Lectures in Jewish History and Thought. No hard questions, please.
I recorded this video after Vladimir Putin delivered his February 21 speech denying the historical validity of Ukraine, a clear pretext to the invasion that began a few hours ago. This brief video provides a survey of the long Jewish presence in the region, framed in the context of maps: political, ethnolinguistic, military and social. Please join me for a premiere and live chat at 1pm ET (New York time, 34 minutes).
Praying for the safety of the peoples of Ukraine.
Very pleased to welcome the 100th student to my new online class on the Holocaust, free and open to the community.
New video available to students registered for the Biblical Jewish History course, and YouTube channel members at the Researcher and Colleague level.
Join us today at 11:00 am ET (New York Time) for a discussion of the implications of Digital Learning for Torah and Torah-adjacent study. Rabbi Schwed is the visionary director of multiple initiatives for the Orthodox Union, including the revolutionary All Daf app, also All Mishnah and All Parsha.
Premieres today at 12 noon ET (New York Time) with live chat. Join us!
Discussion of the difficulty of working with forged artifacts and the study of Biblical History. This video is available to YouTube Channel members at the Researcher and Colleague level as well as to students registered in the online course in Biblical Jewish History.
Looking forward to this discussion with my colleague Rabbi Moshe Schwed, creator of the wildly successful All Daf app, on the implications of digital learning for Torah and Torah-adjacent study. Register for the Zoom by clicking here.
Biblical Jewish History students: please check your Course Page for new updates to the draft chapters of the volume in progress!
We got Zoombombed by Neo-Nazis in the middle of the conference, but I manage to deliver my presentation. Join us at 12 noon ET (New York time) for a premiere and live chat! 23 minutes, presentation is a little different than most of my lectures but still fun I think. I hope.
Also: Origins of the Jewish People; Neo-Nazis Zoombomb the Sri Lankan Conference of Jews and Buddhists; Soviet Jews During the Interwar Period, and What’s with the Queen of Heaven Business?
Final installment in the What is a Synagogue? series. Amazing things in the basement and sub-basement of this medieval synagogue!
Part One of a new lecture series, delivered at Congregation Beth Israel in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Series title: All Jewish History, but Skipping the Boring Parts.
Recording of a presentation to a scholarly conference organized by the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. Unfortunately–and to the great surprise of the saffron-robed Buddhist monks that made up much of the audience–the conference was attacked, and ultimately shut down, by Neo-Nazi zoom bombers who disrupted our discussions by displaying pornography and shouting “Heil Hitler” over the speakers. I managed, after an interruption of two or three minutes, to complete my paper, but the Neo-Nazis returned and the Sri Lankan tech team were unable to control the intellectual vandalism.
We plan to reconvene the conference, but now our Buddhist colleagues have received a more powerful lesson in the realities of Jewish life than any of us could have described in text.
Premieres Tuesday at 12 noon ET (New York Time) with live chat. Moderated, btw.
Discussion of the “Queen of Heaven” inscriptions discovered at Kuntillet Ajrud and their implications for reading the book of Jeremiah, among other Biblical passages. Available to members of my YouTube channel at the Researcher and Colleague level and to students enrolled in the online Biblical Jewish history course.
Ukrainians and Jews forged an unusual partnership during the brief period that followed the collapse of the Russian Empire, creating a Ministry of Jewish Affairs in a short-lived independent Ukrainian state. The experiment was doomed, however, by the Russian invasion, civil war and wave of pogroms that submerged the region in violence.
Join us for a live chat at 12 noon ET (16 minutes, New York time), perhaps reflecting on what this history means for contemporary Jews and Ukrainians.
Sixth video in the “What is a Synagogue?” series, in connection with the upcoming 41st Annual Dinner of the Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst.
My colleague Professor Nathan Katz, a world expert on Judaism and eastern faiths, invited me to participate in this unusual conference hosted by the University of Kelaniya in Sri Lanka. What I know about Buddhism would fit into the sound of one hand clapping, but my role here will be to describe some of the basics of Jewish religious practice to Buddhist scholars (is there a word for “Jewsplaining”? “Yidsplaining”?). Honored to participate with Professor Alan Brill and Rebbetzin Blu Greenberg, both of whom are very knowledgable and reputable scholars in their respective fields.
Zoom ID: 885 0128 2754, Passcode 005234
The Ketef Hinnom amulets are absolutely amazing–almost as amazing of the story of their discovery! This video deals with some philosophically challenging issues, not intended for broader distribution, so it’s available to members of my YouTube Channel (Researcher and Colleague levels) and students registered in my Biblical Jewish History online course. Click here for a longer explanation of why this video is not public.
The remarkable story of the Ketef Hinnom Amulets, and their implications for Jewish History.
This video deals with issues that some of my fellow students of Jewish history might find philosophically challenging. I have therefore restricted access to registered students in my online Biblical Jewish History course and members of my YouTube channel at the Researcher and Colleague level. Please don’t watch it if you feel it would make you uncomfortable.
I like to regard myself as a religious person (although not a Rabbi). I can reassure you that I have found personally satisfying approaches to deal with many troubling questions, but I don’t discuss them in this video. Besides, who says my personal strategies would be helpful to you or anyone else?
Still, the story of the discovery of the Ketef Hinnom Amulets is so remarkable, and the amulets themselves so fascinating, and bear such historical significance, I could not help myself: I had to put this video together and share the ideas with some of my more serious students.
This video is really only appropriate if you have already been exposed to some of the more critical approaches to Biblical study. This video does not present any challenges to the traditional viewpoint–on the contrary, I think the Ketef Hinnom Amulets are entirely consistent with a faith perspective–but it would be better for many people to skip this video.
Here’s a litmus test: if your favorite commentator on the Torah is Ibn Ezra or Ralbag, you will probably love this video. If your favorites are Rashi and Ramban, maybe not. If you don’t recognize any of those names, you’re good to go, enjoy the video in good health.
For a scholarly description of the amulets, please see Gabriel Barkay, A. Vaugn, M. J. Lundberg and B. Zuckerman, “The Amulets from Ketef Hinnom: A New Edition and Evaluation,” Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research No. 334 (May, 2004), pp. 41-71 https://doi.org/10.2307/4150106.
Please join this new online course on the History of the Holocaust, free and open to the public. YouTube lectures supplemented with self-testing quizzes and other materials.
Henry Abramson 