RESURGENCE in Jewish History (Shabbaton at YILC, 5 Towns); Intrepid Rabbi-Explorers of the 3rd Century; Sephardic Diaspora in the New World

Really looking forward seeing my friends at YILC!


Meet the Intrepid Explorer-Rabbis of the 3rd Century


Recap of last week’s Guide for the Perplexed Seminar


Sephardic Jews 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

  • Who Was Franz Kafka?

    Titled “poet of shame and guilt” by a recent biographer, Franz Kafka’s early twentieth-century writings have challenged generations of readers worldwide. Inspired in part by his early infatuation with his Jewish background, his haunting and opaque tales continued to be studied as statements of the modern condition.

  • Who Was Janusz Korczak?

    Heroic pioneer of modern educational theory, Henryk Goldszmit (who wrote under the pen name Janusz Korzcak) ran an orphanage in the beleaguered Warsaw Ghetto, ultimately accompanying his youthful charges to the gas chambers of Treblinka.

  • Who Was the Chazon Ish?

    Widely regarded as one of the most brilliant experts in Jewish law of the twentieth century, the Chazon Ish played a major role in the development of the modus vivendi between secular and religious Israelis.

  • Who Was Elie Wiesel?

    Elie Wiesel was a Nobel laureate for literature and a relentless champion of human rights. His best known work is Night, based on his experiences in the Holocaust.

  • Who Was Abraham?

    Named in the Torah as “the father of many peoples,” Abraham the Patriarch is revered by Jews, Christians and Muslims as the original proponent of monotheism. This lecture will survey what the archeological and historical record reveals about the demographic, economic, and cultural environment in Israel when the Patriarchs and Matriarchs walked the land.

  • Rashi (Letters Flying Free, Part 1)

    Revered for centuries as Rabban shel Yisrael (“the Teacher of All Israel”), Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki’s writings on the Torah has earned primacy among all commentators: clear and straightforward enough for children yet sophisticated for the most learned elder. His spiritual leadership was tested at the end of his life with the tragedy and devastation of…

  • Migrating Email Followers

    Good morning everyone! For those of you who signed up to follow my lectures via email: I’m migrating your address to Constant Contact today. This will give you a much richer experience, with embedded videos and photos, eliminating a click or two.  Don’t worry, I will delete your current email on this site, so you won’t…

  • Israel: The Land and its People. Spring

    Israel: The Land and its People. Spring 2017. http://ow.ly/VWMP307xVGn

  • SPRING 2017 LECTURE SERIES

    SPRING 2017 LECTURE SERIES

    Israel: The Land and its People Spring 2017 Lecture Series Calendar of Lectures February 6: Abraham Named in the Torah as “the father of many peoples,” Abraham the Patriarch is revered by Jews, Christians and Muslims as the original proponent of monotheism. This lecture will survey what the archeological and historical record reveals about the…

  • Dropped in to Crown Heights today to pic

    Dropped in to Crown Heights today to pick up a copy of Rabbi Chaim Miller’s new work on the Tanya (and get an inscription from the illustrious author). Really enjoyed his biography of the Rebbe, looking forward to reading his latest work. http://ow.ly/i/qhMHD

  • Communicating Through Silence

    Communicating Through Silence

    Black Fire upon White Fire: Communicating through Silence in the Mussar Tradition (click on the image for a brief video introduction)   https://youtu.be/sQBChkPCs4Q

  • 2016 End of Year Report

    2016 End of Year Report

    2016 End of Year Report Jewish History Lectures: Fantastic Growth! http://ow.ly/5pb5307eQzA

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


  • The Aish Kodesh on Shemot 5702

    The Aish Kodesh on Shemot 5702

    The winter of 5702 brutalized the Jews of the Warsaw ghetto with unforgiving cold. Chaim Kaplan, a school principal whose journal Scroll of Agony survived the war, recounts in his typically blunt prose how the physical privations of January 1942 affected the spiritual life of Ghetto inhabitants: Gone is the spirit of Jewish brotherhood. The…

  • The Sephardic Diaspora (Spring 2018 Lecture Series)

    The Sephardic Diaspora (Spring 2018 Lecture Series)

    The Sephardic Diaspora Spring 2018 Lecture Series Monday Nights @ 7:00 pm Main Auditorium, Touro College, 1602 Avenue J Brooklyn NY 11230 (718) 535-9333 Free and Open to the Public No hard questions, please. Image: Eleanora of Toledo, student of Benvenida Abravanel February 5: Who Was Benvenida Abravanel? February 12 :Who Was Samuel Usque? (No Class Feb…

  • The Piaseczno Rebbe on Vayigash

    The Piaseczno Rebbe on Vayigash

    On December 27, 1941, the Piaseczno Rebbe delivered his last recorded drashah on Parashat Vayigash in the Warsaw Ghetto. The previous month was especially brutal: an especially cold winter, combined with a severe coal shortage, exacerbated the typhus epidemic, and each morning a detail of the chevra kadisha patrolled the streets to collect the bodies…

  • Year End Report 2017

  • Ukrainian Translation Now Available!

    Ukrainian Translation Now Available!

    Really pleased to receive author copies of the new Ukrainian translation of my first book! Thanks to translators Anton Kotenko and Oleksandra Nadtoky and all the great people at Dukh i Litera.

  • Who Was Don Yitshak Abravanel?

    Who Was Don Yitshak Abravanel?

    Brief video describing the life and work of Don Yitshak Abravanel (Abarbanel), a great Portuguese-Spanish Jewish thinker and leader.  Part of The Jews of Sepharad series.   Click here to view books by Dr. Abramson (remarkably amazing Chanukah reading)

  • Professor Yehoshua November’s Poetry

    Professor Yehoshua November’s Poetry

    This was a wonderful evening.

  • Who Was Abraham Senior?

    Who Was Abraham Senior?

    Brief video on the life and times of Abraham Senior, important 15th-century Spanish Jewish financier. Suggestions for Chanukah Reading! Click here to order.  

  • The Aish Kodesh: Chanukah in the Warsaw Ghetto

    The Aish Kodesh: Chanukah in the Warsaw Ghetto

    Kindling the candles for the Festival of Lights, we bless G-d for performing miracles of freedom “in those days, in this time.” The commentators have long resolved the jarring use of apparently non-parallel prepositions: in those days, meaning long ago, but in this time, meaning at the present  point in the calendar year. For survivors…

  • Life and Times of Rabbi Yosef Karo (With Rabbi Ya’akov Trump)

    Life and Times of Rabbi Yosef Karo (With Rabbi Ya’akov Trump)

    This lecture turned out nicely, I think. If you haven’t heard Rabbi Ya’akov Trump, you’re in for a treat–skip past my part to about 26:00 for the good stuff. A century from now, people will say, “Trump, Trump…wasn’t there also a President by that name?”

  • This is kind of nice.

    This is kind of nice.

    YouTube sent me this gif for earning 10,000 subscribers. Really grateful that so many people enjoy Jewish history!

  • New Class Starts This Shabbos

    New Class Starts This Shabbos

    Really looking forward to this class. Thanks to Rabbi Ya’akov Trump for designing the flyer!

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


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