Really looking forward to meeting this community!

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




Conference theme: Sustainability, Resilience, and the Torah.

The Internet is a strange and often wonderful place. Here’s a personal story from last week. When I first wrote The Sea of Talmud: A Brief and Personal Introduction seven years ago, Theodore Sternberg wrote one of the sharpest Amazon reviews of the first edition: “Too much about Henry Abramson, not enough about the Talmud.”…

Hello fellow students of Jewish history! I’m pleased to announce that the second edition of The Sea of Talmud: A Brief and Personal Introduction is now available in a second, revised edition, in commemoration of the upcoming Siyum ha-Shas! From Sunday December 8 through Thursday December 12 the Kindle ebook edition will be available for…

I got chills reading pages from this record book of Bet Din decisions from Bergen Belsen. Read this great piece of journalism by Molly Boigon at The Forward. Proud to have been asked for some background information.

Postmodernism and the Talmud in an era of unlimited connectivity.

Torah from the Years of Wrath: The Warsaw Ghetto Writings of Rabbi Kalonymus Kalmish Shapira

Stories You Never Learned in Yeshivah: Three Surprising Lectures in Talmudic History. Please come by and say hello!

A brief overview of three categories of exceptional women who made the Talmud possible: supporters, enablers, and even teachers. Lecture delivered at the Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst on November 20, 2019.

Join us for a brief study of the lives and work of three very different women and their relationship to Talmud study.

Brief discussion of the encounter of Provencal Jewry with the writings of the great Spanish thinkers and other Arabic-language material, and its impact on European Jewish history. Part of the Jews of the Rhone series, more at henryabramson.com.
https://youtu.be/F94bCi2hmBk Lecture delivered on Tisha B’Av 5779 (August 11, 2019) at the Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst. The lecture is also posted here: https://www.torahanytime.com/#/lectures?v=88833

This is what I’m thinking about during the Nine Days. Click here to read the article. Thanks to Laura Adkins for her superlative editing.

Answering a question from Dr. Fred Samuels of Rechovot regarding Synagogue architecture, I noticed that The Lost Wooden Synagogues of Eastern Europe (Carl Hersh, 1999) is available online for free. I think it’s especially appropriate viewing for the Nine Days and Tisha B’Av. Beautifully narrated by Theodor Bikel, the film documents the beauty and grandeur…

Hopefully this event will be cancelled. If not, please join me at The Young Israel of Ft. Lee with Rabbi Zev Goldberg on Sunday, August 11 at 8:45 am or at the Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst at 6:00 pm. Lecture is free and open to the community.

This one’s for my mother. Book interior beautifully designed by Danit Mills.

The amazing legend, repeated in several medieval sources, of a Jewish kingdom in 8th century France. Part III of the Jews of the Rhone series.

I read the Mueller Report (yes, the whole thing). You should too. Here’s some useful shortcuts if you need them.

Another opportunity for social media creep into your life! But this stuff is interesting, actually.

Great for magidei shiur: an index to over 150 videos on Jewish History in Daf Yomi! Over 2,600 more on the way.


