Meet Mr. Hunter Ross Loren, a precocious 13-year old who, together with his uncle Alan Loren, contacted me this week to discuss Jewish history. Hunter is an avid fan of Jewish history–especially, of all things, the Jews of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth–and he is probably my youngest student online. As a follow-up to his Bar Mitzvah, his uncle arranged to come visit me in my office at the Mighty Avenue J campus of Touro College to ask me some really hard questions (thankfully, I survived–they were actually quite excellent questions).

In recognition of his academic prowess, we prepared a small certificate for him, recognizing his Scholarly Enthusiasm and Excellence. Thanks to my assistant, Ms. Jamie Venezia, for masterminding the execution of this moment.

Congratulations Mr. Loren! Your family should be very proud of you. Looking forward to seeing your name on a book in a few years…

Here’s a new video from the Ukraine in the World Conference I attended last month at the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute. Introduction by Dr. Lubomyr Hajda of Harvard at 1:03, and my talk begins about a minute later. The presentation basically reviews the intersecting worlds of Jews and Ukrainians over the last half-century, with some musings on what the future might hold.

Colleagues, I’m pleased to post a version of my new experimental course online for the public good. Please visit bit.ly/survivejewishhistory to access the course.

The course is divided into twelve Existential Crises, covering historical eras from the Hellenistic to the Spanish Expulsion. Undergraduate students are required to complete several academic exercises to “survive” each level and pass the course (the syllabus is located at bit.ly/survivejewishhistory). The lighter version of the course presented here does not award undergraduate credit, but students are encouraged to participate by posting their responses in the comments section. I also encourage new visitors to click on the “follow” button at the bottom right of the website in order to receive course updates.

I hope you enjoy this experimental new course! Learn in good health.

(Photo by the incredible Yaakov Naumi/Flash 90)

The Hasidim of the Piaseczno Rebbe who gathered for the Seudah Shelishit in his Beit Midrash on 5 Dzielna Street in Warsaw must have been unusually somber that fateful June 1940 afternoon. Over the previous week, ominous news had filtered into the Ghetto: France had fallen to the powerful Nazi armed forced. With the collapse of this major western power, Hitler was nearing his high-water mark of European domination, occupying the continent from the English Channel to the borders of the Soviet Union. Many in the Ghetto had hoped that France would be able to halt the advance of German forces, but in the summer of 1940 it looked as if the “1000-year Reich” was ever closer to becoming a reality. Germany appeared invincible.

The Rebbe, by contrast, was undaunted. Taking his cue from the weekly parashah, he fearlessly delivered a bold, undiluted message of courage. His starting point was Caleb’s call to action, exhorting the Jewish people, once a slave nation, to begin the conquest of Israel. Contradicting the fearful report of the other spies, who bemoaned that the military odds facing the Israelites were hopeless, Caleb and Joshua remained steadfast in their faith in the Divine promise.

Let us go up and take it over, for we certainly can. Let us understand: the spies certainly spoke meaningfully and reasonably, but the nation is powerful…and the cities are fortified. Why did Caleb not argue with them to rebut their rationale and their arguments? Instead, he simply said, let us go up.

Who in the audience could not help but hear the subtext? In the Torah, the spies returned from scouting the land of Israel and came back with a realistic assessment: attempting to conquer the land was absolutely futile, well beyond the military capabilities of the Jewish people. Caleb, however, did not even bother to respond to their reasoned arguments. Through thinly veiled rhetoric, the Rebbe argued that Warsaw Jews should not succumb to despair:

Such must be the faith of the Jew. Not only when he sees an opening and path to his salvation, that is that he reasonably believes, according to the course of natural events, that God will save him, and thereby he is strengthened; but also at the time when he does not see, Heaven forbid, any reasonable opening through the course of natural events for his salvation, he must still believe that God will save him and he is thereby strengthened in his faith and trust. On the contrary, at such a time it is better that he not engage in intellectual convolutions to find some rationale and opening through natural means, since it is clear that he will not find one—consequently it is possible that his faith will be diminished. This diminution in his faith and trust in God might serve to prevent his salvation, Heaven forbid. Rather, he must declare that it is all true, that the nation that lives there is in fact powerful, it is true that the cities are fortified.  Nonetheless, I proclaim my faith in God, that God is beyond limitation and nature, that God will save us. Let us go up and take it over, beyond reason and beyond logic. Such faith and trust in God draws our salvation closer.

The Rebbe’s message is clear: Jews were not to give credence to the doomsayers of the Ghetto. Like Caleb’s report to Moses on the enemy forces in Canaan, the Jews need not focus on the power of the German army, they need only proclaim let us go up and take it over, for we certainly can. The Third Reich, no matter how powerful, is no match for the Almighty.

Excerpted from

Torah from the Years of Wrath: The Historical Context of the Aish Kodesh

Hardcover: $29.71 (15% discount with this link)

Softcover: $24.95

Hello Jewish History fans–

Here’s a new project you might find interesting. A few months ago I came across the work of Ken Bain (What the Best College Teachers Do), which inspired me to take a dramatic new look at the way I’ve been teaching a bread-and-butter course for a long time: History of the Jewish People I, your basic undergraduate survey course, covering Jewish history from the Mishnah to the Spanish Expulsion. Professor Bain emphasizes the value of the journey of discovery in learning, and with that in mind and a bunch of behavioral economics theory, I’ve completely rethought the course. I’m really excited about how undergraduate students will appreciate it.

At the same time, I’d like to make a simpler version of the course available to my students on the web. Please stick around, as I hope to upload some really interesting stuff over the next few weeks and into the next academic year! Please visit this page to see the full syllabus as I’ve presented it to undergraduates, and here’s the introductory video.

Please let me know your thoughts!

Thanks,

HMA

Chaim Kaplan, an unemployed former Jewish day school principal and resident of the Warsaw Ghetto, recorded the mood as the Jews received increasingly distressing news of German military victories on the western front in the summer of 1940:

All normal conduct of business has ceased.  In place of business, peddling has come, and the place for all such vending is in the street.  So the streets are filled with men, women, and little children, as in the good old days, even though all the stores are closed and the houses demolished.  Mob upon mob fills the sidewalks until it is as crowded as a market day.  And every crowd of vendors is also a crowd of politicians.  Every oddity finds listening ears and spreads so fast that within an hour “all of Warsaw” is discussing it.  There is no limit to the lies.

Our Jews don’t believe in the murderer’s victories in France.  The newspapers announce victories which cannot be denied, whose truth is apparent — yet the Jews don’t admit them.  They stick to their conviction: The Germans will end in destruction.

The Rebbe’s message for parashat Naso resonated with the themes of Shavuot and the receiving of the Torah. He exhorted his Hasidim to invest themselves in Torah study and Hasidic life with every fiber of their being, even under the pressurized environment of the Ghetto:

It is not sufficient for a person to merely perform a commandment to fulfill one’s duty as a Jew, rather one must transform one’s self into a Jew in the sense of and you will be a nation of priests unto Me, and a holy nation.  This is the transformation represented by the phrase,and you will be.  Consequently, the Jew must employ one’s entire character, nature, and inclinations for the purpose of holiness. 

A parable is mentioned in the work Zot Zikaron by the righteous and holy Rabbi of Lublin in the name of the great and holy Maggid that when a person wishes to arouse love of God before prayer, one should contemplate one’s love for one’s children or even material possessions.  Stirred by this love, the Jew should then recall that these blessings represent the greatness and kindness that God has bestowed, and this will inspire greater love of God. In other words, even one’s base love of material possessions are elevated into a love of God.  

The Rebbe was cognizant, however, that many in his audience had lost all their possessions, and indeed many had lost children–the Rebbe himself lost his only son and daughter-in-law in the brutal Luftwaffe bombing during the initial invasion of Warsaw in the fall of 1939. He tempered his spiritual directives with an acknowledgment of the suffering of his Hasidim, yet stressed the importance of renewed spiritual effort in a new reading of Exodus 15:2, this is my God, Whom I will exalt; the God of my father, Whom I will glorify.

All this, however, is impossible when a person is immersed in suffering, Heaven forbid, and for this we pray that God save us with great acts of loving kindness, as my father of blessed memory wrote regarding the words and perform for us great acts of loving kindness.  While everything that God does for us is an act of loving kindness, we pray that he should perform acts which also appear to us as good.  For even if we perform commandments, if we do so while we are downtrodden, then we do not perform them with the depths of our being.  Is it possible to immerse oneself in the study of Torah when one’s mind is ailing?  Is it possible to experience fiery enthusiasm when one’s heart is sick, Heaven forbid?   This is my God–this is my personal God, Whom I will serve with my innermost being, and also the God of my father, Whom I will glorify.  I will not be satisfied with the sense of holiness and Divine Service which I inherited from my ancestors, rather Iwillalsoexalt God.

The Rebbe brought his drashah to a close with a prayer for concrete, material blessings of redemption for his Hasidim, alluded to in the Priestly blessing that appears in the Torah reading:

“Each generation according to its interpreters, its interpreters according to their generation.”  An interpreter must be in touch with his generation, in order that he be closer to them and their inclinations so that he may train their distinctive natures to Divine Worship.  Similarly, the salvation that God affords them should not remain beyond them, in some sort of metaphysical sense alone, rather the salvation should be drawn down them personally and for their practical benefit.  As it is written in my holy father’s work, that Abraham our father should not say, “you fulfilled the prophecy of and they will will enslave and torture them, [but you have not fulfilled and I will take them out amidst great wealth],” for were it not for this claim, God could have fulfilled the prophecy and afterwards they will go out with great wealth, referring only to great spiritual wealth.  In order that Abraham our father [should not make this claim], God fulfilled this prophecy in concrete terms, with silver and gold.

This is the sense of thus shall you bless the Jewish people…may God bless you.  Granted, God will bless them, but they will place My name on the Jewish people, meaning literally upon them, and not remain merely above them, in a manner that will only benefit them in Heaven alone.  They are, after all, human beings, and need even physical salvation, as Rashi comments on these [priestly] blessings, “with children” and “with possessions.”

Torah from the Years of Wrath, 1939-1943: The Historical Context of the Aish Kodesh

Shimon Huberband was a student of the Rebbe and an amateur historian working for Emanuel Ringelblum’s underground Oneg Shabbat archive (Rabbi Huberband, who was killed along with Ringelblum and most of the archivists, was probably instrumental in convincing the Rebbe to entrust his manuscript to Ringelblum for burial). Rabbi Huberband  visited the court of Piaseczno on the holiday of Shavuot and provided a brief but evocative first-hand report.

At the time (June 13-14, 1940) rumors circulated throughout the Warsaw Ghetto to the effect that France’s fall to the Nazis was imminent.

I went off to the Piaseczno Rebbe to his Hasidic gathering. There was a crowd of about 150 people, but the traditional dairy meal wasn’t served as it was in earlier years. The Rebbe said words of Torah, including many words of strengthening and encouragement. Various zmiros were sung. When the gathering concluded, the traditional dance—-with one person standing behind the other—began. During the dance the Rebbe wept profusely.

Huberband’s comment that the Rebbe wept profusely during the traditional dance is puzzling. Were these tears of anguish, tears of joy, or something else? The Rebbe’s sermon that day should provide insight, but it is unusually complex, relating to the question of how God, an infinite Being, could communicate with a finite human being. For the Rebbe, the holiday of Shavuot represented a direct and immediate transportation over this philosophical divide, an unmediated communication from God to the Jewish people. The Rebbe described this as nothing less than an intimate and mystical sharing of God’s very Self. Based on the content of the sermon, it is tempting to think that the the Rebbe’s tears were expressions of overwhelming gratitude at the immensity of this Divine communication. 

Sometimes the prosecutors overpower the Jewish people, Heaven forbid, and it is difficult for the Jewish people to be saved. Then the Holy One who is Blessed is revealed, which silences all the accusers, as in Egypt when the Almighty said I am God. Consequently Shavuot, the time of the receiving of the Torah—and any time when Torah is studied—is a moment of salvation, and no accuser has power over the Jewish people, Heaven forbid.  This is because God is speaking with us, and the essence of “I” is revealed. This is the sense of the verse, may Your kindness comfort me as You spoke to Your servant, not as one who speaks to one’s self, rather as You said to Your servant: When You spoke to me…for Torah is my delight and You speak to me.

The Rebbe was ever-cognizant of the material woes of his congregation, however, so he translated his mystical emotion into an appeal on their behalf by returning to a discussion of Psalms:

A song of ascents. I will raise my eyes to the mountains, where will my help come from? My help is from God, who creates Heaven and earth. We must understand the meaning of the question, where will my help come from? Don’t we know that God is the Savior?  Furthermore, what is the relevance of the reference to the creation of heaven and earth?

It is obvious that when the Jewish people are endangered, Heaven forbid, seeing no possibility of salvation, and they ask from where [me-ayin], then the response must be my help is from God, who creates Heaven and earth, for God also created them from nothingness [me-ayin], for there was no prior basis or possibility for their creation, so too he will save us now ex nihilo [me-ayin].

The fall of Paris was confirmed by the afternoon the day after Shavuot, ruining the immediate post-holiday atmosphere by casting an additional layer of gloom over the city. Warsaw Jews, however, would not be discouraged by the worsening military situation. Shimon Huberband recorded an example of the black humor typical of the Ghetto circulating at that time:

Jews are now very pious.  They observe all the ritual laws:  they are stabbed and punched with holes like matzahs, and have as much bread as on Passover; they are beaten like hoshanas, rattled like Haman; they are green as esrogim and thin as lulavim; they fast as if it were Yom Kippur; they are burnt as if it were Hanukah, and their moods are as if it were the Ninth of Av.

Adapted from

Torah from the Years of Wrath 1939-1943: The Historical Context of the Aish Kodesh

277 pages

Hardcover: $29.71

Softcover: $24.95

Kindle: $9.99 (free for Kindle Unlimited readers)

Brief overview of the life and work of Hakham Ovadia Yosef, prominent Chief Sephardic Rabbi of Israel. Final installment in the Spring 2018 Lecture Series: The Sephardic Diaspora.

Sponsored by Katie and Vick Crespin of Miami Beach, FL

In honor of the Six Million and all who were killed just for being Jewish.

Hello everyone–

Had a great time here at the “Touro of Cambridge.” Great colleagues, great students, but looking forward to returning to the Mighty Avenue J for tomorrow’s lecture on Hakham Ovadya Yosef, last of the Spring 2018 series). Here’s a couple photos my wife took of me at my old hangouts: Widener Library and the rare books collection of Houghton Library.

Hope you all saw that Touro was recently ranked #1 for Jewish Students by the Algemeiner!

Brief lecture on the Crypto-Jews. Part 9 of The Sephardic Diaspora series. If you have difficulty seeing the video please click here.