A Mentor in Jewish History: Remembering Rabbi Berel Wein

The host of Jewish History Soundbites opens this tribute to Rabbi Berel Wein with a confession: he needed a full week to process the loss before recording. Rabbi Wein had passed away just days earlier, and the host had attended the funeral and visited the shiva. The episode that follows is not a conventional biography — though the host promises a possible second part covering Rabbi Wein's life and accomplishments more broadly — but rather a deeply personal account of how a chance encounter at a Shabbos table in Jerusalem grew into a decade-spanning mentorship that shaped the host's entire career in Jewish history.

From Cassette Tapes to the Shabbos Table

Before the host ever met Rabbi Wein, he grew up with his voice. In an era before streaming and podcasts, Rabbi Wein's cassette tapes and early coffee-table history books — Triumph of Survival, Echoes of Glory, Herald of Destiny — were the host's first exposure to Jewish history. "That's where I got my love and passion for Jewish history," he says. "There wasn't anything else in those days."