav David Silverstein and I discussed the nature of rabbinic authority on Yeshivat Orayta's "Tzarich Iyun" podcast: https://open.spotify.com/episode/71aX8L9IA2j1QY78dOoGff?si=577b0ae9ed414716 Finally, a few months ago I was hosted by Darcy Walters for an episode of her "Desert Island Torah" podcast. Here's a link: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/pod/show/desert-island-torah/episodes/Ep-81-with-Rav-Elli-Fischer-e23me3f The responsum that we study in this episode was penned by R. Yisrael Isserlein, better known as the Terumat HaDeshen. We spend some time discussing when and where he lived, who his influences were, why his rulings are so influential, and what makes his Sefer Terumat HaDeshen so unique. Then we go on to the teshuvah itself, which addresses an issue that is not-quite-halakhah. The setting is almost surreal: Person A allegedly used the crush of hoshanot in shul as cover to maim Person B while maintaining plausible deniability. This is an important matter of social and communal governance, but halakhic standards of evidence seem to set too high a bar to take any action. How did R. Isserlein resolve the matter? Here's a link to the teshuvah in Sefariah, with my translation: https://www.sefaria.org.il/Terumat_HaDeshen%2C_Part_II.210?lang=bi

2 years ago

58 minutes 48 seconds

Down The Rabbi Hole

Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, Part III: The Debate

On the conversation about Rome between Rashi, R. Yehuda, and R. Yosi

2 years ago

22 minutes 9 seconds

Down The Rabbi Hole

Rabbi Shimon Bar Yohai, Part II: The Return to Yavneh

In this episode we look at several other passages from the Babylonian Talmud that oddly, anachronistically, and in contrast to sources from Eretz Yisrael, are set in Yavneh. We propose that the Bavli wanted to "bundle" these passages together so that we read them in light of one another. And what does that yield? That the Bavli envisioned the rabbinic leaders of that generation dealing with pressing theological and political issues that arose in the generation after the defeat of Bar Kokhba. We look (again) at the institution of the fourth berakhah of Birkat Hamazon, the successive exiles of the Sanhedrin, and a discussion among the tanna'im about the causes of a terrible disease. This sets the stage for the more famous discussion between Rabbi Shimon Bar Yohai and Rabbi Yehuda Bar Ilai concerning attitudes toward Rome.

2 years ago

33 minutes 50 seconds

Down The Rabbi Hole

Rabbi Shimon Bar Yohai and his Generation, Part I: The Debacle and the Challenge

Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai (Rashbi) is one of the most evocative figures in Jewish history. Not only is he one of the greatest tanna'im and a primary disciple of Rabbi Akiva, but he is credited with composing the Zohar during the thirteen years that he lived in a cave, hiding from the Romans. In this series, we will look not only at the famous aggadot about Rabbi Shimon Bar Yohai from Shabbat 33b-34a, but at a series of passages from the Gemara that broaden the story into something much bigger. Throughout the series, I will offer occasional historical and methodological points about the composition of the Gemara (specifically the Bavli) and how to learn it. We will make extensive use of parallel passages from elsewhere in Rabbinic literature in order to understand what the Bavli's editors are trying to teach when they reshape the materials they received into the stories before us. This is not a history series. We may occasionally discuss historical events, but the primary focus is to understand the Gemara itself. In this first episode, we discuss the setting of the Rashbi stories: when and where Rashbi lived, who his contemporaries were, who his teachers and students were, and what momentous events transpired in his lifetime.

2 years ago

44 minutes 4 seconds

Down The Rabbi Hole

Chacham Tzvi vs. Chasam Sofer on Marror

Some people use lettuce, and some use horseradish. But which is the "real" marror? Both? One or the other? In this episode we look at how two different sages, living a century apart, addressed this issue. It also gives us some insight into the personalities of these two great sages.

The texts that we will study can be found here:

Chacham Tzvi #120: https://www.sefaria.org.il/Chakham_Tzvi.120.1?lang=he

Chasam Soder, Orach Chaim 132: https://www.sefaria.org/Responsa_Chatam_Sofer%2C_Orach_Chayim.132.5?lang=he

חג כשר ושמח!

2 years ago

36 minutes 46 seconds

Down The Rabbi Hole

Counting a Golem for a Minyan: Two Responsa from a Father and Son

Hakham Zvi #93 and She'elat Yaavetz 2:82 address the question of whether a golem - an artificial human, a manmade man - may be counted for a minyan. This seems like a really strange question, but it actually gets to some of the major philosophical issues of the 18th century. If God is compared to a Divine Clockmaker, does that mean that humans are really sophisticated clocks? Can the process of creating humans be duplicated? What are the basic building blocks of creation? These questions and more underlie a superficially bizarre and arcane halakhic question.

2 years ago

49 minutes 32 seconds

Down The Rabbi Hole

Using Non-Jewish Names - a Close Reading of Rav Asher Weiss's Essay

According to a well-known narrative, the Bnei Yisrael did not change their names, language, or dress in Egypt. Elsewhere I have written about the origins and iterations of this and related ideas. See: https://www.academia.edu/28574595/_They_did_not_Change_their_Names_their_Language_or_their_Dress_The_Life_cycle_of_a_Peculiar_Midrashic_Variant. An interesting treatment of this issue is found in a "quasi-responsum" or "pseudo-responsum" of Rav Asher Weiss: Minchas Asher on Shemos, siman 1. Available here: https://minchasasher.com/shiur/shmot-shmot-shiurim/jewish-identity-shelo-shinu-5778/. I think this essay actually helps us understand Rav Asher and his public persona, how he perceives himself as a bridge between different worlds.

2 years ago

58 minutes 38 seconds

Down The Rabbi Hole

Radbaz (1479-1573) on the Status of an Abyssinian Jew

Recently there has been a lot of discussion about the origins of the people of Israel and who are the "real" descendants of the tribes of Israel. In this episode, we look at a responsum from the 1500s that indirectly addresses questions about how we "know" who is a Jew or Israelite. The question of how we know things is crucial for understanding the history of Halakhah, but also for understanding the world we inhabit and the beliefs if the people who are shaping it. This responsum from 500 years ago therefore has a great deal of contemporary importance, on many levels.

Here's a link to the responsum we studied, with my English translation: https://www.sefaria.org/Teshuvot_HaRadbaz_Volume_4.1290.1?lang=bi

Here's a link to Radbaz's related responsum: https://he.wikisource.org/wiki/%D7%A9%D7%95%22%D7%AA_%D7%A8%D7%93%D7%91%22%D7%96/%D7%97%D7%9C%D7%A7_%D7%96/%D7%94

The letter of Eldad HaDani: http://www.daat.ac.il/daat/history/tkufot/eldad1-2.htm

Menasheh ben Israel on American tribes as lost Israelite tribes, early 1600s: https://archive.org/details/menassehbenisrae00manauoft/page/16/mode/2up?view=theater

2 years ago

1 hour 4 minutes 31 seconds

Down The Rabbi Hole

Chavos Yair 222 on Women Reciting Kaddish

This episode is a bit of an experiment, to see if a recorded shiur with a little intro "works" as a podcast, as a millennial Twitter follower suggests. The topic is the teshuvah of Chavos Yair on the recitation of Kaddish by women, and it's an attempt to understand that particular responsum in its context. It is not intended practically. Here is a link to the responsum. https://www.sefaria.org/Havot_Yair.222

2 years ago

52 minutes 13 seconds

Down The Rabbi Hole

Names Matter: How Turkey became Kosher (and Corn became Kitniyot)

In honor of Thanksgiving, a short episode on why the great Jewish unconscious deemed turkey kosher (and Ashkenazim treated corn as kitniyot). Funny enough, it's the same reason

2 years ago

19 minutes 21 seconds

Down The Rabbi Hole

Yom Kippur and Collective Bargaining

An approach to what we are trying to accomplish on Yom Kippur, weaving together themes from the two goats offered in the Temple, Moshe's argument to God to spare the people of Israel, Yitzchak Avinu's selection of Yaakov over Esav, and some basic ideas about labor, unions, and negotiation. This is an elaboration of something I said in my conversation with Rav Moshe Taragin here: https://youtu.be/AFfwgcnkcjE

2 years ago

36 minutes 22 seconds

Down The Rabbi Hole

The Invention of Elluuulllll, Part II

Some more insights into how Elul became Elllluuuuullll, after some great listener feedback.

2 years ago

32 minutes 11 seconds

Down The Rabbi Hole

How Elul became Elllluuuuullll!!!!!

There's no doubt that Elul has a certain feel, a certain vibe. But if you look at classical sources, there's no mention of Elul being a time for introspection or repentance or, really, anything. How did it get to be the way it is?

2 years ago

28 minutes 50 seconds

Down The Rabbi Hole

Deep dives into forgotten corners of Jewish culture and social, material, and intellectual history.