Lectures in Jewish History and Thought. No hard questions, please.
Revered by many as a pivotal figure in modern religious philosophy yet reviled by his contemporaries in the Jewish community of Amsterdam, Baruch Spinoza was placed in herem (excommunication) in 1666 for his public pronouncements challenging religious doctrine. Part of the Jewish Biography as History lecture series by Dr. Henry Abramson.
Emerging from the sixteenth-century Safed Circle of Jewish mystics, Rabbi Isaac Luria (the Arizal) was a pivotal figure in the history of Kabbalah. His influence on later Jewish movements, in particular Hasidism, is still felt to this day. Part of the Jewish Biography as History lecture series by Dr. Henry Abramson.
David Reubeni was one of the most colorful messianic figures of Jewish history. A little person with a shady background, he was received with dignity by Popes and Kings in the fifteenth century, regaling them with tales of the Jews of the east and promising them great military victories should they enlist his service. He gathered Jewish followers around Europe, eventually attracting the unwanted attention of the Inquisition. Part of the Jewish Biography as History lecture series by Dr. Henry Abramson.
American-born Henrietta Szold was an extremely influential Zionist leader and organizer, founder of Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America.
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Nicholas Donin was an erstwhile Talmudic scholar who converted to Christianity and made a career of denouncing the Talmud. His charges, brought before the Pope, resulted in a massive destruction of priceless Jewish manuscripts in Paris, 1242. Part of the Jewish Biography as History lecture series by Dr. Henry Abramson.
![Jews in Synagogue, 15th c. Mantua, Italy. (Codex Rossianus 555, fol. 12v) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](https://henryabramson.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/synagogue_cod-_rossian-_555.jpg?w=736)
Yocheved was the daughter of one of Judaism’s greatest scholars: Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaki, better known as Rashi. A fascinating woman in her own right, this lecture will survey some of the references to Yocheved (and her illustrious sisters) and what light this sheds on the history of medieval Jewish women.
![The Alhambra By Jim Gordon (originally posted to Flickr as Alhambra, Granada) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.](https://henryabramson.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/256px-alhambra_-_granada.jpg?w=736)
was an exemplar of the Golden Age of Spanish Jewry.
In one of the most bizarre episodes in Jewish history, the Central Asian kingdom of Khazaria converted to Judaism in the eighth century. Multiple sources confirm the conversion, yet the entire story remains a mystery. What was the nature of their Judaism? More importantly, what happened to them?
Henry Abramson 