History Through Text with Rabbi Kulwin @ TBA

Temple B’nai Abraham Congregational Learning will present History Through Text, a seminar to be offered throughout the year, taught by Rabbi Kulwin.Taught in blocks, each class will also be a stand-alone unit, so that an inability to attend all (or even most) of the sessions will not be an impediment to an enjoyable and simulating learning experience.This lecture series is free and open to the community. Register online or call 973.994.2290.

The next series, beginning Tuesday, February 10, 7:00 PM, is Jews in Medieval Spain: From Golden Age to Inquisition and Expulsion.

Especially amazing given today’s turmoil in the Mideast, a thousand years ago, Jews in Islamic Spain were among the freest, most creative, best educated and affluent ever in our history. With the Christian Reconquista, however, life began to change. Jews fell into disfavor, kings issued laws restricting individual and communal liberties, and over the course of a century our ancestors were forced by the Inquisition to convert, leave, or die. We will examine this fascinating chapter of Jewish history through Spanish, Hebrew and Portuguese texts of the time, in English translation; diaries, letters, civil law codes, and some fascinating accounts written by historians hundreds of years ago. We will learn just how Sephardic Jews ended up around the world, to England and Holland and Italy to just about every Arabic country as well. Topics for each session listed below.

• Tuesday, February 10, 7:00 PM: The Golden Age of Spanish Jewry: How Golden Was It?
  
• Tuesday, February 17, 7:00 PM: The Beginning of the End: Alfonso X and the Siete Partidas, De los Judios

• February 24, 7:00 PM, 7:00 PM: From Bad to Worse: Inquisition, Expulsion and Conversion

• March 3, 7:00 PM: The Sephardic Diaspora: From Iberia to the World