Rabbi Katz’s Lectures and Tours

Over the years, Rabbi Katz has delivered numerous lectures about various periods in our history. He also conducts a variety of historically themed tours both locally and abroad. Here is information about some of his lectures and tours:

Lectures

Select lectures now available in podcast format!

Jewish History Lecture Series 2024-2025 – A New Century, but No Peace

Jewish History Lecture Series  Summer 2024 – Zionism in the Fin de Siecle: Contents and Discontents

Scholar-in-Residence Baltimore January 2024

 
 

The Henry Lehmann z”l Lecture Series in Jewish History, 2023-2024 – Dashed Hopes and New Horizons: The State of Israel and The Jewish People 1996-2000

Tisha B’Av 2023

Three Weeks Lecture Series 2023: Dancing on Eggs While Holding Back the Flood: Court Jews in Medieval Spain, A Chapter in גלות

Shavuos 2023

The Bais Medrash of Bergenfield – July 15, 2023

The Crisis of the Old Traditionalist Judaism 1760-1860 Scholar in Residence Weekend Congregation Bais Hakneses Hachodosh Rochester, NY February 2023

The Henry Lehmann z”l Lecture Series in Jewish History, 2022-2023 – Oslo, Immigration, Assassination: The State of Israel and the Jewish People 1992-1996

The Bais Medrash of Bergenfield July 2022

Three Weeks Lecture Series 2022 – From Bavel to Barcelona and Fez to Frankfurt: The Powers of Jewish Courts Throughout the Diaspora

Shavuos Night at Beth Abraham 2022 – From Sinai to Sura  – The History of the תּוֹרָה שֶׁבְּעַל פֵּה אִגֶּרֶת רֵב שְׁרִירָא גָּאוֹן

The Struggle to Survive and Thrive under Relentless Pressure: The Orthodox Jews of Galicia in the Modern Era, 1772-1942

Galicia and Galitzianers: A Unique Brand of Yiddishkeit
Lecture on the occasion of the 51st Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech Hertzberg, zt”l

Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst December 2021

Bais Medrash of Lawrence – December 2021

Congregation Beth Haknesses Hachodosh Rochester NY – November 2021

Congregation Bais Avigdor Wesley Hills – October 2021

Special Jewish History Lecture  October 2021 – Czechoslovakia and Its Jews: A Tale of Galus, Contents, and Discontents

Winter Lecture Series in Jewish History 2021-2022 – The Last Years Before Oslo: The State of Israel and the Jewish People 1988-1992

Tisha B’Av 2021 – Kinos Explicated by Rabbi Dovid Katz

The Bais Medrash of Bergenfield – July 2021

Three Weeks Lecture Series 2021 – Fundamental Disagreement: The Maimonidean Controversies of the Middle Ages

Shavuos night at Beth Abraham 2021

Lecture Series – ממלשון Yiddish in Jewish History

Lecture Series in Jewish History, 2020-2021 – Roller-Coaster: The State of Israel and the Jewish People in the mid-1980s

Three Weeks Lecture Series 2020 – Jews and Lithuanians: Glory – Horror – Revisionist History

Winter Jewish History Lecture Series – 2019-2020 — Two Parties and a State: Israel and the Jewish People 1980-1983

Summer 2019 – A Catastrophe (But Not a Holocaust):
The Ordeal of Orthodox Jews in the First World War 1914-1918

Three Weeks Lecture Series 2019 – The Russian Pogroms of 1881: Harbinger of Extermihttp://localhost:8888/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/4.threeweeks2019v1.pdfnation or Blessing in Disguise?

The Henry Lehmann z”l Lecture Series in Jewish History – October 2018 – March 2019 Democracy, Peace, and its Discontents: The State of Israel and the Jewish World in the Late 1970s

Three Weeks Lecture Series 2018 – “פה לין” – Poles and Jews in 2018

Revolution! Jews and the Great European Revolutions

Yahrzeit lecture commemorating the 47th yahrzeit of Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech Hertzberg, זצ״ל: Rabbis, Presidents, Immigration
(Video of the lecture can be seen here)

Winter Jewish History Lecture Series – 2017-2018 —
Hubris and Atonement: The State of Israel and the Jewish People 1972-75

The Bais Medrash of Bergenfield – July 2017 – Communities and Rabbis in Various Combinations

Kultukampf –  השכלה :The Haskalah Wars – 2017 Three Weeks Lecture Series

The Balfour Declaration – A five part lecture series on its 100th anniversary – June 19th-23rd 2017

Winter Jewish History Lecture Series – 2016-2017 —
War and No Peace: Israel and the Jewish People 1967-1971

Three Weeks Lecture Series 2016 – “After 1492 – Inquisition and Jews”

The Bais Medrash of Bergenfield – July 2016

Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima, Jews: A Remarkable Yet Unknown Chapter in American History – June 2016

Mini-Medical Symposium on Jews, Weight and Health
The Jewish Doctor, the Fat King and the Tenth-century Diet that Made History: A Tale from the Golden Age of Spanish Jewry – June 26, 2016 at Tudor Heights
  (watch video here)

All-night Shavuos Program 2016 – Congregation Beth Abraham – Baltimore, MD

Congregation Bais Torah 37th Annual Elaine Fischer/Ilan Tokayer Chevra Mishnayos Siyum –
“Purim in History and Meta-History: The Talmudic Tension between the Queen and the Sages

Congregation Beth Abraham – Bergenfield, NJ – “Where is Yossele?” – The State of Israel and the Jewish Religion – February 2016″

Congregation Bnai Yeshurun – Teaneck, NJ – Scholar in Residence – February 2016

Motzei Shabbos Lecture Series – Seven Famous Hebrew Poets Including Geniuses, Heroes…and Scoundrel(s)? – Feb-March 2016

Anshe Sfard Kehilat Torah – Milwaukee, WI – Scholar-in-Residence – December 2015

Winter Medical Symposium – Did the Rambam’s Medical Practice Affect his Learning?
(Watch this event on YouTube)

Winter Jewish History Lecture Series 2015-2016 – “The Last Years of the Old Order: Israel and the Jews 1962-1966”

Summer 2015 Jewish History Lecture Series:
Theological Bubble: Shabtai Tzvi, Messianism and its Discontents

Wine, Vinegar…and Honey?
Lecture on the occasion of the seventh yahrzeit of Mrs. Lenka Katz

Winter 2014-2015 Jewish History Lecture Series
The Ben Gurion Era at High Noon:
Israel and the Jews 1957-61

Summer 2014 Jewish History Lecture Series:
Murdering Jews for Something They Did Not Do:
Chimerical Christian Fantasies and their Lethal Results in Jewish History

Language, Prayer and The Language of Prayer:
Controversies Chttps://congbethabrahamhertzberg.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/30.yahrzeit_lecture_2014_v3.pdfoncerning Different “Hebrews” Over 1500 Years – June 30th, 2014
(in commemoration of the sixth yahrzeit of Mrs. Lenka Katz, a”h)

Video of this lecture is available by clicking here.

Winter 2013 Jewish History Lecture Series – Progress Without Peace: Israel and the Jewish People, 1952-1956

Summer 2013 Jewish History Lecture Series – Romans and Jews: The Age of Bar Kochba

Why Wouldn’t They Let Us In? America, Jews, Quotas, Hitler, War: Unintended Consequences of America’s Closing of The Golden Door – In commemoration of the fifth yahrtzeit of Rabbi Katz’s mother, Mrs. Lenka Katz, A”H.
Video of this lecture is available by clicking here.

Winter 2012-2013 Jewish History Lecture Series – Negotiating Choppy Waters – Israel and the Jews: the New State 1949-1952

Ezekiel Landau and Kabbalah: Observations on a Recent Historical Controversy

Tisha B’Av Kinos 2012-5772  – (video)

Summer 2012 Lecture Series – The War Against the Jewish Book

The Traditional Kehillah: Family Quarrels vs. Amicable Divorce – Thinking Historically about Rabbi Abraham Rice, his Congregants, & Baltimore’s Jewish “Community” in the 19th & 20th Centuries

Habsburg, Romanov, Rebbe, Shul – Yarhzeit lecture in memory of Mrs. Lenka Katz – June 24th, 2012 — This video is available online by clicking here.

March 2012 – Purim in History & Meta-History: The Talmudic Tension Between the Queen and the Rabbis – at the University of Pennsylvania

Winter 2011-2012 – After the Hurricane: The Struggle for Israel 1945-1949

The Bais Medrash of Bergenfield – July 2011

Summer 2011: Five-part lecture series entitled: Crusaders and Jews

Eishes Chayil, Pope, Rabbis
The Battle between Gracia Mendes and Pope Paul IV in the 1550s
 View this lecture online

Whose Truth? How Jews and Egyptians Battled Over the Passover Narrative 2,000 Years Ago (at the Jewish Museum of Maryland) View this lecture online

Winter 2010-2011 – The Hurricane: The Holocaust, and Steps and Missteps on the Road to the Establishment of a State of Israel

Thoughts on a Transitional Decade: Unity and Disunity in the Baltimore Jewish Community in the 1940s —  This lecture sponsored by the Leibtag family in honor of the first Yahrzeit of Mrs. Rose Leibtag

2010 Three Weeks Lecture Series: Cossacks & Jews, 1648-1649

Lecture on the occasion of the second yahrtzeit of Rabbi Katz’s mother, Mrs. Lenka Katz, A”H: Reb Elchonon, Immanuel Kant, and the Sefer Ha-Bris: Deconstructing Maimonidean Metaphysics in the Dorm of the Telshe Yeshiva in the Late 19th Century? This lecture series is available online: part 1 part 2 part 3 part 4 part 5 part 6 part 7

The Stormy Years of the Twentieth Century: 1914-1934 – October 2009

The Crisis of Traditionalism and the Emergence of Orthodoxy in the Nineteenth Century

The Slippery Slope: Chanukah to Tisha B’Av

Prelude to the Twentieth Century:
The Jews in America and in Eretz Yisrael in the Nineteenth Century

Churban 1492: The Jews of Spain – Acceptance, Excellence, Explusion

Seven Famous Jewish Historians

The four lectures of “The Slippery Slope” series are available in DVD and CD formats. For further information, contact Rabbi Katz at [email protected]

BINU Chanukah 2021

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Baltimore Jewish Times:

How Dovid Katz’s Thirst For Jewish History Bends Minds and Preconceived Notions

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Scholar-in-Residence

Rabbi Katz often serves as a scholar-in-residence in communities across North America. Here are a few of of his recent visits and lectures:

Saint Louis Kollel Yarchei Kallah – July 2009

Seattle Kollel – June 2010

Ezra Bessaroth—Seattle Sephardic Bikur Holim—Bikur Cholim Machzikay Hadath – June 2010

Bais Medrash of Bergenfield – July 2010

Young Israel of Bal Harbour – December 2010

Anshe Sfard Kehillat Torah – Milwaukee, WI – February 2011

Young Israel Shomrei Emunah – Silver Spring, MD – Community Adult Education Project – March 2012

Boca Raton Synagogue – Boca Raton, FL – Synagogue Flyer – May 2012
Boca Raton Synagogue – Boca Raton, FL – May 2012

Bais Medrash of Bergenfield – July 2012

Ohev Shalom – The National Synagogue – September 2012

Congregation Ohr Torah – Edison, NJ – November 16-17, 2012

Congregation Beth Jacob – Atlanta, GA – March 15-16, 2013

Bais Medrash of Bergenfield – July 2013 or Bais Medrash of Bergenfield’s version

Brith Sholom Beth Israel Synagogue – Shavuos 2014 Retreat – Charleston, SC

Bais Medrash of Bergenfield – July 2014

Congregation Adas Yeshurun – Anshe Kanesses Israel – Chicago, IL – November 2014
Ray Stein Memorial Scholar-in-Residence

Aish Denver – November 2014

Bais Medrash of Bergenfield – July 2015

Seattle – Scholar in Residence – October 2015

Persian Hebrew Congregation of Skokie and Young Israel of Skokie – November 2015

Chicago – Aron and Rivka Friedman Kollel Yom Rishon – November 2015

The Bais Medrash of Bergenfield – July 2016 – Scholar-in-Residence

Boca Raton Synagogue – May 2018

The Bais Medrash of Bergenfield – July 2018 – Scholar-in-Residence  – “Unusual Rabbis, Unusual Rebbetzins, Unusual Poets

Young Israel of Bal Harbor – January 2019

Congregation Bnai Yeshurun Teaneck, NJ – January 2019

Williams Island (FL) – The Willie and Celia Trump Synagogue – February 1-2, 2019

Ner Yisrael Community – London, England – Parshas Korach – July 2019 – Scholar-in-Residence

“Just Between Us: Some Critical Thinking about the Modern Era in Jewish History” – Bais Medrash of Bergenfield (NJ) – August 2019

Young Israel of Fort Lee (NJ) – Scholar-in-Residence – December 2019

Chanukah: Historical Considerations of a Holiday Widely Celebrated–Surprisingly Misunderstood – December 2019

Suburban Torah – Ohel Yosef – Livingston, NJ – Scholar-in-Residence – February 2020

Purim – A Tale of Two Texts – The tension involved in the publication of מגילת אסתר in Rabbinic history as refracted through ספר עזרא – Spring Valley, NY – February 2020

Purim – A Tale of Two Texts – The tension involved in the publication of מגילת אסתר in Rabbinic history as refracted through ספר עזרא – Boca Raton, FL – February 2020

Young Israel of Boca Raton – February 2020

Tours

Jewish History Trip to Israel 1.9.2023-1.15.2023  – קום התהלך בארץ 

October 2019 – Museum of the Bible – Washington, DC

July 2019 – Jewish History Tour of Central Europe – Itinerary

Thanksgiving week 2017: Israel with Rabbi Binyamin Marwick and Rabbi Dovid Katz

August 2016 – Vienna and Prague

Summer 2014 -Young Professionals/Singles Jewish History Tour of Prague, Vienna, and Budapest

Chol HaMoed Pesach 2014 – Mount Vernon: Home of George Washington

Gettysburg National Military Pahttps://congbethabrahamhertzberg.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/99.gettysburgv7.pdfrk – American Jews and the Civil War – August 2013

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum – July 2013

Spring 2013 – Philadelphia

Chol HaMoed Pesach 2013 – Washington, DC: United States Capitol and Presidential Memorials

Spring 2012 – Italhttps://congbethabrahamhertzberg.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Dashed-Hopes-and-New-Horizons-2023-2024-v9.jpeg