Really looking forward seeing my friends at YILC!

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





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 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…

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…

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.

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)

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

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…

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?”

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

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

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…

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.”…

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…

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…

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

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

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.

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…

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…

Really fascinated by the history of Portuguese Jews lately. Please enjoy this latest column for the Five Towns Jewish Times! http://5tjt.com/usques-consolations/