Shabbat in Rosyln, NY; Hello from Jerusalem;
Really looking forward to meeting this community!
Message recorded from Jerusalem last week
Medieval Antisemitism and the Spanish Inquisition
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
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Virtual Open House this Monday!
Students and parents! Interested in learning more about study at the mighty Avenue J campus of Touro College in Flatbush? Please join me in our Virtual Open House on Monday, January 11 at 7 pm! I’ll present some essential information on our academic programs and provide the basics on Financial Aid, Scholarships, and our very popular Israel…
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Rabbi Chaim Vital, “The Gates of Holiness”
Please enjoy this article from the Five Towns Jewish Times! http://5tjt.com/the-gates-of-holiness/
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Who Was Rabbi Chaim Vital?
Rabbi Chaim Vital (1542-1620) was the principal disciple of the great Kabbalist, Rabbi Isaac Luria (the Arizal). Three days after the death of his master, Rabbi Vital received a vision in a dream that consumed his scholarly life for decades: preserving the mystical heritage of the great Safed tradition. Please click here for the Prezi.
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Support Alexander’s Marathon Bid!
Hey, my son Alexander is training to run in the Miami Marathon next month to raise funds for Friendship Center. This is a really great cause and I believe in it: they do fantastic work with kids with disabilities, with special emphasis on helping them develop social skills. Please check out his donation page https://miami.teamfriendship.org/Alex, and…
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MONDAY NIGHT: FINAL LECTURE OF THE SEMESTER
We’ll be looking at the life and work of Rabbi Chaim Vital (1542-1620), the principal disciple of the great Kabbalist, Rabbi Isaac Luria (the Arizal). Three days after the death of his master, Rabbi Vital received a vision in a dream that consumed his scholarly life for decades: preserving the mystical heritage of the great…
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Samuel Usque, Consolations for the Tribulations of Israel
Really fascinated by the history of Portuguese Jews lately. Please enjoy this latest column for the Five Towns Jewish Times! http://5tjt.com/usques-consolations/
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Who Was Uriel da Costa?
Living under the Portuguese Inquisition, Uriel da Costa (1583-1640) fled with his family to Amsterdam to reclaim his Jewish heritage. Tragically, the years of attempting to reconstruct authentic Judaism under the scrutiny of a zealous Church led him, like many crypto-Jews of his generation, to basic misunderstandings about the fundamental ideas and practices of his…
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Tonight: Uriel da Costa, 7 pm
Tonight’s Jewish History lecture will focus on the life and thought of Uriel da Costa, a tragic figure whose brief autobiography, “Example of a Human Life,” describes the psychic pain and spiritual loss felt by Jewish victims of the Spanish Inquisition, even generations after the expulsion of 1492. His thought had a major impact on…
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Heinrich Graetz, History of the Jews
Hey! I even got my picture in the paper with this article. Enjoy in good health! http://5tjt.com/history-of-the-jews/
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Who Was Dona Gracia Nasi?
Lecture on the life and work of Dona Gracia Nasi (also known as Beatrice de Luna Mendes), a heroic Jewish woman of the 16th century. Fleeing the Inquisition in Portugal, she used her considerable wealth and courage to spirit converso Jews out of Europe to refuge in Ottoman lands. Here’s the Prezi for this lecture:http://prezi.com/ezegvhtrjraf/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy
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Tonight! Doña Gracia Nasi, heroic Jewish leader of the 16th Century
Jewish History @ Avenue J, 7:00-8:00 pm. A community project of the Lander College of Arts and Sciences, 1602 Avenue J, Brooklyn NY 11230. Admission is free.
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Avraham ben haRambam: Milhamot HaShem
Please enjoy this week’s People of the Book column in the Five Towns Jewish Times! http://5tjt.com/milchamot-hashem/
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
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“They tried to kill us, we survived, let’s eat.” (HIS 155 Lecture 1.1)
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…
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The Strange Story of Shabbetai Tsvi (This Week in Jewish History)
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.
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The Jews’ Oath vs. Rothschild (This Week in Jewish History)
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…
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Janusz Korczak: Hero to Children in the Warsaw Ghetto (This Week in Jewish History)
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…
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Jewish Biography as History: Course Trailer for JSH 481
This is a course trailer for JSH 481: Jewish Biography as History, scheduled for the Fall 2013 semester.
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The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara: This Week in Jewish History
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…
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The Pogroms of 1881-1884: This Week in Jewish History
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.
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This Week in Jewish History: The Jewish Badge
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.
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Albert Einstein Video (now with PowerPoint) from TorahCafe editors
Here’s a new version of the Albert Einstein lecture, edited by the wonderful people at TorahCafe.com to include the PowerPoint. It’s basically the same, except without the lame jokes. Click on the icon below to watch the video.
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Isaac Bashevis Singer: Singer in the Shtetl, the Shtetl in Singer (2004 lecture)
This is a lecture I delivered at the University of Central Florida back in October 2004 (my hair was quite a bit darker and, well, there). Found the CD when I was cleaning out some old files. There’s a PPT that goes with this lecture, and I’m going to try to find a way to…
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
