Pesach Hiatus - And an Update

🫓 Stories from Jewish History is going on Pesach hiatus for the next two weeks, but I'll be back April 16 for the grand finale of the first great Rishonim series.

Hello friends! We’ve journeyed together from the 1000s all the way to 1500, having anachronistic coffee dates with everyone from Rashi and Ibn Ezra, Rambam and Raavad, Rashba and Ran. And we still have a few more greats to meet after Pesach, leading up to the Mechaber, R. Yosef Karo, who arguably creates the dividing line between Rishonim (“former authorities”) and Acharonim (“latter authorities”). These will be coming up after a brief Passover break.

What’s next?

Was hoping you’d ask. I’m a bit of a planner (understatement) and I’ve been having fun dreaming up our next adventures. When we finish Rishonim Series 1, I’ll do a couple of recap newsletters, reviewing the ground we’ve covered (think categories like: “Best Zingers” and “Most Likely to Appear in Shulchan Aruch”) and then a roundup of resources.

After that, I’m planning on launching the Great Hebrew Manuscripts series. This might prove challenging, since not all blockbuster manuscripts are accessible or, even if they are, may not allow use of reproduction photos. But we’ll figure it out, right? My goal here is to acquaint you with the major (in the sense of significant) textual witnesses and the rare but immensely interesting and important illuminated manuscripts.

And then, we’ll dig into the Great Rishonim, Series 2. There are just too many incredible thinkers that I had to leave out in Series 1. Like, enough for a whole other series.

Watch This Space!

I’m also excited to add some new features to the newsletter. Look out for an announcement after Pesach, and in the meantime, tell me what big Jewish history question is keeping you up at night (well, probably not literally, unless you’re me) in the very first Stories from Jewish History chat.

Chag kasher ve-sameach!