Lectures in Jewish History and Thought. No hard questions, please.
Brief video highlighting the life and work of Rabbi Israel Meir Kagan (1838-1936), one of the most influential Rabbis of the 20th century. Better known as the Chofetz Chaim (*one who desires life,” taken from Psalm 34).
Alexander has done well with his fundraising efforts to participate in the Boys Israel Leadership Training (BILT) program run by the National Council of Synagogue Youth. He’s already raised $858 toward his goal of $3,000! To all of you who participated, thanks very much. If you haven’t yet had a chance, please do so quickly, because the Learnathon ends on Friday, May 23!
Here’s a link to his fundraising page: http://learnathon.ncsy.org/learner/Alexander123/
If you prefer to mail a check, please be sure to indicate it’s for Alexander Abramson and send it to:
NCSY
11 Broadway, 14th Floor
New York, NY 10004
Thanks very much!
Henry (Hillel) Abramson
Proud Parent of a BILT participant
I’m a runner. I’ve been running as long as I can remember, including my first half-marathon at age 12 and my first full marathon at 14. Running gives me energy, and makes me feel like I can accomplish anything. I’m proud of my finishes, and even more proud that over the years I’ve raised almost $10,000 for charities like the Joe DiMaggio Childrens’ Hospital Foundation and Friendship Circle. I’m Alexander Abramson, I’m 15, and a proud sophomore at Weinbaum Yeshiva High School in Boca Raton.
My mom suggested I try out for BILT, a program run by the National Council of Synaogue Youth. It stands for Boys Israel Leadersthip Training, and I think it’s really sick that I got accepted. BILT will let me visit Israel, train on IDF bases, and help out at camps for Israeli kids in Sderot who have to live with terrorist bombing attacks all the time. I think it’s going to change my life, and help me understand what I can do for Israel and the Jewish people when I get older.
I need your help to attend BILT. I”ve got an ambitious goal of raising $3,000 to participate, and I’m going to prepare by learning a lot more about Israel’s history, geography, and culture. Please help me by sponsoring me for this program. Click here to visit my sponsor page.
Thanks,
P.S. Thanks to my Dad for allowing me to post this on his website.
P.P.S. Here are some links to videos my sister made of my last two marathons:
Hello students–
We are scheduled to resume our lecture series this evening with a presentation on the Chofetz Chaim,one of the most influential Rabbinic thinkers of the late 19th and early 20th century. Rabbi Israel Meir Kagan is known principally for his dramatically creative analysis of the topic of forbidden speech (lashon ha-ra), and rose to prominence as a major scholar-leader of the Jewish people. 8:30 at Young Israel. Look forward to seeing you!
My son Alexander shows up in official Miami Marathon video at 0:38 seconds (red bandana) http://youtu.be/gxJRzYzQfoQ Please sponsor him at http://www.teamfriendship.org/Alexander to help kids with disabilities!
Hello everyone: my son Alexander is once again training to run the ING Miami Marathon to raise funds for Friendship Circle, a non-profit organization that helps children, teens and adults with special needs. Alexander is an avid runner with a long history of running for charitable causes: in 2010 he ran his first half-marathon (at age 12) and raised several thousand dollars for the Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital Foundation. Since then he’s been running with Team Friendship, and really counts on your support to help kids with various disabilities (the attached brief video, created by his sister Danit Malka, tells the story). Please support his bid to complete his second full marathon by visiting www.teamfriendship.org and sponsoring this organization generously. Thank you!
Nahmanides (Rabbi Moshe ben Nahman, or Ramban) was one of the most important thinkers of Jewish history. Brilliantly creative and intellectually courageous, his commentary on the Torah is widely studied eight centuries after his passing. Part of the Jewish Biography as History series by Dr. Henry Abramson.
![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.
Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon (1135-1204) was a towering figure in medieval Jewish history, and continues to cast a long shadow into the Jewish present. Nevertheless, the work of the philosopher-physician endured significant controversy, including an especially sad episode in which Jews actually consigned his works to the flames.
Henry Abramson 