Really looking forward to meeting this community!

Lectures in Jewish History and Thought. No hard questions, please.




Part XI of the I SURVIVED JEWISH HISTORY series. If you have attended the previous Zoom classes, the link is still active; if not, please write me directly for the password.

Live chat moderated by The Shomer. Join us for a look at this very difficult period in Jewish history.

Pleased to host this Virtual Open House for Machon L’Parnasa Institute for Professional Studies, together with Director Esther Braun, on Tuesday April 28 at 11:00 am. Click on the image or visit http://machon.touro.edu/events/list/virtual-open-house-42820.php to RSVP!

Hello students of Jewish history– I SURVIVED JEWISH HISTORY resumes Wednesday night at 7:30 pm EST with a lecture on the Holocaust. The Zoom link is protected, please email me directly for the password.
Fight back against coronavirus! Join Team IMPACT as a volunteer online tutor and save the world, one hour a week. http://www.bit.ly/touroimpact

Henry Abramson is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting. Topic: I SURVIVED JEWISH HISTORYTime: This is a recurring meeting Meet anytime Join Zoom Meetinghttps://zoom.us/j/936125057?pwd=dGhaVGY4bCtLSk1oTjNOTk5Ddk95dz09 Meeting ID: 936 125 057Password: 000153

Tonight at 7:30 pm EST: Part VIII of the I SURVIVED JEWISH HISTORY SERIES, looking at the birth of Hasidism in the context of 18th and 19th century Russian history, the reaction of the Mitnagdim, and the influence of the Haskalah. Zoom information (note password: 000153): Topic: I SURVIVED JEWISH HISTORY Wednesday, March 25, 7:30……
The Spanish and Portuguese Diaspora, The Encounter with Science, Popular Uprisings and the False Messiah: Live chat and I SURVIVED JEWISH HISTORY lecture, Monday Night at 8pm.
I hope you are all staying safe and healthy. Last night I had a great interview with Rabbi David Pardo on OU Live, talking about the current Coronovirus situation in Jewish history. I had a lot of fun (and really enjoyed listening to Shulem Lemmer afterward). My segment starts at about 30m, I am preceded……

Tonight at 7:30 PM EST! Topic: I SURVIVED JEWISH HISTORY Time: Mar 18, 2020 07:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) Join Zoom Meeting https://zoom.us/j/476508134?pwd=RFNmZVhvNHR1bEM3aUh2UHhYNlpYdz09 Meeting ID: 476 508 134 Password: 077143 One tap mobile +16465588656,,476508134# US (New York) +13126266799,,476508134# US (Chicago) Dial by your location +1 646 558 8656 US (New York) +1 312……


School principal Chaim Kaplan recorded the bleak mood in the Warsaw Ghetto on the eve of Passover of the Hebrew year 5701 (1941): Like the Egyptian Passover, the Passover of Germany will be celebrated for generations. The chaotic oppression of every day throughout this year of suffering will be reflected in the days of the……

Really nice to see that readers in my native Canada are encountering the Piaseczno Rebbe: Here’s a new review by Dr. Norman Ravvin, appearing in the current Canadian Jewish News. Note to my dear readers: the book is in Judaica stores, on Amazon and Kindle, but my favorite (and the best value) is the beautiful……

I’m grateful to Rabbi Josh Rosenfeld for his kind and thoughtful review of Torah from the Years of Wrath, which appeared in this month’s Jewish Action. Please click here to read his thoughts on the work of the Piaseczno Rebbe.

Brief lecture on the life and times of Daniel Mendoza, a Sephardic Jewish champion boxer of the 18th and early 19th century.

In early February 1940 the Nazis promulgated decrees that prohibited Jews from benefitting from general community charity services. Ration cards were distributed with racial distinctions: Jews received cards with a Star of David marked on them, while Poles and Germans received colored, otherwise unmarked cards. At this early date in the war, hunger did not……

Brief presentation on the life and works of Sir Moses Montefiore, an important 19th century Sephardic English philanthropist. Part of the Sephardic Diaspora series.

“Faith is not an argument. It is a conversation, in which we listen, accept the premises of the interaction, make active choices and contributions, shift our direction as necessary based on the cues we hear, and most importantly, keep the conversation alive and active…Abramson’s work allows us to eavesdrop on one of the most powerful……

I am grateful for this thorough and kind review of the recent Ukrainian translation of “Ukrainians and Jews in Revolutionary Times” by Oleksandr Zinchenko, published in today’s Istorichna Pravda. If you don’t read Ukrainian (and refuse to read Google translate, which is close enough to the original to be seriously misleading), the revised English edition……

Brief presentation of the life and work of Rabbi Chaim Yosef David Azoulay, a fascinating Sephardic Rabbi of the 18th century. Part Three of The Sephardic Diaspora series.

Tonight at Machon Chana: part two of The History of Sephardic Jewry series. Last week we looked at the origins of Spanish Jewry and the Muslim period; tonight we will focus on the Reconquista up to the Expulsion of 1492.

Main Auditorium of the Mighty Avenue J campus of Touro College 1602 Avenue J, Brooklyn NY 11230 7pm Free and open to the community. No hard questions, please. For more information please click here.

My old friend Dr. Michael Chigel tagged me on Facebook this morning with his remarkably kind and generous unsolicited review of Torah from the Years of Wrath. I’m deeply moved and grateful to Mike for promoting the Torah of the Aish Kodesh, as well as for the undeserved praise he lavished on my small contribution, but also……


