Judaism Books

Book SynopsisTrade Review"Long-listed for the 2017 Jewish Quarterly Wingate Prize""It's refreshing to read a Jewish book on death that does not presume to offer guidance, either through that dark portal, or around it. Instead, Hillel Halkin . . . has written a brief, pellucid account of the role death has played in Jewish texts, law, thought and lives--including his own."---Esther Schor, Wall Street Journal"Halkin combines an accessible and trenchant exploration of Judaism's evolving concepts of death with his own struggle with understanding it. He leavens what could be a depressing read with humor. . . . Halkin's frankness about his own difficulties . . . help make this nuanced quest for meaning personal and affecting." * Publishers Weekly *"Well-rounded and thoroughly readable."---Jeff Fleischer, ForeWord"Deeply moving."---Ray Olson, Booklist"A very user-friendly historical account of Jewish ideas about death . . . and how those ideas change. . . . [Halkin] is a master at 'popularisation' in the best sense of that term, bringing to a non-academic audience what are, in essence, some very complicated ideas."---David Hillel-Ruben, Jewish Chronicle"Hillel Halkin, an American-born Israeli scholar and novelist, poignantly explores his own experiences while providing a history of Jewish thought."---Amy Frykholm, Christian Century"Instructive and thought-provoking. . . . One would be hard-pressed to find a more knowledgeable or astute guide through the vast literature of Jewish thanatology than Hillel Halkin. . . . The Biggest of Mysteries being tackled by one of our best and brightest."---Matt Nesvisky, Jerusalem Post"Learned and beautifully written." * Choice *"At once scholarly and passionate, secular and religious, detached and autobiographical."---Edward Alexander, Chicago Jewish Star"Charming, frankly vulnerable, and deceptively deep."---Abraham Socher, Jewish Review of Books"In this important new book, Hillel Halkin explores Jewish attitudes towards death and the world to come. . . . A highly readable book which provokes reflection on an often uncomfortable subject. It would prove a valuable resource for all those involved in the field of pastoral care."---Randall C. Belinfante, Association of Jewish Libraries Reviews

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“No great textual scholar, no master of philology and historical criticism commands a technique at once more scrupulously attentive to its object and more instinctive with the writer’s voice [than Scholem]. That voice reaches out and grabs the layman.”—George Steiner, New Yorker“[Scholem’s] work on Jewish mysticism, messianism, and sectarianism, spanning now half a century, constitutes … one of the major achievements of the historical imagination in our time. I would contend that it is of vital interest not only to anyone concerned with the history of religion but to anyone struggling to understand the underlying problematics of the human predicament.”—Robert Alter, Commentary“This book has been a classic in its field since it was first issued in 1950, and it still stands as uniquely authoritative and intriguingly instructive…. [It is] a monument of revelation and insight bridging anthropology, religion, sociology, and history.”—Publishers Weekly

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Book SynopsisIn 1665, as Jews abandoned reason for the ecstasy of enthusiasm for self-proclaimed Messiah Sabbetai Zevi, Jacob Sasportas watched in horror. Dweck tells the story of the Sephardic rabbi who challenged Sabbetai Zevi's improbable claims and warned his fellow Jews that their Messiah was not the answer to their prayers..Trade Review"Finalist for the National Jewish Book Award in Sephardic Culture""Dweck’s new book is not merely another study of the Sabbatian affair; it canvasses seventeenth-century Sephardic diaspora, rabbinic epistemology and the crises between them, a crisis of which Sasportas’ anti-Sabbatian campaign was only an external manifestation."---Zvi Kunshtat, Studia Rosenthaliana

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Winner of the National Jewish Book Award in Scholarship""Winner of the Jordan Schnitzer Award in Biblical Studies, Rabbinics, and Jewish History and Culture in Antiquity, Association for Jewish Studies""An important addition to the field of Jewish Studies, for it makes a significant contribution to scholarly discussions on ways of constructing identity in rabbinic literature."---Michail Kitsos, Religious Studies Review"Time and Difference in Rabbinic Judaism effortlessly weaves together ruminations on time and temporality, rabbinic traditions (both legal and narrative), and Greek and Roman literary sources and material remains. . . . A remarkable achievement."---Max K. Strassfeld, The Journal of Religion

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"One of Jewish Ideas Daily.com's 40 Best Jewish Books of 2012"

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"[Teter] draws incisive parallels between disparate time periods and parts of the world and fruitfully interweaves legal, religious, cultural, and political analysis. It’s a noteworthy look at the origins and mechanics of oppression." * Publishers Weekly *"In this accessible and comprehensive study, Teter traces the twisted historic origins of white supremacy and its centuries of suppressing the civil and political rights of Jewish individuals and people of color. . . . A disturbing read at times, but an important one, especially given the growth of the white supremacy movement in this era." * Library Journal *"Meticulous and nuanced."---Howard Cooper, Jewish Chronicle"Intriguing. . . . A timely, brave intellectual stand."---Nathan Ron, The European Legacy"Steeped in primary sources, Christian Supremacy is informative and provocative" * Jerusalem Post *

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Book SynopsisPublished just in time for Passover 5779, this Haggadah from the Jewdas collective is a satirical, political and downright hilarious take on a Jewish tradition. With a multitude of dangerous ideas such as workers’ rights, liberation of the oppressed and the dismantling of nation-states, this Haggadah is for every left-wing Jewish household.Trade Review`I learnt a lot ... a lovely time' -- Jeremy Corbyn, on the 2018 Jewdas seder `They raised a beetroot in the air and shouted f*** capitalism!' -- Daily Mail, on the 2018 Jewdas seder

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Book SynopsisThe main aim of this work is to understand Jesus as he saw himself, and to compare that self--understanding with the ways in which others have grasped the nature of his mission.Trade Review'A tour de force, an intellectual feat of great distinction.' Arnold Age s, University of Waterloo 'An important addition to the scholarship of the most critical period in the formation of what has come to be called the 'Judeo-Christian heritage'. It will be of great interest to general readers.' St Louis Jewish Light 'Zeitlin has digested a great deal of scholarly material and imparts it with brevity and clarity.' Canadian Jewish News 'A well-written project with many other admirable features' Toronto Journal of Theology 'Admirable in its clarity, its clean, direct, unpretentious style, and its careful arrangement.' Contemporary Sociology 'Zeitlin offers Christians the opportunity to rise to the challenge of understanding the gospels from a Jewish perspective, historically based, while returning to the basics of the faith of the church in their simplest expressions, i.e., the expressions of the gospel accounts themselves. 'Didaskalia ‘How Jewish was Jesus? Did he consider himself the Messiah? Why was he executed by the Romans as a political rebel? What did Jesus really think about the Sabbath, dietary laws, and the idea of divorce? How did Paul misinterpret Jesus’ major concepts? How did the early church separate form Judaism? These are some of the contentious and complex questions that Irving M. Zeitlin, professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto, examines in this concise and scholarly study. The author reviews Jesus’ life and teaching in relation to his social milieu and historical period. His method is sociological and proves to be a fruitful approach to problems, questions and issues that have been discussed by scholars over the centuries.’ Canadian Jewish News ‘…a tour de force, an intellectual feat of great distinction.’ Arnold Ages, University of Waterloo ‘… an important addition to the scholarship of the most critical period in the formation of what has come to be called the “Judeo-Christian heritage”. It will be a great value to serious scholars and a great interest to general readers.’ St. Louis Jewish LightTable of ContentsPreface. Acknowledgements. Part I: Judaism in the Time of Jesus. Part II: Jesus of Nazareth: Charismatic Religious Virtuoso. Part III: The Road to Golgotha. Notes. Bibliography. Index.

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Book SynopsisThis book is a comprehensive account of how the Jews became a diaspora people. The term ''diaspora'' was first applied exclusively to the early history of the Jews as they began settling in scattered colonies outside of Israel-Judea during the time of the Babylonian exile; it has come to express the characteristic uniqueness of the Jewish historical experience. Zeitlin retraces the history of the Jewish diaspora from the ancient world to the present, beginning with expulsion from their ancestral homeland and concluding with the Holocaust and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In mapping this process, Zeitlin argues that the Jews'' religious self-understanding was crucial in enabling them to cope with the serious and recurring challenges they have had to face throughout their history. He analyses the varied reactions the Jews encountered from their so-called ''host peoples'', paying special attention to the attitudes of famous thinkers such as Luther, Hegel, Nietzsche, WaTrade Review"Zeitlin successfully sums up extensive and detailed historical data while keeping them within a framework of the ideas he seeks to get across."Insight Turkey"Of Jewish histories there is no shortage. But this remarkable book offers history from the critical perspective of sociology - itself critically examined in the light of history. In short, an intellectual feast."Norman Miller, Trinity College, Hartford "This comprehensive study provides a profound discourse on the meanings and boundaries of 'Diaspora' as a central dimension of Jewish history. The author launches his historical tour of diverse Jewish religious, social, geographical, political and cultural communities with a probing "genealogy" of the very concept of Diaspora, including contemporary theories."Frederick M. Denny, University of Colorado at Boulder "A prominent sociologist employs the concepts of his discipline to write diaspora Jewish history, as the story of national-religious Jewish peoplehood. Zeitlin shows that separate accounts of Jews living in different nations often miss the real connections in Jewish history."Jacques Kornberg, University of TorontoTable of ContentsPreface Chapter One "Diaspora" on the Genealogy of a Concept The Relation of Theory to History and the Role of the Ideal Type Global Diasporas by Robin Cohen Ethnic Immigration in the Early Eras of American History Diasporas by Stéphane Dufux Static Thinking About Dispersion Powers of Diaspora by Jonathan Boyarin and Daniel Boyarin The Socratic Inversion of Values The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness by Paul Gilroy Children of Israel or Children of the Pharaohs Black Culture and Ineffable Terror Routes: Travel and Translation in the Late Twentieth Century by James Clifford Chapter Two Varieties of Jewish Religious Experience Resting, however, on Unifying Jewish Religious Principles Moshe Rosman's Rethinking European Jewish History Cultures of the Jews Syncretism in Jewish History Polytheism and Monotheism The Nature of Polytheism Chapter Three Max Weber's Ancient Judaism The Hebrew Prophets: The Setting The Prophetic Ethic Chapter Four The Babylonian Empire The Revolt and the Destruction of the First Temple The Emigration to Egypt Chapter Five The Babylonian Exile and the Persian Supremacy (586-332BCE) The Diaspora in Babylon and Persia Chapter Six Alexander the Great and the new Hegemony of the West Chapter Seven The World Diaspora The Beginnings of the European Diaspora: Greece and Rome Chapter Eight The Diaspora in the 1st Century CE Judaism's Proselytism Chapter Nine The Jews in the Roman Near East Chapter Ten The Jews Move to Poland The Chmelnitzky Uprising of 1648-1649 Chapter Eleven Sabbatai Zevi Chapter Twelve Gershom Scholem's Error Dubnow on the Sabbatian Movement Chapter Thirteen The Rise of Hasidism and the Baal-Shem-Tob Enter the Man, Israel, Who Became the Baal-Shem-Tob (abbreviated the Besht) The Fundamental Principles of the Besht's Teachings The Growth of Tzaddikism Hasidism, Rabbinism and the Forerunners of the Enlightenment Chapter Fourteen The Jews of Spain The Inquisition The Jews, the Spanish and the "Conversos Problem" The Aftermath of the Pogroms Jewish Mysticism: The Kabbalah in Spanish-Jewish Life Chapter Fifteen The Expulsion of the Jews from Spain The Conquest of Granada Chapter Sixteen The Enlightenment and the Jews The English Deists Varieties of Enlightenment Views on Religion Voltaire Rousseau Rousseau on Judaism and the Jews Chapter Seventeen The Germanies The Emerging German National Mind Luther Luther's Attitude toward the Jews Hegel Hegel on Jews and Judaism Chapter Eighteen The Left Hegelians and the "So-Called" Jewish Question Bruno Bauer on the "Jewish Question" Marx Marx's Use of the Terms "Jew" and "Judaism" Weber vs. Sombart on the Spirit of Capitalism Chapter Nineteen From Religion to Race Afro-American Ð Jewish Parallels Arthur de Gobineau Chapter Twenty From Gobineau and H. Stewart Chamberlain to Wagner Nietzsche, the Jews, and Judaism Nietzsche's Legacy Chapter Twenty One The Rise of Nazism The Versailles Treaty The Origins of the Nazi Party After the Putsch Chapter Twenty Two The Early Nazi Regime and the Jews as Perceived by Non-Jewish Contemporaries Chapter Twenty Three The First World War, the Collapse of the Old Regimes and the Rise of Totalitarianism More on Nazi Ideology, Internal Factions and Foreign-Policy Aims The Turning Point: The Attack on Poland Chapter Twenty Four Max Weber on Bureaucracy and its Relevance for an Analysis of the Shoah (Holocaust) Bureaucracy German Ideology and Bureaucracy Weber's Serious Error Chapter Twenty Five Charisma, Bureaucracy and the "Final Solution" Raul Hilberg's, The Destruction of the European Jews The Administration of the Destructive Process The Reich-Protektorat Area The Creation of a Centralized authority in Ghettoized Jewish Communities The Polish Jews under the Nazis The Jewish Councils (Judenräte) Nazi Food Controls Mobile Killing Operations The Role of the Other Ethnic Groups Definition of "Jew" Again, and Himmler Ian Kershaw's Recent Re-Examination of the Issues Chapter Twenty Six Leon Poliakov's Complementary Analysis of the Shoah Hitler's Euthanasia Program Auschwitz The "Death's Head" Formations (SS Totenkopf) Back to the Question of a Distinctive German National Character Significant Political Differences Between Eastern and Western Europe The Role of the Christian Churches Postscript Chapter Twenty Seven The Battle of the Warsaw Ghetto A Reflection on Jewish Resistance Chapter Twenty Eight Zionism, Israel and the Palestinians Theodore Herzl The Historical Jewish Presence in the Arab World The Peace Conference of 1919 "The Unseen Question" Arab Rebellion Works Cited

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Book Synopsis* A groundbreaking new study by a leading scholar on the history of the Jews and the process by which they became a diaspora people. * Wide-ranging in scope, from the expulsion of Jews from their ancestral homeland in the Ancient world to the 'Final Solution' and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Trade Review"Zeitlin successfully sums up extensive and detailed historical data while keeping them within a framework of the ideas he seeks to get across."Insight Turkey"Of Jewish histories there is no shortage. But this remarkable book offers history from the critical perspective of sociology - itself critically examined in the light of history. In short, an intellectual feast."Norman Miller, Trinity College, Hartford "This comprehensive study provides a profound discourse on the meanings and boundaries of 'Diaspora' as a central dimension of Jewish history. The author launches his historical tour of diverse Jewish religious, social, geographical, political and cultural communities with a probing "genealogy" of the very concept of Diaspora, including contemporary theories."Frederick M. Denny, University of Colorado at Boulder "A prominent sociologist employs the concepts of his discipline to write diaspora Jewish history, as the story of national-religious Jewish peoplehood. Zeitlin shows that separate accounts of Jews living in different nations often miss the real connections in Jewish history."Jacques Kornberg, University of TorontoTable of ContentsPreface Chapter One "Diaspora" on the Genealogy of a Concept The Relation of Theory to History and the Role of the Ideal Type Global Diasporas by Robin Cohen Ethnic Immigration in the Early Eras of American History Diasporas by Stéphane Dufux Static Thinking About Dispersion Powers of Diaspora by Jonathan Boyarin and Daniel Boyarin The Socratic Inversion of Values The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness by Paul Gilroy Children of Israel or Children of the Pharaohs Black Culture and Ineffable Terror Routes: Travel and Translation in the Late Twentieth Century by James Clifford Chapter Two Varieties of Jewish Religious Experience Resting, however, on Unifying Jewish Religious Principles Moshe Rosman's Rethinking European Jewish History Cultures of the Jews Syncretism in Jewish History Polytheism and Monotheism The Nature of Polytheism Chapter Three Max Weber's Ancient Judaism The Hebrew Prophets: The Setting The Prophetic Ethic Chapter Four The Babylonian Empire The Revolt and the Destruction of the First Temple The Emigration to Egypt Chapter Five The Babylonian Exile and the Persian Supremacy (586-332BCE) The Diaspora in Babylon and Persia Chapter Six Alexander the Great and the new Hegemony of the West Chapter Seven The World Diaspora The Beginnings of the European Diaspora: Greece and Rome Chapter Eight The Diaspora in the 1st Century CE Judaism's Proselytism Chapter Nine The Jews in the Roman Near East Chapter Ten The Jews Move to Poland The Chmelnitzky Uprising of 1648-1649 Chapter Eleven Sabbatai Zevi Chapter Twelve Gershom Scholem's Error Dubnow on the Sabbatian Movement Chapter Thirteen The Rise of Hasidism and the Baal-Shem-Tob Enter the Man, Israel, Who Became the Baal-Shem-Tob (abbreviated the Besht) The Fundamental Principles of the Besht's Teachings The Growth of Tzaddikism Hasidism, Rabbinism and the Forerunners of the Enlightenment Chapter Fourteen The Jews of Spain The Inquisition The Jews, the Spanish and the "Conversos Problem" The Aftermath of the Pogroms Jewish Mysticism: The Kabbalah in Spanish-Jewish Life Chapter Fifteen The Expulsion of the Jews from Spain The Conquest of Granada Chapter Sixteen The Enlightenment and the Jews The English Deists Varieties of Enlightenment Views on Religion Voltaire Rousseau Rousseau on Judaism and the Jews Chapter Seventeen The Germanies The Emerging German National Mind Luther Luther's Attitude toward the Jews Hegel Hegel on Jews and Judaism Chapter Eighteen The Left Hegelians and the "So-Called" Jewish Question Bruno Bauer on the "Jewish Question" Marx Marx's Use of the Terms "Jew" and "Judaism" Weber vs. Sombart on the Spirit of Capitalism Chapter Nineteen From Religion to Race Afro-American Ð Jewish Parallels Arthur de Gobineau Chapter Twenty From Gobineau and H. Stewart Chamberlain to Wagner Nietzsche, the Jews, and Judaism Nietzsche's Legacy Chapter Twenty One The Rise of Nazism The Versailles Treaty The Origins of the Nazi Party After the Putsch Chapter Twenty Two The Early Nazi Regime and the Jews as Perceived by Non-Jewish Contemporaries Chapter Twenty Three The First World War, the Collapse of the Old Regimes and the Rise of Totalitarianism More on Nazi Ideology, Internal Factions and Foreign-Policy Aims The Turning Point: The Attack on Poland Chapter Twenty Four Max Weber on Bureaucracy and its Relevance for an Analysis of the Shoah (Holocaust) Bureaucracy German Ideology and Bureaucracy Weber's Serious Error Chapter Twenty Five Charisma, Bureaucracy and the "Final Solution" Raul Hilberg's, The Destruction of the European Jews The Administration of the Destructive Process The Reich-Protektorat Area The Creation of a Centralized authority in Ghettoized Jewish Communities The Polish Jews under the Nazis The Jewish Councils (Judenräte) Nazi Food Controls Mobile Killing Operations The Role of the Other Ethnic Groups Definition of "Jew" Again, and Himmler Ian Kershaw's Recent Re-Examination of the Issues Chapter Twenty Six Leon Poliakov's Complementary Analysis of the Shoah Hitler's Euthanasia Program Auschwitz The "Death's Head" Formations (SS Totenkopf) Back to the Question of a Distinctive German National Character Significant Political Differences Between Eastern and Western Europe The Role of the Christian Churches Postscript Chapter Twenty Seven The Battle of the Warsaw Ghetto A Reflection on Jewish Resistance Chapter Twenty Eight Zionism, Israel and the Palestinians Theodore Herzl The Historical Jewish Presence in the Arab World The Peace Conference of 1919 "The Unseen Question" Arab Rebellion Works Cited

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Book SynopsisA survey of intertestamental Judaism focusing on the customs and controversies which provide insight into the New Testament.

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Book SynopsisCohen argues that it was in the thirteenth century that a fundamental shift occurred in the Christian perception of both Judaism and Jews in Western Europe, and he attributes this change to the activities of the newly-formed mendicant ordersthe Dominicans and Franciscans. In order to make this case as effectively as he does, the author has to approach his problem from two different perspectivesthat of the historian of the medieval church, and that of the Jewish historian. Each of these approaches has its own scholarly literature, its own emphases, its own particular blind spots. It is the principal quality of this book that it focuses a steady, clear light on those dark corners, and will make sense to a variety of readers.... Cohen''s views will be taken seriously. Indeed, the calm and sensible tone of this book may help stimulate a new scholarly debate.American Jewish HistoryTrade ReviewCohen not only presents the ideology and strategy of such leading figures as Raymond de Peñaforte, Pablo Christiani, Raymond Martini, Nicholas of Lyra, and Raymond Lull, but also some Jewish responses to their attacks.... This book is thoroughly researched, documented, and convincing. * Religious Studies Review *Important, richly documented, and beautifully written.... Highly recommended. * Choice *Table of ContentsPreface Abbreviations IntroductionPART ONE: THE EMERGENCE OF MENDICANT ANTI-JUDAISM 1. The Early Medieval Background 2. The Mendicant Orders 3. The Attack on Rabbinic Literature 4. The Spread of Inquisitorial ActivityPART TWO: IDEOLOGICAL REFINEMENTS 5. The School of Raymond de Peñiaforte: Pablo Christiani 6. The School of Raymond de Peñiaforte: Raymond Martini 7. Synthesis and Diffusion: Nicholas of LyraPART THREE: THE IDEOLOGY IN PERSPECTIVE: ITS APPLICATIONS AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE 8. Raymond Lull 9. Involving the Laity: Mendicant Poetry and Preaching 10. Conclusion: Mendicant Anti-Judaism and the Evolving Self-Consciousness of Latin ChristendomAppendix: Textual Parallels in Nicholas of Lyra's Quodlibeturn and Raymond Martini's Pugio fidei Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisIn Nadler's account, Mithnagdism emerges as a highly developed religious outlook that is essentially conservative, deeply dualistic, and profoundly pessimistic about humanity's spiritual potential-all in stark contrast to Hasidism's optimism and aggressive encouragement of mysticism and religious rapture among its followers.Trade ReviewAllan Nadler has performed a great service by bringing the Mithnagdim more to light. The spiritual universe that he has unearthed with erudition, imagination, and care is now more accessible to students of Jewish history and of religion in general. New Republic After reading this book, and as one who was brought up by teachers of Judaismsin the Mitnagdic tradition, I found myself wondering whether Nadler's picture of Mitnagdic pessimism, other worldliness and asceticism is really typical of that movement or only of some of its early leaders. Perhaps the answer to this will be in a forthcoming book. But whatever Nadler's future plans, this reviewer feels that he has presented us with an important, interesting, and readable work for anyone seeking a better and more balanced understanding of Judaism in the modern age. -- Joshua Adler Jerusalem Post In many ways Nadler's work defines the model of a first-rate monograph on an important subject... It is lucidly argued and carefully drafted. The technical achievement of figuring out what is going on in difficult texts matches the intellectual achievement of framing the whole in terms that bear consequence for a wide audience interested in the history of Judaism within the history of religion-work that makes a difference, indeed a huge difference. -- Jacob Neusner Conservative Judaism In reconstructing the 'faith of the Mithnagdim,' Nadler introduces us to a remarkable universe of individuals and ideas. His pioneering reconstruction of Mithnagdic thought marks a turning point in our understanding of a crucial moment in Jewish history. From now on, anyone interested in the development of modern Judaism will have to take into account what he has done. -- Jay Harris Commentary Nadler's work is a significant contribution to Jewish intellectual history and has wider significance in that it is also the first attempt to come to terms with thinkers who, until now, have been greatly misunderstood. It would not be surprising if Nadler's book became the impetus for much further research in this area. -- Marc B. Shapiro Journal of Jewish Studies

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Book SynopsisThe constraints of the ghetto and the concomitant interaction of various Jewish traditions produced a remarkable cultural flowering.Trade Review[ The Jews of Early Modern Venice] is a particularly good study of how a minority group can fit into a general culture, yet retain its identity and develop new forms of culture. -- Donald B. Epstein History: Reviews of News Books The Jews of Early Modern Venice is a rich anthology of essays on ethinicity and identity, commerce and culture, and other matters relating to a time well before the great wooden gates of the ghetto of Venice were taken down. -- L. R. N. Ashley Bibliotheque d'Humanism et Renaissance [This volume] contributes to an enhanced understanding of the varied social groups, the traditions of faith and thought, and the art produced in the Venetian ghetto... These essays demonstrate the remarkable cultural and religious complexity of Jewish life in early modern Venice. -- Stephen D. Benin Religious Studies Review We have reason to welcome this collection of essays on the Jews of Venice... [ The Jews of Early Modern Venice] offers a unified portrait that poionts the way toward understanding modes of acculturation: how Jews might be insiders and outsiders at the same time. -- Kenneth Stow Renaissance Quarterly This unusually coherent collection of essays on the theme of Jewish community life in early modern Venice deserves a wide readership. -- John K. Brackett H-Net Reviews The essays in this fine volume are the result of years of intensive research of a diverse collection of source materials by a cadre of some of the most renowned scholars in numerous fields within the history of early modern Venice and early modern Judaism... The volume eloquently contextualizes the history and development of Jewish settlement in Venice and the role of the Jews in the broader city and its territories. -- Dean Phillip Bell HistorianTable of ContentsContents and Contributors: Introduction, Robert C. Davis I. Settlement The Venetian Government and the Jews, Benjamin Ravid * The "City of the Jews," Donatella Calabi II. Ethnicities and Identities Jewish Banks and Monti di Pieta, Brian Pullan * Jews in International Trade: The Emergence of the Levantines and Ponentines, Benjamin Arbel * Jews, Crypto-Jews, and the Inquisition, Pier Cesare Ioly Zorattini * The Ghetto Republic, David J. Malkiel * Jewish Women and Family Life, Inside and Outside the Ghetto, Howard Tzvi Adelman III. Cultures A Cultural Profile, Robert Bonfil * Medicine and Scientific Thought: The World of Tobias Cohen, David B. Ruderman * Jewish Musical Culture: Leon Modena, Don Harran * Processions, Piety, and Jewish Confraternities, Elliott Horowitz

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Book SynopsisThis new chronology provides the framework for a fresh consideration of the literary and archeological evidence, as well as new understandings of the religious and social dynamics that shaped the image of the Temple Mount as a sacred space for Jews and Christians.Trade ReviewEliav uses his impressive knowledge of Talmud, the Bible, archeology, languages, rabbinic texts, the classics and patristic literature to debunk the notion that the Temple Mount was a sacred space for ancient Jews and Christians. According to him, it did not achieve this status until long after the Second Temple was destroyed. In a dazzling display of erudition, he supports his thesis by providing new readings of familiar sources and by citing many little-known references. Publishers Weekly Readable and well illustrated and documented, this book is recommended for religion and seminary collections of all stripes. Library Journal 2005 Eliav writes in a clear style that makes it accessible to most readers. Highly recommended. -- Aaron Howard Jewish Herald-Voice 2005 This is a wide-ranging book on a fascinating topic. Its main thesis is that the Temple Mount in Jerusalem became an important concept invested with religious significance only after the Temple had been destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE. -- Pieter W. van der Horst Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2006 All readers will be rewarded by Eliav's judicious insights, his nuanced reinterpretations, and his wide-ranging scholarship. Choice 2006 This book means to awaken an important scholarly debate and it deserves to succeed. Shofar 2007Table of ContentsList of IllustrationsPrefaceA Note on Translation and TransliterationIntroduction1. Transmuting Realities: From David to Herod, From Micah to Josephus2. Locus Memoriae: The Temple Mount and the Early Followers of Jesus and James3. Delusive Landscapes: From Jerusalem to Aelia4. A Lively Ruin: The Temple Mount in Byzantine Jerusalem5. The New Mountain in Christian Homiletics6. The Temple Mount, the Rabbis, and the Poetics of MemoryAfterword: A Mount without a TempleAbbreviationsNotesBibliographyPrimary SourcesScholarly WorksIndex of Ancient CitationsGeneral Index

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Book SynopsisWeb of Life weaves its suggestive interpretation of Jewish culture in the Palestine of late antiquity on the warp of a singular, breathtakingly tragic, and sublime rabbinic text, Lamentations Rabbah. The textual analyses that form the core of the book are informed by a range of theoretical paradigms rarely brought to bear on rabbinic literature: structural analysis of mythologies and folktales, performative approaches to textual production, feminist theory, psychoanalytical analysis of culture, cultural criticism, and folk narrative genre analysis.The concept of context as the hermeneutic basis for literary interpretation reactivates the written text and subverts the hierarchical structures with which it has been traditionally identified. This book reinterprets rabbinic culture as an arena of multiple dialogues that traverse traditional concepts of identity regarding gender, nation, religion, and territory. The author''s approach is permeated by the idea that scTrade Review"Web of Life is a brilliant study that makes an ancient text relevant to the modern reader . . . Hasan-Rokem demonstrates not only a thorough scholarly knowledge of folklore and Jewish studies, but also a familiarity with current theoretical trends in literary analysis and interpretation."—Dan Ben-Amos, University of Pennsylvania"Hasan-Rokem provides a deeply suggestive analysis of the poignant midrashic text, Lamentations Rabbah, employing and blending folkloristic techniques, structural analysis of mythologies, feminist theory, cultural criticism and other theoretical trends in literary analysis and interpretive techniques . . . This is an engaging and enlightening book."—Religious Studies Review"By adding the folkloristic dimension to the scholarly discourse associated with amoraic stories, Hasan-Rokem's book addresses a long-felt need . . . [Hasan-Rokem] is the first to present a comprehensive discussion associating folklore with rabbinics."—Hebrew Studies"Lamentations Rabbah presents Jewish society in its daily, but not mundane, actions. It is a literature of disaster, of personal and collective tragedy that leaves the reader pondering the meaning of life. The breadth of folklore enables Hasan-Rokem to explore these tales in a multifaceted analysis that situates them in the their textual, historical and comparative contexts and that transcends them all by presenting narratives and riddles as a search for meaning."—Dan Ben-Amos, University of PennsylvaniaTable of ContentsPreface 1. The study of folk narratives in Rabbini literature 2. The literary context of folk narratives in the Aggadic Midrash: interpreting narrative structure 3. The genre context of folk narratives in the Aggadic Midrash: riddles about the wise people of Jerusalem 4. The comparative context of folk narratives in the Aggadic Midrash: tales of dream interpretation 6. The social context of folk narratives in the Aggadic Midrash: the feminine power of laments, tales, and love 7. The religious context of folk narratives in the Aggadic Midrash: the rhetoric of intimacy as a rhetoric of the sacred 8. The historical context of folk narratives in the Aggadic Midrash: three tales on Messianism Epilogue: Rabbi Joshua's Odyssey Notes Bibliography Index.

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Book SynopsisElisha ben Abuya is one of the most intriguing figures in early rabbinic literature, consistently capturing the Jewish imagination as the arch-heretic, apostate, and great sinner. Because of the vague nature of the rabbinic sources relating to him, later generations, particularly in modern times, have been able to project upon him the visions of whatever they saw as either negative or ideal in the figure of the rebel apostate.This book systematically analyzes all sources referring to Elisha ben Abuya, and in so doing, confronts the difficulties of deriving reliable information from rabbinic materials and of writing the biography of a rabbinic hero. The author argues that we have no way of discovering the historical Elisha ben Abuya; he is the product of the creative handling of traditions by later generations. Later generations do not fancifully invent the figure of Elisha but interpret and transmit earlier traditions, trying to resolve the contradictions and to interpret theTrade Review"Goshen-Gottstein's book is a masterful analysis of the texts and traditions regarding Elisha ben Abuya and Eleazar ben Arach, and offers great insight not only into the texts relating to these two rabbinic figures, but into the very nature of rabbinic stories and historiography." -- Hebrew Studies"Provides a refreshing examination of the stories of Elisha ben Abuya and R. Eleazar ben Arach . . . .Goshen-Gottstein's systematic treatment and masterful reading of rabbinic texts yields penetrating insights into rabbinic storytelling as a mode of religious and cultural expression." -- Journal of the American Academy of ReligionTable of ContentsIntroduction: the quest for Rabbinic biography: history, hermeneutics, and ideology; Part I. Elisha Ben Abuya: A Critical Biography: 1. The study of Elisha Ben Abuya: methodological considerations; 2. Elisha Ben Abuya in tannaitic literature; 3. Elisha Ben Abuya in post-tannaitic sources; 4. Bavli hagiga I: coming into sin; 5. Elisha and Rabbi Meir; 6. The story of Yerushalmi II; 7. Bavli and Yerushalmi: ideology, literary formation, and historical influence; Part II. Rabbi Eleazar Ben Arach: A Critical Biography: 8. Rabbi Eleazar Ben Arach: symbol and reality; Conclusion: collective torah culture and individual rabbinic biography; Appendix; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

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Book SynopsisThis book on culture and consciousness in history concerns the worldwide transformations of Jewish culture and society and the revival of the ancient Hebrew language following the waves of pogroms in Russia in 1881.Trade Review“With his customary versatility and lucidity Harshav has given us . . . a host of new and provocative insights into modern Jewish history. . . . This book is an outstanding attempt to juxtapose the revolution in Jewish life with that of the Hebrew language in such a way that each informs our understanding of the other.”—Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi, Columbia UniversityTable of ContentsCONTENTS PART I: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 PART II: 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 PART III: Harshav Barbara

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Book SynopsisPerhaps more than any other aspect of rabbinic literature, the laws about and discussions of menstruation have polarized current discussions of gender relations in Jewish culture. Is the designated impurity of menstruation sexist? Or does ritual absence from sex during menstruation encourage a rhythmic reaffirmation of conjugal intimacy?This book offers a new perspective on the extensive rabbinic discussions of menstrual impurity, female physiology, and anatomy, and on the social and religious institutions those discussions engendered. It analyzes the functions of these discussions within the larger textual world of rabbinic literature and in the context of Jewish and Christian culture in late antiquity.How did gender workhow was it made to workin rabbinic literature? How did that literature dictate the place of women in Jewish culture? In search of answers to these questions, the author analyzes the architectural metaphors deployed to describe female anatomy, arguing Trade Review"This book is of central importance in the field of Rabbinic studies and the history of Judaism in late antiquity. The originality of Fonrobert's work lies in the skill and nuance with which she brings a series of reading strategies and hermeneutical perspectives to Rabbinic texts." -- Martin S. Jaffe * University of Washington *"Fonrobert's analysis throughout is sophisticated and nuanced, avoiding false dichotomies between rabbis as good for or bad for women, looking instead for ways to talk about traditional texts about women and their bodies in new and productive ways that do not define women solely in terms of male-centered discourse. . . . Challenging and illuminating . . . Fonrobert's work is an important contribution to the study of an area of Jewish ritual and gender that is at once sensitive to the complexities of the traditional sources and to the contemporary significance of her inquiries." -- The Forward"Among the many complex, technical and obscure topics in the study of the Bible and early Judaism and Christianity, purity remains as perhaps the most recalcitrant. . . . [Charlotte Elisheva Fonrobert's Mentrual Purity, and Jonathan Klawans's Impurity and Sin in Ancient Judaism] are thus particularly welcome—both are revised dissertations as well as co-winners of the 2001/2 Salo W. Barton Book Prize of the American Academy for Jewish Research. Both books do an exemplary job of revitalizing the study of purity in antiquity and demonstrating how the combination of careful scholarship with modern methodological approaches can create new insights into an exceedingly difficult topic." -- Journal of Jewish Studies"...Fonrobert's book is a ground-breaking study that channels the researchof talmudic literature into a new and promising scholarly direction." * Prooftexts *Table of ContentsCONTENTS 1 2 3 4 5 6

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Book Synopsis"Remains of the Jews" studies the rise of Christian Empire in late antiquity through the dense and complex manner in which Christian authors wrote about Jews in the charged space of the "holy land".Trade Review"This is an extensive and well-constructed book. The use of post-colonial criticism is novel and thought-provoking, and provides many new and interesting readings of relevant ancient literature. Jacobs makes his case with skill and enthusiasm." -- Hebraic Political Studies"He presents the detailed exegetical, historical, and critical analysis of imperial Christianity in an accessible and highly engaging style." -- Review of Biblical Literature"[Jacobs's] skillful use of postmodern and postcolonial theories, coupled with his solid knowledge of the relevant sources and scholarly literature, are remarkable....Overall this is a challenging and thought-provoking study that forces the reader to reconsider accepted assumptions and hypotheses." -- Histoire Sociale/Social History"[Jacobs] gives smart readings of some familiar sources and draws connections that no one has seen before." -- Theological Studies

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Book SynopsisPlease see the Zohar Home Page for ancillary materials, including the publication schedule, press release, Aramaic text, questions, and answers.Trade Review"This sensitive commentary and translation of the classic text of Kabbalah is of foundational importance for an understanding of "Jewish mysticism.'"—Jewish Book World"While translation may be an art, it can also be genuine scholarship of the highest order. . . . Restoring the Zohar to our comprehension, these volumes are a monumental contribution to the history of Jewish thought." —Koret Jewish Book Award, Philosophy and Thought, 2003-2004, The Zohar: Pritzker Edition, Volumes I and II"A powerfully poetic rendition of this spiritual masterpiece. . . . Matt's new Zohar is a classic already in its first two volumes. The edition alone, or the translation alone, or the commentary alone would be a major contribution. The whole is a work of art." —Journal of the American Academy of Religion"More than a translation, this projected twelve-volume Pritzker edition amounts to an encyclopedia of the Zohar and is set to become one of the single most important contributions to the topic in the English-speaking world."—Times Literary SupplementTable of Contents@fmct:Contents @toc4:Foreword iii @tocca:Margot Pritzker @toc4:Translator's Introduction iii @tocca:Daniel C. Matt @toc4:Acknowledgments iii Diagram of the Ten Sefirot iii Introduction iii @tocca:Arthur Green @toc2: Haqdamat Sefer ha-Zohar 000 Parashat Be-Reshit 000 Parashat Noah 000 @toc4: List of Abbreviations 000 Transliteration of Hebrew and Aramaic 000 Glossary 000 Bibliography 000 Index 000 Library of Congress Subject Headings for this publication: Bible, O, T, Pentateuch Commentaries Early works to 1800, Cabala Early works to 1800, Zohar

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Book SynopsisPlease see the Zohar Home Page for ancillary materials, including the publication schedule, press release, Aramaic text, questions, and answers.Trade Review"This is more than a useful corrective for the pop-Kabbalah fantasies that have become fashionable among some spiritual seekers—it is also a serious aid to anyone seeking a serious encounter with Jewish spirituality."—Tikkun"...[Arthur Green's] 191-page introduction [to the Zohar] is so lucid and thorough that one almost does not notice how capably it has synthesized and presented the material."—The Forward"This is now the best introduction to the Zohar in English..."—CHOICE"...a succinct study that in distilling half a century's research, including Green's own, proves unflailingly lucid and illuminating: he is equally skillful at explicating ideas and at explaining their historical context."—Times Literary Supplement"This work can stand on its own as an excellent introduction to the Zohar, the central text of the Jewish mystical tradition. It is highly recommended to anyone interested in Jewish mysticism and would make an excellent text for undergraduate courses."—Religious Studies ReviewTable of Contents@fmct:Contents @toc4:Preface iii @toc1:Part I. Introduction @toc2:1. Prologue 000 2. The Kabbalistic Tradition: A Brief History Until the Zohar 000 3. Teachings of the Kabbalists: The Ten Sefirot 000 @toc1:Part II. What Is the Zohar? @toc2:4. The Zohar: Midrash on the Torah 000 5. The Zohar Narrative 000 6. Mysticism of the Zohar 000 7. The Zohar in Historical Context 000 @toc1:Part III. Selected Themes Within the Zohar @toc2:8. Creation and Origins 000 9. Between Worlds 000 10. Evil and the Demonic 000 11. Torah and Revelation 000 12. The Commandments 000 13. Avodah: The Life of Worship 000 14. The Tsaddiq and the Life of Piety 000 15. The Jewish People, Exile, and Messiah 000 @toc1:Part IV. The Zohar @toc2:16. Special Sections of the Zohar 000 17. The Question of Authorship 000 18. The Language of the Zohar 000 19. Editing and Printing of the Zohar 000 20. Influence and Canonization of the Zohar 000 toc4: Bibliography 000 Library of Congress Subject Headings for this publication: Zohar, Cabala Early works to 1800, Bible, O, T, Pentateuch Commentaries Early works to 1800

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Book SynopsisA Place in History is a cultural study of Tel Aviv, Israel's population center and one of the original settlements, established in 1909. The book describes how a largely European Jewish immigrant society attempted to forge a home in the Mediterranean, and explores the difficulties and challenges of this endeavor.Trade Review"A Place in History is an important contribution to the growing body of knowledge about Israeli public space in general and urban space in particular... Highly recommended to those who seek a theoretical perspective on Israeli urbanism, or are interested in its ideological roots or its spatial transformations. Though the book focuses on Tel Aviv, in many ways it conveys the broader story of Israeli territorialization. Mann's book could also serve visitors as an excellent critical guide to the city's modern geography and history."—H-Net Reviews"While her love for Tel Aviv is palpable, Mann maintains a critical distance from her subject, which assures A Place in History its own place as an authoritative guide to the complex textualities of Israel's largest urban area."—Tikkun"A very important contribution, this book adds a crucial layer to the discussion of the city of Tel Aviv in its local, national, and historical context. I would even venture to claim that it offers the most complex and multi-layered view to date, a Renaissance text in which the author/flaneuse strolls, researches, interprets, writes, and even makes photographs, all at the same time." —Hebrew StudiesTable of ContentsContents @toc4:Acknowledgments iii Preface iii @toc2:1 Jews in Space 000 2 The Zionist Uncanny: Reading the Old Cemetery on Trumpeldor 000 3 Rothschild Boulevard: When a Street Becomes a Monument 000 4 A View from the Balcony: Public and Private Spaces/Public and Private Selves 000 5 The Edge of Town: Depicting the City's Periphery as a Way of Naming Its Center 000 6 Rabin Square, Summayl, and the Rhetoric of Walking 000 @toc4: Appendix: Poems Cited in the Original Hebrew iii Notes iii Index iii

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Book SynopsisA Place in History is a cultural study of Tel Aviv, Israel's population center and one of the original settlements, established in 1909. The book describes how a largely European Jewish immigrant society attempted to forge a home in the Mediterranean, and explores the difficulties and challenges of this endeavor.Trade Review"A Place in History is an important contribution to the growing body of knowledge about Israeli public space in general and urban space in particular... Highly recommended to those who seek a theoretical perspective on Israeli urbanism, or are interested in its ideological roots or its spatial transformations. Though the book focuses on Tel Aviv, in many ways it conveys the broader story of Israeli territorialization. Mann's book could also serve visitors as an excellent critical guide to the city's modern geography and history." -- H-Net Reviews"While her love for Tel Aviv is palpable, Mann maintains a critical distance from her subject, which assures A Place in History its own place as an authoritative guide to the complex textualities of Israel's largest urban area." -- Tikkun"A very important contribution, this book adds a crucial layer to the discussion of the city of Tel Aviv in its local, national, and historical context. I would even venture to claim that it offers the most complex and multi-layered view to date, a Renaissance text in which the author/flaneuse strolls, researches, interprets, writes, and even makes photographs, all at the same time." -- Hebrew StudiesTable of ContentsContents @toc4:Acknowledgments iii Preface iii @toc2:1 Jews in Space 000 2 The Zionist Uncanny: Reading the Old Cemetery on Trumpeldor 000 3 Rothschild Boulevard: When a Street Becomes a Monument 000 4 A View from the Balcony: Public and Private Spaces/Public and Private Selves 000 5 The Edge of Town: Depicting the City's Periphery as a Way of Naming Its Center 000 6 Rabin Square, Summayl, and the Rhetoric of Walking 000 @toc4: Appendix: Poems Cited in the Original Hebrew iii Notes iii Index iii

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Book SynopsisIn Geography of Hope, French sociologist and historian Pierre Birnbaum examines the work of the some of the prominent Jewish social scientists of the past two centuries in order to analyze their range of responses to the tensions between the Enlightenment call for universalism and the reality of Jewish particularism.Trade Review"Pierre Birnbaum's Geography of Hope is a penetrating analysis of the grappling of eight prominent Jewish social thinkers. . . Birnbaum's scholarship is meticulous and uncompromising. The book is detailed and well argued. . . And as in other grand interpretations, the well-versed scholar will be surprised to learn how the great experiment of humanity—the Enlightenment—reproduced anti-Semitic attempts to abolish Judaism while promising it new avenues for regeneration. In his thorough and compassionate analysis, Birnbaum charts the geography of this historical movement, suggesting that perhaps true enlightenment is indeed coming."—Gad Yair, American Journal of Sociology"Birnbaum offers a fascinating rendering of the last hundred years of Jewish self-fashioning in the diaspora founded on what one might call the reversal of Jewish modernity....It is the beginning, perhaps, of a new canon, making social theory, if not the new 'theology of Judaism.'"—Shaul Magid American Historical Review"Pierre Birnbaum's Geography of Hope: Exile, the Enlightenment, disassimilation is a rich, complex, and occasionally perplexing book. ...clearly, a prodigious amount of research and thought has gone into the making of it. This sprawling, multi-subject volume is also a deeply personal and passionate book."—Times Literary SupplementTable of Contents@fmct:Contents @toc2:Introduction: Toward a Counterhistory 1 1. Karl Marx: Around a Surprising Encounter with Heinrich Graetz 000 2. 'mile David Durkheim: The Memory of Masada 000 3. Georg Simmel: The Stranger, from Berlin to Chicago 000 4. Raymond Aron: An "Authentic French Jew" in Search of His Roots 000 5. Hannah Arendt: Hannah and Rahel, "Fugitives from Palestine" 000 6. Isaiah Berlin: The Awakening of a Wounded Nationalism 000 7. Michael Walzer: The End of Whispering 000 8. Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi: A Home for "Fallen Jews" 000 Conclusion: Exile, the Enlightenment, Disassimilation 000 @toc4:Notes 000

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Book SynopsisThis book examines the ways modern Jewish thinkers, writers, and artists appropriated the figure of Jesus as part of the process of creating modern Jewish culture.Trade Review"Hoffman's detailed and meticulous research ranges over Hebrew, Yiddish, and Russian literature, as well as modernist painting, and he effectively uses the insights of contemporary critical theory as he develops his analysis. By including these works, he goes beyond many of his predecessors in chronicling the modern Jewish engagement with Jesus." -- David Fox Samuel * CCAR Journal *"The history of the relationship between modern Judaism and the figure of Jesus—especially the Passion and the Crucifixion—is long and complex. Professor Matthew Hoffman's treatise provides a fascinating examination of the topic, and a detailed exploration of its development in early 20th-century Russian literature and art." -- Association of Jewish Libraries"From Rebel to Rabbi is a comprehensive exploration of the figure of Christ in Yiddish and Hebrew literature and in modern Jewish art. Matthew Hoffman explores the intriguing and highly controversial ways in which Jewish culture was able to address the ideological fault lines of modernity through considerations of Jesus, the Jew. In representing Jesus to Jewish and non-Jewish audiences, writers and artists often sought to subvert dominant (Christian) European culture while also placing Jews in the very center of that culture." -- Anita Norich * University of Michigan *"In his intelligent and well-written monograph, Matthew Hoffman is the first scholar to juxtapose the treatment of Jesus by maskilim, Yiddish writers, and Jewish visual artists His book offers a penetrating analysis of a controversial and still relevant phenomenon. It is a crucial new contribution to the study of modern Jewish history, Yiddish literature, and Jewish-Christian relations." -- American Historical ReviewTable of Contents@fmct:Contents @toc4:Acknowledgments iii @toc2:Introduction Jesus and the Jewish Question 1 Chapter 1 The Quest for the Jewish Jesus 000 Chapter 2 The Crucifix Question 000 Chapter 3 Yiddish Modernism and the Landscape of the Cross 000 Chapter 4 The Passion of Jewish History 000 Chapter 5 The Artist Crucified 000 Epilogue The Jesus Question Revisited 000 @toc4:Notes 000 Index 000

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Book SynopsisGlory and Agony is the first history of the shifting attitudes toward national sacrifice in Hebrew culture over the last century. Its point of departure is Zionism''s obsessive preoccupation with its haunting primal scene of sacrifice, the near-sacrifice of Isaac, as evidenced in wide-ranging sources from the domains of literature, art, psychology, philosophy, and politics. By placing these sources in conversation with twentieth-century thinking on human sacrifice, violence, and martyrdom, this study draws a complex picture that provides multiple, sometimes contradictory insights into the genesis and gender of national sacrifice. Extending back over two millennia, this study unearths retellings of biblical and classical narratives of sacrifice, both enacted and aborted, voluntary and violent, male and femaleIsaac, Ishmael, Jephthah''s daughter, Iphigenia, Jesus. Glory and Agony traces the birth of national sacrifice out of the ruins of religious martyrdom, exposTrade Review"Despite the vast historiography [of Akedat Yitzhak], Yael Felman's contribution is significant. Glory and Agony presents and interprets Modern Hebrew literature of the trope of Akedat Yitzhak in the Palestine and the State of Israel of the twentieth century . . . Readers with access to Hebrew will derive the most from this thoroughly engaging text. Everyone will learn much from a careful reading." -- Paul Howard Hamburg * University of California, Berkeley *"Yael Feldman's Glory and Agony: Isaac's Sacrifice and National Narrative is an enthralling engagement with one of humanity's most ancient and consequential tropes . . . Though there have been numerous studies of the ever-evolving and sometimes oppressive nature of this myth, none has come close to providing the kind of brave interdisciplinary acumen Feldman's scholarship delivers . . . Glory and Agony is a work of forceful originality yet always meticulously researched, containing illustrative, provocative epigraphs as well as nearly ninety pages of informative and lively notes that engage with extraordinarily eclectic sources." -- Ranen Omer-Sherman * Religion and Literature *"This book by Yael Feldman presents a detailed, complex and sometimes provocative study of the way writers, poets, dramatis, critics, some scholars, and a few visual artists in the State of Israel during the last century have dealt with this account. . . This brief summary only begins to suggest the variety and complexity of material covered in this book. Anyone who knows the Israeli literary scene will find this book an illuminating discussion of that scene and a significant contribution to it." -- William Sheperd * Relegere: Studies in Religion and Reception *"Feldman's book is extremely important and a much needed contribution; a Hebrew version is a desideratum. I know of no other comprehensive study of the akedah, the Sacrifice of Isaac, that compares to this superb multidisciplinary investigation of the Hebrew sources, that demonstrates a rare erudition in both the Jewish tradition and contemporary literature, that suggests original links and connections, and that offers very productive comparative readings." -- Galili Shahar * Cathedra: Journal for the Study of Land-of-Israel [Translated from Hebrew] *"In one of the most comprehensive and impressive historiographies of Hebrew national culture, Feldman elegantly yet passionately presents a multi-dimensional narrative of the Israeli preoccupation with Genesis 22 . . . [N]ew and fresh . . . Feldman's book is an outstanding achievement that is likely to engage scholars and readers for many years to come." -- Neta Stahl * Studies in Christian-Jewish Relations *"Feldman has undertaken an ambitious project [and] ranges over an abundance of literary material . . . [M]assively detailed and comprehensive . . . One of the book's strengths is that it helps demonstrate the significance of modern Hebrew culture to a wider audience." -- Naomi Sokoloff * Association for Jewish Studies Review *"The achievements of this [book] are outstandingly intriguing . . . Glory and Agony is a highly condensed, analytic encyclopedia of the trope of sacrifice in Western culture." -- Iris Milner * The Journal of Israeli History *"Feldman's study stands as a role model for continuing investigations of biblical tropes in modern literatures; indeed her book may even remain the crowning study of the binding of Isaac as a literary trope. But one thing is certain—its readers are unlikely to ever again encounter any kind of sacrificial narrative without harking back to Feldman's observations." -- Yael Halevi-Wise * Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies *"This fascinating, multifaceted, and erudite book traces the use of the narrative(s) of the 'binding of Isaac' (Hebrew Akedah) or 'sacrifice of Isaac' (English) in twentieth-century secular Israeli literature. It discusses the various and changing ways in which the motif of a father's willingness to sacrifice his son to God has been turned into a secular metaphor for military self-sacrifice and heroic death in battle . . . Feldman's book is both very enjoyable and highly thought provoking, and I can recommend it whole-heartedly." -- Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer * Review of Biblical Literature *"Feldman's first-rate interdisciplinary study demonstrates not only how modern ideologies produce re-readings and rewritings of ancient myth but also how ancient myths weight and reshape these very ideologies. A must read for any reader interested in Hebrew culture and the psyche of modern Israel, and an insightful read for inquisitive readers at large." -- Menachem Brinker, University of Chicago and Hebrew University * Jerusalem *"Glory and Agony is an excellent intellectual study that probes into the heart of contemporary Israeli identity while situating and arguing its construction in two mutually inclusive contexts: Jewish tradition and Western thought and philosophy. Clearly an academic work of the highest standards, this important book presents an outstandingly well thought out argument for reconsidering the violent nature of our conduct: personally, collectively, nationally, and globally-universally." -- Hannah Naveh * Tel Aviv University *"I find this book to be an outstanding work: it daringly broaches a topic of enormous scope and yet renders a review that is insightful, scholarly, and nevertheless accessible to the informed lay reader. Its presentation is unique, undertaken as an exploration, tracking the evolution of the discourse on sacrifice in order to arrive at the present moment. Feldman adeptly and convincingly shows how the archetypal myth of Isaac, interwoven throughout human history, has been absorbed into and projected by works of fine arts and belles lettres." -- Nitza Ben-Dov * University of Haifa *"Yael Feldman's Glory and Agony: Isaac's Sacrifice and National Narrative is a dazzling synthesis of political and religious history, particularly the history of the State of Israel and the tradition of Biblical interpretation that, to one's surprise, structures and determines it. This is a new way of writing history. Using the paradigmatic Biblical story of Isaac's binding as her template, Feldman shows that Israeli history, far from leaving the past behind, is actually a recapitulation of the history of Jewish theology, beginning with its invention of human sacrifice and the tradition of putting it to cultural use through centuries of interpretation. It is a true and audacious history, and one bound to draw both praise and fire." -- Perry Meisel * New York University *

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Book SynopsisReconstructing Ashkenaz shows that, contrary to traditional accounts, the Jews of Western Europe in the High Middle Ages were not a society of saints and martyrs. David Malkiel offers provocative revisions of commonly held interpretations of Jewish martyrdom in the First Crusade massacres, the level of obedience to rabbinic authority, and relations with apostates and with Christians. In the process, he also reexamines and radically revises the view that Ashkenazic Jewry was more pious than its Sephardic counterpart. Trade Review"Beautifully produced book." -- Harvey J. Hames * Speculum *"Malkiel's meticulous summary and evaluation of the extensive modern scholarship are of great value; his broader set of arguments is an important and welcome contribution toward recasting the image and historiography of medieval Franco-German Jewish society. This work is a wonderful and significant resource for the teaching and study of the medieval Ashkenazic community." -- Ethan Zadoff * AJS *"Malkiel documents clearly the past and current historiography, quoting judiciously from all the major Jewish historians of the 20th century and of this generation. He provides a clear, well-documented, well-written, and interesting summary of the major issues of the formative period of Ashkenazic Jewry and its heyday. Recommended for academic libraries with Jewish studies programs." -- Roger S. Kohn * AJL *"This is an interesting, attractive, and unusually well-written book. Malkiel's research reveals a culture that was deeply conflicted over the choice between martyrdom and apostasy, one whose members' daily conduct deviated from halakhic norms on a whole host of issues, and whose relations with the Christian majority were deep, pervasive, intimate, and complex. This new picture undermines many of the ways in which Ashkenaz has been constructed by historians as an opposing cultural model to Sepharad: exclusionary vs. assimilationist; religious vs. philosophical; mystical vs. skeptical; halakhically rigorous vs. halakhically lax." -- Robert Stacey, University of Washington * Seattle *"In this telling commentary on Franco-German Jewry during the High Middle Ages, David Malkiel examines old stereotypes, separating the fact from the myth. In this process, he paints a vivid portrait of what life was really like for Franco-German Jewry during this period, and he sets the historical record straight." -- The Jewish Eye"David Malkiel offers revisions of commonly held interpretations of Jewish martyrdom in the First Crusade massacres, the level of obedience to rabbinic authority, and relations with apostates and with Christians. In the process, he also reexamines and revises the view that Ashkenazic Jewry was more pious than its Sephardic counterpart." -- Shofar

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Book SynopsisThe Sparks of Randomness, Henri Atlan''s magnum opus, develops his whole philosophy with a highly impressive display of knowledge, wisdom, depth, rigor, and intellectual and moral vigor. Atlan founds an ethics adapted to the new power over life that modern scientific knowledge has given us. He holds that the results of science cannot ground any ethical or political truth whatsoever, while human creative activity and the conquest of knowledge are a double-edged sword. This first volume, Spermatic Knowledge, begins with the Talmudic tale about the prophet Jeremiah''s creation of a golem, or artificial man. Atlan shows that the Jewish tradition does not demonize man for creating and changing living thingsa charge often leveled at promoters of advanced technologies, like biologists, who are accused of playing God. To the contrary, man is depicted as being the co-creator of the world.Although Atlan believes that the fabrication of life from scratch will take pTrade Review"Atlan seeks to integrate the mechanistic worldview common in the biological sciences into a form of absolute monism that draws upon Kabbalah and Spinoza. . . Steeped in the biological sciences and remarkably learned in Judaica, it will set a standard for new creative forms of constructive Jewish thought. Anyone interested in the relation between religion and science will do well to turn here."—Zachary Braiterman, Religious Studies Review"Henri Atlan has undoubtedly become a great scholar and important international figure in the academic community. His approach to texts is original and stimulating, his ideas both lucid and insightful. He has written many volumes on a variety of subjects, but this one has special meaning due to the convulsions society has been undergoing in recent years. The book is steeped in psychology and religion, biology and sociology, mysticism and ethos. Drawing from Talmudic sources but also from secular ones, it is sure to find appeal in many circles."—Elie Wiesel"As a physician, biologist, and philosopher, Henri Atlan occupies a preeminent place in the present-day French intellectual landscape, carrying on a grand French tradition of scientist-philosophers that goes back to Pascal. His Sparks of Randomness is dedicated to reflecting upon the lesson that Jeremiah learned from the golem: that we should not renounce attaining the perfect knowledge that makes us capable of creating life, but once we attain the knowledge, we should abstain from acting on it. This book is not only fundamental for the future of biology, cognitive science, and the human sciences in general, but also constitutes one of the most important readings of Spinoza ever produced."—Jean-Pierre Dupuy, Stanford University

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Book SynopsisAn inquiry into the meaning of "renaissance" in modern Jewish thought, its place in the philosophical tradition of the West, and its moral possibilities.Trade Review"In Inventing New Beginnings: On the Idea of Renaissance in Modern Judaism, Asher Biemann invited his readers to rethink time . . . The book exemplifies the merits of meticulous problematizing without imposing answers. Beginning-anew is also a celebration of heritage, continuity, and seld-ascertainment, which is especially vital for marginalized minorities. Living with a fractured past can obtain a redemptive quality provided that it remains subject to retemporalizations of time rather than (elusive) radical new beginnings." -- Martina Urban * Journal of the American Academy of Religion *"This is an ambitious book of immense complexity . . . certainly worthy of critical reflection." -- Michael A. Meyer * American Historical Review. *Table of ContentsContents Acknowledgments xxx Preamble 1 Part One (Recto) Thinking in Renaissance or A Grammar of Beginnings 1. Beginnings: Thresholds of Continuity 000 2. Beginning Again: The Palingenesis of Memory 000 3. Turning: Transformations into the Open 000 Part Two (Verso) Writing in Resurrection or The Semantics of Restoration 1. The Imperishability of Being: Writing Jewish History in Resurrection 000 2. The Retrieval of Ambivalence: Jewish Renaissance and the (Re-)Turn(-ing) to/of Tradition 000 3. The Unfinishedness of Return: Renaissance and the Re-Aestheticization of Judaism 000 Abbreviations 000 Notes 000 Index 000

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Book SynopsisIn this second volume of The Sparks of Randomness, Henri Atlan pursues his investigation of human life, which he grounds in a distinctive intermingling of the biological and cognitive sciences and traditions of Jewish thought. The Atheism of Scripture offers up a paradox: its audacious thesis is that the Word or revealed scripture can be better understood without God. It must be decrypted or analyzed atheistically, that is, not as divine revelation, but in and of itself. The first part of the book addresses contemporary science. It puts the evolution of ideas about life and knowledge as conceived by today''s biological and cognitive sciences into perspective and shows how the genealogy of ethics must be approached in a new way. The second part takes up this challenge by putting classical philosophy in dialogue with the Talmud and the Kabbalah to advance a non-dualistic anthropology of the body and the mind.Trade Review"Henri Atlan has undoubtedly become a great scholar and important international figure in the academic community. His approach to texts is original and stimulating, his ideas both lucid and insightful. He has written many volumes on a variety of subjects, but this one has special meaning due to the convulsions society has been undergoing in recent years. The book is steeped in psychology and religion, biology and sociology, mysticism and ethos. Drawing from Talmudic sources but also from secular ones, it is sure to find appeal in many circles."—Elie Wiesel

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Book SynopsisIn this second volume of The Sparks of Randomness, Henri Atlan pursues his investigation of human life, which he grounds in a distinctive intermingling of the biological and cognitive sciences and traditions of Jewish thought. The Atheism of Scripture offers up a paradox: its audacious thesis is that the Word or revealed scripture can be better understood without God. It must be decrypted or analyzed atheistically, that is, not as divine revelation, but in and of itself. The first part of the book addresses contemporary science. It puts the evolution of ideas about life and knowledge as conceived by today''s biological and cognitive sciences into perspective and shows how the genealogy of ethics must be approached in a new way. The second part takes up this challenge by putting classical philosophy in dialogue with the Talmud and the Kabbalah to advance a non-dualistic anthropology of the body and the mind.Trade Review"Henri Atlan has undoubtedly become a great scholar and important international figure in the academic community. His approach to texts is original and stimulating, his ideas both lucid and insightful. He has written many volumes on a variety of subjects, but this one has special meaning due to the convulsions society has been undergoing in recent years. The book is steeped in psychology and religion, biology and sociology, mysticism and ethos. Drawing from Talmudic sources but also from secular ones, it is sure to find appeal in many circles."—Elie Wiesel

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Book SynopsisJudaism in Transition places American Judaism in its economic context and shows how the decisions of individual Jews, as they respond to economic incentives, have shaped a community that is characterized by innovative ways of observing ancient religious traditions.Trade Review"Carmel Chiswick does an excellent job in making accessible to a broad audience the concepts of household decision making on education, time allocation, occupational choice, and marriage to explain the observed patterns of economic behavior of Jewish families . . . [T]he book does an excellent job in using the lens of economic theory to shed light on the main educational, occupational, migration, and marital patterns among American Jews in the past and nowadays."—Zvi Eckstein, Journal of Economic Literature"Prof. Carmel Chiswick . . . uses the lens of economics to reveal the various constraints facing a religious minority in the United Sates and how this affects Jewish culture . . . [S]ome personal reflection on her own life growing up Jewish [gives] this academic topic a much more personal touch . . . [H]ighly readable book."—Research on Religion"Writing clearly, [Chiswick] divides her presentation into four parts: economic circumstances of American Jews; usefulness of economic concepts; economic decisions affecting American Jewish behavior; economic analysis and the American Jewish future . . . She offers other intriguing forecasts about American Judaism, concluding that we can be optimistic about its future. Her singular approach as an economist can be usefully applied to other American religious groups."—Publisher's Weekly"Drawing on personal experience and scientific data, Chiswick suggests that the contemporary brand of American Judaism—to achieve the standard of American success—is molded by economic decisions that are often personal and deeply seated . . . This is an innovative and reader-friendly book . . . Recommended."—Z. Garber, CHOICE"Nobody but Carmel Chiswick could write this book. It has the mark of maturity and was obviously written by someone who has spent a lifetime thinking about economics and religion, and who has witnessed firsthand the changes that have taken place in the Jewish community over the years."—Larry Iannaconne, Director, Center for the Economic Study of Religion, Chapman University"Judaism in Transition is a richly informed and cogently written narrative of the American Jewish experience, focusing on the compromises that are necessary for life in modern society. The analysis is deeply informed by the author's professional identity as an economist and personal identity as a Jew."—R. Stephen Warner, University of Illinois at Chicago"In appealing and accessible language, Carmel Chiswick explains the economic drivers that influence our religious observance. While she writes from a Jewish perspective, adherents of all faiths will find much in this book that elucidates the impact economics has, and will continue to have, on our American faith communities."—Emily Soloff, National Associate Director, Department of Interreligious and Intergroup Relations, American Jewish Committee"Carmel Chiswick's new book offers a refreshing and innovative reading of the contemporary Jewish experience at a time of great confusion about its changing nature. Her original and rigorous method as an economist combines with the broad horizons of a humanist concerned with resilience and destiny of the Jewish people."—Sergio DellaPergola, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem"Combining her perspective as economist with her lifelong involvement in the American Jewish community, Professor Chiswick offers a singular analysis of the impact of economic forces on American Jewish life. This book is an important read for Jewish professionals, those concerned with the future of American Jewry, and readers seeking an introduction to the American Jewish community at the beginning of the 21st Century."—Rabbi Allan Kensky, Beth Hillel Congregation Bnai Emunah and former Dean of the Jewish Theological Seminary"With an open mind that presents a fresh look at the familiar, Carmel Chiswick analyzes the impact of the American economic context on Judaism in the 20th and 21st centuries. Her application of the concepts and methodology of economics to the study of religion will be startling and enlightening to social scientists and other students of religion."—Rela Mintz Geffen, Professor of Sociology, Gratz College and President Emerita of the Baltimore Hebrew University"The book is clearly written for the scholar and the general reader."—David Tesler, Association of Jewish Libraries Newsletter"By exploring the role of economic choices in shaping patterns of Jewish ritual activity and expression, Judaism in Transition adds to the body of work that examines the changing nature of Judaism in the modern world. This is a well-written, insightful, and important book that is enriched by Chiswick's personal anecdotes."—Esther Isabelle Wilder, Studies in Contemporary JewryTable of Contents1. Introduction 2. The Economic Context 3. The Cost of Being Jewish in America 4. Jewish Education and Human Capital 5. Jewish Families in America 6. American Jewish Immigrants 7. Israel and American Judaism 8. Whither American Judaism?

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Book SynopsisContemplative Nation repudiates the tendentious claim that theology is alien to Judaism with an account of Jewish theology that affirms the diverse forms and functions of Jewish theological language and that highlights the interdependence of reflection and practice in Judaism.Trade Review"The strength of the book lies in its remarkable clarity of expression and tight argumentation. Patiently and methodologically, Fisher builds his model of Jewish theological practice and accounts for each step of this construction project, explaining what he takes from other thinkers, where he disagrees with his interlocutors, and how they complement each other . . . Contemplative Nation is highly recommended for scholars of Jewish studies, religious studies, philosophy, and theology. The book is an excellent example of how to apply hermeneutical theories to the study of Judaism, how to bridge the gap between continental philosophy and analytic philosophy, and how to expand the scope of Jewish studies by appreciating the nature of theological discourse." -- Hava Tirosh-Samuelson * Journal of Religion *"This work is a highly original and most significant defense of Jewish theology as integral to Jewish religious life. The author argues persuasively for the existence of a Jewish theological practice, imbedded in the exegesis and hermeneutics of both classical and modern sources, a practice not beholden to the more systematic forms of Christian theology. This work should change the way we think about Jewish theology and about theology in general." -- Jerome Gellman * Ben-Gurion University of the Negev *"Fisher'sContemplative Nation, a title that alludes to the influence of Philo on the author, uses the hermeneutics of Hans-George Gadamer and Paul Ricoeur in combination with Pierre Hadot's formulation of the character of ancient philosophy and William Alston's epistemic analysis of Christian religious experience to construct a model for "Jewish Theological Practice." Fisher exemplifies the usefulness of his model by applying it first to an example of ancient rabbinic philosophy and then to an example of modern Jewish philosophy. The ancient text is the Mekhilta, which Fisher reads primarily through the interpretations of Max Kadushin and Judah Goldin; the modern text is Franz Rosenzweig's Star of Redemption, which Fisher reads primarily with reference to the interpretations of Leora Batnitzky and Peter Gordon. The result is an exciting dialogue between diverse texts, scholarly disciplines, and lines of interpretation, out of which emerges a strong argument for the claim that Jewish thought is theological and deeply rooted in a rationalist commitment to communal practice and lived religious experience. This book is a must for all serious scholars of hermeneutics, the philosophy of religion, rabbinics, and modern Jewish philosophy." -- Norbert Samuelson * Arizona State University *"Cass Fisher has written an important work about Jewish Theological Language that signals a long needed and developing move to take Jewish theology seriously in its own right . . . The real accomplishment of Fisher's book is that it is one of the first attempts in decades to develop a theological method to understand Jewish theology in terms that are non-reductive of Jewish theology . . . All in all, this is an important book that readers of contemporary Jewish theology, Christian theology, and contemporary religious thought will want to read and have in their libraries." -- Steven Kepnes * Modern Theology *

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Book SynopsisWe can calculate financial fraud, but how do we measure bad faith? How can we evaluate the words of the pharmaceutical industry or of eco-scientific ideologies, or the subtle deception found in political scheming? Henri Atlan sheds light on these questions through the concept of ona''ah, which in Hebrew refers to both fraud in financial transactions and the verbal injury inflicted by speech. The world of ona''ah is a world of an in-between, where the impossible purity of absolute Platonic truth gives way to a more relative notionthe near-theft, the quasi-lie. Today it seems that no discourse is safe from fraudulent excesses, be they intentional or no. As both philosopher and biologist, Atlan works on several registers. He forges links between the Talmud, the Kabbalah, and the big questions of our time, multiplying the bridges between science, philosophy, and current ethical dilemmas. In a context of financial and moral crises that appear to be weakening our democraciesTrade Review"Atlan reveals himself to be a rara avis, a French intellectual developing his theory within the context of Jewish traditional concepts. His book takes readers through a fascinating journey across the history of philosophy and religion, from the Pre-Socratics and the Orphics, through Spinoza, to contemporary issues of science ethics and political ethics in the postmodern world."—Guy Stroumsa, University of Oxford and The Hebew University of Jerusalem

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Book SynopsisThis book explores the stakes of the uses and abuses of money, language, and technical objects.Trade Review"Atlan reveals himself to be a rara avis, a French intellectual developing his theory within the context of Jewish traditional concepts. His book takes readers through a fascinating journey across the history of philosophy and religion, from the Pre-Socratics and the Orphics, through Spinoza, to contemporary issues of science ethics and political ethics in the postmodern world."—Guy Stroumsa, University of Oxford and The Hebew University of Jerusalem

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Book SynopsisThis book inquires into the wondrous and complex world of mystical experience in the Zohar, the jewel in the crown of Jewish mystical literature.Trade Review"A River Flows From Eden is replete with insights and delights. It is without a doubt one of the most engaging books on Jewish mysticism in general, and the Zohar in particular. Melila Hellner-Eshed is an accomplished scholar of kabbalistic literature and an excellent guide into the intricacies of one of its most challenging works. A River Flows From Eden is truly rewarding for the novice and expert alike." -- Mark Verman * Shofar *"A fascinating and richly textured work that combines linguistic and literary acumen with a historian of religion's interest in the phenomenology of mysticism and a poet's sensitivity to language. Simply put, this is one of the most exciting works of scholarship I have encountered in recent years. . . . This is the rare book that should matter equally to specialists in the field and to serious lay readers and students." -- Elliot K. Ginsburg * University of Michigan *"Dr. Hellner-Eshed's book is a truly groundbreaking study of the mystical dimension of the Zohar, the masterpiece of Kabbalah. The scholarship reflected in this book is superb. . . . I rate it as one of the most significant academic studies of the Zohar in the past decade." -- Daniel Matt * editor and translator of The Zohar, Pritzker Edition *"[Hellner-Eshed] has written a book sure to become a basic contribution to the study of Kabbalah and the Zohar. Interested faculty should read it and assign it to their student ... Highly recommended." -- S. T. Katz * Choice *

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"[T]his is a very serious translation of the Zohar holy, an elaboration that took years of work and research on the part of Daniel C. Matt and his team of several scholars who have spared no effort to give the greatest number information of each passuk, each parashah, bringing reliable sources . . . This fantastic edition of The Zohar not only presents an accurate translation of the text, but also an interpretation with insights, more accessible . . . Brilliant expositions on complex subjects rendered easy by Daniel C. Matt, his wonderful ability to transmit profound ideas is amazing."—Gilson Sasson, Journal Mitzvah"Matt provides invaluable commentary to put the Zohar into context and explain the almost disconnected paragraphs."—Daniel D. Stuhlman, Association of Jewish Libraries"Matt's commentary may be the most significant and comprehensive line-by-line exegesis of the Zohar to ever appear, given its fusion of wisdom gained from the older religious commentaries and the fruits of modern critical scholarship."—Eitan P. Fishbane, Jewish Review of BooksTable of Contents@fmct:Contents @toc4:Foreword iii @tocca:Margot Pritzker @toc4:Translator's Introduction iii @tocca:Daniel C. Matt @toc4:Acknowledgments iii Diagram of the Ten Sefirot iii Introduction iii @tocca:Arthur Green @toc2: Haqdamat Sefer ha-Zohar 000 Parashat Be-Reshit 000 Parashat Noah 000 @toc4: List of Abbreviations 000 Transliteration of Hebrew and Aramaic 000 Glossary 000 Bibliography 000 Index 000 Library of Congress Subject Headings for this publication: Bible, O, T, Pentateuch Commentaries Early works to 1800, Cabala Early works to 1800, Zohar

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Hasidism Incarnate offers a unique exploration of sensitive subjects, stressing the affinities between two religions widely perceived as staunch adversaries. Focusing on the Hasidic strand of Judaism, a strict orthodox sect, creates for Magid the space to make provocative arguments without giving the impression that he is a proponent of the problematic 'Judeo-Christian culture' school of thought." -- Adi Mahalel * H-Judaic *"For critical scholars of Hasidic thought, Magid's book has enormous potential to inspire fresh and more detailed studies of the genuinely radical ideas of both the Hasidic masters whose works he cites, as well as the treasury of literature produced by subsequent generations of Hasidic authors . . . Magid's book is overwhelmingly a work of scholarship, of original exegeses of arcane Hasidic texts." -- Allan Nadler * Marginalia *"But as Shaul Magid's fascinating new book Hasidism Incarnate shows, the deep religious structures of [Christianity and Judaism] may not always be as different as that first glance might suggest . . . Hasidism Incarnate offers a sophisticated approach to the thorny question of the differences between Jewish and Christian religious theology and practice . . . Hasidism Incarnate is a solid book about an important subject." -- Emily McAvan * Global Comment *"Hasidism Incarnate brings a fresh vision to one of the most fascinating modern religious movements and helps us to appreciates how revolutionary leaders such as R. Nahman of Bratslav truly were. Magid's subtle and sophisticated challenge to the habitual divide between Judaism and Christianity is pregnant with implications that transcend mere academic study and will help us to face some of the most interesting dilemmas of twenty-first century Western religion. His compelling book will be read and re-read by those drawn to Kabbalah and Hasidism and by anyone aspiring to comparative, imaginal, and embodied understandings of religion." -- Jonathan Garb * Hebrew University *

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Book SynopsisDespite its deceptively simple title, this book ponders the thorny issue of the place of the Bible in Jewish religion and culture. By thoroughly examining the complex link that the Jews have formed with the Bible, Jewish scholar Jean-Christophe Attias raises the uncomfortable question of whether it is still relevant for them. Jews and the Bible reveals how the Jews define themselves in various times and places with the Bible, without the Bible, and against the Bible. Is it divine revelation or national myth? Literature or legislative code? One book or a disparate library? Text or object? For the Jews, over the past two thousand years or more, the Bible has been all that and much more. In fact, Attias argues that the Bible is nothing in and of itself. Like the Koran, the Bible has never been anything other than what its readers make of it. But what they''ve made of it tells a fascinating story and raises provocative philosophical and ethical questioTrade Review"This beautifully written (and translated) monograph casts profound doubt on attempts to simplistically characterize the terms Jews and Bible or to view the relationship between them one dimensionally . . . Highly recommended."—L. J. Greenspoon, Choice"Professor Attias, a significant French intellectual and scholar of medieval Judaism, has written the first book that explores broadly the place of the Bible in Jewish culture throughout the ages. Engagingly written, this is an important initial foray into this broad and significant topic that raises important questions concerning the place of the Bible within contemporary Jewish culture."—Marc Brettler, Brandeis University"A study of the Jews' peculiar relationships with the Bible, Jean-Christophe Attias's The Jews and the Bible is an excellent companion to the recent crop of books on the Bible's construction....[They] tell us how the Bible came to be, Attias focuses on how it came to be regarded."—Jay Michaelson, The Forward

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Book SynopsisChallenges a number of key themes in Holocaust studies with new research. Taken together, these essays incorporate gender analysis, spatial thinking, and victim agency into Holocaust studies. In so doing, they move beyond existing notions of perpetrators, victims, and bystanders to portray the Holocaust as a complex and multilayered event.Trade Review“Tim Cole and Simone Gigliotti bring together a fascinating range of approaches from social history to cultural and migration and media studies, historical geography, literary studies, and linguistics. Their volume shows how methodological challenges of Holocaust scholarship can be addressed by taking on two scales of analysis—the microhistory of the individual and the mezzo-history of social groups.” —Natalia Aleksiun, author of Conscious History: Polish-Jewish Historians before the HolocaustTable of Contents Introduction: The Holocaust in the Twenty-First Century: Relevance and Challenges in the Digital Age, Tim Cole and Simone Gigliotti Part I. Tropes Reconsidered 1. Re-imagining the ‘gray zone’: Female Prisoner Functionaries in the Groß-Rosen Subcamps, 1944-45, Andrea Rudorff 2. The Muselmann Liberated: Impossible Holocaust Metaphors in Survivor Memoirs and Photography, Sharon B. Oster 3. Absent Presence, Pathological Afterimages, and the Aesthetics of Excrement, Holli Levitsky 4. When one door closes, another opens: The Demjanjuk Trials in Israel (1986-1993) and in Germany (2009-2011), Yehudit Dori-Deston Part II. Survival Strategies and Obstructions 5. The Geographies of Living Underground: Escape Routes and Hiding Spaces of Fugitive Jews in the Bavarian Countryside, 1939-1945, Susanna Schrafstetter 6. Bella Hazan Ya`ari: A Member of the Jewish Resistance in Pursuit of Self and a Future, Dalia Ofer 7. Migration Narratives of Holocaust Survivors in Chile, Colombia and Mexico, Lorena Avila, Nancy Nicholls, and Yael Siman Part III. Digital Methods, Digital Memory 8. A Different Approach to Microhistory: The Arrests of the Jews of the Vaucluse as Seen through Quantitative Prosopography, Adrien Dallaire 9. Mind the Gap: Reading Across the Holocaust Testimonial Archive, Anne Kelly Knowles, Paul B. Jaskot, Tim Cole, and Alberto Giordano 10. When the Index is Wrong: Exploring Black Holes in Victim Memory, Hannah Pollin-Galay 11. People, Places, Things: Considering the Role of Visitor Photography at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum”Meghan Lundrigan Author biographies

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"What triggers landmark events in history, Rubin explains, is often fictions that people believe, rather than incidents that actually took place. . . . With the flair of the ethnographer, Rubin taps into those perennial transpositions and transferences whereby groups of people are bonded together by invoking an alien other who arouses fear and dismay. . . . A powerful and moving book." * Lisa Jardine, New Statesman *

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Book SynopsisPresents a study of midrash - the biblical exegesis, parables, and anecdotes of the Rabbis. This work examines early, tannaitic legal midrash, focusing on the interpretive tradition associated with the figure of Rabbi Ishmael. It also locates the Rabbi Ishmael hermeneutic within the religious landscape of Second Temple and post-Temple literature.Trade Review"This is perhaps the most significant and innovative scholarly work on the halakhic midrashim in the past thirty years. The claims are extremely convincing, the scholarship is rigorous, and the writing is engaging. The conclusions repeatedly break new ground and dispel mistaken ideas that have been accepted among scholars. Most impressive, Yadin consistently displays a command of both textual expertise and theory." * Jeffrey L. Rubenstein, New York University *Table of ContentsPreface. Legal Midrash Introduction. On the Hermeneutical Dimension of Midrash Halakhah Chapter 1. Torah and Ha-Katuv Chapter 2. Inaction and Attention Chapter 3. Freedom and Restraint in Midrash Halakhah: Hermeneutical Markedness Chapter 4. The Role of Reader I Chapter 5. The Role of Reader II: Middot Chapter 6. Presponsive Torah Chapter 7. Rabbi Ishmael and the Rabbis Chapter 8. The Non-Rabbinic Landscape Notes Bibliography Index Acknowledgments

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Book SynopsisFollowing the Jewish Enlightenment, many eighteenth-century Jews chose not to observe the religious laws and customs that had earlier marked them as culturally different from their Christian peers. As the Jewish population became increasingly assimilated, an ultraorthodox movement also emerged, creating a discrete identity for a group within the Jewish community that opted not to move toward the mainstream but instead to embrace the traditional laws.By tracing the evolution of the approach of the Orthodox to their nonpracticing brethren, Adam S. Ferziger sheds new light on the emergence of Orthodoxy as a specific movement within modern Jewish society. In the course of this process, German Orthodoxy in particular articulated a new hierarchical vision of Jewish identity and the structure of modern Jewish society. Viewing Orthodox Judaism as no less a nineteenth-century phenomenon than Reform Judaism or Zionism, Ferziger looks at the ways it defined itself by its relationship to Trade Review"This book enhances our understanding of an essential feature in modern Orthodoxy that has heretofore been underemphasized. Ferziger's sociological approach to rabbinic responsa is rare in the English-language literature, and his theoretical framework is well thought out, clearly presented, and very useful." * Samuel Heilman *"This very nuanced and informed study charts Orthodox responses to concrete cases of nonobservance and deviant behavior in nineteenth-centruy central Europe and thereby traces the emergence of modern Orthodoxy." * American Historical Review *Table of ContentsPreface Introduction. The Emergence of Parallel Phenomena: Orthodox Judaism and the Modern Nonobservant Jew PART I. TRADITION, EXCLUSION, INCLUSION, AND HIERARCHY Introduction 1. A "Community of the Faithful": Hakham Zevi Hirsch Ashkenazi (1660-1718) and the Religious Pluralism of the Spanish-Portuguese Diaspora 2. The Forerunners of Orthodoxy 3. The Age of the Hatam Sofer: Early Nineteenth-Century Orthodoxy and the Emergence of Internal Boundaries 4. The Formulation of Hierarchical Judaism: Rabbi Jacob Ettlinger and the Nature of modern Jewish Identity PART II. VARIATIONS OF HIERARCHICAL JUDAISM: GERMAN ORTHODOXY IN THE LATE NINETEENTH CENTURY Introduction 5. The Hirschian Hierarchy: Communal Separation and the Nonobservant Jews 6. Bambergerian Unity and the Hierarchical Principle 7. The Conscious Hierarchy of Berlin Separatist Orthodoxy Conclusion: The Hierarchical Model and Orthodox Centers Outside of Germany Afterword Appendix: Pre-Modern Rabbinic Sources Regarding Non-Observance List of Abbreviations Notes Bibliography Index Acknowledgments

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Book SynopsisAccording to the account in the Book of Exodus, God addresses the children of Israel as they stand before Mt. Sinai with the words, You shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (19:6). The sentence, Martha Himmelfarb observes, is paradoxical, for priests are by definition a minority, yet the meaning in context is clear: the entire people is holy. The words also point to some significant tensions in the biblical understanding of the people of Israel. If the entire people is holy, why does it need priests? If membership in both people and priesthood is a matter not of merit but of birth, how can either the people or its priests hope to be holy? How can one reconcile the distance between the honor due the priest and the actual behavior of some who filled the role? What can the people do to make itself truly a kingdom of priests?Himmelfarb argues that these questions become central in Second Temple Judaism. She considers a range of texts from this period, including thTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. Priest and Scribe: Ancestry and Professional Skill in the Book of the Watchers, the Wisdom of Ben Sira, and Aramaic Levi 2. Jubilees' Kingdom of Priests 3. Priesthood and Purity Laws: The Temple Scroll and the Damascus Document 4. Priesthood and Sectarianism: The Rule of the Community, the Damascus Document, and the Book of Revelation 5. Priesthood and Allegory: Philo and Alexandrian Judaism 6. "The Children of Abraham Your Friend": The End of Priesthood, the Rise of Christianity, and the Neutralization of Jewish Sectarianism Acknowledgments Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisWritten in Judeo-Arabic in eleventh-century Muslim Spain but quickly translated into Hebrew, Bahya Ibn Paquda''s Duties of the Heart is a profound guidebook of Jewish spirituality that has enjoyed tremendous popularity and influence to the present day. Readers who know the book primarily in its Hebrew version have likely lost sight of the work''s original Arabic context and its immersion in Islamic mystical literature. In A Sufi-Jewish Dialogue, Diana Lobel explores the full extent to which Duties of the Heart marks the flowering of the Jewish-Arab symbiosis, the interpenetration of Islamic and Jewish civilizations.Lobel reveals Bahya as a maverick who integrates abstract negative theology, devotion to the inner life, and an intimate relationship with a personal God. Bahya emerges from her analysis as a figure so steeped in Islamic traditions that an Arabic reader could easily think he was a Muslim, yet the traditional Jewish seeker has always looked to hiTrade Review"An ambitious attempt to fill a long-standing lacuna in the history of Jewish thought by presenting a synthesis and evaluation of Bahya in his intellectual context. It draws on over a century of scholarship, suggests some new sources for Bahya and new readings of old sources, and offers an interpretation of his thought." * Charles H. Manekin, University of Maryland *"This manuscript contains a subtle, probing, and rich exposition of the key issue of devotional self-examination within Jewish and Islamic mysticism. The author has a superb sense of Arabic, Sufi mystical psychology, and the extraordinary dialogue (sometimes openly acknowledged, often left unacknowledged) among Jewish, Islamic, Christian, and Greek traditions at the time of Ibn Paquda." * Michael Sells, University of Chicago *"Lobel illustrates the power of philology in the best sense. Her critical ear for the nuances and history of Arabo- Islamic terminology . . . enables her to probe the deep structural penetration of Sufi ideas in the work of Jewish thinkers and seekers. To put it another way, A Sufi-Jewish Dialogue traces the process by which Arabo-Islamic conceptual frames are imported into Judaism through shared use of the Arabic language. . . . Lobel is keenly attuned to the historical dimension of the work and its place in the cultural and intellectual history of the Jews of al-Andalus and all of Islam." * The Medieval Review *Table of ContentsPreface Introduction:Bahya's Work in Its Judeo-Arabic Context Chapter 1. Philosophical Mysticism in Eleventh-Century Spain: Bahya and Ibn Gabirol Chapter 2. On the Lookout: The Exegesis of a Sufi Tale Chapter 3. Creation Chapter 4. The One Chapter 5. Speaking about God: Divine Attributes, Biblical Language, and Biblical Exegesis Chapter 6. The Contemplation of Creation (I'tibār) Chapter 7. Wholehearted Devotion (Ikhlās): Purification of Unity (Ikhlās al-Tawhid), Purification of Intention in Action (Ikhlās al-'Amal) Chapter 8. Reason, Law, and the Way of the Spirit Chapter 9. The Spirituality of the Law Chapter 10. Awareness, Love, and Reverence (Murāqaba, Mahabba, Hayba/Yir'ah) List of Abbreviations Notes Bibliography Index Acknowledgments

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Book SynopsisThe Censor, the Editor, and the Text examines the impact of Catholic censorship on the publication and dissemination of Hebrew literature in the early modern period. Raz-Krakotzkin argues that the regulation of Hebrew print provided an avenue for the integration of Hebrew literature into the Christian corpus.Trade Review"An important book, one that makes us reflect on past conclusions. . . . Raz-Krakotzkin writes history by emphasizing the nuances and inconsistencies intrinsic to cultural change and acculturation, a method that is not to be superciliously dismissed. If readers follow the author's own careful lead, they will be well rewarded." * Association for Jewish Studies Review *"In this brilliantly argued book, Amnon Raz-Krakotzkin seeks to explain the role of Catholic censors within two contexts: their place within the church's institutional quest to set boundaries of "permitted knowledge" and to reshape the boundaries of Catholic orthodoxy on the one hand, and their role in reshaping Jewish texts on the other." * Humanities and Social Sciences Online *"The history of Jewish publishing and reading practices is often ignored by the scholars working on Western scribal and print cultures. This book can help them to understand the multiple connections that existed between Catholic authorities, Christian printers and publishers, convert editors and censors, and Jewish readers during the sixteenth century. Raz-Krakotzkin stresses the role of censorship not only as a repressive institution but also as an agent in the construction of a repertoire of canonical works and in the collective production of the texts themselves." * Roger Chartier *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Censorship and the Transition to Print Chapter 1. The Burning of the Talmud Chapter 2. The Institutionalization of the Censorship of Hebrew Literature Chapter 3. From Polemics to Censorship: The Development of the Expurgation of Written Culture Chapter 4. Censorship and its Role in the Printing of the Hebrew Book Chapter 5. From Polemic to Body of Knowledge—Sefer Hazikkuk and the Hebrew Text Conclusion: Hebraism, Censorship, and Modernization Notes Bibliography Index Acknowledgments

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