Very honored to serve as a Scholar-In-Residence this Shabbos, parshas Vayehi, at Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim in Monsey, New York. Please view the video for the planned public talks (which will not be recorded, of course).
Friday Night, December 17, 8pm
Rabbis Who, If they had the Temerity to Show up in Our Shuls today…
Shabbos Morning Drasha, December 18
The Aish Kodesh on How to Be Gen-Z (useful for Boomers too)
Profile in Mishpacha Magazine
This week’s Mishpacha Magazine has a kind profile written by Mrs. Barbara Bensoussan. We had a long conversation and I probably overshared stuff, but here’s a link to the online version if you’re curious.
Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, the First Jew of Modernity
Congregation Talmud Torah of Flatbush, 1305 Coney Island Boulevard, Brooklyn, NY. 8:15 pm. Please join us!
Good morning fellow students of Jewish history: please join me for this week’s series of video premieres (with live chat), live in-person and zoom classes. We’ll be looking at the 18th century with some forays into Jewish art history and the controversy that led the Jews of France to torch Maimonides’ works in 1232. Here’s the planned schedule:
Sunday:
The Birth of Hasidism
Premieres Sunday 11am ET with live chat
Monday:
The Misnagdim Strike Back!
Premieres Monday 3pm ET with Live Chat
Burning Maimonides (Live Zoom)
Roundel with Allegorical Scene of Book Burning, ca. 1520-30, at the Met Cloisters. Rhododendrites via Wikimedia Commons
First in a series of three lectures looking at major Jewish leaders who endured intense controversy in their lifetimes (the next two are Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto and the Lubavitcher Rebbe). Sponsored by the Beth Jacob Congregation of Beverly Hills, California. 7:30 PM Pacific (10:30 ET), Zoom link is private, available to Beth Jacob congregants and members of my YouTube channel at the Colleague level (see weekly announcements on the Community tab).
Tuesday:
The Haskalah Enters the Debate
Premieres Tuesday 3pm ET with Live Chat
Wednesday:
The Birth of Modern Jewish Politics
Napoléon le grand rétablit le culte des Israélites le 30 mai 1806. Via Wikimedia Commons
Continuation of the Jewish History Lab series, hybrid in-person and Zoom class at Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst, 7:30 pm ET. Zoom link is private, available to Beth Jacob congregants and members of my YouTube channel at the Colleague level (see weekly announcements on the Community tab).
Thursday:
The Mosaics of 6th century Bet Alfa Synagogue
Betty Nudler from Jerusalem, Israel, via Wikimedia Commons
YouTube video with live chat, Thursday at 3pm ET (check here for link later this week).
Saturday Night (December 18):
Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto: The First Jew of Modernity
Live lecture at Congregation Talmud Torah of Flatbush, 1305 Coney Island Boulevard, Brooklyn New York, at 8:15 pm ET. This lecture will not be broadcast.
OnlineCourse News
Biblical Jewish History
Thank you to all who have supplied comments and edits to the draft chapters on Ancient Israel! Please check in to read the new material.
Good morning fellow students of Jewish history. Please join me today for a discussion of the implications of postmodernism and the digital age in the XIV Torah and Science conference, held virtually at this link. My presentation is at 1:45 PM ET, the conference program is below. I hope to release a recording later, but a Q&A opportunity is planned for today’s live presentation.
Premiering today at 12pm ET: Jewish Migration to the New World. Following up on the previous Jewish History Lab video on the Origins of the Jews in the New World, this brief video will survey the major waves of Jewish migration in the 18th-20th centuries.
Tuesday
Final lecture in the three-part series entitled Hasidim, Mitnagdim and Maskilim: The Formation of Jewish Identity in the 18th century, 11:45 am ET at the Beit Midrash of Teaneck, 70 Sterling Place, Teaneck NJ. Zoom link available by writing to BMTeaneck@gmail.com.
Wednesday
The Jewish History Lab lecture series will not meet at YILC this Wednesday night. We plan to resume on December 18.
Thursday
“Artificial Intelligence and Artificial Wisdom: Postmodernism and the Digital Age,” International Conference on Torah and Science, 1:45 PM ET. Link available at www.TorahScienceConference.org.
Strange but true: Jewish sources largely ignored the history of Chanukah until the 10th century! Here’s a quick review of the major works, and how they affected the Jewish memory of this remarkable period in Jewish history.
Here’s a few Sefaria links to texts mentioned in the video:
For a copy, please contact your local Jewish bookseller or the phone numbers listed on the copyright page: (718) 253-2804; (516) 581-3597; (718) 501-3165.
Interested in studying more deeply? Try one of these courses!
A brief look at the depiction of the heroism of Elazar Maccabee in medieval art, with emphasis on how artists struggled to represent a war elephant.
The Misnagdim Strike Back!
Part II of the series on Hasidim, Mitnagdim and Maskilim: The Formation of Jewish Identity. Open to the Community at Beit Midrash of Teaneck, 70 Sterling Place, Teaneck NJ. Tuesday, November 30 at 11:45 am. Please write BMTeaneck@gmail.com for Zoom links.
Click here to read the article at Jewish Action
Take your learning to the next level: try a course!
Something appropriate for Thanksgiving: an account of the migration of Jews to the Americas in the 17th century, culminating in the 23 bedraggled refugees from the Portuguese inquisition who sailed into New Amsterdam harbor to form the nucleus of the mighty New York Jewish community.
A brief look at the life and times of one of the most notorious false messiahs of Jewish history: Shabbetai Tsvi, who led a major Jewish movement in the 17th century. After confronting the Ottoman authorities with his demands to take Jerusalem from them, he ultimately chose to convert to Islam, taking hundreds of his followers with him. Please join me at 12 noon today for a premiere of this video, with a live chat!
Henry Abramson 