Jews in Poland and Lithuania; The Mysterious Radhanites; Eurafrican Jews of the Caribbean; The Remarkable Shem Tov Bible

Enjoyed this conversation with President Kadish and Dr. Leiman!


Who Were The Mysterious Radhanites?


The Remarkable Shem Tov Bible

With Dr. Sharon Liberman Mintz, Judaica curator for Southeby’s, at a private viewing of this amazing 14th century Spanish Bible.


Eurafrican Jews of the Caribbean


Shabbat in Five Towns at YILC; Poland and Lithuania with Dr. Shnayer Leiman; Videos on Sephardic Diaspora in Safed; New Ashkenaz Series for Members

Really looking forward to speaking to this amazing community!



The Sephardic Diaspora: Safed and Rabbi Moshe Cordoeiro (Cordovero)


New Series on Ashkenazic Jewry for Channel Members

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 Aish Kodesh On Vaera 5702 (January 1942 in the Warsaw Ghetto)

    The Aish Kodesh On Vaera 5702 (January 1942 in the Warsaw Ghetto)

    Chaim Kaplan recorded the mood in the Warsaw Ghetto in January 1942:  The cold is so intense that my fingers are often too numb to hold a pen. There is no coal for heating and electricity is sporadic or nonexistent. In the oppressive dark and unbearable cold your mind stops functioning. Yet even in such…

  • The Aish Kodesh on Vaera 5700 (Torah from the Warsaw Ghetto, January 1940)

    The Aish Kodesh on Vaera 5700 (Torah from the Warsaw Ghetto, January 1940)

    Five months into the Nazi occupation, the Jews of Warsaw struggled to keep up with the barrage of administrative decrees inflicted upon them by the Germans. When the Rebbe spoke on Parashat Vaera, which fell on January 6, 1940, the worst was still far off. The Nazis had replaced the leadership of the Jewish Council…

  • 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?”

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


  • ALEXANDER DOES IT AGAIN!

    ALEXANDER DOES IT AGAIN!

    Battling unseasonably frigid temperatures, Alexander heroically completed his fourth full marathon in Miami today! A tremendous achievement! Most importantly, with your support he surpassed his fundraising target, bringing in a total of $3,299 for Friendship Circle, helping children with autism and other disorders! Congratulations to Alexander, and thank you all for participating!

  • People of the Book: The Ways of the Righteous

    People of the Book: The Ways of the Righteous

    “When I speak, I regret what I say, but when I am silent, I do not regret. And if I may regret my silence once, I regret speaking many times over.” —Gate 21: The Gate of Silence, The Ways of the Righteous Is it possible that The Ways of the Righteous, among the most influential works…

  • E-Reading for the People of the Book: How Jews will Adapt to the Digital Revolution

    Source: E-Reading for the People of the Book: How Jews will Adapt to the Digital Revolution We are living in a Gutenberg moment, plunging wildly into an unprecedented age of transformation whose dark contours obscure the uncertain future. The Information Revolution dwarfs the 18th century Industrial Revolution, which was really great at making things bigger…

  • Letter of Nachmanides

    Letter of Nachmanides

    Please enjoy this week’s column in the Five Towns Jewish Times! The Letter of Nachmanides People Of The Book: Classic Works Of The Jewish Tradition By Dr. Henry Abramson “Accustom yourself to speak gently to all people at all times. This will protect you from anger—a most serious character flaw which causes one to sin.”…

  • February Schedule of Lectures

    February Schedule of Lectures

    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. February 2016: Jews of the Seventeenth Century Feb 1. David Gans Scientist, historian and theologian, Rabbi Gans bridged the…

  • TONIGHT! VIRTUAL OPEN HOUSE

    TONIGHT! VIRTUAL OPEN HOUSE

    Questions about college? Like to know more about our academic programs, financial aid and scholarships, earning college credit while learning in Israel? Attend our Virtual Open House, this evening from 7-8 pm! Please click here to RSVP (or visit las.touro.edu) and we will happily send you the link to view the presentation and participate in…

  • Hayom yom…

    Hayom yom…

    Please enjoy this week’s article in the Five Towns Jewish Times! http://5tjt.com/hayom-yom/

  • Virtual Open House this Monday!

    Virtual Open House this Monday!

    Students and parents! Interested in learning more about study at the mighty Avenue J campus of Touro College in Flatbush? Please join me in our Virtual Open House on Monday, January 11 at 7 pm! I’ll present some essential information on our academic programs and provide the basics on Financial Aid, Scholarships, and our very popular Israel…

  • Rabbi Chaim Vital, “The Gates of Holiness”

    Please enjoy this article from the Five Towns Jewish Times! http://5tjt.com/the-gates-of-holiness/

  • Who Was Rabbi Chaim Vital?

    Who Was Rabbi Chaim Vital?

    Rabbi Chaim Vital (1542-1620) was the principal disciple of the great Kabbalist, Rabbi Isaac Luria (the Arizal). Three days after the death of his master, Rabbi Vital received a vision in a dream that consumed his scholarly life for decades: preserving the mystical heritage of the great Safed tradition. Please click here for the Prezi.

  • Support Alexander’s Marathon Bid!

    Support Alexander’s Marathon Bid!

    Hey, my son Alexander is training to run in the Miami Marathon next month to raise funds for Friendship Center. This is a really great cause and I believe in it: they do fantastic work with kids with disabilities, with special emphasis on helping them develop social skills.  Please check out his donation page https://miami.teamfriendship.org/Alex, and…

  • MONDAY NIGHT: FINAL LECTURE OF THE SEMESTER

    MONDAY NIGHT: FINAL LECTURE OF THE SEMESTER

    We’ll be looking at the life and work of Rabbi Chaim Vital (1542-1620), the principal disciple of the great Kabbalist, Rabbi Isaac Luria (the Arizal). Three days after the death of his master, Rabbi Vital received a vision in a dream that consumed his scholarly life for decades: preserving the mystical heritage of the great…

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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