Dr. Alan Verskin, Professor of Jewish History at the Universityof Rhode Island and the University of Toronto, teaches this class on a Black Jewish messiah. In the 16th century, a Hebrew-speaking, battle-scarred, Black-skinned Jew named David Reubeni appeared suddenly in Venice with a desperate plan to restore Jewish pride and political independence. Why did kings, bishops, rabbis, bankers, and even a pope, open their homes and wallets for him? Some answers from one of the weirdest documents of Jewish history, Reubeni's personal diary.

Alan Verskin teaches at the University of Rhode Island and, on July 1, will be the Samuel J. Zacks Chair of Jewish History at the University of Toronto. His most recent book is Diary of a Black Jewish Messiah: The Sixteenth-Century Journey of David Reubeni through Africa, the Middle East, and Europe (Stanford, 2023).

Open to all learning levels.