Good morning fellow students of Jewish History!

1. In a few hours we’ll premiere a video on a topic that receives very little attention in Jewish history: the experience of Jews in the Byzantine Empire. Just a brief video for now (12m), but I hope to expand it in the print version. Join me for a live chat today!

2. I’m pleased that so many people enjoyed my personal recommendations for Elul reading (video below). I plan to expand on this discussion in a Iive class hosted by Beth Jacob congregation. YouTube channel members (Colleagues) are invited to a live lecture on Wednesday night at 7:30 PT (10:30 New York time), details in the channel announcements.

3. Since many of my students at Touro College are signed up for regular updates, I’d like to remind them of our new vaccine mandate protocols. Here’s a quick video with information on what’s involved.

Have an excellent week!

HMA

Good morning fellow students of Jewish history. In a few hours we will begin Shabbat Hazon, marking the last transition to Tisha B’Av, the most tragic day in the Jewish calendar.

As in previous years, I hope to lecture on the history of the Roman-Jewish war that resulted in the destruction of the Temple. This year–influenced in part by personal experiences–I’ve decided to focus on the topic of Sectarian Infighting and the Fall of Jerusalem. Please join me at 7pm on Sunday for a live presentation at the Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst. For those of you who are unable to make that time and place, please join me for a YouTube premiere of this lecture at 1pm ET, which was previously recorded with a small number of Colleagues (the video will be available at 1pm).

This year we continue to commemorate Tisha B’Av–may we one day merit to celebrate it together in a peaceful Jerusalem.

Wishing you all a Shabbat Shalom,

HMA

I wasn’t surprised that YouTube censored my recent video as “Hate Speech.” It’s happened before.

Talking about antisemitism, violence, and even the Holocaust is part of my work as a historian, and the algorithms are obviously set to look for key words and images related to these noxious topic. So my lectures have been flagged before. This time, however, was a little different: I lost my appeal to have the video reinstated, which seems rather silly: I’m a tenured full Professor speaking about antisemitism, not speaking antisemitically, and I’m surprised that they didn’t catch the difference. But that’s okay.

On the whole I appreciate the efforts of the YouTube Creator Team, as they have made it much easier to remove the intellectual vandalism that frequently sullies the comment boxes, not to mention the mental pollution that some people spew onto the web. I’ve noticed that the filters have gotten stricter in recent months, and in general I have been very pleased with these changes.

If YouTube flags my videos by accident, I’m fine with that (at least for now). The nasty stuff is just so awful that I would rather they err on the side of caution. I can always post my lectures here, on my personal website.

I hope you find this lecture on the history of antisemitism worthwhile.

No responsible teacher wants to teach students to “hate each other” or “hate America.” But we all participate in a sacred covenant with our students: They expect us to tell them the truth. 

Please click here to read this article on JTA.

Please join me on Sunday, July 11 for a panel discussion on the history of antisemitism, appropriate for the Nine Days. Discussants include Professor Adam Mendelsohn, director of the Kaplan Centre for Jewish Studies & Research and Associate Professor of History at the University of Cape Town, Professor Karen Milner, Gauteng Chair of the SA Jewish Board of Deputies, and Wendy Kahn, National Director of the SAJBD.

Register at: bit.ly/sajrweb106