Premiering today, hopefully with live chat, at 12pm ET (New York time). Here’s part 1 if you want to catch up or even review.

Some background to my wife’s altruistic kidney donation two years ago on Erev Yom Kippur. You can help! Click here to support kidney donation through Renewal.

Some historical thoughts on recent usage of the word “pogrom” to describe the current situation in some Israeli cities. Thanks to JTA Editors Philissa Cramer and Andrew Silow-Carroll for shaping the article.

Two brief discussions of the history of women in the Medieval period, 12 pm ET (New York Time) with live chat. Join us!

After a brief overview placing the medieval period in historical context, we look more deeply at two especially noxious false charges: the Blood Libel and Desecration of the Host.

A look at the role of Jews in the medieval European economy, with emphasis on trade and finance. Premiering today at 1pm ET (New York Time) with live chat.

Please join us this Sunday for an outdoor gathering honoring our community’s heroic kidney donors.

Brief lecture on the life and times of Daniel Mendoza, a Sephardic Jewish champion boxer of the 18th and early 19th century.

In early February 1940 the Nazis promulgated decrees that prohibited Jews from benefitting from general community charity services. Ration cards were distributed with racial distinctions: Jews received cards with a Star of David marked on them, while Poles and Germans received colored, otherwise unmarked cards. At this early date in the war, hunger did not…

Brief presentation on the life and works of Sir Moses Montefiore, an important 19th century Sephardic English philanthropist. Part of the Sephardic Diaspora series.

“Faith is not an argument. It is a conversation, in which we listen, accept the premises of the interaction, make active choices and contributions, shift our direction as necessary based on the cues we hear, and most importantly, keep the conversation alive and active…Abramson’s work allows us to eavesdrop on one of the most powerful…

I am grateful for this thorough and kind review of the recent Ukrainian translation of “Ukrainians and Jews in Revolutionary Times” by Oleksandr Zinchenko, published in today’s Istorichna Pravda. If you don’t read Ukrainian (and refuse to read Google translate, which is close enough to the original to be seriously misleading), the revised English edition…

Brief presentation of the life and work of Rabbi Chaim Yosef David Azoulay, a fascinating Sephardic Rabbi of the 18th century. Part Three of The Sephardic Diaspora series.

Tonight at Machon Chana: part two of The History of Sephardic Jewry series. Last week we looked at the origins of Spanish Jewry and the Muslim period; tonight we will focus on the Reconquista up to the Expulsion of 1492.

Main Auditorium of the Mighty Avenue J campus of Touro College 1602 Avenue J, Brooklyn NY 11230 7pm  Free and open to the community.  No hard questions, please.  For more information please click here. 

My old friend Dr. Michael Chigel tagged me on Facebook this morning with his remarkably kind and generous unsolicited review of Torah from the Years of Wrath. I’m deeply moved and grateful to Mike for promoting the Torah of the Aish Kodesh, as well as for the undeserved praise he lavished on my small contribution, but also…

Very pleased to see this revised edition of my first book available. Includes a new foreword and afterword.  

To the Hasidim steeped in the religious significance of the ritual calendar, the Sabbath known as Zakhor (March 23, 1940) must have seemed a cruel redundancy. Literally called “remember,” the Sabbath preceding the holiday of Purim is named for a few publicly read Torah verses (Deuteronomy 25:17-19) that memorialize the attack of Israel’s primordial enemy,…

Hey friends in Crown Heights! Please drop by and say hello.