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PODCAST

Jewish History Nerds

Whoever said history was boring clearly never heard these stories…Welcome to Jewish History Nerds! Join hosts Yael and Schwab each week as they take a dive into some deep cuts of Jewish history. From the Jewish Da Vinci Code to mass suicide pacts, explore true stories that feel larger than life. Be in touch: nerds@unpacked.media

religion & spirituality judaism

All Episodes

13:11

Before Jews Danced With the Torah: The Lost Simchat...

Jewish History Nerds ·

2026/10/01

Jewish History Nerds is a Signal Awards finalist. Vote for us in Listener's Choice by Thu 15 Oct: ⁠https://vote.signalaward.com/PublicVoting#/2026/individual-episodes/genre/history⁠ More than 400 years ago, Rivka Tiktiner wrote the earliest known full-length published work by a Jewish woman. She also created a Simchat Torah poem that reveals how women helped prepare Torah scrolls for the holiday in Prague. For Simchat Torah, Jonathan Schwab and Yael Steiner revisit Rivka Tiktiner's

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54:06

The Jewish History Hiding in Japan and Korea

Jewish History Nerds ·

2026/09/10

How did Jews escaping the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions end up in Japan? Dr. Henry Abramson joins Yael and Schwab for a special bonus episode to uncover the surprising story of Jewish life in the Far East. While Europe persecuted Jews, Japan’s religious landscape offered a strikingly different environment, shaped by Shinto, Buddhism, trade, migration, and a remarkably tolerant reception for some Jewish refugees seeking safety abroad. Plus, they explore South Korean's fascination with the

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28:26

How America Changed the Jewish People: Reflections...

Jewish History Nerds ·

2026/09/03

What makes the American Jewish experience unique, and how have Jews shaped America in return? Historian, Dr. Henry Abramson, usually works behind the scenes but in this episode he join Yael and Schwab to reflect on 250 years of Jewish life in America, from Emma Lazarus and immigration to Superman, antisemitism, and Jewish creativity. They also explore stories still waiting to be told, including the remarkable Jewish adventurers who journeyed to Antarctica throughout history.Check out Dr. Henry

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52:56

Why Did Sammy Davis Jr. Become Jewish?

Jewish History Nerds ·

2026/08/27

Sammy Davis Jr. was already one of America's biggest entertainers when he made a choice few expected. He converted to Judaism. His journey began with a car crash that nearly killed him and grew through years of study, faith, and a powerful connection between Black and Jewish history. From the Rat Pack and the civil rights movement to JFK, Nixon, and Israel, Schwab and Yael explore Sammy Davis Jr.'s story in part 2 of a series of Jews in Hollywood, and what it reveals about the search for belonging

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57:17

Al Jolson and The Jazz Singer: The Jewish Story...

Jewish History Nerds ·

2026/08/20

Al Jolson was the biggest star in America, a Jewish immigrant who left the synagogue behind to conquer Broadway and Hollywood. Jonathan Schwab guides Yael Steiner through his journey from cantor's son to star of The Jazz Singer, the 1927 film that made synchronized sound a sensation and told a deeply Jewish story to all of America. Trading film history along the way, Yael and Schwab unpack assimilation, blackface, race, and how Jewish immigrants didn't just work in Hollywood, they built it.Tune in

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48:02

The Girl Rabbi of the Golden West: Ray Frank Revisted

Jewish History Nerds ·

2026/08/13

As we look back at Jews in the Americas for the 250th, we’re revisiting the story of Ray Frank, the “Girl Rabbi of the Golden West.” In the 1890s, she became a celebrated Jewish orator, leading High Holiday services and filling opera houses across the American West. But her story is about more than a woman breaking into a male world. It’s about how Jewish life was taking shape in the expanding American West, and one woman who challenged what it meant to lead, teach, and live as a Jew.If you like

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54:39

How a Plate of Shrimp Changed American Judaism

Jewish History Nerds ·

2026/08/06

The infamous 1883 Trafa Banquet was meant to celebrate America's first ordained rabbis. But a menu of shrimp, clams, oysters, and frog's legs in cream ignited a firestorm that changed American Judaism. Yael Steiner and Jonathan Schwab tell the story behind one of the most controversial meals in Jewish history. If you like this show, please rate and write a review wherever you get your podcasts. And be in touch. Write to us at nerds@unpacked.media. This podcast was brought to you by Unpacked, a

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40:29

Revisiting Emma Goldman: Anarchism, Feminism...and...

Jewish History Nerds ·

2026/07/30

Please take a few minutes to fill out this short survey at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠unpacked.bio/podsurvey⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠As we continue our series exploring Jews in American history, we're revisiting our episode on Emma Goldman, the revolutionary Jewish anarchist who helped shape feminism, free speech, and the American left. Schwab and Yael dive into the life and legacy of Emma Goldman, and ask what role did Red Emma's Judaism play in shaping her worldview? If you like this show, please rate and write a review

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35:15

How Emma Lazarus Gave the Statue of Liberty Its Voice

Jewish History Nerds ·

2026/07/23

Please take a few minutes to fill out this short survey at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠unpacked.bio/podsurvey⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Emma Lazarus's birthday wasn't an immigrant, but she gave the Statue of Liberty its voice. In Part 2, Schwab and Yael explore how the wealthy Jewish poet became a champion for refugees, an early advocate for Jewish nationalism, and the author of The New Colossus, the poem that forever changed America's most iconic symbol. The New Colossus ByEmma Lazarus (born on July 22nd, 1849) Not like the brazen

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41:50

Emma Lazarus Was Born Rich. Why Did She Speak for the...

Jewish History Nerds ·

2026/07/16

Please take a few minutes to fill out this short survey at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠unpacked.bio/podsurvey⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Emma Lazarus wrote The New Colossus, the poem on the base of the Statue of Liberty. But she was nothing like the huddled masses she described. In part 1 of a two part series, Schwab walks Yael through her short, incredible life: born in 1849 to a wealthy Sephardic family that had been in New York since before the Revolution, a literary prodigy published at seventeen, hobnobbing with Ralph Waldo Emerson and

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44:00

The Jews of 1789: Citizens

Jewish History Nerds ·

2026/07/09

Please take a few minutes to fill out this short survey. Go to: ⁠⁠⁠⁠unpacked.bio/podsurvey⁠⁠⁠⁠. We want to hear from you! In Part 2, Yael guides Schwab through what happened after the Revolution, as America's 2,500 Jews became citizens of a brand new nation. Together they explore how the Constitution and the Bill of Rights transformed religious liberty from a privilege into a constitutional right, redefining what it meant to be Jewish in the United States. Note: All states ratified the

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39:46

The Jews of 1776: The American Revolution

Jewish History Nerds ·

2026/07/07

Please take a few minutes to fill out this short survey. Go to: ⁠⁠⁠unpacked.bio/podsurvey⁠⁠⁠. We want to hear from you! A broker who bankrolled the Continental Army and died penniless. An officer who refused pork in a British prison. A bill sent to George Washington for a missing fork. In Part 1 of Jews and the American Revolution, Yael and Schwab explore how the colonies' 2,500 Jews helped shape the founding era, and how the new nation’s promise of religious freedom and citizenship was tested

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49:35

Why The First Jews in Colonial America Nearly Vanished

Jewish History Nerds ·

2026/07/02

Please take a few minutes to fill out this short survey. Go to: ⁠⁠unpacked.bio/podsurvey⁠⁠. We want to hear from you! Well over a century before the Declaration of Independence, a boatload of Jewish refugees landed in New Amsterdam with no money, no synagogue, and a governor who desperately wanted them gone. What followed was a century of scrappy survival — building communities in port cities from Newport to Charleston, pioneering mutual aid societies, suing for the right to do guard duty, and

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44:41

Jewish Pirates and the Caribbean

Jewish History Nerds ·

2026/06/25

Were there really Jewish pirates in the Caribbean? The answer is far more complicated (and fascinating) than the legend. From Samuel Pallache, the so-called Pirate Rabbi, to the thriving Jewish communities of Curaçao and beyond. Schwab walks Yael through the story of Jews navigating empire, trade, exile, and opportunity in the Americas. This is the second episode in a mini series on Jews in the Americas. If you like this show, please rate and write a review wherever you get your podcasts. And

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48:55

The First Jews in the Americas: From Recife, Brazil...

Jewish History Nerds ·

2026/06/18

Fleeing the Inquisition, Crypto-Jews who had been forced to hide their faith for generations found refuge in Recife, Brazil — and for the first time, rebuilt Jewish life in the open. When Recife fell, twenty-three Jewish refugees set sail for New Amsterdam, launching the birth of Jewish America. Schwab and Yael tell the remarkable story in the first episode of a new series on Jews in the Americas.Be in touch. We want to hear from you. Write to us at nerds@unpacked.media. This podcast was brought

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62:15

Yitzhak Rabin: Soldier, Leader, Statesman | with Noam...

Jewish History Nerds ·

2026/06/16

Jewish History Nerds welcomes its first-ever guest, Noam Weissman, host of Unpacking Israeli History. Yael, Schwab and Noam explore the life and legacy of Yitzhak Rabin through the lens of Itamar Rabinovich's Yitzhak Rabin: Soldier, Leader, Statesman from the Jewish Lives series. Rabin's life is the story of Israel itself. But who was the real Rabin? Known as a peacenik, he was in fact "Mr. Security" — a soldier-statesman whose life and death still echo through Jewish history. Two Unpacked shows,

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64:29

The Many Lives of Anne Frank: Her 97th Birthday

Jewish History Nerds ·

2026/06/11

June 12th marks Anne Frank’s birthday, and it was on her 13th birthday that she received the diary that would later become one of the most widely read books in the world. Anne Frank remains one of the most recognizable voices in Jewish history, and one of the most misunderstood. In this bonus episode sponsored by the Jewish Lives series from Yale University Press, Schwab walks Yael through Ruth Franklin's The Many Lives of Anne Frank. They trace the full arc of her life, the multiple versions of

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52:32

King David: A Divided Heart

Jewish History Nerds ·

2026/06/09

Few figures in all of Jewish history are as celebrated, as contradicted, and as human as King David. But how well do we really know him? We're kicking off new bonus episodes in partnership with the Jewish Lives series from Yale University Press by going back to the Hebrew Bible. Drawing from Rabbi David Wolpe's David: The Divided Heart, Yael and Schwab unpack the shepherd-turned-king who wrote our prayers, betrayed his allies, and cast a shadow on Jewish history that endures to this day. This

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1:24

New Episodes, Coming Next Week

Jewish History Nerds ·

2026/06/04

Yael and Schwab are back — and this season, they're diving into the history of Jews in the Americas, just in time for the US's 250th birthday. But first: special episodes sponsored by The Jewish Lives Series.Catch up on past episodes, subscribe wherever you listen, and get in touch at nerds@unpacked.media.

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37:06

Voices of the Warsaw Ghetto: A Yom HaShoah Re-Release

Jewish History Nerds ·

2026/04/14

Yael and Schwab revisit the remarkable story of the Oneg Shabbos archive from the Warsaw Ghetto in honor of Yom HaShoah. The tins held the second of three caches of the Oneg Shabbos archives: a collection by ordinary people turned archivists who risked their lives to preserve the darkest moment of Jewish history. Among the photographs and diary entries, concert tickets and poems, lay the collected sermons of Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, also known as the Piaseczno Rebbe. In this episode, Yael

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