Crash Course in Jewish History 

(for very intelligent people)

Extra Credit Readings for First Class: Wednesday, September 4, 2019

(privileges will be revoked for anyone who asks hard questions)

Ancient History

Wednesday, September 4, 2019

1. What is Jewish History?

Peter Steinfels, “Salo Baron, 94, Scholar of Jewish History, Dies,” New York Times, November 26, 1989.

2. La Longue Durée

THE LAND: Geography and Climate, Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

3. The Archaeological Record

National Treasures: Selected Articles from the Shelby White and Leon Levy Center for National Treasures, Israel Antiquities Authority.

4. The Encounter with Hellenism

The Book of Maccabees I, Sefaria.

5. The Roman-Jewish Wars

Josephus, The Jewish War, Book 5.

6. Portable Judaism

Moses Maimonides, Introduction to the Mishnah.

Medieval Jewish History

Optional Readings

1. The Talmud

Studying the Talmud: 400 Repetitions and the Divine Voice, Thought and Action: The National Education Association Journal.

2.  The Kehillah

Charter of the Kehillah (Jewish Community) of the New York City, April 5, 1914

3. Under Crescent

Norman Stillman, “The Judeo-Arabic Heritage”

4. Under Cross

The Crusades, Jewish Virtual Library

5. The Glory of Spanish Jewry

Selected Poems of Yehuda Halevi (trans. Hillel Halkin), Nextbook

Modern Jewish History

7:30-8:30 pm

Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

1. The Iberian Diaspora

Ushi Derman, “Uriel da Costa: the Story of a Nonbeliever,” Bet Hatefutsot, December 18, 2018.

2. The Safed Circle

The Kabbalah of Forgiveness

3. The People of the Book

Meet the Non-Jew Who Made Daf Yomi Possible, OU Torah, July 17, 2019.

4. Messianic Hopes

Matt Plen, “Who Was Shabbetai Tzvi?” My Jewish Learning

5. The Hasidic Revolution

Orthodox Judaism: Hasidim and Mitnagdim, Jewish Virtual LIbrary

6. Napoleon’s Sanhedrin

Napoleon’s Sanhedrin, Jewish History Blog

7. Five Strategies for Modernity

The End of Initimate Insularity: New Narratives of Jewish History in the Post-Soviet Era

For more information regarding the series please click here.

Wow, had a great time talking with Max Sklar on his The Local Maximum Podcast. He’s super smart, and was kind enough to only ask a few hard questions. Visit https://www.localmaxradio.com/episode/82 or download it from your podcast supplier. I think it turned out nicely.

Okay, this is going to be something different: four concentrated lectures on absolutely all of Jewish history, skipping the boring parts so we can cover it all. Free and open to the community; might be recorded for the Internet but depends on if anyone asks hard questions. Join us!

Wednesdays in September 2019, 7:30-8:30 pm

Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst

Touro College is deeply honored to host this remarkable world-class scholar, whose pioneering efforts working through the difficult manuscripts of the Aish Kodesh have made the Warsaw Ghetto writings of this important Hasidic Rabbi accessible to a new generation of scholars and disciples. This is a rare opportunity–please join me in welcoming Dr. Reiser to Brooklyn, and hear his moving presentation.

Holy Fire: The Life of R. Kalonymus Kalmish Shapira of Piaseczno (the “Aish Kodesh”)

Monday, September 9, 7PM

Main Auditorium

Touro College

1602 Avenue J, Brooklyn NY 11230

Free and Open to the Community

I’m really looking forward to lecturing at Citi Field next month as part of the incredible Torah NY gathering. There are going to be some absolutely phenomenal speakers there, including Rabbis Moshe Elefant, Moshe Schwed, Ya’akov Trump, Stephen Weil.

They have also let me know that there’s a secret 10% discount for all registrations that use this secret code: TNY19NOHARDQS.

I think TNY19 must stand for “Torah New York 2019.” Still working on the acronym NOHARDQS.

Please join us! It’s going to be an amazing day of learning and inspiration. Come by and say hello!

Please join us at Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst for four lectures in Jewish History! Details below.

This week was unusually busy for interviews! Kind of surprised that people want to talk to me about this stuff, but really glad there are others who find this research FASCINATING.

Yesterday I had a great convo with Rabbi Sholom Licht for a print article in Jewish Action. Our discussion began with the Jewish History in Daf Yomi project, rapidly went way off the rails with larger discussions on traditional vs. academic study of the Talmud, so many other things.

Then this morning Max Sklar came by to do a recording for his very cool podcast, Local Maximum, that looks at issues of media and education. We discussed the Jewish History series in particular, got into the weeds with analytics and what they say about free adult education on the internet.

Finally, Max Miller came by for a recording with Peter Gwin of National Geographic on the line in DC, talking about the tsunami of 115 and a key passage in the Talmud. A marine archaeologist at the University of Haifa has connected the dots, and they wanted my take on her research for their fascinating and edgy podcast, Overheard at National Geographic.

Exhausted and exhilarated! I hope to send links to the finished products when they are available later this Fall.