Brief overview of the life and work of Abraham Zacuto, important Jewish Iberian astronomer and historian. Now available: revised edition of The Kabbalah of Forgiveness.  Click here for more information.  

Aish Kodesh scholar Daniel Reiser holding a copy of my new book. Like Shakespeare holding a copy of one’s sonnets. Thank you!

The Piaseczno Rebbe, Rabbi Kalonymus Kalmish Shapira, refused to dignify the Nazis by naming them in his wartime sermons in the Warsaw Ghetto. In a rare moment of transparency, perhaps motivated by anguish over the suffering of his Hasidim, the Rebbe briefly suspended his euphemistic terminology with a curt third-person reference in his drashah on Parashat…

This was a huge amount of fun. If you are into Duties of the Heart, I think you will like this lecture! The video has a reference to Despacito by The Maccabeats, link provided below. Enjoy in good health!

I’m really happy that TorahAnytime.com is including my lectures, starting with The Jews of Sepharad series! Sign up for a free membership–there are some amazing speakers at TorahAnytime.com.

I was stopped on my way in to davening this morning by someone who told me about the incredible shiur that Rabbi Efrem Goldberg of Boca Raton Synagogue gave on the Aish Kodesh this week. Here’s the excerpt–Rabbi Goldberg captures the agony of the Rebbe after the loss of his family in his typically powerful…

Please click here to read the review at The Jewish Star. By Alan Jay Gerber The name and history of the Aish Kodesh in our community is well known. This legacy from the tragedy of the Warsaw Ghetto of one of its towering leaders, Rebbi Kalonymus Kalmish Shapira, the Aish Kodesh, has been taught to us…

I was deeply moved by the kind support of my research into the life of the Aish Kodesh at the book launch this week. By all accounts, it was a wonderful evening–we had such a diverse crowd in attendance, from pious Hasidim well familiar with the Piaseczno Rebbe to students who knew nothing about his…

Thanks to Rabbi Pesach Sommer for recording my brief comments at the conclusion of the hilula (74th anniversary of his martyrdom) for Rabbi Kalonymus Kalmish Shapira at The Shtiebl in Williamsburg, NY. SHOW MORE

Very grateful to Rabbi Pesach Sommer for writing a kind and generous review of Torah from the Years of Wrath! My favorite passage is at the end: “Dr. Abramson has written a book which is destined to lead to an increase of study of the rebbe’s Torah and thought in both the academic and Jewish…

Today was an absolutely fascinating day of discovery of Jewish history, exploring the 14th century synagogue in Carpentras, France: the second-oldest currently functioning synagogue in Europe. There are so many amazing things to view, so I’ve decided to break it up into several small videos, starting with this one, which looks at the entrance to…

Expelled 500 years ago, a traces of medieval Jewish life yet remain in this city on the Rhone river.

Gut moed students of Jewish history! Peter Gwin of National Geographic just released a podcast discussing the research of Dr. Beverly Goodman, a marine archaeologist at the University of Haifa. She’s spent years studying the mysterious destruction of Herod’s port at Caesaria, and argues that it was destroyed in the tsunami of 115. Besides the…

The Talmud in National Geographic! Specifically, the tsnuami of 115 CE and the famous debate over the oven of Akhnai. Just a teaser in this little trailer for the second season (see if you can identify my voice!), the whole podcast is scheduled for release later this month. Was really a lot of fun to…

Here’s my review, published in the Life section of the OU.org blog: A Rosh Yeshiva Wrote a Novel Under a Pseudonym. It’s Pretty Good. Dr. Henry AbramsonSeptember 24, 2019 In the highly-polarized environment of contemporary Jewish culture, it’s easier to imagine a rosh yeshiva banning fiction than writing it. Imagine my surprise when I received a copy…

Good morning students of Jewish History! Looking forward to seeing you for the third installment in our fairly popular Crash Course in Jewish History. We’re grateful for the positive response from the live audience, not to mention an unusually large number of online views: as I write this post, the first two parts have been…