Exploring the Sub-basement of the Medieval Synagogue of Carpentras, France

Also: Origins of the Jewish People; Neo-Nazis Zoombomb the Sri Lankan Conference of Jews and Buddhists; Soviet Jews During the Interwar Period, and What’s with the Queen of Heaven Business?

What is a Synagogue? 7. A Place of Community (Carpentras, France)

Final installment in the What is a Synagogue? series. Amazing things in the basement and sub-basement of this medieval synagogue!

Abraham to Yehudah Maccabee: The Ancient Origins of the Jewish People

Part One of a new lecture series, delivered at Congregation Beth Israel in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Series title: All Jewish History, but Skipping the Boring Parts.

Soviet Jewry in the Interwar Period (Jewish History Lab)

Premieres Sunday at 12 Noon ET (New York Time) with Live Chat

Judaism: The Four Noble Truths

Premieres Tuesday at 12 Noon ET (New York Time) with Live Chat

Recording of a presentation to a scholarly conference organized by the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. Unfortunately–and to the great surprise of the saffron-robed Buddhist monks that made up much of the audience–the conference was attacked, and ultimately shut down, by Neo-Nazi zoom bombers who disrupted our discussions by displaying pornography and shouting “Heil Hitler” over the speakers. I managed, after an interruption of two or three minutes, to complete my paper, but the Neo-Nazis returned and the Sri Lankan tech team were unable to control the intellectual vandalism.

We plan to reconvene the conference, but now our Buddhist colleagues have received a more powerful lesson in the realities of Jewish life than any of us could have described in text.

Premieres Tuesday at 12 noon ET (New York Time) with live chat. Moderated, btw.

What’s with this Queen of Heaven business?

Discussion of the “Queen of Heaven” inscriptions discovered at Kuntillet Ajrud and their implications for reading the book of Jeremiah, among other Biblical passages. Available to members of my YouTube channel at the Researcher and Colleague level and to students enrolled in the online Biblical Jewish history course.