Old-Time Radio Reimagined
The Eternal Light
80 episodes · 1944–1962 · NBC · Drama
Play The Eternal Light on Radio Days
NBC's program made with the Jewish Theological Seminary, with interviews, commentary and award-winning dramas from the perspective of Judaism. It began on radio in 1944 and ran as a weekly program through 1989.
Sources: Wikipedia: The Eternal Light; RadioGOLDINdex
Episodes
Tap a year to see its episodes, then a title to play it on Radio Days.
194412 episodes
- A Rhode Island Refuge
Premiere of the series. Colonial Rhode Island is the setting, and a character faces a moral choice over the slave trade. A speaker follows the play. - Emanuel
Jews suffer persecution in Germany, and Temple Emanuel, New York's first synagogue, comes into being. Rabbi Samuel Goldenson speaks afterward. - Jacob and The Indians (1944)
In colonial days a Jewish scholar heads off to explore the frontier, from a Stephen Vincent Benet story adapted by Morton Wishengrad. Raymond Massey is in the cast and Rabbi D. A. Cordozo speaks afterward. - The Tabernacle At Duke's Place (1944)
David Salomons wins a seat in Britain's Parliament but is barred from taking it because he is Jewish. Rabbi Robert Gordes speaks after the drama. - The Black Death
While plague killed millions across Europe, Jews also faced murderous hatred. Dr. Mordecai Kaplan of the Jewish Theological Seminary speaks after the play. - Candelabra Of The Steppes
A Jewish emigrant leaves czarist Russia for the New World. This one has no closing speaker. - The Temple Of K'ai-Feng-Fu
A Jewish wedding is held in China in 1642, in the community of K'ai-Feng-Fu. A rabbi from Cincinnati, Samuel Cohan, speaks at the end. - Maimonides
A drama about the physician Maimonides and the persecution he faced from Muslim rulers. Rabbi Max Klein of Philadelphia speaks afterward. - Channakah
The Maccabees rise against Rome, and from that revolt comes the Festival of Lights. A rabbi from New York's Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, David de Sola Pool, speaks afterward. - Ezra, The Scholar
A biblical drama about Ezra, scribe of Israel and founder of the synagogue. Rabbi Ralph Simon of Chicago speaks afterward. - The Vineyard Of Yabneh
A drama set when Jerusalem and the Temple fell. Louis Lebenthal of Philadelphia speaks after the play. - Esther
Queen Esther of Persia and the wicked Haman, dramatized with Alexander Scourby as narrator. Rabbi Israel Goldstein speaks afterward.
194523 episodes
- The Life Of Solomon Schecter
Solomon Schechter lectured on rabbinic studies at Cambridge in 1890 and later led the Jewish Theological Seminary as its second head. Dr. Jacob Cohen speaks from Los Angeles. - Rabbi Israel Salanter
A pious rabbi surprises his congregation by commanding them to eat on Yom Kippur. Rabbi Israel Salanter's story is paired with a note on the Torah's three gravest prohibitions. - The Battle of the Warsaw Ghetto
- The Microscope and The Prayer Shawl
A scientist on Louis Pasteur's staff, Waldemar Haffkine, holds fast to his faith. Rabbi Mortimer Cohen of Philadelphia speaks after the drama. - Mr. Lincoln and The Rabbi (1945)
Benjamin Szold, a Baltimore rabbi, confronts the old problem of slavery in the days of Lincoln. Rabbi Bernard Bamberger speaks afterward. - Rebecca Gratz
A portrait of the Jewish woman Rebecca Gratz, whose life was given to building America. Dr. Alexander Dushkin speaks after the play. - The World Of Sholom Aleichem
Sam Jaffe stars in tales from the writings of a famed Jewish humorist, Sholom Aleichem. There is no speaker after the show. - Cyrus Adler
A drama about Cyrus Adler and one of the earliest Conservative Jewish congregations. Dr. Abraham A. Newman speaks from Philadelphia. - Isaac Mayer Wise
The life of Isaac Mayer Wise, who founded Reform Judaism in America. Dr. David Philipson speaks from Cincinnati afterward. - A Second Exodus
The Jews of Portugal are persecuted in 1492 in this sequel to "The Black Death." No speaker follows the drama. - The Seed and The Dream
Theodor Herzl dreams of a homeland for the Jewish people, and the drama follows his scheme. Judge Morris Rothenberg, a Zionist leader, speaks afterward. - Henrietta Szold
How Henrietta Szold came to found Hadassah. The National President of Hadassah, Mrs. Moses Epstein, speaks after the drama. - The Death Of Akiba
Rabbi Akiba pleads with Phineas Rufus to let Jews worship freely and tries to head off a rebellion, without success. Rabbi Armand Cohen speaks afterward. - The Book Of Ruth
The Book of Ruth is dramatized, with Ruth leaving Moab. The closing speaker, Louis Levitsky, talks about the victory in Europe. - As A Driven Leaf (1945)
Rabbi Elisha ben Abuyah turns against his people eighteen centuries ago, rejecting his faith in search of rational truth, adapted from Milton Steinberg's novel. S. Joshua Cohen speaks afterward. - The Story Of An American
For Memorial Day, Jacob Baum, who fell at Iwo Jima, tells of his grandfather, an editor of a Jewish paper who printed the truth and paid for it. Judge George Goldstein speaks afterward. - The Lie
Mary Antin's story of young David Rabinsky and the one small untruth he told. Rabbi Louis Newman speaks after the play. - Jacob and The Indians (1945)
A Jewish scholar explores the American frontier in colonial times, from a Stephen Vincent Benet story. Rabbi Ira Eisenstein speaks afterward. - The Tabernacle At Duke's Place (1945)
David Salomons, elected to Parliament in Britain, is refused his seat because of his religion. Rabbi Samuel Thurman of St. Louis speaks after the drama. - Young Joseph" Part 1 of 3
Part 1 of 3, adapted from Thomas Mann: Joseph is given a many-colored coat, and his brothers turn on him. Dr. Ludwig Lewisohn speaks afterward. - National Day Of Prayer and Thanksgiving For Victory
For V-J Day, a service giving Cantor Robert Segal a chance to sing at length, with talks by Rabbi Arthur Lelyveld and Chaplain Isaac Klein. - Joseph In Egypt" Part 2 of 3
Part 2 of 3, from Thomas Mann: Potiphar favors Joseph, who wisely turns away his daughter, yet ends up in the pit once more. Rabbi Israel Goldman speaks afterward. - Joseph, The Provider" Part 3 of 3
Part 3 of 3, from Thomas Mann: only Joseph can explain Pharaoh's dream, and later he meets his brothers again. Rabbi Nathan Perelman speaks afterward.
19474 episodes
- The Thief and the Hangman
- The Song of Berditchev
- A Tale Of Mendele, The Bookseller
Two timid friends set out for unfamiliar places in this lightly humorous tale of Mendele the bookseller. - The Thief and The Hangman
Micah the thief, from an old Yemenite Jewish fable, is captured, and his execution raises a hard question.
19506 episodes
- Cardozo
Judge Cardozo's life story, starting in 1927, narrated by Alexander Scourby. The opening is cut off. - The Words We Live By: Shall Not the Judge of All the Earth Do Justly?
- The Words We Live By: What Shall the Birthright Profit Me?
- The Words We Live by, Part 1 of 14: Prophet, What Do You See?
- Let Us Have a King to Judge Us Like All Nations
- The Words We Live By, Part 6 of 14
19513 episodes
- How The World Came To Yanovka
How can God answer so many clashing prayers? the Rabbi is asked by a child. Soon a stranger turns up in Yanovka. Adapted from Joseph Gaer. - Little Purim
A poor boy knows just three songs for Purim on his violin, until a stranger at the door begs for bread. Rabbi Sidney Guthman of San Antonio speaks afterward. - The Call To The Torah
A boy living with cerebral palsy prepares for his Bar Mitzvah. The closing talk comes from Rabbi Morris Goldberg, a leader among the city's rabbis.
19528 episodes
- A Matter Of Life and Death
Dr. Enoch is certain that no illness is beyond a cure. Rabbi Joel Geffen, a seminary field director, speaks afterward. - Noah's Ark
Mordecai Manuel Noah founded Ararat, a city near Buffalo meant as a refuge for Jews. Sam Jaffe stars, and Maurice Levin speaks afterward. - It's Been Fun
A woman who studied at Columbia College, when higher education for women was rare, nevertheless opposed the vote for women. Rabbi Morris Teller of Chicago speaks afterward. - A Partner With God
The idea that people help God complete creation, shown through physician Wilbur Sawyer and his work against Yellow Fever. Harry Levine of Boston speaks afterward. - The Shining Night
Sam Gordon, a busy and important lawyer, has memories and a health problem. George Cohen, a Philadelphia philanthropist, speaks afterward. - Reminder On The Door Post
An Armistice Day show: McPherson, a soldier, turns to the Jewish chaplain of his army unit to learn the Kaddish. Rabbi Isaac Klein speaks afterward. - Anne Frank: The Diary Of A Young Girl
Jeff Chandler and Anne Whitfield star in a dramatization of Anne Frank's diary, adapted by Meyer Levin and broadcast from Hollywood. - When Helen Keller Came To K'far Uriel
Helen Keller visits the village of K'far Uriel, in a story about what people can see with their eyes closed. Broadcast from Chicago.
19534 episodes
- The Breath Of The Prophet Elijah
Uncle Gedalia and the hungry villagers of a small Eastern European town, a century ago, answer every misfortune with "Thank God." - God Smiled On Adam
A Succoth program imagining Adam's first day in Paradise and an argument between Gabriel and Satan, who refuses to bow to man. Rabbi Elias Carey speaks afterward. - Thirty-Six
Shimon the porter has good soup for dinner yet goes to bed hungry, wishing he could afford gifts for his wife; then a large amount of money vanishes. A tale of 36 hidden wise men. Rabbi Joseph Miller speaks afterward. - Watchman, What Of The Night?
The program opens its tenth year. A British soldier and poet named Isaac Rosenberg looks for meaning in the World War I trenches. Chaplain Major-General Ivan Bennett speaks afterward.
19545 episodes
- Prophet In Dungarees
Marsha Hunt stars in the story of Dr. Walter Clay Lowdermilk, who worked to make the Israeli desert bloom. Broadcast from Hollywood. - Jacob, My Son
Rebecca gives birth to the biblical brothers Jacob and Esau. Philanthropist Morris Morgenstern speaks afterward. - Yehoash
The poet Yehoash, born Solomon Blumgarten, names his trade as poet on arriving at Ellis Island, works odd jobs for years, and eventually translates the Bible. - The Dragon's Tail
A Memorial Day show on Dr. Louis Slotin, a boyhood science enthusiast who joined the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos and died after a 1946 radiation accident. Samuel Freeland speaks afterward. - Court Without A Gavel
A drama about the Jewish Conciliation Board, an unusual kind of court. Justice William O. Douglas of the Supreme Court speaks after the play.
19581 episode
- My Father's Talis
A boy just out of a concentration camp longs to find his mother and hold onto his father's prayer shawl. Rabbi Ben Zion Boxer speaks afterward.
19609 episodes
- Chaim, The Shoemaker
On the eve of Yom Kippur, a man recalls his father, a shoemaker, pressed by a wealthy Russian nobleman to finish new shoes before the Sabbath. Rabbi Jacob Weinstein speaks afterward. - A Summer's Reading
A twenty-year-old who cannot hold a job boasts he will read a hundred books over the summer, then shuts himself in a bedroom to try. Adapted from Bernard Malamud. - As A Driven Leaf (1960)
Elisha ben Abuyah, a rabbi, denounces his faith and seeks rational truth. This is a later production of the script first heard in 1945. - Are You Listening, King Solomon?
In the Israeli city of Elat, people plan a seaport and dream of copper in the Negev desert, as the Bible suggests. J. Irving Oldbaum of Toronto speaks afterward. - Andrea's Room
Andrea's mother sits in her daughter's old room, remembering the ceremony of her coming of age and waiting for her return, though Andrea died four years ago. Actress Mary Martin speaks afterward. - The Psalms as Great Human Documents, Part 13 of 14
- Season Of Hope
A Succoth program about Andy, an eighth grader who struggles to read, and his frustrated new teacher. Rabbi Zev D'Havi speaks afterward. - The Rabbi With The Ink-Stained Hands
Rabbi David Einhorn of Baltimore stubbornly runs a noisy press in the synagogue cellar to publish "The Sinai," while his congregation worries about dignity and about slavery. Dr. Solomon Grissel speaks afterward. - The Search
Part of a series on key moments in Jewish life in America. Nurse and humanitarian Lillian Wald, who started the Henry Street Settlement, is the subject. Helen Hall speaks afterward.
19613 episodes
- The Leaf Shall Be Green
Part of a series on key moments in Jewish life in America. Sabato Morais, who came from Italy to Philadelphia in 1850, becomes rabbi there and helps found the Jewish Theological Seminary. Alan Stroock speaks afterward. - Days Of A Poet
A portrait of Solomon Ibn Gabirol, a poet of Spain pursuing truth. - A Song For Queen Esther
Purim is told in both song and story with Tom Glazer as balladeer. The script was a favorite and was used many times with other casts. Rabbi Sidney Greenberg speaks afterward.
19622 episodes
- The Man Who Knew Lincoln
A program marking the Emancipation Proclamation, seen through telegraph operator Edward Rosewater at the White House, whose diary was recently found. Dr. Isadore Meyer speaks afterward. - Mr. Lincoln and The Rabbi (1962)
The final program in a Civil War centennial series. Baltimore rabbi Benjamin Szold faces the old problem of slavery. Rabbi Rudolph Rosenthal speaks afterward.