Of Ports, Popes, and Pocketbooks

Jewish History Nerds won two Signal Awards, gold and listener's choice in the history category. If you enjoy this show, please comment wherever you get your podcasts. We'll be back soon with a brand new season of episodes.

No one expects the Spanish Inquisition… to have given rise to two of the most powerful Jewish women in history.

You may not have heard of Dona Gracia Mendes or Benvenida Abrabanel. You may not have learned about the vastly different ways they attempted to use their power in order to stop the persecution of Jews in the papal states. And you may not have considered the way that Gracia and Benvenida’s rivalry still echoes today.

Yael and Schwab weren’t, before this episode. But now, they’re here to unpack all of this and more. So get ready — just like the Inquisition, it’s going to be quite a show.

Write to us at nerds@unpacked.media. We really want to hear from you.

This episode was hosted by Jonathan Schwab and Yael Steiner. Our education lead is Dr. Henry Abramson. Audio was edited by Rob Pera, and we’re produced by Rivky Stern.

For more on these women, the Ancona affair, and this episode: docs.google.com/document/d/17VKgT2Y22Toxzc7ju6…