Rabbi Ken Spiro
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About Rabbi Ken Spiro
Rabbi Ken Spiro is an internationally acclaimed speaker whose fast-paced, humorous, and intellectually powerful presentations captivate audiences from the first moment. Renowned for his ability to make complex ideas clear, compelling, and unforgettable. He delivers talks that educate, entertain, and leave a lasting impression.
A Senior Lecturer at Aish HaTorah in Jerusalem, Ken Spiro is also a licensed Israel Ministry of Tourism guide, bringing history vividly to life with rare depth and firsthand insight. His academic background includes degrees in Russian Language and Literature (BA-Vassar), History (MA-Norwich University), and Rabbinic Ordination (Yeshiva Aish HaTorah), grounding his presentations in rigorous scholarship while keeping them accessible to diverse audiences.
Ken Spiro has appeared on major international media outlets, including Fox News, BBC Radio and Television, National Geographic, Discovery Channel, History Channel, Channel 4 (UK), and Israel National Radio. He is the bestselling author of WorldPerfect: The Jewish Impact on Civilization, Crash Course in Jewish History, and Destiny: Why a Tiny Nation Plays Such a Huge Role in History.
Born in the U.S. and living in Israel since 1982, Ken Spiro is a former IDF combat infantry soldier and a father of five. Based in Jerusalem, he speaks worldwide for conferences, federations, universities, synagogues, and leadership events, delivering programs that are as thought-provoking as they are unforgettable.
Remember What’s Next Podcast
with Rabbi Ken Spiro and JFI Director Ellie Bass
Exploring the past to understand our future. This podcast looks are current issues through the lens of Jewish history with the author, researcher, and lecturer Rabbi Ken Spiro and JFI Director Ellie Bass. Each week we will explore a current topic in the news or the world and use history to understand its deeper implications for the Jewish world and beyond.
Listen to:
New Book “Destiny”
Destiny compares the universal plot line of the great Hollywood epics with the major themes and events of Jewish history to show that what humanity views as the greatest drama in fiction and fantasy is – in reality -the true story, mission and destiny of the Jewish people. It is a true-life saga you won’t want to miss – this story is real, and humanity is fast approaching the dramatic climax.
Crash Course in Jewish History Book
From Abraham and the birth of monotheism to the Holocaust and the creation of modern Israel-Crash Course in Jewish History explores 3,800 years of Jewish existence. Ken Spiro takes the reader on a fascinating and informative journey through time, highlighting the key lessons of Jewish and world history and the profound relevance that the past holds for the future of both the Jewish people and humanity.
Articles - Crash Course in Jewish HistoryVIEW ALL
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History Crash Course #6: Isaac and His Sons
History repeats: The groove that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob carve will be for their descendants. We will not take the time here to go through stories of Isaac’s life. What we want to focus on is the patterns that are set for the rest of Jewish history, because as we noted earlier, “the actions of […]
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History Crash Course #61: The Final Solution
Hitler implemented his goal to eliminate all Jews from the planet. By the beginning of 1942 the Germans had close to 9 million Jews under their control (out of a total of 11 million Jews living in Europe and the Soviet Union). And, of course, it was their plan to murder them all. Already, the […]
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World Perfect: The Jewish Impact On Civilization
Where did the values and principles of the modern world come from? While developing an idea for a lecture program, I conducted a series of surveys over a period of two years, asking people to list the fundamental values and principles which they felt we needed to uphold in order to make our world as […]
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History Crash Course #63: Modern Zionism
Herzl launched the political framework for the modern State of Israel. We cannot study Zionism without studying Theodor Benyamin Ze’ev Herzl (1860-1904). We already saw in Part 59, as a correspondent during the Alfred Dreyfus affair, he was shocked to hear the civilized French screaming “Death to the Jews!” He determined then and there that […]
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History Crash Course #44: The Jews of Spain
Spain was the Medieval golden land of opportunity for Jews. As the armies of Islam conquered larger and larger swaths of Europe, the Jews of the Middle East saw new opportunities opening up for them in Muslim Europe. One of the best opportunities proved to be Spain, starting with the Muslim conquest of 711. Indeed, […]
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History Crash Course #50: The Reformation and the Jews
The Reformation exposed the corruption of the Church. For the Jews it meant more bad news. Jewish history did not happen in a vacuum, and we have to always keep
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History Crash Course #3: The World of Abraham
By understanding the character of Abraham, the “proto-Jew”, one can understand what Jews are all about. Jewish history doesn’t happen in a vacuum. No people’s history happens in a vacuum. So before we take a closer look at Abraham, we must first zoom out and get a little understanding of where Abraham fits in the […]
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History Crash Course #38: Exile
The Romans sought to extinguish Jewish presence in Jerusalem by renaming Israel to Palestine. No people had revolted more or caused the Romans greater manpower or material losses than the Jews. But they had done so at a great price to themselves as well. The Roman historian Dio Cassius writes that over half a million […]
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History Crash Course #19: King Solomon
King Solomon, the wisest of all men, built the Temple in Jerusalem and reigned over Israel’s golden age. Before David dies, he appoints as king his son Solomon, who is 12 years old at the time, with these words: “I go the way of all the earth. You shall be strong, therefore, and show yourself […]
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History Crash Course #7: Joseph
Joseph demonstrates a classic pattern: The Jew arrives impoverished, works hard, and rises to the top. Had Jacob married Rachel as he had intended ― instead of being tricked into marrying Leah ― Joseph would have likely been his first-born son. Although he was Jacob’s 11th son, he dominates the narrative of the 12 brothers, […]
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History Crash Course #51: The Kabbalists
In the 16th century, the Israeli mountaintop town of Tzfat became the center of Jewish mysticism. In the past few installments, we have been relating the events in the history of the Jews that happened during a period known as the Renaissance (1350 to 1650). During this time we saw: a resurgence of classical knowledge […]
