Really looking forward seeing my friends at YILC!

Lectures in Jewish History and Thought. No hard questions, please.





JEWISH HISTORY @ AVENUE J A Community Project of the Lander College of Arts and Sciences Monday Evenings, 7-8 pm, 1602 Avenue J, Brooklyn NY 11230 Beginning October 19, 2015 Open to the Community Separate Seating All Lectures are Free of Charge

Free for the High Holiday Season: a free download of The Kabbalah of Forgiveness, a translation and commentary of Rabbi Moshe Cordovero’s Tomer Devorah. Especially valuable reading in preparation for Yom Kippur! To download, visit https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/464044 and enter coupon code BQ57Y, valid through October 7, 2015. If you really must have a hard copy, visit Amazon…

Brief discussion of the anniversary of Tisha B’Av, the onset of World War I, and its implications for Jewish History.

In July of 1942 (coinciding with Av 5702), the Nazis began a major deportation of Jews from the Warsaw ghetto to the Treblinka concentration camp. By September, 235,000 Warsaw Jews were murdered in the gas chambers.

Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo ben Yitshak) was a great 11th century commentator on the Torah. This brief video outlines his major scholarly contribution within historical context.

Viktor Frankl was a noted psychologist whose experience in the Holocaust formed the basis of logotherapy, his therapeutic approach to help people find meaning in suffering and in life.

A brief biography of Sigmund Freud, with emphasis on his Jewish background and identity. Part of the Jewish Biography as History Series, more available at http://www.henryabramson.com.

An introduction to the major themes in modern antisemitic ideology (1880-present). Warning: not quite as nasty as the lecture on medieval antisemitism, but disturbing nevertheless. Part of the Essential Lectures in Jewish History series, more available at http://www.henryabramson.com.

Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson, also known as “Der Frierdiker Rebbe” (The Earlier Rebbe) to distinguish him from his successor, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, was the sixth leader of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. Living in tumultuous times, he shifted the center of the movement from its Eastern European origins to its current headquarters in the United States.

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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 2017. http://ow.ly/VWMP307xVGn

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 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

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 Jewish History Lectures: Fantastic Growth! http://ow.ly/5pb5307eQzA