Who Was King David?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqmrscCsm3w&t=423s

“Sweet singer of Israel,” David was the poet-warrior King who led the Jewish people to political and cultural prominence. Denied his most cherished goal of building the Temple, he lived a life of great personal challenge and heroic resurgence from tragedy, and his biography left an indelible mark on the Jewish understanding of leadership.

Who Was Joshua?

The Bible describes how the Jewish people, emerging from Egyptian servitude and decades of wandering in the Sinai desert, followed Joshua’s military leadership to conquer the Land of Israel and establish the ancient foundations of their Torah-centered society. This lecture will survey the archeological and historical record to understand the larger context of the Biblical account. Part II of Israel: The Land and its People.

Jewish History in the Sixteenth Century (Essential Lectures in Jewish History)

The Jewish people experienced dramatic changes in the sixteenth century that reverberate to this day. This lecture discusses three aspects of this century in particular: 1) the demographic upheavals associated with the expulsions from Spain and Portugal as well as the Ashkenazic migration, 2) the impact of the disruptive technology of printing, and 3) the ramifications of the Safed circle.

[youtube=http://youtu.be/v4ZbOcOoaio]

Who was Eldad ha-Dani? Jewish Biography as History by Dr. Henry Abramson

Screen Shot 2014-11-27 at 10.34.47 AM

Claiming descent from the long-lost Ten Tribes of Israel, Eldad was a ninth-century traveler with a fantastic story: beyond the “River Kush” lay an intact civilization of Jews who enjoyed political sovereignty, in preparation for their eventual return to the Land of Israel in messianic times. Surviving shipwreck, cannibals and attack from fire-worshipping pagans, Eldad’s story of the mystical river Sambatyon and the Jews who lived there captivated the Jewish mind for centuries, and had a lasting impact on the development of Christian thought as well. But was he for real?

Dr. Abramson is way better in print (and taller, too):

kof cover DMA_FotorThe Sea of TalmudTHUMBNAIL_IMAGE

prayer-for-the-government-coverart of hatred cover

Who Was Bar Kochba? Jewish Biography as History Lecture by Dr. Henry Abramson

BK thumbnail

“Akiva, grass will grow from your cheeks,” said the talmudic Rabbi Yochanan ben Torta, “and still the messiah will not have come.” A stinging rebuke for the most prominent supporter of Bar Kochba’s would-be messianic leadership of the Jewish people in his 2nd-century rebellion against the Roman oppressors. Who was Bar Kochba, and what did his rebellion signify for Jewish history?

Dr. Abramson in print:

kof cover DMA_Fotor The Sea of Talmud  Rambam Cover  rtt2  art of hatred coverPrayer for the Government cover

Who was Salome? Jewish Biography as History lecture by Dr. Henry Abramson

Salome thumbnail

Briefly but notoriously mentioned in both Josephus and the Gospels, Salome was the granddaughter of King Herod who is best known for a salacious performance that resulted in the execution of John the Baptist. Who was Salome, and does her bit part play a significant role in the representation of Jews and Judaism in medieval Christian thought? Part of the Jewish Biography as History series by Dr. Henry Abramson at http://www.jewishhistorylectures.org.

[youtube=http://youtu.be/Mjkp6eZB4Qw]

***********

Books by Henry Abramson

kof cover DMA_Fotor The Sea of Talmud

Rambam Cover

RTT Cover 2

Prayer for the Government cover

art of hatred cover

The Kabbalah of Forgiveness Coming in Time for Rosh Hashanah

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDsREIo9qwg

New for the Season of Repentance: a translation and modern commentary on Rabbi Moshe Cordovero’s classic of Jewish ethics, the Date Palm of Devorah (Tomer Devorah). Learn the Thirteen Levels of Mercy and discover how to forgive others (and yourself). Please visit http://www.jewishhistorylectures.org and click on “The Kabbalah of Forgiveness” for excerpts and videos. Publication date: Rosh Hodesh Elul (August 26-27, 2014).

Up ↑

%d