Good morning students of Jewish History!

Looking forward to seeing you for the third installment in our fairly popular Crash Course in Jewish History. We’re grateful for the positive response from the live audience, not to mention an unusually large number of online views: as I write this post, the first two parts have been viewed about 19,000 times, with a remarkably strong audience retention factor: the average viewer stayed on site for over eighteen minutes, an auspicious number for sure. On the other hand, I’m getting a larger share of comments from crazy people, but I guess that’s the trade-off.

Tonight’s lecture will focus on the Modern Period, which for our purposes I am defining as the period between the Spanish Expulsion of 1492 and the onset of the Great Migration in 1881. It’s a period of tectonic change, and we will observe very direct connections between events of these centuries and our very own times. The series will conclude next week with a discussion of the Contemporary Period, basically the 20th century up to our own times.

Please click here for optional readings. Looking forward to seeing you tonight at Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst. As usual, we plan to begin promptly at 7:30 pm.

Good morning students of Jewish history! I hope you have Torah NY on your calendar for Sunday, September 22, at Citi Field NY. I’m really thrilled to be speaking there on my newest project, the rather audacious Jewish History in Daf Yomi podcast, which is part of the exciting All Daf app currently under construction by the OU Daf Yomi Initiative. The brainchild of Rabbi Moshe Schwed, this free app promises to revolutionize Talmud study by bringing together a wide variety of digital materials–text, audio and video–to support the hundreds of thousands of Daf Yomi students world wide.

Join us as we discuss our work on this new app, and get your feedback!

P.S. students of Jewish history are entitled to a 10% registration discount by entering in this secret code: TNY19NOHARDQS.

Thank you all for coming last night. Hope you enjoy this video recording of the lecture, which covers Medieval Jewish History in a hopelessly superficial rush, from the close of the Mishnah in the 3rd century to the Spanish Expulsion in the late 15th century.

Next week’s lecture will look at Modern Jewish History, picking up from here and continuing to the turn of the 20th century.

Please click here for more information on the Crash Course in Jewish History series.

Good morning students, colleagues, and other lovers of Jewish history!

Tonight (Wednesday, September 11) we are scheduled to resume our Crash Course in Jewish History with Part II, focusing on the medieval period from the compilation of the Mishnah at the turn of the 3rd century through the Spanish Expulsion of 1492.

Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst, 7:30 (prompt)-8:30 pm

Open to the Community, Free of Charge, Light Refreshments, etc.

Last week we were surprised by an unusually large audience: we set out seats for 40 super-motivated fans of Jewish history with another 20 in reserve, and ended up drawing over 100, the audience spilling and listening from the hallway. I felt really gratified by the positive response–thank you all so much for coming!

Anyway, tonight we are preparing for a larger crowd, so everyone will be able to have a seat in comfort (not to mention the tasty snacks). Thanks to tonight’s sponsors, Dr. & Mrs. Rubin & Mandy Brecher, as well as the Jewish History Committee, especially Livia Rottenberg and Ricky Adler, as well as the YILC executive and staff for the great promotion of the series: Marvin Schenker, Becki Faska, and George in Maintenance for the quick response set up.

Click Here for Optional Readings

Crash Course in Jewish History 

(for very intelligent people)

Extra Credit Readings for First Class: Wednesday, September 4, 2019

(privileges will be revoked for anyone who asks hard questions)

Ancient History

Wednesday, September 4, 2019

1. What is Jewish History?

Peter Steinfels, “Salo Baron, 94, Scholar of Jewish History, Dies,” New York Times, November 26, 1989.

2. La Longue Durée

THE LAND: Geography and Climate, Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

3. The Archaeological Record

National Treasures: Selected Articles from the Shelby White and Leon Levy Center for National Treasures, Israel Antiquities Authority.

4. The Encounter with Hellenism

The Book of Maccabees I, Sefaria.

5. The Roman-Jewish Wars

Josephus, The Jewish War, Book 5.

6. Portable Judaism

Moses Maimonides, Introduction to the Mishnah.

Medieval Jewish History

Optional Readings

1. The Talmud

Studying the Talmud: 400 Repetitions and the Divine Voice, Thought and Action: The National Education Association Journal.

2.  The Kehillah

Charter of the Kehillah (Jewish Community) of the New York City, April 5, 1914

3. Under Crescent

Norman Stillman, “The Judeo-Arabic Heritage”

4. Under Cross

The Crusades, Jewish Virtual Library

5. The Glory of Spanish Jewry

Selected Poems of Yehuda Halevi (trans. Hillel Halkin), Nextbook

Modern Jewish History

7:30-8:30 pm

Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

1. The Iberian Diaspora

Ushi Derman, “Uriel da Costa: the Story of a Nonbeliever,” Bet Hatefutsot, December 18, 2018.

2. The Safed Circle

The Kabbalah of Forgiveness

3. The People of the Book

Meet the Non-Jew Who Made Daf Yomi Possible, OU Torah, July 17, 2019.

4. Messianic Hopes

Matt Plen, “Who Was Shabbetai Tzvi?” My Jewish Learning

5. The Hasidic Revolution

Orthodox Judaism: Hasidim and Mitnagdim, Jewish Virtual LIbrary

6. Napoleon’s Sanhedrin

Napoleon’s Sanhedrin, Jewish History Blog

7. Five Strategies for Modernity

The End of Initimate Insularity: New Narratives of Jewish History in the Post-Soviet Era

For more information regarding the series please click here.

Wow, had a great time talking with Max Sklar on his The Local Maximum Podcast. He’s super smart, and was kind enough to only ask a few hard questions. Visit https://www.localmaxradio.com/episode/82 or download it from your podcast supplier. I think it turned out nicely.

Okay, this is going to be something different: four concentrated lectures on absolutely all of Jewish history, skipping the boring parts so we can cover it all. Free and open to the community; might be recorded for the Internet but depends on if anyone asks hard questions. Join us!

Wednesdays in September 2019, 7:30-8:30 pm

Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst