Lectures in Jewish History and Thought. No hard questions, please.
I recently spent several days in Mexico City getting to know this fascinating community (more video forthcoming!). Here’s a conversation I had with my colleague Daniel Fainstein, Dean of Jewish Studies at Universidad Ebraíca, explaining what makes the Jewish community of this city so unique.
Very pleased to read that Jill Lapore quoted Maimonides on Teshuvah: The Way of Repentance in a recent piece in The New Yorker (The Case Against the Twitter Apology, online November 7, published in the print edition of the November 14, 2022, issue, with the headline “Sorry Spectacle.”). Here’s the relevant passage:
Favorite response from my family: son-in-law Chaim writes, “The New Yorker is no Der Veker, but still cool.”
Very honored to share the stage with James Carroll, author of the National Book Award-winning Constantine’s Sword this coming Shabbat at Limmud Mexico. Our joint keynote address will focus on the topic of “Jews in the Christian Mind; Christians in the Jewish Mind.” I’ll be speaking on Shabbat day on the Spanish translation of The Kabbalah of Forgiveness and on Sunday looking at the history of the Jews of Ukraine. Kosher, Shabbat-observant friendly environment, of course! Click here for more information: https://limudmexico.org.
Brilliant, evocative script by Ali Elbaz and powerfully narrated by Becky Tahel. My small role was as educational consultant for the background research. This film is a great example of the great work done by the team at Unpacked, very proud to work with them.
Thanks to all who have sent kind words about the podcast version of this interview. I thought it went well, here’s the YouTube version.
Had a great time speaking with Nachi and Momo of Meaningful People podcast. The conversation was a little personal, a little irreverent, but even a little deep. Hope I didn’t overshare!
Here’s the link: https://www.meaningfulpeoplepodcast.com/podcast/episode/3a28c3d3/dr-henry-abramson-or-uncovering-the-gems-of-our-past
Last week I discussed the remarkable story of the Jewish architect Nicolo Matas (video below), who somehow got this Star of David prominently displayed on the Santa Croce church in Florence, Italy. Lots of important people are buried in the church (Michelangelo, Machiavelli, etc.) but given that Matas was unbaptized, he could only be laid to rest in a sarcophagus outside the church, immediately outside the front steps.
In a deeply ironic way, he is now buried in front of what appears to be the world’s largest Jewish tombstone.
Wishing all fellow students of Jewish History a G’mar ve-Hatimah Tovah; a successful completion to the end of the penitential season! May you and all your loved ones be blessed with health, and spiritual as well as material bounty in the year 5783 and beyond.
HMA
A tolerant admissions policy led to an explosion of Jewish students at this prestigious 13th century school.
Premieres at 12 Noon ET with Live Chat
Wishing all students of Jewish history and their loved ones a sweet new year!
The following three videos tend to attract a lot of unwanted attention on YouTube, so they are currently sheltered behind a low paywall to discourage intellectual vandals. They are available to Channel Members (information on membership available here: https://youtu.be/CnJrOwzNrRw), but YouTube does not offer that option in all countries. The videos have also been uploaded to students registered for my online course in Biblical Jewish History (click here for registration information).
This topic, so important for the experience of Jews in European history, tends to attract a lot of unwanted attention. For now I prefer to offer them to Channel Members only, part of The Jewish Encounter with Rome series. I hope you find them useful.
