Really looking forward to meeting this community!

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



I enjoyed this conversation. Hope you find it meaningful as well!

Good morning fellow students of Jewish History! In a few hours we’ll premiere a video on a topic that receives very little attention in Jewish history: the experience of Jews in the Byzantine Empire. Just a brief video for now (12m), but I hope to expand it in the print version. Join me for a……
Good morning fellow students of Jewish history! Today is the Rosh Hodesh Elul, the beginning of the month of Elul, initiating the annual season of introspection leading up to the High Holidays. I’ve prepared this brief video that surveys some of the most important works of the literary tradition that make up the loosely-organized Mussar……
Join me at 12 noon (ET) for a live chat on this topic. Here’s the link to the controversial video (my part starts around 41:00).
My father passed away on the 11th of Av, seven years ago. I miss him.
1pm on YouTube (pre-recorded with live chat), 7pm live presentation at Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst.

Good morning fellow students of Jewish history. In a few hours we will begin Shabbat Hazon, marking the last transition to Tisha B’Av, the most tragic day in the Jewish calendar. As in previous years, I hope to lecture on the history of the Roman-Jewish war that resulted in the destruction of the Temple. This……

I wasn’t surprised that YouTube censored my recent video as “Hate Speech.” It’s happened before.
Recording of today’s webinar; the introduction begins at 36:00 and the presentation begins at 42:00. Difficult topic.

No responsible teacher wants to teach students to “hate each other” or “hate America.” But we all participate in a sacred covenant with our students: They expect us to tell them the truth. Please click here to read this article on JTA.

Please join me on Sunday, July 11 for a panel discussion on the history of antisemitism, appropriate for the Nine Days. Discussants include Professor Adam Mendelsohn, director of the Kaplan Centre for Jewish Studies & Research and Associate Professor of History at the University of Cape Town, Professor Karen Milner, Gauteng Chair of the SA Jewish Board of……

Part I: Part II: Part III: Solomon Mikhoels (1890-1948) was one of the most prominent actors and directors in early Soviet Russia. His career coincides with the brief flourishing of Yiddish culture under the policy of korenizatsiia, or “indiginization,” when the Communist authorities sought to develop folk culture as a means of developing loyalty to the……

Shimon Dubnow (1860-1941), a noted historian and activist whose theories of Jewish survival in the diaspora were extremely influential in the shaping Jewish identity in the modern world, from the future of Russian Jewry to the establishment of the modern Federation movement in the United States. Dubnow’s scholarship was inextricably intertwined with the effort to……
Moses Mendelssohn was a hugely influential thinker in 18th-century Germany. An unusually gifted intellect, he became the primary spokesperson for the emancipation of Jews in the 18th century, and his cause was championed by many non-Jewish liberals of the era. Heralded as the founder of the Reform movement even though Mendelssohn himself maintained an observant……

Nathan of Hanover is best known for his moving chronicle of the Khmel’nyts’kyi (Chmielnicki) Rebellion. Entitled Yeven Metsulah (“The Abyss of Despair”), it records with remarkable fairness the social, political, economic and religious background of the mid-17th century Ukrainian movement against the Poles, along with the horrible pogroms perpetrated in the context of that violent……

Here’s the Torahcafe.com edited version, in one piece, with the PPTs integrated. A little easier to watch.

Here’s a lecture I delivered at the Shul of Bal Harbour, not part of the regular HIS 155/156 Series, but kind of nice. Edited by the great people at TorahCafe.com. Please click on the icon above to see the video. I hope you find it interesting!

The nice folks over at TorahCafe took my lecture on Rabbi Yosef Karo and worked their magic on it, integrating the PowerPoint well with the lecture, and edited it down to a tighter presentation. Please click on the TorahCafe icon below to view the improved version.


