Really looking forward to meeting this community!
Shabbat in Rosyln, NY; Hello from Jerusalem;
Invitation to LCM Breakfast; Caribbean Jews and the History of Chocolate; Spanish Disputations and the Pogroms of 1391
Please join me at our First Annual Breakfast!
Jews and Chocolate! Who knew?
Disputations and the Pogroms of 1391
The Jews of Bukhara (Sunday in Denver); the Maimonidean Controversy; Save the Date for Roslyn NY
Really looking forward to speaking to the Or Avner community in Aurora, CO!
The Maimonidean Controversy
Save the Date: Shabbaton in Roslyn NY, December 20-21
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Mass Jewish Politics in the Modern Era (Essential Lectures in Jewish History)
This lecture briefly covers the rise of mass Jewish politics at the turn of the 20th century, looking at the rise of Jewish Socialism, Zionism, and other movements. Part of the Essential Lectures in Jewish History series available at http://www.jewishhistorylectures.org. To view the Prezi associated with this lecture, please click here.
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Salomon Maimon: Incipient Rebellion
Blessed with a fine mind but an obstreperous personality, Salomon Maimon was one of the most erudite rebels against Judaism in the 18th century, leaving a powerful memoir that betrayed some of the stress points in traditional society.
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The Incident at Inmestar (This Week in Jewish History)
Murder on Purim? That’s the charge of Socrates Scholasticus, whose lone account of an alleged Purim celebration that got out of hand in the year 415 has become part of the historical record, for good or ill. Although the validity of the accusation is highly questionable, the incident at Inmestar had a larger impact centuries……
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The Haskalah (Essential Lectures in Jewish History) Dr. Henry Abramson
The Haskalah was a major intellectual-political movement of the 18th and 19th centuries. Seeking political emancipation and intellectual freedom, it challenged the hegemony of the traditionalist authorities, leading to widespread assimilation on one hand but exceptionally creative solutions to modernity on the other. Part of the Essential Lectures in Jewish History series. To view the……
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Eliyahu ben Shlomo: The Vilna Gaon and Lithuanian Judaism
Rabbi Eliyahu ben Shlomo, the 18th century Talmudic scholar better known as The Vilna Gaon, is revered as the father of traditional Lithuanian Judaism. Part of the Jewish Biography as History series by Dr. Henry Abramson.
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Dr. Bernard Lander and Touro College (This Week in Jewish History)
Dr. Bernard Lander (1915-2010) was one of the most influential Jewish educators of the 20th and 21st century. Scholar and social activist, he founded Touro College in 1971, which now serves almost 19,000 students world wide. This short video was prepared to commemorate the recent anniversary of his passing.
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Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi: The Alter Rebbe
Author of the Tanya, a hugely influential 18th-century work of Jewish spirituality, Rabbi Scheur Zalman of LIadi is considered the founder of the Chabad (Lubavitch) movement. People Of The Book: Classic Works Of The Jewish Tradition By Dr. Henry Abramson This article appeared in the February 25, 2016 edition of the Five Towns Jewish……
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The Eastern European Center (Essential Lectures in Jewish History)
A brief overview of the settlement and activity of the Jewish people in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Part of the Essential Lectures in Jewish History series by Dr. Henry Abramson. To view the Prezi associated with this lecture, please click here.
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Bilhah Abigaill Levy Franks: Jewish Women Building America
Bilhah Abigaill Levy Franks lived in New York City in the early decades of the eighteenth century. Her correspondence with Naftali, her eldest son, reveals much about the inner life of a Jewish woman in colonial America. Part of the Jewish Biography as History series by Dr. Henry Abramson.
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Jewish-Christian Disputation in the Middle Ages: This Week in Jewish History
Forced debates between Jews and Christians were a feature of medieval Jewish life, often with dire consequences.
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Johann Eisenmenger and the Talmud
Posing as a would-be convert to Judaism, Johann Andreas Eisenmenger studied Rabbinic literature for 19 years before publishing a massive two-volume denunciation of the Talmud called “Judaism Revealed” in 1711. His defamation of Jews and Judaism has been the foundation of much antisemitic diatribe for the last three centuries. Part of the Jewish Biography as……
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Sarah bas Tovim: The Power of Women’s Prayer
Sarah bas Tovim was one of the most prolific authors of tekhines, prayers composed specifically for Jewish women in Eastern Europe. Her work illustrates the deeply spiritual lives of simple women, and sheds significant light on the social history of the shtetl. Part of the Jewish Biography as History series by Dr. Henry Abramson.
The Jews of Bukhara (Denver, CO); The Jews of the Lesser Antilles; Varieties of Crypto-Jewish Identity; Wait, Alexander Hamilton was Jewish?
Looking forward to a wonderful Shabbat in the Denver Jewish community!
Our Itinerary of Discovery in the Western Caribbean
Channel Members
Premiering at 10am ET
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Please Join Me in Spain and Portugal
I’m really thrilled to be cruising the Douro River this summer with Kosher Riverboat Cruises, lecturing on the history of Spanish and Portuguese Jewry (my wife plans to come along, which means I really have to bring my A-game). I just learned that there’s only 18 cabins left, so if you’re interested, please click the……
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“Should We Tear Down Statues of Khmel’nyts’kyi and Petliura?”
Conference presentation at the “The 100th Anniversary of the Ukrainian Revolution and the Proclamation of Ukraine’s Independence,” held at the Ukrainian Institute, New York, Sunday, January 21. My talk was inspired by a thought-provoking article in the Forward by Avital Chizik-Goldschmidt. A fascinating panel, which included Anna Procyk of CUNY, Serhy Yekelchyk of University of……
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The Aish Kodesh On Beshalah (January 20, 1940 in the Warsaw Ghetto)
On Parashat Beshalah (January 20, 1940), a young rebel escaped from the notorious Pawiak Prison, located not far from the Piaseczno Bet Midrash. Andrzej Kott, the 21-year old leader of the military wing of a resistance movement called the Polish People’s Independence Action, was a child of assimilated Jewish parents who had converted to Christianity….…
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The Aish Kodesh and Rav Shagar (Parashat Bo 5702, January 24, 1942)
The recent translation of the work of Rabbi Shimon Gershon Rosenberg (Rav Shagar, 1949-2007) promises to elevate his distinctive thought to a broader audience of readers (Faith Shattered and Restored: Judaism in the Postmodern Age), many of whom will resonate with Dr. Yitzchak Mandelbaum’s comment on his discovery of Rav Shagar: “I knew I had……
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The Deleted Drasha: Aish Kodesh on Parashat Bo 5700 (January 13, 1940)
The Rebbe’s entry for Parashat Bo (January 13, 1940) is unusual. Recorded in the scribe’s careful hand, with minimal annotation, it has two bold diagonal lines drawn through the center of the text, indicating that the Rebbe rejected it altogether. A brief and uncharacteristic first-person comment is appended: “more of what we said I do……
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Working on Spanish Edition of Kabbalah of Forgiveness!
Really nice to meet with Jésica Neuah of Editorial Perspectivas to work on the tentative cover and book design of the Spanish edition of The Kabbalah of Forgiveness! Great to work with her and the whole team. G-d willing the book will be released in the summer of this year.
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Rabbi Shlomo Katz on the Aish Kodesh
I had chills listening to Rabbi Shlomo Katz review the Rebbe’s words on this week’s parashah. I am grateful for his kind words of praise for my recent book on the historical context of the Aish Kodesh, but to tell the truth, I hardly recognized my own words from the masterful treatment they received from……
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The Aish Kodesh On Vaera 5702 (January 1942 in the Warsaw Ghetto)
Chaim Kaplan recorded the mood in the Warsaw Ghetto in January 1942: The cold is so intense that my fingers are often too numb to hold a pen. There is no coal for heating and electricity is sporadic or nonexistent. In the oppressive dark and unbearable cold your mind stops functioning. Yet even in such……
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The Aish Kodesh on Vaera 5700 (Torah from the Warsaw Ghetto, January 1940)
Five months into the Nazi occupation, the Jews of Warsaw struggled to keep up with the barrage of administrative decrees inflicted upon them by the Germans. When the Rebbe spoke on Parashat Vaera, which fell on January 6, 1940, the worst was still far off. The Nazis had replaced the leadership of the Jewish Council……
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The Aish Kodesh on Shemot 5702
The winter of 5702 brutalized the Jews of the Warsaw ghetto with unforgiving cold. Chaim Kaplan, a school principal whose journal Scroll of Agony survived the war, recounts in his typically blunt prose how the physical privations of January 1942 affected the spiritual life of Ghetto inhabitants: Gone is the spirit of Jewish brotherhood. The……
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The Sephardic Diaspora (Spring 2018 Lecture Series)
The Sephardic Diaspora Spring 2018 Lecture Series Monday Nights @ 7:00 pm Main Auditorium, Touro College, 1602 Avenue J Brooklyn NY 11230 (718) 535-9333 Free and Open to the Public No hard questions, please. Image: Eleanora of Toledo, student of Benvenida Abravanel February 5: Who Was Benvenida Abravanel? February 12 :Who Was Samuel Usque? (No Class Feb……
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The Piaseczno Rebbe on Vayigash
On December 27, 1941, the Piaseczno Rebbe delivered his last recorded drashah on Parashat Vayigash in the Warsaw Ghetto. The previous month was especially brutal: an especially cold winter, combined with a severe coal shortage, exacerbated the typhus epidemic, and each morning a detail of the chevra kadisha patrolled the streets to collect the bodies……
Visits to Synagogues in Bordeaux and Libourne (France); Another Open Letter to Jewish Participants in anti-Israel Protests re: Amsterdam; Conference Presentation on Sheptytsky and WW II
Fantastic Voyage of Discovery with Kosher River Cruises
A Difficult Conversation
Recent Conference Presentation in Toronto
Wait, Christopher Columbus was Jewish? Documentary on Roman-Jewish War now Online
Surprised how much attention this got.
Herod’s Tragic Reign
The Fatal Conflict
How Jewish Culture will Thrive after October 7; The Jews of Al-Andalus Part II
Remarks at Lander College for Men
Maimonides and the Controversy over His Work
Jewish Resilience After October 7; American Jews, Post-Honeymoon; The Jews of Al-Andalus
Three Strategies
Jews under the Visigoths II; The Spanish Golden Age
Public at 10am ET (44 minutes)
Online Courses in Jewish History
Jewish Life in Visigothic Spain; Commemorating October 7
This is one of the most bizarre periods of Jewish history, and that’s saying a lot.
Henry Abramson 