Really looking forward seeing my friends at YILC!

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





I read the Mueller Report (yes, the whole thing). You should too. Here’s some useful shortcuts if you need them.

Another opportunity for social media creep into your life! But this stuff is interesting, actually.

Great for magidei shiur: an index to over 150 videos on Jewish History in Daf Yomi! Over 2,600 more on the way.

From the legend of Vespasian’s rudderless ships to the expulsion of 1494.

Arakhin, traditionally pronounced “Erchin” in Ashkenazi circles, begins tomorrow. Now’s your chance to join the worldwide community of Daf Yomi learners! Click here for more information on this unusual tractate. Kudos to Rabbi Moshe Schwed, Director of the OU Daf Yomi Initiative, for putting together this really nice promo for my small contribution, Jewish History…

Archelaus, son of Herod. Okay, probably not really the first Jew, and it wasn’t France then, but close enough.

Click here for my latest guest post on the Orthodox Union Torah blog: “Want to lose weight? Start Daf Yomi.“

“Leadership” is the theme for our learning at YILC this Shavuot. Here’s my small contribution. All are welcome!

Hello students of Jewish history! I’m really thrilled to inform you that the Jewish History in Daf Yomi podcast is now online! Part of the OU Daf Yomi Initiative, the podcasts feature brief (2-5 minute) videos discussing some historical aspect of the daily page of Talmud (Daf Yomi). Obviously most relevant to those actually studying…

This is what historians think about during Passover.


Good morning students of Jewish history! I hope you have Torah NY on your calendar for Sunday, September 22, at Citi Field NY. I’m really thrilled to be speaking there on my newest project, the rather audacious Jewish History in Daf Yomi podcast, which is part of the exciting All Daf app currently under construction…

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…

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. Young Israel of…
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…
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 What is Jewish History? Peter Steinfels, “Salo Baron, 94, Scholar of Jewish History, Dies,” New York Times, November 26, 1989. 2.…
Two brief thoughts on the momentous occasion of the beginning of the new Academic Year.

Great conversation with Max Sklar on The Local Maximum podcast!

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…
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,…

A world-class scholar of the Holocaust speaks at Touro College.

I’m really looking forward to lecturing at Citi Field next month as part of the incredible Torah NY gathering. There are going to be some absolutely phenomenal speakers there, including Rabbis Moshe Elefant, Moshe Schwed, Ya’akov Trump, Stephen Weil. They have also let me know that there’s a secret 10% discount for all registrations that…