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…

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.