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

  • The Kabbalah of Forgiveness Level Four: Remember the Family

    The Kabbalah of Forgiveness Level Four: Remember the Family

    The Fourth Level: Remember the Family “In the Same Boat (Remember We are Family),” illustration of Level 4 by Rebecca Odessa, Courtesy The Wisdom Daily The Fourth Level: Remember the Family Translator’s Introduction The Fourth Level of Mercy calls attention to the fundamental connectedness of humanity. The Jewish people in particular maintain a strong familial…

  • The Kabbalah of Forgiveness Level Three: Take Care of it Personally

    The Kabbalah of Forgiveness Level Three: Take Care of it Personally

    The Third Level: Take Care of it Personally “Part of the Process (Take Care of it Personally),” illustration of Level 3 by Rebecca Odessa, Courtesy The Wisdom Daily The Third Level: Take Care of It Personally Translator’s Introduction The Third Level of Mercy addresses the personal role that God plays in the process of forgiveness. Rather…

  • The Kabbalah of Forgiveness Level Two: Let it Go for Now

    The Kabbalah of Forgiveness Level Two: Let it Go for Now

    The Second Level: Let it Go for Now “Whose K’tegors are These? (Let it Go)” Illustration of Level 2 by Rebecca Odessa, Courtesy The Wisdom Daily The Second Level: Let it Go for Now   The second of the Thirteen Levels, “Who Bears Sin,” describes a degree of mercy that is even more profound than…

  • The Kabbalah of Forgiveness Level One: The King Who Endures Insult

    The Kabbalah of Forgiveness Level One: The King Who Endures Insult

    The First Level: The King who Endures Insult “The Insulted King,” illustration of Level 1 by Rebecca Odessa, Courtesy The Wisdom Daily   Translator’s Introduction Rabbi Cordovero’s discussion of the Thirteen Levels of Mercy begins with an awesome depiction of human sin from God’s perspective. Given that all power in the Universe has God at…

  • Free Download of The Kabbalah of Forgiveness (Expires October 19, 2014)

    Free Download of The Kabbalah of Forgiveness (Expires October 19, 2014)

          Please visit https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/464044 and enter coupon code YT52E (Expires October 19, 2014). Please click here for excepts and supporting videos.    

  • The Kabbalah of Forgiveness Coming in Time for Rosh Hashanah

    New for the Season of Repentance: a translation and modern commentary on Rabbi Moshe Cordovero’s classic of Jewish ethics, the Date Palm of Devorah (Tomer Devorah). Learn the Thirteen Levels of Mercy and discover how to forgive others (and yourself). Please visit http://www.jewishhistorylectures.org and click on “The Kabbalah of Forgiveness” for excerpts and videos. Publication date:…

  • Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (This Week in Jewish History)

    Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (This Week in Jewish History)

    Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808-1888) articulated a strategy to allow Jews their traditional observances while participating actively in the modern world.  Criticized from both the left and the right, his thought remains highly influential into the 21st century.

  • Rabbi Hayim of Volozhin (This Week in Jewish History)

    Rabbi Hayim of Volozhin (This Week in Jewish History)

    Founder of the famous Yeshiva of Volozhin, Rabbi Hayim ben Yitshad was one of the most influential proponents of traditional Talmudic study of the early 19th century.  The author of Nefesh haHayim, he articulated a cogent response to the growing Hasidic movement.

  • Nicholas Donin and the Disputation of 1240 (This Week in Jewish History)

    Nicholas Donin and the Disputation of 1240 (This Week in Jewish History)

    In 1240 Nicholas Donin, a Jewish convert to Christianity, engaged in a public debate with his former teacher, Rabbi Yechiel of Paris. Donin charged that the Talmud was a noxious document that prevented the Jews from embracing Christianity, and brought a total of 35 distinct accusations against this ancient holy text. Ultimately, 24 carriage loads…

  • Jerusalem Day (This Week in Jewish History)

    Jerusalem Day (This Week in Jewish History)

    Jerusalem Day (Yom Yerushalayim) celebrates the unification of Jerusalem in the context of the Six-Day War of June 1967.  This dramatic military achievement represented a victory that was both political and symbolic, giving Jews control over the the Old City and the Temple Mount after nearly 2000 years of exile.

  • Alexander’s Learnathon for Israel: Last Week to Participate!

    Alexander’s Learnathon for Israel: Last Week to Participate!

    Alexander has done well with his fundraising efforts to participate in the Boys Israel Leadership Training (BILT) program run by the National Council of Synagogue Youth.  He’s already raised $858 toward his goal of $3,000! To all of you who participated, thanks very much.  If you haven’t yet had a chance, please do so quickly,…

  • Rabbi Moshe Isserles (The Rema) This Week in Jewish History

    Rabbi Moshe Isserles (The Rema) This Week in Jewish History

    Rabbi Moshe Isserles was an exceptionally important Polish Jew of the 16th century.  His commentary on the Code of Jewish Law brought Sephardic and Ashkenazic Jewry together to an unprecedented degree, and established the ascendancy of Polish Jewry over the older German community.

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


  • What Torah from the Years of Wrath is All About

    What Torah from the Years of Wrath is All About

    Please watch this brief video. Really hoping you will join us for the book launch on Monday, October 30! Please visit bit.ly/aishkodesh to RSVP and for more information.

  • Deciphering the Rosetta Stone of the Holocaust

    Deciphering the Rosetta Stone of the Holocaust

      The Aish Kodesh died 74 years ago, martyred in the Trawniki labor camp. Now, Rabbi Kalonymus Kalmish Shapira is at the center of a surge of new research into the most profound questions surrounding the Holocaust. A new critical edition, prepared with phenomenal scholarly energy by Daniel Reiser, demonstrates that we have just started…

  • Hilula for the Piaseczno Rebbe

    Hilula for the Piaseczno Rebbe

    Conducted in darkness according to the Piaseczno custom, Rabbi Weinberger presided over a moving Hilula last night in honor of the Piaseczno Rebbe’s 74th yahrzeit. Visit http://www.aishkodesh.org/ and scroll down to watch the recording, featuring beautiful music by Yosef Karduner and of course the words of Rabbi Weinberger. He begins speaking at 1:00, and his opening joke…

  • Who Was Yehudah Ha-Levi?

    Who Was Yehudah Ha-Levi?

    Brief overview of the life and work of the great Sefardic poet and thinker, Yehudah ha-Levi.

  • Really Proud of this Photo

    Really Proud of this Photo

    This moment made me feel really great–standing with two great Hasidim of the Piaseczno Rebbe! On the left is R. Yoel Rubin, center (the amud ha-emtsa’i) is R. Weinberger of Kehillas Aish Kodesh, and there’s me on the right (out of uniform again). R. Weinberger just gave a great shiur on Rav Kook, and we…

  • With Rabbi Ari Silverstein @ Judaica Plus!

    With Rabbi Ari Silverstein @ Judaica Plus!

    Really happy to see the new book joining the impressive display of Piaseczno Hasidic works at my favorite local Jewish bookstore! Here I am (out of uniform, sorry) with Rabbi Ari Silverstein at Judaica Plus in Cedarhurst. 

  • The Rebbe’s Work in Amazon’s Top 100!

    The Rebbe’s Work in Amazon’s Top 100!

      Wow—I checked the site this morning, and discovered that the book on the Piaseczno Rebbe made it to the top 100 in its category on Amazon! Just behind classics by Elie Wiesel, Viktor Frankl, and Simon Wiesenthal! Really proud that people are finding this book meaningful. Thank you! Bit.ly\aishkodesh

  • Advance Copies Arrived!

    Advance Copies Arrived!

    Woo-hoo! Visit bit.ly/aishkodesh or click here for the 20% discount, or to RSVP for the book launch on the 30th (free and open to the community!)

  • Advance Copies Now Available (20% Discount)

    Advance Copies Now Available (20% Discount)

    I am delighted to inform you that advance copies of my new book are now available from Amazon (this is really advance–I won’t even get my own copy until next week!). I hope to have sufficient copies available for sale and signature at the Book Launch on October 30, but if you want to have…

  • Who Was Shmuel Ha-Nagid?

    Who Was Shmuel Ha-Nagid?

    Brief lecture on the life and work of Shmuel ha-Nagid, an important 11th century Spanish Jewish leader. Also: please join me for the launch of my new book, Torah from the Years of Wrath 1939-1943: The Historical Context of the Aish Kodesh (click here for more information). The launch is scheduled for Monday, October 30 at 7:00 pm…

  • Who Was Hasdai ibn Shaprut?

    Who Was Hasdai ibn Shaprut?

    Brief lecture on the life of Hasdai ibn Shaprut, an important 10th century Jewish leader in Andalusia, who set the foundations for the Golden Age of Spanish Jewry. Part of the Jews of Sepharad series, visit jewishhistorylectures.org for more information.  

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


Create a website or blog at WordPress.com

Up ↑