Really looking forward to meeting this community!

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




Premiering today at 12:00 noon ET.

Preliminary remarks on the study of the Jews in Africa, followed by The Jews of Ethiopia (origins to 1862). Premiering today at 12 noon ET. Note: for some reason this particular topic attracts an unusual amount of inappropriate commentary. Scholarly, collegial discussion is welcomed here; but I intend to remove hateful remarks, and commentators who……

Some thoughts on the literary figure of Queen Esther on the eve of the holiday of Purim. Talk originally delivered to members of Project Makom on February 21, 2022. http://www.projectmakom.org

Jewish History Lab Report February 12, 2021 Jewish History Lab Lectures Scheduled for Next Week (Advance access for YouTube channel members at the Student Level) 49. Early Jewish Settlement in Spain (Scheduled for Sunday @ 1:00 PM ET) 50. Jews in Visigothic Spain (Scheduled for Monday @1:00 PM ET) Researchers: The Amazing Journey of Yisrael……
Jewish History Lab Report for February 5, 2021. Videos dropping next week (advance viewing for Students now available): Researchers video: Text version at JTA here. Colleagues Live Class on Wednesday: Jews in Visigothic Iberia Other Publications: The German Convert who Illustrated the Maxwell House Haggadah Have an excellent Shabbos! Looking forward to learning more Jewish……

Hello fellow students of Jewish History! Here’s this week’s Jewish History Lab Report. Dropping next week: Researchers Video: Who Illustrated the Amsterdam Haggadah of 1695? Next Week: Under Christian Rule A Bird-Headed Haggadah (Why?) https://www.thejewishstar.com/Print_E…

A brief overview of some historiographic theory as it relates to Jewish history, also considering the impact of Postmodernism. Here’s a link to Rosman, Moshe. How Jewish is Jewish History?. United Kingdom: Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2009. Another fairly recent and important work is Yerushalmi, Yosef Hayim. Zakhor: Jewish History and Jewish Memory. United Kingdom: University of Washington Press, 2011.

Good morning fellow students of Jewish History! Do you watch the Jewish History Lab series? If so, please contribute your thoughts in this brief, anonymous survey. We’ll be starting the second semester later this month, and I value your opinion! https://bit.ly/jhljanuary2021

Sunday, January 10, 8pm. Sponsored by Congegration Darchei Noam of Fair Lawn, NJ. Register at dno.am/5781/webinar.

The Holocaust Writings of Rabbi Kalonymus Kalmish Shapira (The Aish Kodesh הי׳׳ד) Please join me on Sunday, January 10 at 8PM ET for a discussion of the Warsaw Ghetto experience of the Aish Kodesh, and what lessons we may glean for the present season of quarantine. http://dno.am/5781/webinar
Hello fellow students of Jewish history! I hope this message finds you and your loved ones healthy and secure. Just a brief note to let you know the website will have some reduced functionality over the next week or so. I like to take the turn-over of the Gregorian calendar to renovate and reorganize my……


OPRAH SPONSORS JEWISH HISTORY LECTURE! Well, almost, not exactly, sort of actually even better–Dr. Gary Neuman and his wife Michal have sponsored the lecture on Elie Wiesel, scheduled for December 19. As I’m sure you are aware, Dr. Neuman is a world-renowned psychologist who has appeared on Oprah many times, so that’s almost like Oprah……

I really got a lot out of researching Korczak’s life and work. Personal recommendation! Heroic pioneer of modern educational theory, Henryk Goldszmit (who wrote under the pen name Janusz Korzcak) ran an orphanage in the beleaguered Warsaw Ghetto, ultimately accompanying his youthful charges to the gas chambers of Treblinka. Part of the Jewish History @……

https://livestream.com/accounts/18514275/events/6706730/videos/143129283/player?width=640&height=360&enableInfo=true&defaultDrawer=&autoPlay=true&mute=false Unfortunately, my usual recording setup failed the night I gave this lecture last week, but b”H we have a backup from the Young Israel’s livestream account! Enjoy in good health.

From Betty Jean Lifton’s biography, citing Korczak’s memoirs of his years working in the Jewish Orphanage of Warsaw (How to Love a Child): An eight-year old boy woke with a toothache. Grabbing Korczak’s hand, he spilled out his anguish: “…then my mother died. Then I was sent to my grandmother, but she also died. Then……
“Korczak felt that within each child there burned a moral spark that could vanquish the darkness at the core of human nature.” (Betty Jean Lifton) https://www.crowdrise.com/friends-of-jewish-history/fundraiser/avenuej

If so, here’s two great causes to add to your list. Jewish History @ Avenue J Scholarship Fund goes directly to support undergraduate students at the Mighty Avenue J campus of Touro College. Friends of Jewish History supports the public Jewish history lecture series. Nu? Make your Bubbie proud, do something good. Thanks! (Can’t see the……
Here’s an experimental introductory video–let me know what you think! https://www.crowdrise.com/friends-of-jewish-history/fundraiser/avenuej

Friends and colleagues! One of our core values is that high-quality, academic information on Jewish history should be FREE. We’re very proud of our altruistic approach, and we don’t want to change. At the same time, we have a Jewish History student intern to support, a shoestring advertising budget to spread the word, and of……

“If I can’t dance to it, it isn’t my revolution!” A fiery orator and fearless iconoclast, Emma Goldman was one of the most notorious and controversial left-wing thinkers of turn-of-the 20th century America. Sponsor a lecture in the Jewish History @ J Series! https://www.crowdrise.com/friends-of-jewish-history/fundraiser/avenuej

Good morning fans of Jewish History! Really pleased to have positive response on the beautiful Jewish History bookmarks we’ve been sending out (send your mailing address if you’d like one)! Thanks to donors Max Sklar and Suzanne Parella who recently contributed to the Jewish History Scholarship Fund for our students. Meanwhile, we’re still looking for……

Brief overview of the controversy that surrounded the writings of Rabbi Moses Maimonides. Lecture delivered at the Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst.


