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
-
Who Was Bar Kochba? Jewish Biography as History Lecture by Dr. Henry Abramson
“Akiva, grass will grow from your cheeks,” said the talmudic Rabbi Yochanan ben Torta, “and still the messiah will not have come.” A stinging rebuke for the most prominent supporter of Bar Kochba’s would-be messianic leadership of the Jewish people in his 2nd-century rebellion against the Roman oppressors. Who was Bar Kochba, and what did his……
-
Who was Salome? Jewish Biography as History lecture by Dr. Henry Abramson
Briefly but notoriously mentioned in both Josephus and the Gospels, Salome was the granddaughter of King Herod who is best known for a salacious performance that resulted in the execution of John the Baptist. Who was Salome, and does her bit part play a significant role in the representation of Jews and Judaism in medieval……
-
Who was Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai? (Jewish Biography as History) Dr. Henry Abramson
Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai (d. c. 85 ce) was one of the most influential figures in ancient Jewish history. Emerging from the ruins of the destroyed Temple, Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai led the Jewish people through the dangerous first years after the devastation of the last remnants of their state by the Romans. A disciple……
-
Really excited to be invited to present at Limmud Miami 2015!
I’ve been selected as a presenter to speak about my latest book, The Kabbalah of Forgiveness: The Thirteen Levels of Mercy in Rabbi Moshe Cordovero’s Tomer Devorah (The Date Palm of Devorah). Please check out the Limmud’s Facebook Page or website for more information (the full schedule and list of presenters will be live in December). Hope……
-
Medieval Antisemitism (Essential Lectures in Jewish History) Dr. Henry Abramson
Concise video lecture describing the four main expressions of antisemitic ideology in the medieval period. Warning: images are disturbing. Breaking the history of antisemitism into four major periods (Ancient Xenophobia, Early Christian Anti-Judaism, Medieval Jew-hatred, and Modern Antisemitism), Dr. Abramson focusses on the third period to look at the ideological basis for the false……
-
“Give me Yavne and its Sages!” Lectures resume this week with a presentation on Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai
The Jewish Biography as History series at the Young Israel of Bal Harbour continues this week with a presentation on Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai, a major figure whose bold and heroic leadership rescued the Jewish people from the threat of national oblivion in the wake of the destruction of Jerusalem in the first century. Lectures……
-
Jews in the Medieval Economy (Essential Lectures in Jewish History)
An introductory lecture on the role of Jews in the medieval economy. Part of the Essential Lectures in Jewish History series.
-
Liked the Free Download of The Kabbalah of Forgiveness? How about writing a review?
I’m so glad that so many of you decided to download my latest book, “The Kabbalah of Forgiveness: The Thirteen Levels of Mercy in Rabbi Moshe Cordovero’s Date Palm of Devorah (Tomer Devorah).” I’m also very grateful that many of you have found this work meaningful, especially in the rare moment of the season of……
-
The Rishonim (Essential Lectures in Jewish History)
This lecture serves as an introduction to the Rishonim, a body of Rabbinic scholars associated with the 9th through the 15th centuries of the common era. Part of the Essential Lectures in Jewish History series. Image source: Wikimedia Commons.
-
Fall 2014 Lectures in Jewish History at Young Israel
Wednesday Nights at 8:00 pm October 22: Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai October 29: Salome November 5: Bar Kokhba November 12: Shimon bar Yochai November 19: Abaye’s Mother November 26: Eldad the Danite December 3: Aaron of Lincoln December 10: Amnon of Mayence December 17: Abraham ibn Ezra December 24: Qasmunah All lectures……
-
The Chofetz Chaim (This Week in Jewish History)
Brief video highlighting the life and work of Rabbi Israel Meir Kagan (1838-1936), one of the most influential Rabbis of the 20th century. Better known as the Chofetz Chaim (*one who desires life,” taken from Psalm 34).
-
The Kabbalah of Forgiveness: Conclusion
Conclusion “The Insulted King,” Illustration of Level 1 by Rebecca Odessa, Courtesy The Wisdom Daily Rabbi Cordovero’s Conclusion עַד כַּאן הִגִּיעַ שְׁלֹשׁ עֶשְׂרֵה מִדּוֹת שֶׁבָּהֶן יִהְיֶה הָאָדָם דּוֹמֶה אֶל קוֹנוֹ שֶׁהֵן מִדּוֹת שֶׁל רַחֲמִים עֶלְיוֹנוֹת וּסְגֻלָּתָן כי כְּמוֹ שֶׁיִּהְיֶה הָאָדָם מִתְנַהֵג לְמַטָּה כָּךְ יִּזְכֶּה לִפְתֹּחַ לוֹ מִדָּה עֶלְיוֹנָה מִלְמַעְלָה מַמָּשׁ כְּפִי מַה שֶּׁיִּתְנַהֵג כָּךְ מַשְׁפִּיעַ מִלְמַעְלָה……
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
-
The Dreyfus Affair (This Week in Jewish History)
Wrongly accused of espionage, Captain Alfred Dreyfus was sentenced to Devil’s Island on the basis of remarkably tenuous evidence. May critics, including the famous writer Emile Zola, argued that Dreyfus was unfairly charged simply because he was a Jew in the French army. As evidence mounted that another officer was guilty, the Dreyfus Affair exposed……
-
Who Was Josephus?
Captured by the Romans, Josephus was a Jewish general who ultimately served as a military advisor to General Titus. Josephus recorded his first-hand observations of the destruction of the Temple, and went on to a brilliant literary career in Rome, describing Jews and Judaism to a wider audience. Who was Josephus–traitor to his people or……
-
Rembrandt and the Jews (This Week in Jewish History)
Rembrandt is well-known for his depictions of Jewish subjects, both as contemporary portraits and as models for Christian biblical characters.
-
Who Was Josephus? Fall 2013 Lecture Series in Jewish History Resumes This Week
Photo: Aryeh Abramson looks out over Iroquois Falls, Ontario, Canada, where he spent the Sukkot vacation visiting his grandparents. Captured by the Roman General (and later Emperor) Vespasian while defending the Galilee, Josephus ultimately turned against his coreligionists and served as an advisor to the forces besieging Jerusalem during the first Roman-Jewish War. His first-hand……
-
Free Download of Maimonides on Teshuvah by Dr. Henry Abramson
Moses Maimonides (1135-1204) was one of the greatest minds the Jewish people ever produced: philosopher, jurist, physician, and an extremely prolific writer who left us classics like The Guide for the Perplexed and the Mishneh Torah. For several years I have been in the habit of reviewing his Laws of Repentance in the weeks leading up to the……
-
Pope Gregory I and the Jews (This Week in Jewish History) Dr. Henry Abramson
Pope Gregory I (“the Great”) was one of the most influential Church leaders of the medieval period. His policy on the treatment of Jews in Christian Europe, known by the Latin phrase “Sicut Judaeis,” instituted an official if ambivalent position that lasted from the sixth century to the beginnings of the modern era.
-
Jewish Children Forced Into the Tsar’s Army (This Week in Jewish History)
Reeling from the humiliating defeat of the Crimean War, the Russian Empire decides its policy of forcibly conscripting Jewish boys into military service is counterproductive, and finally abandons the cruel decades-old policy of taking underage children into thirty-one years of military training and service.
-
The Fox in the Ruins: The Roman-Jewish Wars (HIS 155 Lecture 1.3)
To view the Prezi associated with this lecture, please click here. Excerpt from “The Jewish Diaspora: A Brief History” Henry Abramson 3. The Roman-Jewish Wars Our sources for the Roman-Jewish wars of the first and second centuries are more substantial than those of earlier periods, primarily because the importance of developments in this tiny……
-
Judaism and the Origins of Christianity HIS 155 Lecture 1.4
Born in turbulent times, Christianity emerged from its intensely Jewish roots to become the official religion of the Roman Empire within a remarkably brief period of time. As a daughter religion to Judaism, however, dissent between the two faiths slowly dominated the discourse as Christianity became less of a Jewish movement, and more of a……
-
Jews, Lepers and the Black Death (This Week in Jewish History)
The summer of 1321 was plagued with rumors that Jews had entered into a conspiracy with lepers (some versions also included Muslims) to poison the wells of Europe, resulting in mass hysteria and mob violence. King Philip V was eventually able to quell the movement, but it resurfaced twenty years later in a much more……
-
Nathan the Wise by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (This Week in Jewish History)
In August of 1778, the non-Jewish writer Gotthold Ephraim Lessing wrote to his brother of a new literary project designed to further tolerance of Jews in German society. The result was Nathan the Wise, a sensation that was initially banned by the Church and heavily criticized by antisemites of the day.
-
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 