Really looking forward seeing my friends at YILC!

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





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!

Incredible experiences discovering Jewish history with Kosher Riverboat Cruises.

Rebel Hero or Roman Traitor? A brief (12m) video version of my recent article on Aish.com. The draft book chapters are in Biblical Jewish History course. A complex figure! I spend a lot of time thinking about him and his work.

What is the Meaning of Jewish History? I gave this series of talks last week in Teaneck and managed to duck most of the hard questions (phew). Not so sure I will get off so easily in Fair Lawn! Please join us. SCHOLAR-IN-RESIDENCE WITH DR. HENRY ABRAMSON Parshat Shlach, June 24-25Sponsored by:-Eve Thaler for the…

A brief overview of his courageous scholarship. I spoke about him at a recent Shabbaton in Teaneck, and someone from the UK was in the audience: Dr. Roth pronounced his first name SEH-sil, not SEE-sil. If I had realized this when I made the video I would have used the English pronunciation rather than the…

What is the Meaning of Jewish History? Very honored to be serving as a Scholar-in-Residence at Congregation B’nai Yeshurun. Three new lectures on “What is the Meaning of Jewish History?” will examine at the Ancient, Medieval and Modern periods with a view to understanding some of the complexities of interpreting the fascinating, profound history of…

Are you in the Five Towns over Shavuot? Please join us at the Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst for a remarkable series of classes in Jewish history! We’re starting at midnight and learning all night till dawn prayers. In keeping with our theme this year of “Transformation: Personal, Communal, Global,” I’ve chosen to look at the…

The final Ashkenazium lecture is now online! With this lecture, the online course A Thousand Years of Ashkenaz is now complete! Twelve Modules and 56 lessons in length (mostly videos). Enjoy in good health! Chapter Six of The Jewish People: A History Now Online! Over 200 pages of draft text are now available to students…

Formally emancipated in 1790-91, the rights of Jews as citizens were challenged a decade later. In his typically grandiose fashion, Napoleon addressed the question by reconvening the ancient Great Sanhedrin and asked the Jews of France twelve basic questions. The Holocaust in Ashkenaz Part 11 of The Ashkenazium Lectures, premieres today at 12:00 noon ET.…

Proud to work with Unpacked on this brief yet sophisticated discussion of a complex topic. New Draft Chapter in Biblical Jewish History now Online Very pleased to be receiving comments on the draft chapters in my forthcoming book with Koren Publishers! Students registered in the Biblical Jewish History course are welcome to read and critique.…

My friends, it’s almost Shabbos. Will you participate? Inscribe your name in the Book of Life by joining the list of donors to Renewal. Your contribution, large or small, will help them find a kidney for someone in desperate need. We can’t all be heroic altruistic kidney donors. But we can certainly be altruistic dollar…

900 years later, a document from the Cairo Geniza describes the tragic story of a French convert to Judaism during the Crusades Three years ago, my wife donated a kidney. Here’s why. Three years ago, on erev Yom Kippur, my wife Ilana donated a kidney to a total stranger. Although she literally gave someone the…