After several weeks without recording a drashah, perhaps related to the horrendous typhus outbreak of the late winter of 1941, the Rebbe delivered a series of powerful derashot for the Passover holiday.  On the Seventh Day of Pesach he turned his attention to the subject of Torah learning.  The memoirs of Chaim Kaplan, a former principal, describe…

Passover in the Warsaw Ghetto: Inspiration for the Second Seder Taken from Torah from the Years of Wrath (Aish Kodesh) אני מבקש ומתחנן לפני כל אחד מישראל שילמוד בספרי, ובטח זכות אבותי הקדושים זצוקלל״ה יעמוד לו ולכל ביתו בזה ובבא “I request and plead every person of Israel to study my works—surely the merit of…

Brief lecture on the life and work of Judah Touro, an important 19th-century American philanthropist for whom, together with his father Isaac, Touro College was named.

School principal Chaim Kaplan recorded the bleak mood in the Warsaw Ghetto on the eve of Passover of the Hebrew year 5701 (1941): Like the Egyptian Passover, the Passover of Germany will be celebrated for generations.  The chaotic oppression of every day throughout this year of suffering will be reflected in the days of the…

Really nice to see that readers in my native Canada are encountering the Piaseczno Rebbe: Here’s a new review by Dr. Norman Ravvin, appearing in the current Canadian Jewish News. Note to my dear readers: the book is in Judaica stores, on Amazon and Kindle, but my favorite (and the best value) is the beautiful…

I’m grateful to Rabbi Josh Rosenfeld for his kind and thoughtful review of Torah from the Years of Wrath, which appeared in this month’s Jewish Action. Please click here to read his thoughts on the work of the Piaseczno Rebbe.

Brief lecture on the life and times of Daniel Mendoza, a Sephardic Jewish champion boxer of the 18th and early 19th century.

In early February 1940 the Nazis promulgated decrees that prohibited Jews from benefitting from general community charity services. Ration cards were distributed with racial distinctions: Jews received cards with a Star of David marked on them, while Poles and Germans received colored, otherwise unmarked cards. At this early date in the war, hunger did not…

Brief presentation on the life and works of Sir Moses Montefiore, an important 19th century Sephardic English philanthropist. Part of the Sephardic Diaspora series.

“Faith is not an argument. It is a conversation, in which we listen, accept the premises of the interaction, make active choices and contributions, shift our direction as necessary based on the cues we hear, and most importantly, keep the conversation alive and active…Abramson’s work allows us to eavesdrop on one of the most powerful…

I am grateful for this thorough and kind review of the recent Ukrainian translation of “Ukrainians and Jews in Revolutionary Times” by Oleksandr Zinchenko, published in today’s Istorichna Pravda. If you don’t read Ukrainian (and refuse to read Google translate, which is close enough to the original to be seriously misleading), the revised English edition…

Brief presentation of the life and work of Rabbi Chaim Yosef David Azoulay, a fascinating Sephardic Rabbi of the 18th century. Part Three of The Sephardic Diaspora series.

Tonight at YILC: a deeper discussion of the Maccabean Revolt, from Antiochus’ inferiority complex to fissures between Jewish factions under Yehudah Maccabee’s role. Surprisingly (or not surprisingly) relevant issues for our own times. What else are you doing tonight? Join us at the Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst at 7:30 for a timely talk on Chanukah.…

Something new and exciting from YouTube.

Always distracted but historical minutiae, I don’t think I was ever going to be a great Talmud student. Now, with the introduction of the amazing All Daf app (slated for launch on December 22), there’s finally a place for my approach to Talmud! Please enjoy this brief video from the recent Torah NY conference at…

No hard questions, please.

Conference theme: Sustainability, Resilience, and the Torah.

The Internet is a strange and often wonderful place. Here’s a personal story from last week. When I first wrote The Sea of Talmud: A Brief and Personal Introduction seven years ago, Theodore Sternberg wrote one of the sharpest Amazon reviews of the first edition: “Too much about Henry Abramson, not enough about the Talmud.”…

Hello fellow students of Jewish history! I’m pleased to announce that the second edition of The Sea of Talmud: A Brief and Personal Introduction is now available in a second, revised edition, in commemoration of the upcoming Siyum ha-Shas! From Sunday December 8 through Thursday December 12 the Kindle ebook edition will be available for…

Conference program attached

Part three in the Talmudic History series.

I got chills reading pages from this record book of Bet Din decisions from Bergen Belsen. Read this great piece of journalism by Molly Boigon at The Forward. Proud to have been asked for some background information.