Classes by Mordechai Dinerman

Mordechai Dinerman
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Text-based classes on assorted Judaic topics, with a special emphasis on Jewish history. New episodes every week. Made Possible by Unzer-Chadash Shul, Brooklyn NY.

  1. Jews and Booze: Uncorking the Wine Debate During the Age of Prohibition

    5 FEB

    Jews and Booze: Uncorking the Wine Debate During the Age of Prohibition

    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

    56 min
  2. Wine: Blind Tastes, Price Controls, and the Most Regulated Wine Market You’ve Ever Seen

    14 JAN

    Wine: Blind Tastes, Price Controls, and the Most Regulated Wine Market You’ve Ever Seen

    This class takes us inside the Jewish wine economy of earlier centuries. We will see communities enforcing price ceilings, outlawing seller collusion, and appointing assessors to protect community members from being overcharged. In some places, the system became so aggressively strict: monopoly-style selling rights, blind tastings, barrels sealed by wine assessors, community-owned measuring jugs, and stiff fines for anyone who tried to sell wine off the books. Wine: Blind Tastes, Price Controls, and the Most Regulated Wine Market You’ve Ever Seen

    1h 4m
  3. Isaiah 53 on Trial: The 1863 Vienna Case That Split Jewish Leadership

    7 JAN

    Isaiah 53 on Trial: The 1863 Vienna Case That Split Jewish Leadership

    In the mid-1860s, a wave of rabbinic correspondence swept across central and eastern Europe as leading rabbis grappled with a vexing dilemma: how to respond to an antisemitic trial that touched directly on core points of Jewish theology. This case pitted antisemites against Jews, and within the Jewish community, enlightened progressives against traditionalists. Navigating this reality proved deeply contentious. Isaiah 53 on Trial: The 1863 Vienna Case That Split Jewish Leadership

    1h 2m
  4. The Hostage Dilemma: Part IV (Israel, 1979–1987)

    1 JAN

    The Hostage Dilemma: Part IV (Israel, 1979–1987)

    In this final class of the series, we explore the Rebbe’s comments about Israel’s lopsided hostage deals during the late 1970s and 1980s, alongside the perspectives of other poskim during that period. The Hostage Dilemma: Part IV (Israel, 1979–1987)

    51 min
  5. The Hostage Dilemma: Part III (Israel, 1970–1976)

    09/12/2025

    The Hostage Dilemma: Part III (Israel, 1970–1976)

    In this class (third of a four-part series), we look at the halachic debate over freeing hostages as it unfolded in Israel during the 1970s. After the September 1970 triple hijacking, several poskim weighed in on whether it was permitted to meet the terrorists’ demands. The discussion resurfaced a few years later after the Yom Kippur War, and then again in the wake of the famous Entebbe raid in 1976. The Hostage Dilemma: Part III (Israel, 1970–1976)

    1h 4m
  6. The Hostage Dilemma: Part II

    25/11/2025

    The Hostage Dilemma: Part II

    Today, we’re returning to the topic of hostages in Jewish history. Last time, we spent most of our attention on the exceptions to the rule. This time, we’re looking at cases where the Mishnah’s ban on overpaying played at least a partial role in shaping actual halachic decisions and communal policy. And yet, as we will see, the overarching conclusion that we reached in the prior class will hold: overpaying often occurred. And it’s all a step closer to discussing this dilemma in the contemporary context, which we will do in an upcoming class. The Hostage Dilemma: Part II

    1h 7m
  7. The Hostage Dilemma: Part I

    17/11/2025

    The Hostage Dilemma: Part I

    This class takes up one of the most challenging moral questions in Halachah: how far should we go to redeem captives? We’ll look at how this issue unfolded in Jewish communities around the world during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries—what actually happened, and how the poskim grappled with the Mishnah’s rule against paying more than market value. In a future class, we’ll revisit this topic in the modern context of Israel and its ongoing struggle against terrorism. The Hostage Dilemma: Part I

    1h 10m
  8. Bidding Wars: Inside the History of Selling Shul Honors

    24/10/2025

    Bidding Wars: Inside the History of Selling Shul Honors

    In this class, we’ll trace how the sale of mitzvos in shul began, why it caught on, and how it spread across the Jewish world. We’ll look at halachic debates about selling on Shabbos and Yom Tov and at the fiery disputes that erupted over bidding rights, auction miscommunications, and the occasional auctioneer mischief. We’ll also hear from the voices who opposed the practice and what their protests reveal about their communities and times. Bidding Wars: Inside the History of Selling Shul Honors

    1h 15m
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Text-based classes on assorted Judaic topics, with a special emphasis on Jewish history. New episodes every week. Made Possible by Unzer-Chadash Shul, Brooklyn NY.

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