Six brief videos chronicling the 2021 journey with Kosher Riverboat Cruises up the Douro River to Salamanca, Spain and back through Portugal. A wonderful fantastic look at the rich history of Jews in the Iberian Peninsula, from the earliest settlement in Roman colonies (possibly earlier!) through the Visigoths, then the brief but brilliant Golden Age in Moorish Spain through the Inquisition and Expulsion of 1492. A highlight for me was visiting Belmonte, home to a crypto-Jewish community that maintained its Jewish identity throughout 500 years of hiding from the wider world, and then spending time in the Mekor Hayim synagogue in Porto, home of a 21st century renaissance of Portuguese Jewish history.

For more information on this and many other amazing tours into Jewish history, please visit https://kosherrivercruise.com.

A brief discussion of the sudden rise of Kabbalistic study in 16th century Safed (Tsfat, Tsfas).

Today at 12:30 pm ET: a brief discussion of the stage of Jewish religious/literary activity that began in the 16th century, collectively known as the period of the Aharonim (the latter ones, distinguishing them from the Rishonim, or earlier ones).

Good morning fellow students of Jewish history! Join me at 1pm today for a brief discussion of the medieval origins of the once large Jewish population of Poland and Eastern Europe.

Please join us for a brief (24m) discussion of the first century of the Sephardic diaspora.

Wishing everyone a blessed New Year!

Is it possible that the classic works of the Jewish ethical tradition are literary reactions to personal crises? Can we approach the great works of Maimonides, Rabbi Moshe Cordovero, Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto and others as strong responses to devastating reversals in their personal lives?

Please join me at 12pm (ET, New York Time) for a live chat on this thesis.

Wishing you all a גמר וחתימה טובה, a successful conclusion to the High Holy Days, and all blessings for 5782 and beyond.

HMA