Lectures in Jewish History and Thought. No hard questions, please.
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 to reproduce documents from their collections.
Who was Josephus, the Roman Jew?
As a youth, he was dazzled by the brilliance of Rome, an experience that ultimately led him to betray his people and join Vespasian’s army in the first Roman-Jewish war. He watched the Temple burn in Jerusalem, and in Rome he lived a life of luxury as Jewish prisoners of war were taken to the city and enslaved. His account of the war and his massive books on Jewish history offer an unparalleled look into the ancient world: do his final books indicate regret of his youthful choices?
The opening lecture of the Jewish History @ J series for Spring 2019 is scheduled for 7:00 pm (prompt) at the mighty Avenue J campus of Touro College, 1602 Avenue J. Free and open to the community. No hard questions, please.
The Jewish History @ J series of lectures is a service to the larger New York community of Jewish History enthusiasts. Please consider supporting our student Jewish History Scholarships with a donation or by sponsoring a lecture for $500.
Good morning students of Jewish history–
If you are in Washington Heights tonight, please consider dropping by Yeshiva University at 8pm for a gathering of scholars and Hasidim of the Piaseczno Rebbe, the saintly Rabbi Kalonymus Kalmish Shapiro הי׳׳ד. I’ll be speaking in the Sky Cafe of Belfer Hall (2495 Amsterdam Avenue, Wilf Campus of Yeshiva University) on the recent, heated discussions taking place regarding the Rebbe’s last months in the Warsaw Ghetto and Trawniki Labor Camp.
Members of the Piaseczno Rebbe Facebook group recently witnessed an intense exchange involving colleagues Professor Shaul Magid and Rabbi Pesach Sommer (Professor Daniel Reiser, winner of the 2018 Yad Vashem prize for Holocaust research for his critical edition of the Rebbe’s work, tried to calm the discussion by suggesting that “everyone should practice yoga to achieve inner peace”). The principal locus of the dispute was Professor Magid’s assertion that the Rebbe’s faith was “broken” by the Holocaust.
Since then there’s been a lot of back-channel communication that places this argument within the category of “controversies for the sake of Heaven,” in my opinion. I’m especially grateful to Shaul for sharing proofs from his forthcoming book, Piety and Rebellion: Essays in Hasidism, which includes a lengthy and sophisticated chapter on the Piaseczno Rebbe.
I hope to spend the hour discussing the specific historic events of the final days of Warsaw Jewry and link them to the Rebbe’s sermons, with a view to clarifying the parameters of the controversy.
Please do join us and participate in the conversation.
HELLO STUDENTS OF JEWISH HISTORY!
IF YOU ARE IN PASSAIC/CLIFTON TONIGHT, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO DROP BY AND SAY HELLO. TONIGHT’S TALK WILL BE A DESCRIPTION OF THE LIFE OF RABBI KALONYMUS KALMISH SHAPIRO (THE AISH KODESH), TAKEN FROM MY RECENT BOOK ON HIS HEROIC SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP AND TRAGIC MARTYRDOM IN THE HOLOCAUST.
Good morning students of Jewish history!
I drove to work this morning. Normally I take the Long Island Railroad, which I really love because that’s when I get my writing done, but since I had to be in the car today I spent the drive preparing for my first Brooklyn lecture by listening to Who Was Josephus? I gave this lecture back in 2013, and it’s one of my most popular (viewed a crazy 150,000 times). I actually had fun listening to me–wish I had time to attend more of my lectures!
Anyway, my presentation on Josephus scheduled for the 25th at the Mighty Avenue J campus of Touro College is going to be my third on this incredibly important figure in ancient Jewish history. I’ll probably provide a very brief overview of this lecture, and a bit from my second, which focuses on his defense of Judaism from the charges of one Apion (viewed only 6,000 times), but the main point of this month’s lecture will be to focus on his career in Rome.
I know it’s a violation of my usual rule of “no hard questions,” but I figure if some people in the audience have seen these videos, perhaps the Q&A will be even more stimulating than it normally is. Let’s start off the year with a high-level encounter with Jewish history!
HMA
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 will be available on video, so please come in person if you can! Just one thing: no hard questions, please.
Henry Abramson
Closing Address of the Women of Valor: Project Witness Educators Conference
Monday, February 25, 7:00 PM
Touro College Main Auditorium, 1602 Avenue J, Brooklyn NY 11230
Monday, March 4, 7:00 PM
Touro College Main Auditorium, 1602 Avenue J, Brooklyn NY 11230
Monday, March 11, 7:00 PM
Touro College Main Auditorium, 1602 Avenue J, Brooklyn NY 11230
Monday, March 18, 7:00 PM
Touro College Main Auditorium, 1602 Avenue J, Brooklyn NY 11230
Monday, March 25, 7:00 PM
Touro College Main Auditorium, 1602 Avenue J, Brooklyn NY 11230
Monday, April 1, 7:00 PM
Touro College Main Auditorium, 1602 Avenue J, Brooklyn NY 11230
Monday, April 8, 7:00 PM
Touro College Main Auditorium, 1602 Avenue J, Brooklyn NY 11230
Looking forward to learning with you!
Lectures at Touro College are free and open to the community. To sponsor a lecture, please contact us at (718) 535-9333 or abramson@touro.edu. Full sponsorships are $500 donations to our Jewish History Scholarship Fund.
Thank you!
Hello fellow students of Jewish history!
I am delighted to inform you that, beginning in April 2019, we will embark on a pilot project to explore the historical aspects of the Talmud as part of the incredible OU Daf Yomi Initiative led by Rabbi Moshe Schwed. We will start with tractate Bechoros and, with favorable feedback, we plan to continue with the audacious goal of recording brief (5-minute) lectures on historical aspects of the entire Talmud, coinciding with the Daf Yomi cycle. We’re talking about 2,711 Jewish History lectures. I. can’t. wait.
Since this is a very specialized approach to Jewish history–that is, in connection with the daily study of one folio of Talmud a day, which is set to begin the next cycle in January 2020–I don’t intend to send our regular emails from this account. Please keep your eye on ou.org/dafyomi for updates, or my new YouTube channel dedicated to this project: Jewish History in Daf Yomi.
Looking forward to learning with you!
Hello everyone–it’s still a while till our first public lecture on campus, but I was so fascinated by this topic I had to talk about it with you. I hope you enjoy the video!
Don’t forget to print out and post the Spring 2019 Schedule of Lectures on your refrigerator of your home, or wherever you end up eating. Really looking forward to our first Brooklyn lecture in February, preceded only by a few talks in Surfside, Manhattan and Passaic.
Lectures in Jewish History (Spring 2019)
The Origins of Italian Jewry
Tuesday, February 12, 7:00 PM
Sponsored by the Chaim Yaakov Shlomo College of Jewish Studies
The Shul, 9540 Collins Avenue, Surfside FL 33154
Sunday, February 17, 8:00 PM
Sponsored by Kehilas Bais Yosef
580 Broadway, Passaic NJ
Monday, February 25, 7:00 PM
Touro College Main Auditorium, 1602 Avenue J, Brooklyn NY 11230
Monday, March 4, 7:00 PM
Touro College Main Auditorium, 1602 Avenue J, Brooklyn NY 11230
Monday, March 11, 7:00 PM
Touro College Main Auditorium, 1602 Avenue J, Brooklyn NY 11230
Monday, March 18, 7:00 PM
Touro College Main Auditorium, 1602 Avenue J, Brooklyn NY 11230
Monday, March 25, 7:00 PM
Touro College Main Auditorium, 1602 Avenue J, Brooklyn NY 11230
Monday, April 1, 7:00 PM
Touro College Main Auditorium, 1602 Avenue J, Brooklyn NY 11230
Monday, April 8, 7:00 PM
Touro College Main Auditorium, 1602 Avenue J, Brooklyn NY 11230
All lectures are free and open to the community.
Please support our Jewish History Scholarship Fund by clicking here.
For more information please contact Henry.Abramson@touro.edu, (718) 535-9333.
Brief overview of the earliest settlement of Jews in the Italian peninsula, up to the first Roman-Jewish War.
Henry Abramson 