Lectures in Jewish History and Thought. No hard questions, please.
Dear fellow students of the Daf Yomi cycle of Talmud! I am extremely proud to announce that a new series, Jewish History in Daf Yomi, is scheduled for launch as part of the Orthodox Union Daf Yomi Initiative, spearheaded by the incomparable Rabbi Moshe Schwed. My small part in the overall plan is to spend […]
Read More JEWISH HISTORY IN DAF YOMI STARTS FRIDAY!The ultimate anti-haggadah. What were they thinking?
Read More The Bizarre Red HaggadahRemarkable story of how the villagers of San Nicandro followed their leader Donato Manduzio to convert en masse to Judaism and then immigrate to Israel.
Read More Who Was Donato Manduzio?Primo Levi died in Auschwitz–forty years later. (Elie Wiesel)
Read More Who Was Primo Levi?Good morning students of Jewish History! I am proud to announce a new pilot project: Jewish History in Daf Yomi, part of the Orthodox Union Daf Yomi Initiative under the leadership of Rabbi Moshe Schwed. Here’s the basic idea: brief (5-minute) videos discussing a historical issue raised in the world cycle of daily Talmud study […]
Read More Announcing Jewish History in Daf Yomi“The Light of the Eyes” caused an intellectually seismic event whose aftershocks reverberate in the Jewish world 500 years later.
Read More How an Italian earthquake in 1570 created the first Modern Orthodox JewWho was the mysterious dark-skinned woman in the Sarajevo Haggadah?
Read More Who Was the Dark-Skinned Woman in the Sarajevo Haggadah?Brief overview of the life and work of Shmuel David Luzzatto (ShaDaL), an important 19th-century Italian-Jewish thinker.
Read More Who Was Shmuel David Luzzatto (ShaDaL)?Brief description of the world’s oldest illuminated Hebrew manuscript–and a 700-hundred year mystery, solved recently by a 10-year old boy.
Read More The Mystery of the Birds’ Head HaggadahHe survived the 1570 earthquake in Ferrara–and became the world’s first Modern Orthodox Jew.
Read More Who Was Azariah de’ Rossi?