Really looking forward to meeting this community!

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




Officially banned in 1479, no Jews lived in the Russian Empire until Tsarina Catherine II conquered a major portion of Polish territory, instantly inheriting the largest single concentration of Jews in the world. Under her rule the Pale of Settlement was established, determining the region where Jews were allowed to reside, however tenuously, until the……

To view the Prezi associated with this lecture, please click here. Excerpt from “The Jewish Diaspora: A Brief History” Henry Abramson 2. Jews and Judaism in the Year Zero Two Jews, three opinions. The year zero was not nearly as auspicious or significant for Jews as it would later be for Christians. Jews observe a……

Instructions: please watch the lecture, review the reading below, and kindly take the anonymous poll. Thank you! To view the Prezi associated with this lecture, please click here. Excerpt from The Jewish Diaspora: A Brief History Henry Abramson 1. What is Jewish History? “They tried to kill us, we survived, let’s eat.” So runs the……

Devastated and demoralized after the violence of the Khmelnytsky rebellion, the Jews of Europe were astounded to hear that a young Kabbalist named Shabbetai Tsvi had proclaimed himself the long-awaited Messiah.

In 1847, the citizens of London elected its first Jew, Lionel de Rothschild, to the House of Commons. Rothschild, however, refused to take the Christian oath required of all members, and resigned without taking his seat in Parliament. He was immediately reelected a second and even a third time until the Jews’ Disabilities Act was……

Beloved for his children’s stories, Henryk Goldszmidt wrote under the pen name Janusz Korczak. A lifelong advocate for children’s rights, he ran an orphanage in Warsaw that was world-famous for his innovative pedagogic techniques. Imprisoned in the Warsaw ghetto during the Nazi occupation, he continued to serve in this capacity until the terrible order……

This is a course trailer for JSH 481: Jewish Biography as History, scheduled for the Fall 2013 semester.

In the summer of 1858, 6-year old Edgardo Mortara, a Jewish boy living in Bologna, Italy, was forcibly taken from his home by Italian police acting at the behest of the Inquisition. It had come to the attention of the Church that a teenage non-Jewish servant girl had performed an “emergency baptism” on Edgardo several……

For a larger discussion of the five historical narratives, please see my article The end of intimate insularity: new narratives of Jewish history in the post-Soviet era, in Acts of Symposium “Construction and Deconstruction of National Histories in Slavic Eurasia,” originally delivered at Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan, on July 10–13, 2002.

This is a new experiment, suggested by Elya at TorahCafe.com: a weekly, 3-minute “This Week in Jewish History” mini-lecture. I’m trying it out, let me know what you think! Please click here for the refined, edited version from TorahCafe.com.


Recording of Live Lecture The Jews of Arles, France

Please join me for a discussion of this 16th c. Kabbalistic Work

The Miraculous Revival of the Middelburg Synagogue What is the Meaning of the Bleeding Pelican? A Remarkable Moment in an Antwerp Synagogue A Gute Herring!
This 17th century Dutch Jewish Financier gives the BEST Stock Tips!

Mock Trial held at the Jewish National Retreat Unpacked Riffs on the Golem A Thousand Years of Ashkenaz: 19 Videos Added! Click here to register for this online course! Get Ready for Elul with Maimonides on Teshuvah Click here to order your copy! Now on sale for Elul.

The Ashkenazi Migration to Eastern Europe Jewish Hero Saves 600 Children in Nazi-Occupied Amsterdam Tom Metcalfe on Elephants in Medieval Art in National Geographic Really honored to be interviewed for this fascinating National Geographic piece on the depictions of elephants in medieval art. Here’s the link to the article, although you might need to subscribe……

The Life of the original Nazi Hunter The Expulsion of the Jews from Medieval Ashkenaz The Roman-Jewish Wars, 66-135 CE Join me at the National Jewish Retreat! Really pleased to be joining a tremendous roster of speakers in Palm Springs this month for the National Jewish Retreat! Please click here for more information.

Surprisingly insightful look at the nature of Jewish humor At first I was concerned that this was released during the 9 Days, but it actually has a lot of relevance to this sad time of the year. Very proud–as always–to have had a small role in putting this together with the remarkable team at Unpacked….…

A Fascinating and Influential Movement in Medieval Ashkenaz Unpacked on a Morally Challenging Topic in American History


