Really looking forward seeing my friends at YILC!

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




GM–Join me today at 12 noon ET (New York Time) for a premiere and live chat on the origins of the Jews of India.

I was delighted to participate in this in-depth, far-reaching conversation with the talented and insightful editor of @DerVeker, who insisted on asking a lot of hard questions. How’s your Yiddish?
This is an absolutely fascinating topic, I really enjoyed the research! Please join me for a live chat and video of Jewish Migration Patterns, followed by a longer look at the remarkable history of the Jews of China. Starting at 1pm ET (New York Time).
I enjoyed this conversation. Hope you find it meaningful as well!

Good morning fellow students of Jewish History! In a few hours we’ll premiere a video on a topic that receives very little attention in Jewish history: the experience of Jews in the Byzantine Empire. Just a brief video for now (12m), but I hope to expand it in the print version. Join me for a…
Good morning fellow students of Jewish history! Today is the Rosh Hodesh Elul, the beginning of the month of Elul, initiating the annual season of introspection leading up to the High Holidays. I’ve prepared this brief video that surveys some of the most important works of the literary tradition that make up the loosely-organized Mussar…
Join me at 12 noon (ET) for a live chat on this topic. Here’s the link to the controversial video (my part starts around 41:00).
My father passed away on the 11th of Av, seven years ago. I miss him.
1pm on YouTube (pre-recorded with live chat), 7pm live presentation at Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst.

Good morning fellow students of Jewish history. In a few hours we will begin Shabbat Hazon, marking the last transition to Tisha B’Av, the most tragic day in the Jewish calendar. As in previous years, I hope to lecture on the history of the Roman-Jewish war that resulted in the destruction of the Temple. This…

I wasn’t surprised that YouTube censored my recent video as “Hate Speech.” It’s happened before.


Here’s the interview Pesach Charney and Nissim Lazari conducted at jrouteradio.com on April 4. Hope you enjoy it!

http://www.aish.com/jw/s/The-Soviet-Campaign-to-Eliminate-Passover.html The Soviet Campaign to Eliminate Passover by Dr. Henry Abramson “Red Haggadahs” were published in the 1920s with the explicit goal of replacing belief in God with faith in Communist Russia. One of the most unusual episodes in the long history of anti-Semitic persecution is the Soviet anti-Jewish campaign of the 1920s. Utilizing formerly…
Brief overview of the history of Jewish immigration to the United States and demographic developments to the beginning of the 21st century.

Appointed as the head of Napoleon’s Grand Sanhedrin, respected Rabbi and Rosh Yeshiva David Sintzheim created a political modus vivendi for Jews in modern Europe. Click here for the Prezi associated with this video.

Tractate “Prohibition”People of the Book: Great Works of the Jewish Tradition Dr. Henry Abramson “Reverend” Gershon Kiss of Brooklyn captured the spirit of Purim brilliantly in his 1929 parody of the Talmud, “Tractate Prohibition,” which pokes fun at both Rabbinic dialectic and American society. Written in a combination of Hebrew, Aramaic and the occasional Anglicism…

Intimidated by neither power nor position, Rabbi Yaakov Emden left a remarkable literary legacy in the form of his autobiography, Megilat Sefer. This brief lecture provides an overview of his life and work, including his epic controversy with Rabbi Yonasan Eibeschutz. R. Yaakov Emden, Megilat Sefer People of the Book: Great Works of the Jewish…

Detractors and admirers alike called him a “zealot, the son of a zealot” a fitting title for arguably the most divisive figure in early eighteenth-century Jewish history. A native son of Jerusalem, Rabbi Moshe Chagiz (1671-1751) originally journeyed to Europe to raise funds for his beleaguered Yeshiva. Within a short period of time, however,…

Two hundred years ago, Sefer Ha-Brit was a fixture in the library of every educated Jewish home. First published anonymously in 1797, this hugely popular 800-page tome appeared in forty editions, including translations into Ladino and Yiddish. It was widely read by Ashkenazim and Sefardim, western and eastern European Jews, Hasidim, Mitnagdim and Maskilim…

People Of The Book: Classic Works Of The Jewish Tradition This article originally appeared in the Five Towns Jewish Times on March 3, 2016. Click here for a video lecture on the topic. By Dr. Henry Abramson Working in the abandoned Judaica collection of the Kiev Vernadsky Library during the immediate post-Soviet period, a brilliant…

A mysterious figure of the early 18th century whose work, recently discovered by Dr. Yohanan Petrovsky-Stern, sheds light on the world of popular culture from which Hasidism emerged.

People Of The Book: Classic Works Of The Jewish Tradition By Dr. Henry Abramson This article appeared in the February 25, 2016 edition of the Five Towns Jewish Times. The appearance of Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi’s Tanya at the turn of the 19th century represented a sea change in Eastern European Jewish history. With…

Jewish History @ Avenue J A Community Project of the Lander College of Arts and Sciences 1602 Avenue J Monday Nights, 7-8pm Free and Open to the Community Lectures by Dean Henry Abramson No hard questions, please. March 7: R. Pinhas Hurwitz Author of the influential Sefer Ha-Brit, the work of Rabbi Hurwitz represented the…