Flames of Freedom

The New Zion

Sun, 09 Nov 2025 15:47:57 GMT

In 2024 Season One of Flames of Freedom was nominated for a Webby award for best historical podcast. In Season Two, we continue the saga of the Nunes family when they arrive on the shores of what is now Savannah, and James Oglethorpe is faced with a dilemma. The Colony was suffering from an epidemic that had killed their doctor and twenty other settlers, and half the Colony was deathly ill. And here he was confronted with a Jewish doctor who could save the Colony, but the Georgia Trustees had emphatically delcared they didn't want Jews in Georgia, Oglethorpe's decision would profoundly impact the future of the Colony and the role Jews would play there and in the fledgling new country that rebelled against their British overlords some forty years later.

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REVEALED: The Team Behind the Scenes

Wed, 04 Dec 2024 19:20:33 GMT

Season 1 wrap-up. A look behind the scenes with interviews of the series creators: Executive Producer, Lance Tōland / Writer, Rick Stone / Producer-Director, Mark Simon / Audio Editor, Composer & Sound Designer, Dave Wilson / and a few of the Cast Members: Ian Russell (James Oglethorpe & multiple character voices) / Juan-Pablo Gamboa, (Dr. Diogo Nunes) / Jamie Treselyan (young-Benjamin Philips & multiple character voices) / Angelines Santaňa (Zipporah Nunez Mechado Jacobs) / Francois Clemenceau, The Grand Inquisitor, Daniel & multiple character voices.

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Flames of Freedom: Journey's End

Tue, 03 Dec 2024 05:43:32 GMT

While they await the repairs on their ship, the Jews disembark and learn invaluable lessons about surviving in the American wilderness. While they labor away, Oglethorpe is faced with growing dissension among his settlers around issues of slavery and drinking rum and then faces an even bigger challenge as an epidemic threatens to wipe out the entire colony. When Samuel Nunes and the Jews finally arrive, Oglethorpe is faced with a major dilemma: accede to the verbal wishes of the Trustees to exclude Jews from the Colony or enlist the assistance of Dr. Nunes to fight the raging epidemic. His decision will have repercussions for decades to come.

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REVEALED: Michael Thurmond, Part II

Thu, 28 Nov 2024 05:05:00 GMT

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Episode Eleven: Precarious Times

Tue, 26 Nov 2024 05:05:52 GMT

Divisions begin to appear among the Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews on their journey to America, while James Oglethorpe, with the help of Colonel Bull, selects Yamacraw Bluff for the new settlement. Oglethorpe also meets Mary Musgrove, a woman of English and Indian descent who is an invaluable partner in the years ahead as Oglethorpe navigates relations with the neighboring Creek Indians. The ship carrying the Jews faces its most trying challenge yet as severe storms threaten to crash it on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

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REVEALED: Michael Thurmond Part I

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 05:01:43 GMT

Michael Thurmond, the chief executive officer of DeKalb County, Georgia, is the author of James Oglethorpe, Father of Georgia, Freedom: Georgia’s Antislavery Heritage, 1733–1865, and A Story Untold: Black Men and Women in Athens History. Thurmond explores the foundation of the Georgia Colony and Oglethorpe’s increasing resistance to the institution of slavery.

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Episode Ten: Dark Night of the Soul

Tue, 19 Nov 2024 05:05:41 GMT

Samuel Nunes agrees to lead the Jewish settlers to the Georgia Colony, and they depart some weeks after Oglethorpe on a ship requisitioned and paid for by London’s wealthiest Jews. But the ship encounters turbulent weather, an omen for what will be a nearly disastrous journey across the Atlantic Ocean, foreshadowing the loss of life. While they faced horrendous trials at sea, Oglethorpe and his settlers arrived safely at Charles Town, South Carolina, in January 1733.

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REVEALED: Dr. Diego Lucci Part II

Thu, 14 Nov 2024 05:01:14 GMT

Dr. Lucci explores the roots of antisemitism in early Christian thought and looks at how John Toland's writings completely changed the conversation around the equality of Jews in English and European culture.

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Episode Nine: Promise of a New Beginning

Tue, 12 Nov 2024 05:01:18 GMT

Daniel and Moses become enamored with the idea of a clean start in America, an idea that their father, Samuel, rejects out of hand. When King George approves the new colony, the Trustees are faced with a thorny dilemma—what to do with the efforts of the richest Jews of England to send their fellow Jews to Georgia? Their debate and subsequent decision have unexpected consequences that will echo throughout the history of the fledgling colony even after Oglethorpe departs for America in November 1732 with 120 adventurous souls.

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REVEALED: Dr. Diego Lucci, Part I

Thu, 07 Nov 2024 05:01:25 GMT

Dr. Diego Lucci is a professor at the American University in Bulgaria and has previously been a research fellow at the Institute of Historical Research at the University of London and the Maimonides Center for Advanced Studies at the University of Hamburg. His book on the Enlightenment debate on Jewish emancipation is essential to studying Jewish-Gentile relations in 18th-century Europe.

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Episode Eight: Winds of Change

Tue, 05 Nov 2024 05:01:45 GMT

James Oglethorpe sets out to win parliamentary approval to change the laws related to the incarceration of people for the mere crime of owing someone money. This move leads to his pursuit of an idealistic dream of creating a colony where the poor can have a fresh start and where slavery is prohibited. Oglethorpe’s dream becomes the perfect vehicle for the wealthy Jews of London to solve a problem of their own—ever-escalating charitable support for the growing number of refugees showing up on the doorsteps of Bevis Marks Synagogue.

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REVEALED: Dr. Jessica Roitman Part II

Thu, 31 Oct 2024 04:01:13 GMT

Dr. Roitman delves into the growing role of Jews in trade in Europe and the Caribbean and explores how economic pressures on the Jewish community of Amsterdam drove many Jews to depart, seeking their fortunes in the New World.

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Episode Seven: Troubled Times

Tue, 29 Oct 2024 04:01:11 GMT

Moses’s arrest for a gambling debt leads to his incarceration in Marshalsea Prison. Samuel’s quest to free him results in two significant encounters—one with Antony da Costa, one of the wealthiest Jews in England, and one with James Oglethorpe, who discovers that his best friend has died in the same prison after being thrown into a cell with forty other prisoners with smallpox. Both meetings foreshadow significant turns in the lives of all concerned.

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REVEALED: Dr. Jessica Roitman - Part I

Thu, 24 Oct 2024 04:01:46 GMT

Dr. Jessica Roitman is a Professor of Jewish Studies at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. She is a historian of early modern and modern Jewish History, and her research focuses on Jews and Jewish communities in the (Dutch) Caribbean. In this episode, Dr. Roitman explores the dynamics of the growing Amsterdam Jewish community in the 16th Century as New Christians, also known as Conversos, began finding refuge there and reverting to Judaism.

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Episode Six: Darkening Clouds

Tue, 22 Oct 2024 19:27:02 GMT

Samuel confronts the hard reality that his medical skills and reputation mean little within London’s physician community and is forced to open a practice serving mainly indigent refugees. Daniel and Moses continue to struggle to find meaningful employment, and tragedy strikes when Rebekah goes into labor prematurely, leading to a crisis in her commitment to the Jewish faith.

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REVEALED: Dr. Ariel Hessayon, Part II

Thu, 17 Oct 2024 19:31:24 GMT

Dr. Hessayon explores the economic, social, and religious forces that led to Oliver Cromwell's re-admitting Jews to England in 1656 and the dynamic political forces that followed his death and King Charles II’s taking back the throne, all of which could have easily led to a second expulsion of the Jews from England.

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Episode Five: Wandering

Tue, 15 Oct 2024 19:26:39 GMT

As Samuel’s sons Moses and Daniel confront the ugly face of antisemitism that is rife throughout English society, Gracia, who adopts the Jewish name Rebekah, confronts the fact that Orthodox Judaism makes her feel like a second-class citizen. The men must confront another stark reality. To become fully recognized as Jews, they must be circumcised. To complicate their lives, Rebekah, who is now in her fifties, announces that she is pregnant, offering a moment of hope that proves to be tenuous at best.

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REVEALED: Dr. Ariel Hessayon, Part I

Thu, 10 Oct 2024 04:01:59 GMT

Dr. Ariel Hessayon is an early modern historian who is a faculty member at Goldsmiths, University of London. Dr. Hessayon discusses the increasing number of pogroms directed against the Jews before their expulsion from England in 1290, traces the history of the Jews in England up to and after their expulsion, and details the events that led to their absence from England for over 350 years.

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Episode Four: Lost in the Wilderness

Tue, 08 Oct 2024 19:26:04 GMT

After the family’s daring escape from Lisbon aboard a British frigate, they face a host of unknowns upon their arrival in London. They have fallen from the pinnacle of society to become indigent. Not only are they facing economic ruin, but they must now face the gap between their expectations of what it means to revert to Judaism and leave the strictures of Catholicism behind and the reality of assimilating into a faith that is foreign and filled with its own set of dogmas.

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REVEALED: Dr. Eliezer Papo, Part III

Thu, 03 Oct 2024 19:28:47 GMT

Dr. Eliezer Papo is a senior lecturer of Hebrew Literature at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Be’er Sheva, Israel. He serves as Chairman of the Moshe David Gaon Center for Ladino Culture and is the chief editor of El Prezente – Journal for Sephardic Studies.

We concluded the last episode by discussing the distinctions between Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jewish traditions. This highlights an exciting development in our story of Samuel and Rebekah Nunes, formerly known in Portugal as Diogo and Gracia Nunez. We have two noteworthy things that transpired in our story. One is an Ashkenazi family from Prussia has immigrated to England to escape from mandates by the Prussian king who made it very difficult for Jews to earn a living. They came to England and were welcomed into Beavis Marks Synagogue, a Sephardic synagogue, one which traditionally served Spanish and Portuguese Jews. In this REVEALED episode, Dr. Papo speaks about how it was that an Ashkenazi Jew would end up finding refuge in a Sephardic synagogue. He also addresses the complex issues confronted by Conversos, who had great expectations coming to England with dreams of reverting to Judaism but confronted a reality that wasn’t nearly as welcoming as they expected.

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Episode Three: Exodus

Tue, 01 Oct 2024 04:01:55 GMT

With the family’s rearrest on charges of Judaizing and aiding other Conversos to escape, Diogo confronts the Inquisitor General, who is also his patient. The Inquisitor General is faced with a dilemma—he needs Diogo’s medical care and can’t afford to jail him, but his reputation is also on the line if word gets out that he is being too lenient with apostates. His solution is to place two Inquisition priests in Diogo’s home to keep an eye on his every move. Gracia implores Diogo to find a path forward for this dilemma, even if it means finding a means to escape from Portugal.

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REVEALED: Dr. Eliezer Papo, Part II

Thu, 26 Sep 2024 04:01:55 GMT

Our guest today is Dr. Eliezer Papo, who is senior lecturer of Hebrew Literature at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Be’er Sheva, Israel. He serves as Chairman of the Moshe David Gaon Center for Ladino Culture and is the chief editor of El Prezente – Journal for Sephardic Studies. In the previous segment of our interview with Dr. Papo, we explored several issues related to the world of the Jews of Sefarad, and the many who converted and remained living in Spain and Portugal as Conversos, or as they were referred to at that time, New Christians. We concluded with an exploration of identity and how the Jews of Spain had actually resided there long before Christianity came to the Peninsula, yet the Jews never claimed Spain as their own.

In this second part of a three-part interview, Dr. Papo continues to explore the world of Sephardic Jewish culture and Conversos, how Jewish, Spanish, and Portuguese cultures impacted each other, and how Judaism, as practiced by Conversos in secret, was deeply affected by generations of living outwardly as Catholics.

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Episode Two: Exile

Tue, 24 Sep 2024 04:01:00 GMT

Beginning with the ruination of Diogo Nunes’s reputation after losing all of his possessions when he and his wife were arrested by the Portuguese Inquisition and tortured in 1703 for Judaizing, we trace the slow rehabilitation of his career culminating in his appointment as the physician to the new Inquisitor General as well as Portugal’s king, a position that Diogo uses to his advantage to assist other Conversos to escape the grip of the Portuguese Inquisition.

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REVEALED: Dr. Eliezer Papo - Part I

Thu, 19 Sep 2024 04:01:01 GMT

In today’s episode, we start with part 1 of a 3-part conversation with Dr. Eliezer Papo, senior lecturer of Hebrew Literature at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Be’er Sheva, Israel. He serves as Chairman of the Moshe David Gaon Center for Ladino Culture and is the chief editor of El Prezente – Journal for Sephardic Studies. In this first episode, Dr. Papo unravels the story of the Jews in the period leading up to the expulsion of the Jews in Spain in 1492 and the advent of the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions, which attempted to suppress Jewish practices even after Jews residing in these countries had been forcibly converted to Catholicism. We hope you find Dr. Papo’s extensive knowledge of the world of Sephardic Jewish culture and Conversos enriching and illuminating.

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Episode One: Narrow Places

Tue, 17 Sep 2024 04:01:00 GMT

The story opens in 1790 as Zipporah Jacobs, the daughter of Samuel Nunes, feels called to share with her grandson, Benjamin Phillips, the tale of her ancestors as they traversed a world hellbent on eradicating Jews from Spain and Portugal, the forced conversions of her ancestors in 1497 in Lisbon, and her parents’ torture by the Inquisition for the crime of Judaizing.

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Flames of Freedom Trailer

Tue, 10 Sep 2024 19:58:41 GMT

Flames of Freedom is a podcast that tells the incredible story of a Jewish family's journey to Savannah, Georgia, to escape oppression in Europe.

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