The history of the Ashkenazi Jews, from the Rhine Valley to the 20th century.
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A history of thought, resilience, and irony.
800
SHUM
1096
Crusades
1300
Poland
1648
Sabbatai
1700
Hasidism
1780
Haskalah
1860
Zionism
1897
Balfour
1880
Yiddish
1933
Kristallnacht
1940
Shoah
1948
Israel
12 Episodes
Eleven Centuries of History
Each episode explores an era, a place, a transformation.
01
SHUM
800 — 1096
On the banks of the Rhine, something unheard of is born: a Jewish civilization that will radiate across the West.
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Rashi1040–1105
Gershom of Mainz960–1040
Episode 01
SHUM: Mainz, Worms, Speyer
On the banks of the Rhine, between 800 and 1096, Jewish communities founded one of the greatest intellectual civilizations of the Middle Ages. SHUM — Speyer, Worms, Mainz — becomes the cradle of Ashkenazi Judaism.
02
Crusades
1096 — 1350
In 1096, the First Crusade turns the Rhineland into a killing field. The same cities that had shone now become places of martyrdom.
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Rabbi Kalonymusm. 1096
Peter the Hermit1050–1115
Episode 02
Blood and the Cross
In 1096, the First Crusade triggers the first great anti-Jewish persecutions in Europe. The communities of the Rhine Valley are massacred. A founding trauma that forever marks Ashkenazi memory.
03
Poland
1350 — 1648
Driven from Western Europe, Jews find in Poland an unprecedented refuge. The shtetl becomes the heart of the Ashkenazi world.
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Moses Isserles (the Rema)1520–1572
Rabbi Loew (the Maharal)1520–1609
Episode 03
Poland, the New Paradise
After the persecutions of the West, Jews take refuge en masse in Poland-Lithuania. There they establish an autonomous civilization — the world of the shtetl — with its own institutions, its own language (Yiddish), its own culture.
04
Sabbatai
1648 — 1720
A man rises and says: 'I am the Messiah.' Hundreds of thousands of Jews believe him. History is about to tip over.
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Sabbatai Zevi1626–1676
Nathan of Gaza1643–1680
Episode 04
Sabbatai Zevi, the False Messiah
After the trauma of the 1648 massacres, a charismatic figure proclaims himself Messiah: Sabbatai Zevi. He galvanizes the entire Jewish world. Then he converts to Islam. An unprecedented spiritual collapse.
05
Hasidism
1700 — 1795
In the heart of Ukraine's villages, a wandering healer invents a new spirituality: joy, dance, ecstasy as a path to God.
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Baal Shem Tov1698–1760
Vilna Gaon1720–1797
Episode 05
Hasidism, Joy as Rebellion
The Baal Shem Tov founds Hasidism: a popular spirituality based on joy, dance, and the love of God. A cultural revolution in a Jewish world devastated by persecution.
06
Haskalah
1780 — 1880
Moses Mendelssohn rises and asks the most dangerous question of the nineteenth century: can one be Jewish and European at the same time?
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Moses Mendelssohn1729–1786
Heinrich Heine1797–1856
Episode 06
The Haskalah, the Jewish Enlightenment
Moses Mendelssohn and the Haskalah open the doors of the modern world to Europe's Jews. But emancipation comes at a price: assimilation. Between integration and identity, Ashkenazi Judaism fragments.
07
Zionism
1860 — 1917
A Viennese journalist covers the Dreyfus trial and hears the Parisian crowd scream 'Death to the Jews.' He goes home and writes a book that will change the world.
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Theodor Herzl1860–1904
Leon Pinsker1821–1891
Episode 07
Herzl and the Birth of Zionism
The Dreyfus Affair reveals to Herzl that assimilation is an illusion. He creates the Zionist movement to build a Jewish state. The First Zionist Congress in Basel (1897) lays the foundations of a dream that becomes reality.
08
Balfour
1897 — 1947
In sixty-seven typed words, the British Empire promises Palestine to the Jews. And, simultaneously, to the Arabs. The century's defining conflict is born.
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Chaim Weizmann1874–1952
Lord Balfour1848–1930
Episode 08
The Balfour Declaration
On November 2, 1917, a 67-word letter changes history. The Balfour Declaration promises a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine. But the same Britain makes contradictory promises to the Arabs.
09
Yiddish
1880 — 1939
In New York, Warsaw, Vilna — Yiddish explodes. Theater, novels, newspapers, cinema. A language that only asked to live, and that history was about to shatter.
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Sholem Aleichem1859–1916
Isaac Bashevis Singer1902–1991
Episode 09
The Golden Age of Yiddish
Between 1880 and 1939, Yiddish experiences its golden age. Theater, literature, press, cinema — in New York and Warsaw, a vibrant popular culture emerges. Eleven million speakers worldwide.
10
Kristallnacht
1933 — 1940
On November 9, 1938, 7,500 Jewish businesses are devastated, 91 synagogues burn, 30,000 Jews are arrested. Germany watches. The world watches. No one stops it.
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Stefan Zweig1881–1942
Herschel Grynszpan1921–after 1945
Episode 10
Kristallnacht
On November 9, 1938, Nazi Germany unleashes Kristallnacht. Synagogues burned, shops destroyed, thousands arrested. This is the turning point: from legal persecution to open violence.
11
Shoah
1940 — 1945
Six million. Within that number are names, voices, burned libraries, vanished languages, entire families erased.
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Emmanuel Ringelblum1900–1944
Mordechai Anielewicz1919–1943
Episode 11
The Shoah
The Final Solution. In five years, the Nazis murder six million European Jews. Two-thirds of European Jewry. Nearly the entirety of Eastern Europe's Ashkenazi world.
12
Israel
1945 — 1948
On May 14, 1948, David Ben-Gurion reads an eleven-minute declaration. Eleven centuries of Ashkenazi history culminate in this moment.
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David Ben-Gurion1886–1973
Golda Meir1898–1978
Episode 12
1948: The Birth of Israel
On May 14, 1948, the State of Israel is proclaimed. The culmination of every aspiration, the answer to the Shoah, the realization of the Zionist dream. The Ashkenazi world is transformed forever.
Demographics
The Ashkenazi Population
From 100,000 souls to 11 million… and the abyss.
Crusades (1096)
Black Death (1348)
Khmelnytsky Massacres (1648)
Shoah (1939-1945)
State of Israel (1948)
✡︎
800 — 1948
אַשְׁכֲּנָז
Eleven Centuries of History
✡︎—📜—✦
The Project
Ashkenazi, a History Worth Hearing
Twelve episodes across eleven centuries of Ashkenazi Jewish history — from the banks of the Rhine to the deserts of the Negev, by way of the shtetlekh of Poland, the salons of Berlin, and the ruins of Warsaw.
This podcast does not simply recount events. It tells a way of thinking, laughing, mourning, surviving, and reinventing the world.
A podcast by Jérôme Goldman
✦
Ashkenazi
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Ashkenazi — The Podcast on Ashkenazi Jewish History
Ashkenazi is a 12-episode podcast tracing 1,100 years of Ashkenazi Jewish history, from the medieval Rhine Valley to the founding of the State of Israel in 1948. Created by Jérôme Goldman.
Episode 1 — SHUM: Mainz, Worms, Speyer (800–1096)
On the banks of the Rhine, between 800 and 1096, Jewish communities founded one of the greatest intellectual civilizations of the Middle Ages. SHUM — Speyer, Worms, Mainz — becomes the cradle of Ashkenazi Judaism. Figures: Rashi, Gershom of Mainz.
Episode 2 — Blood and the Cross (1096–1350)
In 1096, the First Crusade triggered the first great anti-Jewish persecutions in Europe. The communities of the Rhine Valley were massacred. A founding trauma that forever marks Ashkenazi memory. Figures: Rabbi Kalonymus, Peter the Hermit.
Episode 3 — Poland, the New Paradise (1350–1648)
After the persecutions of the West, Jews took refuge en masse in Poland-Lithuania. There they established an autonomous civilization — the world of the shtetl — with its own institutions, its own language (Yiddish), its own culture. Figures: Moses Isserles (the Rema), Rabbi Loew (the Maharal).
Episode 4 — Sabbatai Zevi, the False Messiah (1648–1720)
After the trauma of the 1648 massacres, a charismatic figure proclaims himself Messiah: Sabbatai Zevi. He galvanizes the entire Jewish world, then converts to Islam. An unprecedented spiritual collapse. Figures: Sabbatai Zevi, Nathan of Gaza.
Episode 5 — Hasidism, Joy as Rebellion (1700–1795)
The Baal Shem Tov founds Hasidism: a popular spirituality based on joy, dance, and the love of God. A cultural revolution in a Jewish world devastated by persecution. Figures: the Baal Shem Tov, the Vilna Gaon.
Episode 6 — The Haskalah, the Jewish Enlightenment (1780–1880)
Moses Mendelssohn and the Haskalah open the doors of the modern world to Europe's Jews. Between integration and identity, Ashkenazi Judaism fragments. Figures: Moses Mendelssohn, Heinrich Heine.
Episode 7 — Herzl and the Birth of Zionism (1860–1917)
The Dreyfus Affair reveals to Herzl that assimilation is an illusion. He creates the Zionist movement to build a Jewish state. The First Zionist Congress in Basel in 1897 lays the foundations of a dream that would become reality. Figures: Theodor Herzl, Leon Pinsker.
Episode 8 — The Balfour Declaration (1897–1947)
On November 2, 1917, a 67-word letter changes history. The Balfour Declaration promises a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine. Figures: Chaim Weizmann, Lord Balfour.
Episode 9 — The Golden Age of Yiddish (1880–1939)
Between 1880 and 1939, Yiddish experiences its golden age. Theater, literature, press, cinema — in New York and Warsaw, a vibrant culture emerges. Figures: Sholem Aleichem, Isaac Bashevis Singer.
Episode 10 — Kristallnacht (1933–1940)
On November 9, 1938, Nazi Germany unleashes Kristallnacht. Synagogues burned, shops destroyed, thousands arrested. The turning point: from legal persecution to open violence. Figures: Stefan Zweig, Herschel Grynszpan.
Episode 11 — The Shoah (1940–1945)
The Final Solution. In five years, the Nazis murder six million European Jews — nearly the entirety of Eastern Europe's Ashkenazi world. Figures: Emanuel Ringelblum, Mordechai Anielewicz.
Episode 12 — 1948: The Birth of Israel (1945–1948)
On May 14, 1948, the State of Israel is proclaimed — the culmination of every aspiration, the answer to the Shoah, the realization of the Zionist dream. Figures: David Ben-Gurion, Golda Meir.
