Sorry, folks. Laid low by the flu. See you next week?
No lecture tonight (January 7)
Sorry, folks. Laid low by the flu. See you next week?
Thanks for not asking too many hard questions! Henry Abramson’s 2014 Lectures in Review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 31,000 times in 2014. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 11 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
What is Chanukah, and How Do You Spell it? This Week in Jewish History
What, exactly is Chanukah (or is it Hanukah, or Hannukkah)? This short video describes the historical origins of the holiday, notes the ironic nature of its observance in the American context, and has a couple of jokes besides.
Suggested Holiday Gifts (Maybe for people you don’t especially like).
Many titles available as eBooks.
THIS YEAR IN JERUSALEM: Alexander Abramson Runs the Jerusalem Marathon for Crossroads
A MESSAGE FROM ALEXANDER ABRAMSON:
Hey everybody, this year I have the good fortune to be in Israel and to be able to run the Jerusalem Marathon. The charity that I am going to be running for is called Crossroads and I believe it is an excellent cause. Their mission is to help teens who are stranded on the streets whether because they are homeless, receiving abuse, or have drug or alcohol substance issues, and Crossroads gets them back into a better place. I myself have never been in any of those negative situations but I can’t imagine what I would do in their situations. I’m assuming it’s very scary and traumatic, thankfully though for those teens there is a organization (Crossroads) that helps them get out of their horrible situation and I would like to help them out. Please donate whatever you can to this worthy cause at my page http://run4crossroads.com/give/alexander-abramson/ whatever you can give is fantastic, thanks.
Great Faculty Workshop on Blogging!
Enjoying a great faculty workshop on video blogging with Dr. Stefanie Herron and Dr. Lee Isogai Williams!
Really excited to be part of Touro College’s Avenue J campus!
Just returned from two intense days meeting with the amazing AvenueJ faculty. Great group of dedicated, enthusiastic experts in their fields with a passion for teaching! Can’t wait to get started working with these really inspirational professors.
Who Was Babatha? Jewish Biography as History Dr. Henry Abramson
Rolling her precious documents and carefully wrapping them in a leather pouch tied with twine, Babatha buried her entire legal history in the floor of the cave she shared with Bar Kochba’s rebels. They would remain entombed in that desolate refuge for 1800 years until their discovery by archaeologist Yigael Yadin, and then the life of an otherwise forgotten 2nd-century woman suddenly came to light: her marriages, custody battles for her son, property disputes, and much more. The Babatha archive constitutes an amazing source of information for the history of Jewish women in ancient Israel.
Really excited to be invited to present at Limmud Miami 2015!
I’ve been selected as a presenter to speak about my latest book, The Kabbalah of Forgiveness: The Thirteen Levels of Mercy in Rabbi Moshe Cordovero’s Tomer Devorah (The Date Palm of Devorah). Please check out the Limmud’s Facebook Page or website for more information (the full schedule and list of presenters will be live in December).
Hope to see you there on February 22, 2015!
Medieval Antisemitism (Essential Lectures in Jewish History) Dr. Henry Abramson
![Depiction of Host Desecration in Sternberg, Germany (1492). Diebold Schilling the Younger [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](https://henryabramson.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/schilling_hostienfrevel_ausschnitt.jpg)
Breaking the history of antisemitism into four major periods (Ancient Xenophobia, Early Christian Anti-Judaism, Medieval Jew-hatred, and Modern Antisemitism), Dr. Abramson focusses on the third period to look at the ideological basis for the false charges of ritual murder, blood libel, and desecration of the host, ending with a discussion of the Judensau image.
“Give me Yavne and its Sages!” Lectures resume this week with a presentation on Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai
The Jewish Biography as History series at the Young Israel of Bal Harbour continues this week with a presentation on Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai, a major figure whose bold and heroic leadership rescued the Jewish people from the threat of national oblivion in the wake of the destruction of Jerusalem in the first century.
Lectures are scheduled for Wednesday nights at 8:00 pm and are free an open to the community.
The schedule of lectures for the Fall 2014 season is now online.
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Enjoy the lectures? You might enjoy one of Dr. Abramson’s books:
Henry Abramson 