Really looking forward to meeting this community!

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




To view the Prezi associated with this lecture, please click here.

To view the Prezi associated with this lecture, please click here.

The Fourth Lateran Council, which met in 1215 at the behest of Pope Innocent III, issued several pieces of Church legislation with dire implications for Jews. The doctrine of transubstantiation was confirmed, leading to a new element in antisemitic canards: accusations that Jews “desecrated the host.”

Poet, politician and philosopher, Shmuel ha-Nagid was an exemplar of the Golden Age of Spanish Jewry.

In November of 1977, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat flew to Israel to address the Knesset. His meeting with his former enemy Prime Minister Menachem Begin ultimately resulted in the sometimes strained but nevertheless enduring Israel-Egypt peace accord, but his unpopularity with hardline Egyptians, opposed to making peace with Israel, resulted in his assassination in 1981.

To view the Prezi associated with this lecture, please click here. Excerpts from The Sea of Talmud: A Brief and Personal History Henry Abramson (2012) The Yeshiva administration must have put considerable thought into the wording of the hand-lettered sign posted outside the cafeteria. Many young men studying Talmud at this Jerusalem institution were taking…

Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon (1135-1204) was a towering figure in medieval Jewish history, and continues to cast a long shadow into the Jewish present. Nevertheless, the work of the philosopher-physician endured significant controversy, including an especially sad episode in which Jews actually consigned his works to the flames.

To view the Prezi associated with this lecture, please click here.

One of the more colorful false messiahs in Jewish history, Jacob Frank made a career of conversion–first to Islam, then to Christianity, all the while leading a neo-Sabbatean movement that emphasized antinomian “purification through transgression.” His appeal to the Church in 1757 resulted in a modern-day disputation over the Talmud, and ultimately the burning of…

In one of the most bizarre episodes in Jewish history, the Central Asian kingdom of Khazaria converted to Judaism in the eighth century. Multiple sources confirm the conversion, yet the entire story remains a mystery. What was the nature of their Judaism? More importantly, what happened to them?

Sa’adia Gaon was an important Jewish philosopher and communal leader of the 9th and 10th centuries, famous in particular for his massive Book of Beliefs and Opinions. A child prodigy to rose to the highest ranks of Jewish scholarship, his thought left an indelible imprint on the Jewish spiritual tradition.

Volume One: Ancient Israel available November 10! Dear students of Jewish history! I’m delighted to inform you that Volume One: Ancient Israel of my four-volume The Jewish People: A History is now published! Thank you all for the thousands of comments–both supportive and corrective–that you have provided as the Jewish History Lab series unfolded on…

Gold Award as well as the Listener’s Choice Award in the category of History! Thank you all so much for your support!

If you are planning to be in Queens next Shabbat, please drop by and say hello!

Tomorrow at 8:45 am at Congregation Ahavath Torah in Englewood, 6:45 pm at Darchei Noam and via Zoom.

Drop by and say hello! Happy to have had this conversation with JLI! In case the video doesn’t embed properly: https://youtu.be/URfkNuEJu1Y?si=ZFPNfxr_8BW_0c89

Really looking forward to speaking to the Ner Yisrael community this coming Shavuot! If you are in Hendon, please drop by and say hello.

Looking forward to speaking to the Fort Lee community. If you’re in town, please join us and say hello!

Looking forward to speaking in Ramat Bet Shemesh! New Series: Artificial Intelligence in the Context of Jewish History (and the Jewish Future)

Very proud to mark the completion of a cycle of Talmud study on Tuesday night. Here is the video that is scheduled for that morning, describing the process for the 100k+ viewers who follow Jewish History in Daf Yomi at http://www.alldaf.org. New Series! Jewish History in the Torah The Mystery of Michelangelo’s Hebrew Support this…


