Really looking forward seeing my friends at YILC!

Lectures in Jewish History and Thought. No hard questions, please.




The Spanish and Portuguese Diaspora, The Encounter with Science, Popular Uprisings and the False Messiah: Live chat and I SURVIVED JEWISH HISTORY lecture, Monday Night at 8pm.
I hope you are all staying safe and healthy. Last night I had a great interview with Rabbi David Pardo on OU Live, talking about the current Coronovirus situation in Jewish history. I had a lot of fun (and really enjoyed listening to Shulem Lemmer afterward). My segment starts at about 30m, I am preceded…

Tonight at 7:30 PM EST! Topic: I SURVIVED JEWISH HISTORY Time: Mar 18, 2020 07:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) Join Zoom Meeting https://zoom.us/j/476508134?pwd=RFNmZVhvNHR1bEM3aUh2UHhYNlpYdz09 Meeting ID: 476 508 134 Password: 077143 One tap mobile +16465588656,,476508134# US (New York) +13126266799,,476508134# US (Chicago) Dial by your location +1 646 558 8656 US (New York) +1 312…
Join us for a live chat alongside the lecture on the Golden Age of Spanish Jewry! Click on the image above for the address. Stay safe, stay healthy!

Out of an “abundance of caution” (the key phrase of the month), we’re going to move tonight’s lecture to an online platform. Please click on the image or here at for the lecture at 7:30-8:30 pm tonight. The password is YILC. Looking forward to seeing you tonight!

Join me tonight (Sunday 8pm) for a live chat and this lecture, looking at the experience of Jews under Islamic and Christian rule in the early medieval period. Click on the image above or use this link: https://youtu.be/X4JppODXdSY. Looking forward to learning with you!

Thanks to Laura Adkins of JTA for her superb editing, as always.

Origins of the Talmud: Premiere with live chat Monday night at 9PM EST. Join us!

Fellow students of Jewish history! Here’s an article I just published on JTA. about Nissim Black’s remarkable Mothaland Bounce. The genre is a little outside my comfort zone–I normally only write on Jewish history and thought–but I had a LOT of fun writing it. Thanks to my 18-year old son for explaining hip-hop to me.…

Good morning fans of Jewish History! We are scheduled to begin Series 2 of the “I Survived Jewish History” lectures, moving from the origins of the Talmud to the Golden Age of Spain. Live on Wednesday night, Members get the unedited video online sometime Thursday, and finally the Premiere of the edited version (cheesy jokes…
A tribute to the Founding President of Touro College on the occasion of his 10th Yohrzeit.


Emma Goldman, “The most dangerous woman in America.” Yael and Schwab knock this Jewish History Nerds podcast OUT OF THE PARK. Really proud to work with the team at Jewish Unpacked! Listen where you get your podcasts. Jews and the Right to Bear Arms in Early Ashkenaz Register for the History of Ashkenaz Course!

Really looking forward to speaking in the Holy City of Brooklyn for Project inspire! Please join us. Jewish History Nerds, Season 2, begins with King Herod! Really enjoy working with Yael, Schwab and Rivky at Unpacked! Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Birth of Ashkenaz Series Continues: New Videos!

Did this 9th century Churchman read the Bible–and convert to Judaism? Why did this Iranian Muslim save Jews in the Holocaust? Really proud to work with the talented team at Unpacked on these new videos. Two New Videos for the upcoming Ashkenazium lectures in Budapest

Please join me at the Young Israel of Fort Lee for a discussion of Rabbi Kalonymus Kalmish Shapiro, hy”d. The Catalan Atlas Part I of The Birth of Ashkenaz: A New Series

Episode #1 of Talk Jewish To Me What is the Extra-biblical Historical Evidence for the Exodus?

This is just an amazing find. The Birth of Ashkenaz: Graduate Seminar in Budapest this May Thrilled to be returning to the Ashkenazium later this summer to spend time with some really brilliant European students looking at the Birth of Ashkenaz. Here’s the course description, please visit https://www.ashkenazium.eu for more information: A survey of the…

YouTube recently made it easy to transform my playlists into Podcast format, which has long been a demand from fellow students of Jewish history. I just uploaded one list to start: the Jewish History Lab (114 videos). Should be populating on Google Play and (I think) Apple Podcasts, but for now it’s available on my…

Really enjoyed visiting Edmonton last week for this conference, very intelligent and receptive audiences. My keynote was preceded by a general welcome to the conference from Dr. Ryan Dunch, and starts with something that is widespread at the University of Alberta: an acknowledgment that the University is situated on land that originally belonged to First…

I am deeply honored to address the Chevra Kadisha at the Riverdale Jewish Center at their annual 7 Adar celebration. The “Holy Association” is a group of men and women who undertake, usually on a volunteer basis, the difficult task of preparing our deceased loved ones for burial. If you are in the neighborhood, please…

Please come by and say hello!

Please join us for the final lecture in the Jewish Life in the (Not So) Dark Ages series! Wednesday night at 7:30 ET. RSVP at https://bit.ly/YILCNotSoDark. Welcome!