Really looking forward seeing my friends at YILC!

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





Sunday, January 10, 8pm. Sponsored by Congegration Darchei Noam of Fair Lawn, NJ. Register at dno.am/5781/webinar.

The Holocaust Writings of Rabbi Kalonymus Kalmish Shapira (The Aish Kodesh הי׳׳ד) Please join me on Sunday, January 10 at 8PM ET for a discussion of the Warsaw Ghetto experience of the Aish Kodesh, and what lessons we may glean for the present season of quarantine. http://dno.am/5781/webinar
Hello fellow students of Jewish history! I hope this message finds you and your loved ones healthy and secure. Just a brief note to let you know the website will have some reduced functionality over the next week or so. I like to take the turn-over of the Gregorian calendar to renovate and reorganize my…

Some historical reflections on the Fast of the 10th of Tevet.
Good afternoon fellow students of Jewish history! Please click here for the Fall 2020 series in Jewish history: an experiment I’m calling Jewish History Lab. Beginning with the Ancient Period!

Thanks to Laura Adkins and Philissa Cramer for really strong edits in today’s article in JTA. (JTA) The intermediate days of Sukkot in the holy city of Brooklyn are normally a time of singing, prayer and communal fellowship. This year the celebrations were marred by violence. Egged on by a rabble-rousing individual who literally wore a political bumper sticker on…

Hasidism, Suffering, and Renewal: The Prewar and Holocaust Legacy of Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira. Forthcoming June 2021.

Some thoughts on what the pandemic means for Jewish history. Welcome to the Future, Third Time Around Historians Will Mark 2020 as a Revolutionary Year for Higher Education October 05, 2020 Dr. Henry Abramson Dr. Henry Abramson, historian and dean of Touro’s Lander College of Arts & Sciences, puts the transition to remote learning into…

Really honored to speak to Ms. Kathie Larkin’s bright, motivated 8th graders today about the Holocaust. Thank you Pace Academy for giving me the opportunity to interact with some wonderful young minds! Here’s a brief article on the talk.

Genesis 22–the description of the patriarch Abraham’s binding of his son Isaac and the angelic intervention that followed–is a key text in the Jewish tradition, and forms part of the Torah reading for Rosh Hashanah. Join philosopher Dr. Michael Chighel (Milton Friedman Egyetem, Budapest) and historian Dr. Henry Abramson (Touro College, New York) for a…


Forced debates between Jews and Christians were a feature of medieval Jewish life, often with dire consequences.

Posing as a would-be convert to Judaism, Johann Andreas Eisenmenger studied Rabbinic literature for 19 years before publishing a massive two-volume denunciation of the Talmud called “Judaism Revealed” in 1711. His defamation of Jews and Judaism has been the foundation of much antisemitic diatribe for the last three centuries. Part of the Jewish Biography as…

Sarah bas Tovim was one of the most prolific authors of tekhines, prayers composed specifically for Jewish women in Eastern Europe. Her work illustrates the deeply spiritual lives of simple women, and sheds significant light on the social history of the shtetl. Part of the Jewish Biography as History series by Dr. Henry Abramson.

This brief lecture inaugurates a new series: Essential Lectures in Jewish History, brief overviews of major themes and periods, designed as introductions to more detailed treatments in the Jewish Biography as History s series. Enjoy in good health! Lectures by Dr. Henry Abramson. To view the Prezi associated with this lecture, please click here.
My son Alexander shows up in official Miami Marathon video at 0:38 seconds (red bandana) http://youtu.be/gxJRzYzQfoQ Please sponsor him at http://www.teamfriendship.org/Alexander to help kids with disabilities!

Hello everyone: my son Alexander is once again training to run the ING Miami Marathon to raise funds for Friendship Circle, a non-profit organization that helps children, teens and adults with special needs. Alexander is an avid runner with a long history of running for charitable causes: in 2010 he ran his first half-marathon (at…

Emerging from the sixteenth-century Safed Circle of Jewish mystics, Rabbi Isaac Luria (the Arizal) was a pivotal figure in the history of Kabbalah. His influence on later Jewish movements, in particular Hasidism, is still felt to this day. Part of the Jewish Biography as History lecture series by Dr. Henry Abramson.

David Reubeni was one of the most colorful messianic figures of Jewish history. A little person with a shady background, he was received with dignity by Popes and Kings in the fifteenth century, regaling them with tales of the Jews of the east and promising them great military victories should they enlist his service. He…

Nahmanides (Rabbi Moshe ben Nahman, or Ramban) was one of the most important thinkers of Jewish history. Brilliantly creative and intellectually courageous, his commentary on the Torah is widely studied eight centuries after his passing. Part of the Jewish Biography as History series by Dr. Henry Abramson.

American-born Henrietta Szold was an extremely influential Zionist leader and organizer, founder of Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America. To view the Prezi associated with this video, click here.