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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Nicholas Donin: The Dimensions of Medieval Jewish Self-Hatred
Nicholas Donin was an erstwhile Talmudic scholar who converted to Christianity and made a career of denouncing the Talmud. His charges, brought before the Pope, resulted in a massive destruction of priceless Jewish manuscripts in Paris, 1242. Part of the Jewish Biography as History lecture series by Dr. Henry Abramson.
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Rabenu Gershom: Me’or Ha-Golah Jewish Biography as History
Rabenu Gershom, Me’or Ha-Golah (Our Teacher Gershom, Light of the Exile) was one of the most influential Jewish legislators of the High Middle Ages, affecting a wide variety of Jewish practices including monogamy, divorce law, and the right to privacy. Part of the Jewish Biography as History lecture series by Dr. Henry Abramson.
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Yocheved bat Rashi (Jewish Biography as History)
Yocheved was the daughter of one of Judaism’s greatest scholars: Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaki, better known as Rashi. A fascinating woman in her own right, this lecture will survey some of the references to Yocheved (and her illustrious sisters) and what light this sheds on the history of medieval Jewish women.
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The Golden Age of Spanish Jewry (History of the Jewish People I)
To view the Prezi associated with this lecture, please click here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OnArXdHQdc
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L.L. Zamenhof and Esperanto (This Week in Jewish History)
L.L. Zamenhof (1859-1917) was a Polish Jew who invented the world’s most successful artificial language, Esperanto. Conceived as a vehicle for world peace, Esperanto is even regarded by the Oomoto religion of Japan as the “language of heaven.”
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Origins of Polish Jewry (This Week in Jewish History)
This week marks the death anniversary of King Boleslaw V (The Chaste) in 1279. Boleslaw followed the tradition of his predecessors in Poland by creating incentives for Jewish settlement in Poland, including the establishment of Magdeburg Recht. Ultimately, these policies proved extremely attractive to Ashkenazi Jews from the Rhineland, making Poland a great center of…
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The Jewish Kingdom of Khazaria HIS 155 1.9
To view the Prezi associated with this lecture, please click here.
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Jews in the Early Muslim Period HIS 155 1.8
To view the Prezi associated with this lecture, please click here.
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The Fourth Lateran Council of 1215 (This Week in Jewish History)
The Fourth Lateran Council, which met in 1215 at the behest of Pope Innocent III, issued several pieces of Church legislation with dire implications for Jews. The doctrine of transubstantiation was confirmed, leading to a new element in antisemitic canards: accusations that Jews “desecrated the host.”
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Shmuel ha-Nagid (Jewish Biography as History)
Poet, politician and philosopher, Shmuel ha-Nagid was an exemplar of the Golden Age of Spanish Jewry.
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Anwar Sadat Visits Israel (This Week in Jewish History)
In November of 1977, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat flew to Israel to address the Knesset. His meeting with his former enemy Prime Minister Menachem Begin ultimately resulted in the sometimes strained but nevertheless enduring Israel-Egypt peace accord, but his unpopularity with hardline Egyptians, opposed to making peace with Israel, resulted in his assassination in 1981.
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HIS 155 1.7 The Talmud
To view the Prezi associated with this lecture, please click here. Excerpts from The Sea of Talmud: A Brief and Personal History Henry Abramson (2012) The Yeshiva administration must have put considerable thought into the wording of the hand-lettered sign posted outside the cafeteria. Many young men studying Talmud at this Jerusalem institution were taking…
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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Reminder: No class tonight, resume next week
Good morning students of Jewish History! Just a reminder that we will not be meeting tonight; classes will resume on Monday May 7. You can always use the extra time to catch up on some reading! Click here for a few suggestions. Looking forward to learning with you next week, the penultimate lecture in the…
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No Jewish History Lecture Monday April 30
Good morning– Just a quick note to those who attend in person at the Mighty Avenue J campus: we will not be meeting this Monday, April 30. Planning to reconvene on Monday, May 7 with the penultimate lecture of the season–the history of the Crypto-Jews. Fascinating stuff, I think. H P.S. Seeking sponsors for the…
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The Secret Treasure of the Cairo Geniza (Talk at The WELL)
Here’s the video of the talk I gave at The WELL, my favorite institution of Sephardic Studies in New York. Really wonderful audience. Having difficulty seeing the video? Click here.
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The Walls of the Warsaw Ghetto: The Rebbe on Parashat Metsora, 1940
In early April 1940, Warsaw Jews were distressed to witness the initial construction of walls in several parts of the city. Up until this point, the concentration of Jews in certain parts of Warsaw was effected by administrative decree, with few permanent physical structures demarcating the boundaries of the ghetto. Debates raged within the Nazi…
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The Kabbalah of Forgiveness: Spanish Cover!
Happy to see this Spanish translation of The Kabbalah of Forgiveness forthcoming in the next few weeks! The cover is really striking. Thanks to Jésica Neuah at Editorial Perspectivas!
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Monday Night: Rabbi Eli Mansour on The Cairo Geniza! Me too. At The WELL
Can’t see the video? Try clicking here.
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The Window at Pomeranz! Gan Eden?
Wow–just heard that Torah from the Years of Wrath got promoted to the window display at M. Pomeranz Books in Jerusalem! Thanks to my friend Dr. Mike Chigel for plugging the book to MR. POMERANZ HIMSELF, shown here just outside the display!
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Sephardim and the Holocaust
In commemoration of Yom Ha-Shoah, our Jewish History lecture on Monday night will be dedicated to a topic frequently overlooked in discussions of the Holocaust: the experience of Sephardim. Please click here for details. Most of my own published work on the Holocaust has been in the Askhenazic world, notably my recent study of the…
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With Rabbi Eli Mansour for The WELL
Very honored to be speaking with Rabbi Eli Mansour for The WELL, a wonderful new institution dedicated to women’s education in the Sephardic community. Please spread the word! This lecture is open to men and women.
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Ukrainians and Jews in Revolutionary Times, 1917-1920
Available from Amazon Hardcover 15% off at Lulu After the fall of the Russian Empire, Jewish and Ukrainian activists worked to overcome previous mutual antagonism by creating a Ministry of Jewish Affairs within the new Ukrainian state and taking other measures to satisfy the national aspirations of Jews and other non-Ukrainians. This bold experiment ended…
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 