Really looking forward seeing my friends at YILC!
RESURGENCE in Jewish History (Shabbaton at YILC, 5 Towns); Intrepid Rabbi-Explorers of the 3rd Century; Sephardic Diaspora in the New World
Eurafrican Jews in the Caribbean; Jewish Caribbean Migration Patterns; and a retrospective mini-documentary
Hard to believe such beautiful places exist!
Jewish Caribbean Migration Patterns
Eurafrican Jews in the Caribbean
The Sephardic Diaspora: Europe
Want to learn more Jewish History? Try one of these online courses!
Saga of Sephardic Jewry (New Online Course!); Volume II:Chapter 2 now online; Benjamin of Tudela; Guide for the Perplexed; Review of Koren’s New Mikraot Hadorot
Jewish History Lab Report: Friday, January 3, 2025
Benjamin of Tudela, Great Jewish Explorer of the 12th Century!
The Saga of Sephardic Jewry: New Course Now Online!
Stunning new work of Torah Scholarship: The Koren Mikraot Hadorot
Maimonides’ Guide for the Perplexed: Battle of the Translators
Shabbat in Rosyln, NY; Hello from Jerusalem;
Really looking forward to meeting this community!
Message recorded from Jerusalem last week
Medieval Antisemitism and the Spanish Inquisition
Invitation to LCM Breakfast; Caribbean Jews and the History of Chocolate; Spanish Disputations and the Pogroms of 1391
Please join me at our First Annual Breakfast!
Jews and Chocolate! Who knew?
Disputations and the Pogroms of 1391
The Jews of Bukhara (Sunday in Denver); the Maimonidean Controversy; Save the Date for Roslyn NY
Really looking forward to speaking to the Or Avner community in Aurora, CO!
The Maimonidean Controversy
Save the Date: Shabbaton in Roslyn NY, December 20-21
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New Online Course: Biblical Jewish History!
Ancient Jewish History from Abraham to Bar Kochba. Really excited to announce this new online course! Please click here for course information and registration.
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Judah Maccabee and the Battle at Emmaus
A brief overview of one of the major early battles in the Chanukah revolt in 166 BCE.
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A Thousand Years of Ashkenaz
Really looking forward to meeting students of the Ashkenazium in Budapest in January! Here’s the online course I set up to prepare them for the lectures. It’s open to the public as well. Enjoy in good health!
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The Khmel’nyts’kyi Rebellion in Ukraine in 1648-49)
The Jewish History Lab lecture series resumes with live, in-person meetings at Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst on Wednesday nights at 7:30 pm. Free and open to the community! Zoom link available to YILC members and their guests. YouTube Channel members (Colleagues): please check your Community Tab for the link.
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Jews and Crypto-Jews in Spain and Portugal (premiers at 12 noon ET)
Six brief videos chronicling the 2021 journey with Kosher Riverboat Cruises up the Douro River to Salamanca, Spain and back through Portugal. A wonderful fantastic look at the rich history of Jews in the Iberian Peninsula, from the earliest settlement in Roman colonies (possibly earlier!) through the Visigoths, then the brief but brilliant Golden Age…
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The Kabbalists of Safed (12 Noon ET)
A brief discussion of the sudden rise of Kabbalistic study in 16th century Safed (Tsfat, Tsfas).
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The Aharonim (12:30 pm ET)
Today at 12:30 pm ET: a brief discussion of the stage of Jewish religious/literary activity that began in the 16th century, collectively known as the period of the Aharonim (the latter ones, distinguishing them from the Rishonim, or earlier ones).
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Origins of the Jews of Poland and Eastern Europe (1pm ET)
Good morning fellow students of Jewish history! Join me at 1pm today for a brief discussion of the medieval origins of the once large Jewish population of Poland and Eastern Europe.
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The Sephardic Diaspora (today at 12 Noon ET)
Please join us for a brief (24m) discussion of the first century of the Sephardic diaspora. Wishing everyone a blessed New Year!
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Mussar in Jewish History: Crisis and Resurgence?
Is it possible that the classic works of the Jewish ethical tradition are literary reactions to personal crises? Can we approach the great works of Maimonides, Rabbi Moshe Cordovero, Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto and others as strong responses to devastating reversals in their personal lives? Please join me at 12pm (ET, New York Time) for…
The Jews of Bukhara (Denver, CO); The Jews of the Lesser Antilles; Varieties of Crypto-Jewish Identity; Wait, Alexander Hamilton was Jewish?
Looking forward to a wonderful Shabbat in the Denver Jewish community!
Our Itinerary of Discovery in the Western Caribbean
Channel Members
Premiering at 10am ET
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Jews and Ukrainians since HURI (1968-2018)
Video from “Ukraine in the World” conference, Harvard University, May 2018.
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SURVIVE JEWISH HISTORY: Take this free online course!
Colleagues, I’m pleased to post a version of my new experimental course online for the public good. Please visit bit.ly/survivejewishhistory to access the course. The course is divided into twelve Existential Crises, covering historical eras from the Hellenistic to the Spanish Expulsion. Undergraduate students are required to complete several academic exercises to “survive” each level and…
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Parashat Shlach in the Warsaw Ghetto (June 22, 1940)
Nonetheless, I proclaim my faith in God, that God is beyond limitation and nature, that God will save us. Let us go up and take it over, beyond reason and beyond logic.
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The Seven Jewish Survival Skills
The Seven Jewish Survival Skills HISN 155: Survive Jewish History I Divine Providence Two things: first of all, this isn’t a “skill” per se, since it is not directly dependent on human choice, and second, it’s very difficult to discern exactly when and how it operates. This is an academic course, as therefore we tend…
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New Experimental Jewish History Course
Hello Jewish History fans– Here’s a new project you might find interesting. A few months ago I came across the work of Ken Bain (What the Best College Teachers Do), which inspired me to take a dramatic new look at the way I’ve been teaching a bread-and-butter course for a long time: History of the…
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Parashat Naso in the Warsaw Ghetto (June 8, 1940)
“It is not sufficient for a person to merely perform a commandment to fulfill one’s duty as a Jew, rather one must transform one’s self into a Jew in the sense of and you will be a nation of priests unto Me, and a holy nation.”
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Shavuot in the Warsaw Ghetto (1940)
Shimon Huberband was a student of the Rebbe and an amateur historian working for Emanuel Ringelblum’s underground Oneg Shabbat archive (Rabbi Huberband, who was killed along with Ringelblum and most of the archivists, was probably instrumental in convincing the Rebbe to entrust his manuscript to Ringelblum for burial). Rabbi Huberband visited the court of Piaseczno…
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Who Was HaRav Ovadia Yosef?
Brief overview of the life and work of Hakham Ovadia Yosef, prominent Chief Sephardic Rabbi of Israel. Final installment in the Spring 2018 Lecture Series: The Sephardic Diaspora. Sponsored by Katie and Vick Crespin of Miami Beach, FL In honor of the Six Million and all who were killed just for being Jewish.
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Greetings from Harvard
Hello everyone– Had a great time here at the “Touro of Cambridge.” Great colleagues, great students, but looking forward to returning to the Mighty Avenue J for tomorrow’s lecture on Hakham Ovadya Yosef, last of the Spring 2018 series). Here’s a couple photos my wife took of me at my old hangouts: Widener Library and…
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Who Are the Crypto-Jews?
Brief lecture on the Crypto-Jews. Part 9 of The Sephardic Diaspora series. If you have difficulty seeing the video please click here.
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Parashat Emor in the Warsaw Ghetto (May 11, 1940)
The brief sense of relief felt by Warsaw Jews at the beginning of Passover 1941 did not last. Decrees expelling Jews from several towns were scheduled for the intermediate days of the holiday, and pressures upon the Jewish community increased dramatically. Diarists of the Ghetto record widespread confusion among the population over new Nazi policies…
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Visits to Synagogues in Bordeaux and Libourne (France); Another Open Letter to Jewish Participants in anti-Israel Protests re: Amsterdam; Conference Presentation on Sheptytsky and WW II
Fantastic Voyage of Discovery with Kosher River Cruises
A Difficult Conversation
Recent Conference Presentation in Toronto
Wait, Christopher Columbus was Jewish? Documentary on Roman-Jewish War now Online
Surprised how much attention this got.
Herod’s Tragic Reign
The Fatal Conflict
How Jewish Culture will Thrive after October 7; The Jews of Al-Andalus Part II
Henry Abramson 