Really looking forward to meeting this community!

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




Jacob Rodrigues Periera (1715-1780) was the inventor of dactylology, a method for teaching deaf-mutes to communicate. A crypto-Jew from Portugal, his first student was his sister. His methodology received phenomenal acclaim, he received honors from the King of France and was named to both the Royal Society of London. This video is part of This…

This is a brief academic presentation of the history of the Nazi attempt to destroy the Jews of Europe during World War II. Part of the Essential Lectures in Jewish History series by Dr. Henry Abramson. To view the Prezi used in this lecture, please click here.

Revered by many as Germany’s greatest poet, Heine struggled mightily with his Jewish identity in the culturally inimical milieu of the 19th century. This phenomenon, known as Judenschmerz, was widespread among 19th century western European Jews. Despite his 1825 conversion to Christianity, Heine maintained a long, albeit conflicted, relationship to his Jewish background. Part of…

Sarah Schenirer (1883-1935) founded the Bais Yaakov (Bet Ya’akov) school system for women. One of the most visionary educators of the twentieth century, her movement had global impact. To view the Prezi associated with this lecture, please click here.

Baptized at age 12 as the result of his father’s dispute with a synagogue, Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881) rose to prominence as a novelist and politician, serving several times as England’s Prime Minister. Colorful and flamboyant, Disraeli dismissed his antisemitic critics by emphasizing, rather than downplaying, his Jewish origins.

The discovery of the mutilated body of a young boy in Kiev led to the false arrest of a Jewish laborer named Mendel Beilis. Ignoring the argument of investigating officers, the Russian government under Tsar Nicholas II pressed ahead with the prosecution of Beilis, arguing that the boy was murdered as part of a Passover-related…

A thematic introduction to the topic of women in Jewish history, part of the Essential Lectures in Jewish History series by Dr. Henry Abramson. To view the Prezi associated with this lecture please click here.

In October of 1946, ten Nazi defendants were hung on gallows erected by the International Military Tribunal. One of the most notorious, the propagandist Julius Streicher, uttered the phrase “Purimfest 1946” moments before his death, unconsciously echoing a mysterious passage in the Biblical book of Esther itself. Fascinating footnote in Jewish History!
Rabbi Yisrael Lipkin of Salant (Israel Salanter, 1810-1883) was the founder of the modern Mussar movement that revolutionized traditional Jewish education. Controversial during his lifetime, his ideas ultimately permeated the Yeshiva system as a whole. Part of the Jewish Biography as History series in Jewish History.

Blessed with a fine mind but an obstreperous personality, Salomon Maimon was one of the most erudite rebels against Judaism in the 18th century, leaving a powerful memoir that betrayed some of the stress points in traditional society.



