For many Baltimoreans, winter includes motza’ei Shabbos with Rabbi Dr. Dovid Katz. Each Saturday night, starting around 8 p.m., Rabbi Katz continues an ongoing series on Jewish history in the modern era. I have been a faithful attendee for many years. The series started with the end of the Holocaust and the plight of postwar Jewry and continued with Israel’s war of independence. Each year, in about 16 lectures, Rabbi Katz covers several years. Many of these lectures are available online. This year, he is covering the years 2000 through 2004.
Over the years, we
have learned many details about the Six Day War, the Yom Kippur War, the “peace
process,” and the Kulturkampf between secular Zionism and the
Jewish religion. Now, the series has arrived at a time when all of us were
around, and it is almost, but not quite, current events. Do you remember the
anxiety about Y-2K? Some people thought all the computers around the world would
crash and we would be unable to function. January 2000 arrived, and the world
went on as normal. Perhaps we have to remember our anxieties of that
time and realize that gam zeh ya’avor (this,
too, shall pass). The crises of the present will pass; we may not know how
at the moment, but Hashem will help us make it.
* * *
This year’s lectures
will include the era of Ariel Sharon. Remember him? How about Yitzchak Shamir
and Shimon Peres, each serving as prime minister for two years? Do you
remember when Bibi Netanyahu was finance minister and ended the runaway
inflation of the Begin years?
What Rabbi Katz does
in his talks is make that time come alive and relevant to today. His knowledge
of trivia is unbelievable. One gets to know the characters and the worldview
that caused them to make their decisions. How about the term “peace process” or
“two state solution”? Today, these seem like clichés, but back in the day, many
people thought peace was around the corner – if only Israel did something or other.
We really can’t understand today’s situation in a vacuum.
How about the
First Iraq War? Do you remember how Iraq sent rockets to rain on Israel? And
how the government, in fear of poison gas, distributed gas masks to all the
people? President Bush told Israel not to respond, and Israel had no
choice but to listen. The war was fought with the cooperation of Arab
countries, who would not have participated if Israel were one of the
combatants. Like it or not, understanding on a deeper level Israel’s relationship
and dependency on the United States in those years, can give us insight
into current events.
Other topics that
Rabbi Katz covers are “The State of Israel and the Jewish religion: 2000-2004.”
Many of those issues have been kicked down the road and still vex us in 2024. Gaining
a deeper understanding of this tension, which has existed since the first days
of modern Zionism really enables us to make some sense of today’s repetition
of the same old story, just with new characters.
The series will
also include the Jews of Europe and the British Commonwealth in the new century.
Two topics that are sure to be informative are how the internet became a game changer,
as well as the realignment of Orthodox Jews in America towards conservative politics.
It wasn’t always this way. What brought it about?
*
* *
Although I have
given a quick overview of some of the very interesting topics to be
covered, I would be remiss if I did not say that it is Rabbi Katz’s
unique style that draws his listeners back for more, year after year.
Anyone present soon realizes that Rabbi Katz knows far more than he can tell us
in one-and-a-half hours. He passes on tidbits that no one else seems to know or
mention. His lectures are the opposite of dry and boring. I don’t
know how, over the years, he has found Polish movies, Face the Nation broadcasts
from the 1950s, interviews with important people, and other stuff that makes it
all come alive.
If you found
history boring in school, you’ll find these talks fascinating, and if,
like me, you think you actually know something about history, you’ll walk away
realizing how far superior Rabbi Katz’s understanding of history is.
I invite you to
join me at Shomrei Emunah at 8 p.m. every motza’ei Shabbos. Try it. You will like it.
