About Wandering Jews: A Travel Podcast That Entertains & Informs
Welcome to Wandering Jews, our J2 adventures. podcast!
Immerse yourself in the vibrant world of Jewish experiential travel as we traverse the globe.
Whether it’s the ancient streets of Jerusalem or the historic charm of Toledo, each episode offers a fresh perspective and a deeper connection to the Jewish story.
See more at j2adventures.com (https://www.j2adventures.com/)
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
Publisher
J2 adventures
Category
religion & spirituality · society & culture · society & culture
The Gensha Street/Okopowa Cemetery – The “Land of the Living”
Jews often call a cemetery Beit HaChayim—“The House of Life”—and nowhere does that name resonate more than in Warsaw’s Gensha Street Cemetery. Along its long avenues, where trees and wild growth weave through endless rows of stones, Gensha stands as a powerful testament to the vitality and diversity of Warsaw’s Jewish world before the Shoah. Sprawling and overflowing with stories, the site holds hundreds of thousands of lives—scholars, activists, poets, merchants, and ordinary citizens who shaped a once‑thriving community. Faced with its vastness, we chose in this episode to focus on just a few individuals interred here, each offering a glimpse into that lost, vibrant world. And we leave you with a question: In this immense “Land of the Living,” whom would you choose to remember?
Links for Additional Reading
Poland: Archaeologists (Working Under Rabbinical Supervision) Make Extraordinary Discoveries At Warsaw’s Vast Okopowa St. Jewish Cemetery
Jewish Heritage Europe (14 October 2020)
https://jewish-heritage-europe.eu/2020/10/14/poland-archaeologist-okopowa/ (https://jewish-heritage-europe.eu/2020/10/14/poland-archaeologist-okopowa/)
Okopowa Street Jewish cemetery in Warsaw, Poland
The Bezalel Narkiss Index of Jewish Art and Material Culture, Hebrew Universtiy – Jerusalem
https://cja.huji.ac.il/browser.php?mode=set&id=13787 (https://cja.huji.ac.il/browser.php?mode=set&id=13787)
Warsaw’s Jewish Cemeteries on Folkways (9 May 2024)
https://folkways.today/warsaw-jewish-cemeteries/ (https://folkways.today/warsaw-jewish-cemeteries/)
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Find more at j2adventures.com (https://www.j2adventures.com/)
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1 Jun 2026
When the Earth Shook Europe: Lisbon, the Enlightenment, and the Jewish Question
In 1755, a massive earthquake, firestorm, and tsunami devastated Lisbon and sent shockwaves through European thought. The catastrophe shattered old religious certainties, ignited debates led by Voltaire and Kant, and reshaped the fate of Iberian Jews and “New Christians” long-bound by the Inquisition. In this episode, we trace how one morning of destruction helped usher in modern ideas of reason, justice, and identity—and how Lisbon’s rebuilding reframed the Jewish story within Europe’s emerging Enlightenment.
Links for Additional Reading
The Earthquake That Changed History – BBC REEL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVLGo_SgRfs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVLGo_SgRfs)
The Jesuit and the Jew -The Lisbon Earthquake in Modern Perspective
Revista by Kenneth Maxwell, 30 December 2007
https://revista.drclas.harvard.edu/the-jesuit-and-the-jew/ (https://revista.drclas.harvard.edu/the-jesuit-and-the-jew/)
Pombal and the Inquisition in Portugal
History Today by Richard Cavendish, 5 May 2001
https://www.historytoday.com/archive/months-past/pombal-and-inquisition-portugal (https://www.historytoday.com/archive/months-past/pombal-and-inquisition-portugal)
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Find more at j2adventures.com (https://www.j2adventures.com/)
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
11 May 2026
The Frontiers Edge – Eilat and the Southern Arava
At Israel’s southern tip, where desert horizons stretch without end, Eilat and the Arava tell a story shaped by distance, daring, and the frontier spirit. Here, improvised flags, pioneering kibbutzim, and an ancient date seed reborn all reveal how life at the edge becomes a laboratory for reinvention. Join us as we explore a landscape where imagination meets isolation—and where the desert becomes not an end, but hopefully also a beginning.
Links for Additional Reading
“Lost in Eilat” at Segula, the Jewish History Magazine
https://segulamag.com/en/lost-in-eilat/ (https://segulamag.com/en/lost-in-eilat/)
“My City – Eilat” at the Digital Archive of UCLA
https://digital.library.ucla.edu/catalog/ark:/21198/z1k716vn (https://digital.library.ucla.edu/catalog/ark:/21198/z1k716vn)
The Arava Insitute for Environmental Studies
https://arava.org/ (https://arava.org/)
Follow us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/myj2adventures), Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/my_j2_adventures/), and LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/j2adventures/)!
Find more at j2adventures.com (https://www.j2adventures.com/)
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
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