Seforim Chatter x 18Forty: How Jewish History Changes the Way We Learn Torah

In this episode, Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin and Nachi Weinstein discuss Jewish history, reading, publishing, podcasting, and the ideas behind Bashevkin’s book I Read This Over Shabbos.

They explore how accessible writing and serious historical study can deepen Jewish knowledge while preserving intellectual depth, historical honesty, and the centrality of Shabbos.

In this episode we discuss:

—How can Jewish history can deepen our understanding of the Jewish present?
—Why is serious reading and careful sourcing matter for Jewish intellectual life?
—How does I Read This Over Shabbos seek to make Jewish history accessible while preserving intellectual depth

Tune in to hear a conversation about Jewish history, serious reading, the culture of books, and how accessible scholarship can strengthen Jewish intellectual life.

Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin is a writer, educator, and podcaster whose work focuses on Torah, Jewish history, education, and contemporary Jewish life. His writings include B'rogez Racheim Tizkor, Sinagogue, an NCSY Haggadah, Top 5, and I Read This Over Shabbos.

Nachi Weinstein is the creator of Seforim Chatter, a podcast devoted to Jewish books, scholarship, and history. His work has explored subjects including Shabbetai Tzvi, Spanish Jewry, the Ten Lost Tribes, the Zohar, and Italian Jewish history.

References:

I Read This Over Shabbos: Reading Jewish History in the Parasha by David Bashevkin

Sin•a•gogue: Sin and Failure in Jewish Thought by David Bashevkin

B'rogez Rachem Tizkor by David Bashevkin

Just One: The NCSY Haggadah by Dovid Bashevkin

Top 5: Lists of Jewish Character and Characters by Dovid Bashevkin

"The Sabbath Is a Chance to Read Again" by David Bashevkin, Wall Street Journal

"The End of Reading Is Here" by Rose Horowitch, The Atlantic

"Sabbatai Zevi Series" on Seforim Chatter

Sabbatai Ṣevi: The Mystical Messiah, 1626–1676 by Gershom Scholem

Changing the Immutable: How Orthodox Judaism Rewrites Its History by Marc B. Shapiro

Rashi by Avraham Grossman

Hakham Tsevi Ashkenazi and the Battlegrounds of the Early Modern Rabbinate by Yosie Levine

A Woman Is Responsible for Everything: Jewish Women in Early Modern Europe by Debra Kaplan and Elisheva Carlebach

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