Lectures in Jewish History and Thought. No hard questions, please.
Thank you all for coming last night. Hope you enjoy this video recording of the lecture, which covers Medieval Jewish History in a hopelessly superficial rush, from the close of the Mishnah in the 3rd century to the Spanish Expulsion in the late 15th century.
Next week’s lecture will look at Modern Jewish History, picking up from here and continuing to the turn of the 20th century.
Please click here for more information on the Crash Course in Jewish History series.
Good morning students, colleagues, and other lovers of Jewish history!
Tonight (Wednesday, September 11) we are scheduled to resume our Crash Course in Jewish History with Part II, focusing on the medieval period from the compilation of the Mishnah at the turn of the 3rd century through the Spanish Expulsion of 1492.
Open to the Community, Free of Charge, Light Refreshments, etc.
Last week we were surprised by an unusually large audience: we set out seats for 40 super-motivated fans of Jewish history with another 20 in reserve, and ended up drawing over 100, the audience spilling and listening from the hallway. I felt really gratified by the positive response–thank you all so much for coming!
Anyway, tonight we are preparing for a larger crowd, so everyone will be able to have a seat in comfort (not to mention the tasty snacks). Thanks to tonight’s sponsors, Dr. & Mrs. Rubin & Mandy Brecher, as well as the Jewish History Committee, especially Livia Rottenberg and Ricky Adler, as well as the YILC executive and staff for the great promotion of the series: Marvin Schenker, Becki Faska, and George in Maintenance for the quick response set up.
Click Here for Optional Readings
Touro College is honored to welcome a great Israeli scholar to the Mighty Avenue J campus this Monday night at 7:00 pm sharp. Dr. Daniel Reiser, winner of the Yad Vashem Prize for Holocaust Research and the World Union of Jewish Studies Prize for the Best Book on Jewish Thought, will speak about his pathbreaking scholarship on the life of the martyred Rabbi Kalonymus Kalmish Shapira (the “Aish Kodesh”).
Rabbi Shapira, trapped in the Warsaw Ghetto, heroically tended to his beleaguered followers until his execution in the context of a November 1943 uprising. Anticipating his ultimate end, he gave his manuscripts to the secret Oneg Shabbat archive for burial. No survivors lived to reveal the location of the cache, but in December 1950 a Polish construction worker clearing rubble from the ghetto unearthed this spiritual treasure, entombed within two tin milk containers.
Dr. Reiser’s painstaking research on the raw, almost undecipherable text of Rabbi Shapiro’s wartime writings, has been hailed as a major turning point in research on the life of religious Jews during the Holocaust.
Please join us in the Main Auditorium of Touro College, 1602 Avenue J, at 7:00 pm for what promises to be an intellectually stimulating and spiritually uplifting presentation. Dr. Abramson, whose own book on Rabbi Shapira relied heavily on Dr. Reiser’s research, will introduce him.
Free and open to the community.
Please enjoy this recording of the first in our new four-part series, Crash Course in Jewish History, offered this month at the Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst. More information available by clicking here.
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
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
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
Ushi Derman, “Uriel da Costa: the Story of a Nonbeliever,” Bet Hatefutsot, December 18, 2018.
2. The Safed Circle
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.
Two brief thoughts on the momentous occasion of the beginning of the new Academic Year.
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
There are forty days from Rosh Hodesh Elul (today) to Yom Kippur. Please join hundreds (maybe thousands?) of students sharing in my yearly review of the classic work of Moses Maimonides on Teshuvah. Free texts and videos offered in a variety of platforms on social media. May you all have a transformative season of self-improvement, and enter the year 5780 with strength and renewed purpose!
Please visit www.bit.ly/globalrambam2019 for lots more information and resources.
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
Henry Abramson 