Really looking forward seeing my friends at YILC!

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





Connect yourself with the Rav for as long as there is an Internet.

The remarkable story of two powerful Jewish women from Spain and Portugal and the challenge to Pope Paul IV for his maltreatment of Portuguese Jews in Italy.

True, he wrote a dictionary, but cryptic hints in his autobiographical poem suggest a more complicated background.

Not enough snow to cancel tonight’s class on Nathan of Rome!

A medieval historian recounts the remarkable story of four Rabbinic captives.

Please click here for a link to my recent article on a document I came across in the archives of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, published by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. I’m really grateful to Laura Adkins, Opinion Editor, for shaping the piece. Also thanks to the incredibly helpful staff of YIVO for permission…

A brief lecture providing an overview of the life and work of Josephus, a Jewish historian who lived through the first Roman-Jewish war of the first century.

Josephus betrayed his people and watched the Romans destroy the Temple in Jerusalem. Did he ever regret his youthful decisions? Lecture begins promptly at 7.

Was the Rebbe’s faith “broken” by the Holocaust?

SPIRITUAL HEROISM AND TRAGIC MARTYRDOM IN THE WARSAW GHETTO.

Get a head start on the first lecture by watching these intermittently interesting videos while peeling potatoes.

Good morning fellow students of Jewish History! Really excited to be starting the Spring Semester of Jewish History Lectures next week–it’s going to be a busy February, but I’m certainly looking forward to speaking with you about these fascinating topics! Here’s a quick list of what, where, and when. Unfortunately not all of these lectures…


Lecture on Count Emicho and the Jews of Germany during the First Crusade (1096). Here’s a link to the Prezi.
Please enjoy this week’s column in the Five Towns Jewish Times! http://5tjt.com/the-kuzari/
Traveling on College business. Sorry to all my loyal in-person students! Please forward this message to your friends (no need to send it to your former friends–if they show up, it serves them right, eh?).
Please enjoy this week’s column in the Five Towns Jewish Times! http://5tjt.com/mesilat-yesharim/

Presentation on the history of the Khazar conversion to Judaism, with updated material based on recent research.
Please enjoy my latest feature in the Five Towns Jewish Times! http://5tjt.com/people-of-the-book-classic-works-of-the-jewish-tradition-3/

Lecture on the great 2nd-century Rabbi Meir, one of the most important figures in the history of Jewish thought in ancient Israel. Here’s the link to the Prezi.

People of the Book: Classics of the Jewish Tradition Please click here for the original article in the Five Towns Jewish Times by Dr. Henry Abramson Rabbi Moshe Cordovero’s ‘Tomer Devorah’ “Even if you cannot find any reason to forgive a person, there was nevertheless once a time when this person did no wrong. Think…

Lecture on Against Apion, an important literary response to antisemitism in the Roman Empire written by the 1st century historian Flavius Josephus. And here’s the Prezi: http://prezi.com/yzmhlmrhf2ac/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy.

We begin the Fall 2015 Lectures in Jewish History series with a presentation on the life and work of Judah (Yehudah) Maccabee, famed military commander of the Hasmonean revolt. Enjoy in good health! Here’s the link to the Prezi.

Please enjoy my first column in the Five Towns Jewish Times! People of the Book: Classic Works of the Jewish Tradition By Dr. Henry Abramson According to my knowledge of the words of the Sages and the history of the Jewish people in general, we have never experienced such horrific suffering as has been visited…