Judaism Books

Book SynopsisExplores cinematic representations of the "Jew" from film's early days to the presentTrade ReviewIn this important work, Omer Bartov examines how the cinematic representations of the 'Jew' as 'perpetrator', 'victim', 'hero' and 'anti-hero' emerge not only throughout the course of film history, but also within a larger cultural practice of stereotyping Jewish identity. His central concern is 'the manner in which the cinematic ''Jew'' reflects the popularization, transformation, resistance to, and reintroduction of anti-Semitic imagery'.Vol. 43, no. 2, 2009 -- Noah Shenker * Ph.D. candidate in Critical Studies at the School of Cinematic Arts,USCLA *A noted Holocaust scholar, Bartov (history, Brown) has written an extended analytical essay—as distinguished from an encyclopedia study—on the treatment of the figure of the Jew in some 70 European, American, and Israeli motion pictures. He examines these depictions under four separate categories: Jew as perpetrator, victim, hero, and antihero. As the subtitle indicates, the movies studied range chronologically from the 1920 German silent classic The Golem to Don't Touch My Holocaust (1994) and several others produced in Israel and dealing with current Jewish-Arab relations. Most of the films inevitably relate to the Shoah, its origins or aftereffects, and Bartov notes that Gentleman's Agreement (1947) managed to avoid mentioning the Holocaust almost entirely even though it deals with a journalist who posed as a Jew in order to investigate anti-semitism. Bartov's evaluations of individual films are perceptive and often provocative. He calls the television miniseries Holocaust (1978) one of the best cinematic productions ever made on this allegedly unrepresentable event despite its aesthetic limitations and occasional lapses into kitsch, and he is critical of accounts that distort historical reality by focusing on exceptional cases (The Pianist, Schindler's List) because they impede understanding and perpetuate stereotypes. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers.July 2005 -- L. D. Stokes * emeritus, Dalhousie University *Bartov's style is refreshingly free of theoretical jargon and accessible to a wide audience. . . . a rich, deeply historicized, thoughtful, and provocative reading of a wide range of world cinema that grapples with the representation of Jewishness on screen. * Shofar *Table of ContentsContentsIntroductionList of Abbreviations1. The "Jew" as Perpetrator2. The "Jew" as Victim3. The "Jew" as Hero4. The "Jew" as Anti-HeroNotesIndexo

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Book SynopsisJewish philosophy as a dynamic literary, cultural, and social practiceTrade ReviewAaron W. Hughes presents a study of dialogue as a Jewish philosophical practice. Examining connections between Jewish philosophy, the literary form in which it is expressed, and the culture in which it is produced, Hughes shows how Jews understood and struggled with their social, religious, and intellectual environments. He addresses various themes associated with the literary form of dialogue as well as its philosophicalreception: Why did various thinkers choose dialogue? What did it allowthem to accomplish? How do the literary features of dialogue construct philosophical argument? As a history of philosophical form, context, and practice, this book will interest scholars and students working at the intersections of religious studies, philosophy, and literature.Joseph Haberer, Book Editor, SHOFAR, Volume 27, Number 2, Winter 2009At the beginning of his important new book, The Art of Dialogue in Jewish Philosophy, Aaron Hughes notes that the academic study of Jewish philosophy has traditionally centered "on great men … and their great texts" (p. 2). Hughes’s work, by contrast, is part of a recent trend in scholarship that seeks to broaden these traditional parameters by examining "less important" or "epigonic" thinkers, as well as a wide variety of "secondary forms," such as biblical commentaries, sermons, encyclopedias, and polemical works. Thus, Hughes’s book takes for its subject the rather neglected genre of the Jewish philosophical dialogue, in which context he looks not only at such major figures as the twelfth-century Spanish poet and critic of philosophy Judah Halevi, the sixteenth-century Italian Renaissance humanist Judah Abravanel, and the eighteenth-century German Enlightenment thinker Moses Mendelssohn, but also at such "lesser" figures as Shem Tov ibn Falaquera and Isaac Polleqar, both staunch exponents and defenders of the medieval Jewish rationalist tradition active in Spain, the former in the thirteenth century, the latter in the fourteenth. Hughes’s focus on the genre of the dialogue leads him to take note of the interplay between the literary features of such works and their more strictly philosophic argumentation, again in contrast to the traditional approach of Wissenschaft des Judentums that placed "prime emphasis on ideas, often divorced from specific textual contexts" (p. 2). Finally, his emphasis with regard to these dialogues on the subtle exchanges and interactions, sometimes collegial, sometimes adversarial, between their various characters enables Hughes to bring to light not just these dialogues’ literary dimensions, but also their oftentimes polemical aspects and their engagement with the burning religious, cultural, and intellectual issues of their day. Hughes’s book thus bridges the divide separating the history of philosophy from intellectual history. The Art of Dialogue in Jewish Philosophy is framed by an introductory chapter, "Expanding the Canon of Jewish Philosophy," in which Hughes sets forth the book’s main goals (briefly discussed in our opening paragraph) and outlines its contents, and an epilogue, "From Dialogue to Dialogic," in which he briefly traces and attempts to account for the uncertain and rather modest fortunes of the Jewish philosophical dialogue in modern times. The body of the book consists of five chapters, each devoted to examining a dialogue--in one case two dialogues--from the five above-mentioned philosophers, beginning with Halevi’s Kuzari (1140), then moving on to Falaquera’s Epistle of Debate (c. 1250) and Book of the Seeker (1263 [?]), Polleqar’s Ezer ha-Dat (c.1350), Abravanel’s Dialoghi d’amore (1511-1512 [?]), and concluding with Mendelssohn’s Phaedon (1767). In each chapter Hughes follows a similar structure, first "situating a particular dialogue in its historical, social and intellectual environments," then proceeding to "situate the author of each dialogue against this backdrop," and finally moving to an examination of "the particular text in question" (p. 24).Hughes’s presentation is clear, thoughtful, and learned, and readers will learn much from it. On the whole, the book is successful in achieving its goals. Certainly Hughes convincingly shows the importance of the Jewish literary dialogue for any comprehensive study of the history of medieval and early modern Jewish philosophy. His analyses of the polemical functions of Falaquera’s Epistle of Debate and Polleqar’s Ezer ha-Dat are particularly strong, and he skillfully locates these works in the ongoing controversy over the role of philosophy in Judaism in the wake of the writings of Maimonides, with Falaquera representing an earlier stage of the debate, defending philosophy against the criticisms of traditional Talmudists, while Polleqar represents a later stage, defending philosophy against the two-pronged attack of Kabbalists and astrologers. Hughes also makes good on his claim that paying closer attention to the interplay between the literary features of a dialogue and its more strictly philosophic argumentation will lead to a deeper and more accurate philosophic understanding of the work. Thus, in his discussion of Book 2 of Ezer ha-Dat, consisting of a debate between a young, rather radical exponent of philosophy who argues that only philosophy is the source of truth, and an older anti-philosophical, Kabbalistically inclined traditionalist who argues that only religion is the source of truth, Hughes notes that the eminent historian of Jewish philosophy Shlomo Pines sees the young philosopher as a stand-in for the author (p. 193, n. 86), as a result of which Pines ends up attributing radical proto-Spinozistic views to Polleqar. In truth, Hughes points out, a literary analysis of the book indicates that Polleqar sides neither with the young philosopher nor with the old traditionalist, but with the king who appears on the scene to arbitrate the dispute and seeks to harmonize the views of the two antagonists.The book, however, is not free from weaknesses, and Hughes at times presses his arguments too far. Thus while, as noted above, Hughes skillfully limns the polemical functions of Falaquera’s Epistle of Debate and Polleqar’s Ezer ha-Dat, his claims regarding the polemical functions of Abravanel’s Dialoghi and Mendelssohn’s Phaedon carry less conviction. Hughes shows that in the Dialoghi Abravanel develops a Jewish version of the popular Renaissance "literary genre known as the tratatto d’amore (treatise on love)" (p. 115), while in the Pheadon Mendelssohn "articulate[s] the soul’s immortality in ways that were completely divorced from contemporaneous theological (i.e., Christian perspectives)" (p. 154). He is on shakier ground, however, when he proceeds to argue that the Dialoghi is a "Jewish response to some of the decidedly Christocentric features of Renaissance humanism" (p. 132) and similarly that the Phaedon is a "polemical work designed to demonstrate to a primarily Christian audience that Christianity is not a prerequisite to felicity of the soul after corporeal death" (p. 140). Here Hughes places too much weight on what, when all is said and done, are arguments from silence.Even more problematic is Hughes’s claim that the Kuzari should be seen as a polemic against the spiritualist Muslim movement known as Isma‘ilism. Hughes correctly points out that the Kuzari argues for the superiority of ‘amal (action) over niyya (intention), and goes on to maintain that the Isma‘ilis argue for a reverse evaluation. Similarly, he correctly points out that Isma‘ili texts argue for the superiority of the batin, the inner, esoteric core of religion over its zahir, its outer, exoteric form, and goes on to maintain that the Kuzari argues for a reverse evaluation. But in none of the Isma‘ili texts that Hughes cites are the terms ‘amal and niyya so juxtaposed, and in none of the texts from the Kuzari that Hughes cites are the terms batin and zahir so juxtaposed. Indeed, in the Kuzari 3:73, the rabbinic sage, here clearly a spokesman for Halevi, in discussing problematic rabbinic Aggadot states that they are impossible only according to their zahir, their external sense. By implication they should be understood according to their batin! Here Halevi uses the zahir/batin distinction in an Isma‘ili-like manner, though he limits the distinction to problematic rabbinic Aggadot, while the Isma‘ilis apply it to religion as a whole. In any event, the matter is more complex than would appear from Hughes’s discussion.Moreover, in places Hughes’s literary analysis requires further refinement. Thus, to return to the previous example, while Hughes is correct in asserting that in Book 2 of Ezer ha-Dat, Polleqar sides neither with the young philosopher nor with the old traditionalist, but with the king who appears on the scene and seeks to harmonize the views of the two antagonists, he is incorrect in asserting that the king "attempts to harmonize the truths of philosophy and religion" (p. 96: emphasis mine). Rather, the king states that philosophy is the source of true knowledge, while religion "seeks to straighten [our] deeds, and direct our attention toward good and beautiful works." The clear implication is that religion itself is not a source of truth. In this regard the king sides with the young philosopher. Polleqar appears here to be carefully covering his tracks, giving the impression that the king splits the difference between the young philosopher and the old traditionalist, when in truth he is considerably closer the former. Perhaps, then, Polleqar’s position is not that far removed from Spinoza after all! (One difference might be that Polleqar, unlike Spinoza, does not seem to admit the possibility of a purely philosophical ethics, even for philosophers themselves.) Beyond these reservations regarding the larger issues of Hughes’s analyses of the polemical functions of these dialogues and the interplay between their literary features and their more strictly philosophic argumentation, I have some reservations regarding more specific points. Thus, Hughes maintains that Abravanel in the Dialoghi "celebrates sensual love as the gateway to cosmic or spiritual love" (p. 130). But in the passage that Hughes cites in support of this claim Abravanel celebrates not sensual love, but physical beauty. And while I agree with Hughes that Mendelssohn’s synthesis of Judaism and Enlightenment values is fragile, I do not agree with his contention that the Phaedon is a good example of that fragility. Hughes offers two arguments in support of this view. First he notes that in his Hebrew version of the Phaedon, the Sefer ha-Nefesh, Mendelssohn cites liberally from biblical prooftexts. Such citations attest, Hughes goes on to claim, that in that work "Mendelssohn... does not hesitate to make appeals to revelation to buttress his claims, something he did not do in the Pheadon" (p. 164). Setting to the side the fact that it would obviously be absurd for "Socrates" in the Phaedon to cite biblical prooftexts, can Mendelssohn’s citations of such texts in the Sefer ha-Nefesh be described as "appeals to revelation"? Here I would point to a passage in Jerusalem where Mendelssohn states that while scripture certainly contains "an inexhaustible treasure of rational truths and religious doctrines," these "excellent propositions," in addition to their being purely rational, "are presented to us for our consideration without being forced upon our belief." In light of this passage, the biblical prooftexts attesting to the immortality of the soul, cited by Mendelssohn in the Sefer ha-Nefesh, rather than constituting "appeals to revelation" "forced upon our belief," are just examples of scripture’s "inexhaustible treasure of rational truths... presented to us for our consideration." Second, Hughes cites an excerpt from a letter to Hartwig Wessely "in which Mendelssohn seems to apologize for ever having written Phaedon" (p. 165).One would never know from Hughes’s description that this letter was written to Wessely thanking him for expressing an interest in translating the Phaedon into Hebrew. In the excerpt cited by Hughes Mendelssohn is describing what he had initially assumed would be the likely reaction of Wessely to the Phaedon. Mendelssohn knew that Wessely was not very philosophically inclined, and he had feared that Wessely might not approve of his having written the Phaedon, deeming the philosophic demonstration of such a fundamental principle "of our holy faith" as that of the immortality of the soul to be unnecessary, perhaps even dangerous. But in truth, as Mendelssohn goes on to write in a passage not cited by Hughes, in light of Wessely’s interest in translating the Phaedon into Hebrew, he now sees that Wessely approves of those "who engage in philosophic inquiry," providing they "‘give heed to the works of the Lord’ (cf. Ps. 28:5) in sincerity." Thus, far from "apologizing for ever having written Phaedon," Mendelssohn took comfort in the fact that the non-philosophical Wessely, who was well known and highly regarded as an outstanding Hebraist, appeared to approve of the Phaedon. This was an encouraging sign, confirming, in Mendelssohn’s view, the solidity--not the fragility--of his synthesis. It need not be said that the reservations I have raised require further discussion and analysis and that this is not the place for such an undertaking. It also need not be said that none is intended to detract from the importance of Hughes’s book, a work which consistently enlightens and informs, even if it does not always convince.Lawrence Kaplan, McGill University, H-Judaic, January 2009"With this work Aaron Hughes has established himself as a prominent member of a new wave of Jewish scholars who... are charting exciting new directions for Jewish philosophy." —Jim Kanaris, McGill University, Studies in Religion / Sci Rel, Vol. 38.1 2009"[R]epresents an important new trend in Jewish philosophy, and moves the field one step closer to a complete social, cultural, and literary history." —James Robinson, University of Chicago Divinity SchoolTable of ContentsContentsAcknowledgments1. Expanding the Canon of Jewish Philosophy: Toward an Appreciation of Genre2. Judah Halevi: The Dialogue of Subversion3. Shem Tov ibn Falaquera: Dialogues of Reconciliation and Dissemination4. Isaac Polleqar: The Dialogue of Disputation5. Judah Abravanel: The Dialogue of Desire6. Moses Mendelssohn: The Dialogue of FragilityEpilogue: From Dialogue to DialogicNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisExamines the emergence of a new generation of Jewish immigrant authors in America, most of whom grew up in formerly communist countries. This collection chronicles and clarifies issues of personal and cultural dislocation and loss, but also affirms the possibilities of reorientation and renewal.Trade ReviewThis engrossing volume brings evocative personal accounts of displacement—physical, emotional, and particularly linguistic—by contemporary writers like Norman Manea, Lara Vapnyar, and Geoffrey Hartman.Spring 2009 * Jewish Book World *What binds the writers in this book together, despite their varied approaches to exile and emigration, is that they all moved from one place and ideological system - the Soviet Union and Communist eastern Europe - to another, the United States, where they each have found quite successful personal and professional homes as writer, thinkers and tenured professors. This is no small feat for a fiction writer. . . Perhaps this is one of the volume's unwitting arguments: late twentieth/early twenty-first-century America is now or has once again become the cosmopolitan reservoir of so much Jewish literary creativity.Vol. 39.2 August 2009 -- David Shneer * University of Colorado *[T]his is an immensely valuable collection of truly stimulating essays. Vol. 28, no. 1, 2009 * SHOFAR *[T]his is a worthwhile read. . . . Recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, general readers.March 2009 * Choice *Table of ContentsContentsIntroduction / Alvin H. RosenfeldNomadic Language / Norman ManeaOn Norman Manea's The Hooligan's Return / Matei CalinescuWriting about Uprootedness / Henryk GrynbergExile as Life after Death in the Writings of Henryk Grynberg and Norman Manea / Katarzyna JerzakThe Writer as Tour Guide / Lara VapnyarQuestions of Identity: The New World of the Immigrant Writer / Morris DicksteinA Displaced Scholar's Tale: The Jewish Factor / Geoffrey HartmanExile: Inside and Out / Bronislava VolkováFrom Country to Country: My Search for Home / Zsuzsanna OzsvathFinding a Virtual Home for Yiddish Poetry in Southern Indiana / Dov-Ber KerlerAfterword / Eva HoffmanList of ContributorsIndex

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Book SynopsisIs religious conservatism compatible with tolerance and pluralism? Why are religious tolerance and pluralism so difficult to achieve? Why is the often violent fundamentalist backlash against them so potent? This book suggests a way to deal with the intractable problem of religiously motivated and justified violence.Trade ReviewThe contemporary values of tolerance and pluralism are particularly acute within and for inter-religious interaction between the three Abrahamic-monotheistic religions. However, if monotheistic religions are ever to overcome their antagonistic tensions towards the Other, then critical measures 'must originate and find their basis within these traditions themselves.' Erlewine (Illinois Wesleyan Univ.) indicates that John Hick's and Jurgen Habermas's program--'mutual respect and recognition between citizens, between self and Other,' have been considered and found wanting. As a consequence, traditionalist Jewish and Christian theologians have elaborated political theologies that prioritize revelation while rejecting the Kantian-Enlightenment legacy as filtered through Hick and Habermas. Erlewine articulates his thesis of the religion of reason trajectory, which fuses the integrity of monotheism with the intellectual sustainability of the Enlightenment. The religio-philosophical tradition that he traces, derived from Moses Mendelssohn, Immanuel Kant, and Hermann Cohen, seeks to ameliorate monotheistic intolerance without vitiating the structure of Judaism and Christianity. This religion of reason trajectory engages the three Abrahamic monotheisms, yet is deeply rooted in European philosophy and the Enlightenment. Whether the religion of reason extends to Islam is outside the purview of this book. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-level undergraduates and above. -- ChoiceG. M. Smith, Delaware County Community College, October 2010 "An important corrective to recent discussions of the relation between monotheism and tolerance." -Leora Batnitzky, Princeton UniversityTable of ContentsContentsAcknowledgementsPart 1. Overcoming the Current Crisis 1. Monotheism, Tolerance, and Pluralism: The Current Impasse 2. Learning from the Past: Introducing the Thinkers of the Religion of ReasonPart 2. Mendelssohn: Idolatry and Indiscernability 3. Mendelssohn and the Repudiation of Divine Tyranny 4. Monotheism and the Indiscernible OtherPart 3. Kant: Religious Tolerance 5. Radical Evil and the Mire of Unsocial Sociability 6. Kant and the Religion of TolerancePart 4. Cohen: Ethical Intolerance 7. Cohen and the Monotheism of Correlation 8. Cohen, Rational Supererogation, and the Suffering ServantConclusion: Revelation, Reason, and the Legacy of the EnlightenmentNotesWorks CitedIndex

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Book SynopsisTranslation, Jewish philosophy, and social and cultural historyTrade ReviewThe intertwined goals of this ambitious monograph by Hughes (Univ. of Buffalo--SUNY) are expressed in the work's full title: to discern patterns that connect three discrete subjects--Bible, philosophy, and translation--and to explore their contributions to the development of Jewish identity. The author's success results largely from his creativeapproach, first by making his centerpiece the analysis of Bible translation within the context of Jewish philosophy. Second, he selects seven individuals from six distinct periods and cultures, each of whom has been a worthy subject for at least one book-length study; among them are Saadya Gaon, Maimonides, and Franz Rosenzweig. He then allows these individuals to converse, as it were, with each other, jarringly out of chronological order but with surprisingly productive results. Thus, not only can one study Rosenzweig (late 19th-early 20th century) in terms of the influence of Saadya (tenth century).... But one can also see Saadya himself in a new light (or, many new lights) through the lens of Rosenzweig. This is not a book for the beginner or even for the expert who is faint of heart. But for those with the requisite background and fortitude, it offers rich intellectual rewards. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students and researchers/faculty. --ChoiceL. J. Greenspoon, Creighton University, December 2011"Shows how Bible translation strategies verify claims about the constant need for self-making that are usually associated with existentialism, claims about the constructedness of 'tradition' that are usually associated with postmodernism, and claims about the need to construct 'tradition' that are usually associated with cultural theorists." —Martin Kavka, Florida State University"Translation, as Hughes perceives it, becomes a major cultural monument rather than merely a philological exercise in transferring the semantics and syntax of one language into those of another." —Kalman Bland, Duke University"This is not a book for the beginner or even for the expert who is faint of heart. But for those with the requisite background and fortitude, it offers rich intellectual rewards." —ChoiceTable of ContentsPrefaceAcknowledgments 1. Introductory and Interpretive Contexts2. The Forgetting of History and the Memory of Translation3. The Translation of Silence and the Silence of Translation: The Fabric of Metaphor4. The Apologetics of Translation5. Translation and Its Discontents6. Translation and Issues of Identity and TemporalityConclusions: Between SpacesNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisTable of ContentsACKNOWLEDGMENTSI. CAIRO AND JERUSALEM: THE MYTHII. EGYPT AND ISRAEL: THE TWO CULTURESIII. ARABIC VERSUS HEBREWIV. ISRAELIS AND EGYPTIANS FACE TO FACEV. WHEN DETERRENCE FAILSVI. OBSTACLES TO NEGOTIATIONVII. DEADLOCK: ISRAEL AND EGYPT NEGOTIATEVIII. CONCLUSIONNOTESINDEX

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Book SynopsisPoints the way to Judaism's renewal in a world and an age in which all of our notions - about God, humanity, and revelation - have been severely challenged. This title tests the resources within Judaism for healing the breach between secularism and revelation after the Holocaust.Trade Review"This subtle and nuanced study is clearly Fackenheim's most important book." Paul Mendes-Flohr " ... magnificent in sweep and in execution of detail." Franklin H. Littell "This is a monumental book by a Jew possessed of an intellect equalled only by his love of the Jewish people ... " Jewish Book NewsTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsPreface to the Second EditionPreface to the Midland EditionAuschwitz as Challenge to Philosophy and TheologyI. Introduction1. Introductions2. Systems3. Revelation4. The Holocaust5. "Foundations of Future Jewis Thought": Genesis of a Plan6. "Foundations": From Plan to Execution7. Napoleonic and Related Strategies8. Language9. Toward Future Jewish ThoughtII. The Problematics of Contemporary Jewish Thought: From Spinoza Beyond Rosenzweig1. Introducting Spinoza and Rosenzweig2. Baruch Spinoza3. Franz Rosenzweig4. Spinoza and Rosenzweig Today5. ConclusionIII. The Shibboleth of Revelation: From Spinoza Beyond Hegel1. Rosenzweig on Hegel2. Hegel on Judaism and Spinoza3. Revelation as Shibboleth4. The Basis of Hegel's Mediating Thought-Activity5. Spinoza dn Hegel on Revelation6. The Core of the Hegelian Mediation7. Hegel's Mediation between Spinoza and Judaism8. The Failure of Hegel's Mediation and Its Dialectical Results9. The Move toward the Extremes10. The End of the Constantinianism and the Turn to Dialogical Openness11. Catastrophe12. The Shibboleth of Revelation in Jewish ModernityIV. Historicity, Rupture, and Tikkun Olam ("Mending the World"): From Rosenzweig Beyond Heidegger1. Spinoza, Rosenzweig, and Heidegger on Death2. Historicity3. Historicity and Transcendence4. The Ontic-Ontological Circle5. 1933: Year of Decision6. The Age of Technology and the Age of Auschwitz7. Unauthentic Thought after the Holocaust8. The Spectrum of Resistance during the Holocaust: An Essay in Description and Definition9. Resistance as an Ontological Categary: An Essay in Critical Analysis10. Rupture, Teshuva, and Tikkun Olam11. Historicity, Hermeneutics, and Tikkun Olam after the Holocaust12. On Philosophy after the Holocaust13. Concerning Post-Holocaust Christianity14. Jewish Existence after the Holocaust15. EpilogueV. Conclusion: Teshuva Today: Concerning Judaism After the Holocaust1. The Problematics of Teshuva in Our Time2. Rosenzweig after Heidegger3. Yom Kippur after the Holocaust4. The Message of Beit Ha-Tefutsot5. The Sharing of Teshuva after the HolocaustAbbreviationsNotesIndex

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Book SynopsisHow did Theodor Herzl, an assimilated German nationalist in the 1880s, suddenly in the 1890s become the founder of Zionism? This novel offers an explanation in Herzl's struggle to resolve his own personal conflict over his Jewish identity. It charts Herzl's intellectual development against the background of Austrian political history.Trade Review"An original and brilliant thesis, exposing a long misunderstood figure. A great book." Bernard Avishai "Excellent ... a highly revealing portrait that demolishes Herzl-the-icon." Michael Marrus "Other biographers ... have illuminated aspects of [Herzl's] life, but none has been able to produce the kind of intellectual biography that we have here. Jacques Kornberg has done an admirable job of plumbing the depths of Herzl's mind to try to come to an understanding of just why he became a Zionist and why he was literally consumed with promoting Zionist goals." Cithara "With compassion and critical balance, placing his subject well within his Austrian milieu, Kornberg analyzes Herzl's rhetoric, tergiversations, and profound ambivalence over his politics and identity." Choice " ... a masterful display of the sources ... "American Historical Review " ... stimulating, provocative and agreeably iconoclastic ... powerful and compelling." German HistoryTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: From Austro-German Assimilationist to ZionistPart IHerzl in the 1880s1. Herzl as Assimilationist2. Herzl as German Nationalist3. Herzl, an Ambivalent JewPart IIVienna in the 1890s4. Herzl and Vienna, the New Capital of AntisemitismPart IIIHerzl in the 1890s5. The Reabsorption of the Jews6. The New Ghetto7. The Jewish State8. The Dreyfus LegendAbbreviationsNotesSelected BibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisDescribes the perpetration of the Holocaust in the USSR and probes the political and social consequences of the mass destruction of Soviet Jews.Table of Contents1. Soviet Jewry Before the Holocaust Zvi Gitelman2. Politics and the Historiography of the Holocaust in the Soviet Union Zvi Gitelman3. The Holocaust and Ukrainian Jews Shmuel Spector4. The Ukrainian Population and the Nazi Genocide of the Jews M. I. Koval5. Metropolitan Andrei Sheptyts'kyi and the Complexities of Ukrainian-Jewish Relations Shimon Redlich6. Antisemitism in Ukraine toward the End of the Second World War Mordechai Altshuler7. From White Terror to Holocaust in Lithuania: Nazi Policy towards the Jews in the Reichskommissariat Ostland, June-December 1941 Michael MacQueen8. "Inventing" the Holocaust for Latvia: New Research Hans-Heinrich Wilhelm9. Jewish Refugees from Poland in the USSR, 1939-1946 Yosef Litvak10. Jewish Warfare and the Participation of Jews in Combat in the Soviet Union: Soviet and Western Historiography Mordechai Altshuler11. Jewish-Lithuanian Relations during World War II: History and Rhetoric Sara Shner-Neshamit12. Lithuanian-Jewish Relations in the Shadow of the Holocaust: Some Recent Lithuanian Discussions Introduced and annotated by Sima Ycikas13. The Holocaust and the Armed Struggle in Belorussia as Reflected in Soviet Literature and Works by Emigres in the West Shalom Cholawski14. Soviet Jews under Nazi Occupation in Northeastern Belarus and Northern Russia Daniel RomanovskyDocuments15. German Orders16. Implementation17. Eyewitness Accounts18. Rescue19. Collaboration and Resistance20. Antisemitic Legacy of the HolocaustIndex

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Book SynopsisTraces the origins of Israeli militarism and examines the sociological phenomenon of the civilian adoption of military solutions to political problems. This title sheds light on the charged relations, especially between Israel's founding fathers and the omilitarized' native-born generation that came of age in the 1930s and 40s.

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Book SynopsisA lively tour of the landscape of modern Jewish memory sites from the Old and New Worlds and the Land of Israel.Trade ReviewRoskies (Jewish Theol. Seminary) shows that the Jewish present is not evolving as a simple continuation of the past nor, contrary to what is often claimed, is it emerging from a radical break with the past. It sits, rather, upon what Roskies calls memory sites, images of the past recreated from the ashes of destruction and the potentially debilitating sense of Jewish loss these catastrophes create. How are such memory sites created? Roskies illustrates the process through careful and engaging examinations of, among other topics, Jewish chronicles of the Warsaw Ghetto, of Jewish rethinking of Jewish participation in the early socialist and Zionist movements, and of the function of the concept of holy space for secular Israelis. These studies, each a gem unto itself, together reveal how Jews cope with loss and catastrophe and illustrate that it is exactly by coping with loss and tragedy that Jews create a usable past and, in the process, define their present and shape their future. Recommended for general readers and for faculty and researchers. —A. J. Aver -- Peck * Choice *Table of ContentsPreface and Acknowledgments1. The Jewish Search for a Usable Past2. The Library of Jewish Catastrophe3. Ringelblum's Time Capsules4. The Shtetl in Jewish Collective Memory5. Rabbis, Rebels, and the Lost Art of the Law6. The Golden Peacock: The Art of Song7. A Culture Set in Stone: The Art of Burial8. A City, a School, and a Utopian Experiment9. Zionism, Israel, and the Search of a Covenantal SpaceConclusionNotesIndex

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Book SynopsisFor more than a century, the Lower East Side of New York City has been recognised and scrutinised as having been the largest and most vibrant immigrant Jewish neighbourhood in America when East European Jews flocked to American shores. This book explores the dynamics of Lower East Side memory.Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction — Remembering the Lower East Side: A Conversation Hasia R. Diner, Jeffrey Shandler, and Beth S. WengerPart 1. The Dynamics of Remembrance1. On the Onomastics of the Lower East Side, or How the Lower East Side Got Its Name Moses Rischin2. Photographing the Lower East Side: A Century's Work Deborah Dash Moore and David Lobenstine3. Beyond Place and Ethnicity: The Uses of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire Paula Hyman4. The Ghetto Girl and the Erasure of Memory Riv-Ellen Prell5. Constructions of Memory: The Synagogues of the Lower East Side David Kaufman6. The One-Way Window: Public Schools on the Lower East Side Stephan Brumberg7. Recreating Recreations on the Jewish Lower East Side: Restaurants, Cabarets, Cafes and Coffeehouses in the 1930s Suzanne WassermanPart 2. Contemporary Recollections8. Turfing the Slum: New York City's Tenement Museum and the Poltics of Heritage Jack Kugelmass9. "Send a salami to your boy in the army": Sites of Jewish Memory and Identity at Lower East Side Restaurants Eve Jochnowitz10. Tripping down Memory Lane: Walking Tours on the Jewish Lower East Side Seth Kamil11. The Lower East Side in the Memory of New York Jewish Intellectuals: A Filmmaker's Experience Joseph Dorman12. Performing Memory: "The Matzoh Factory" on the Lower East Side Aviva Weintraub13. Translating Abraham Cahan, Teaching the Lower East Side: A View from Italy Mario MaffiContributorsIndex

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Book SynopsisIs Judaism a timeless, universal set of beliefs or, rather, is it historical and contingent in its relation to different times and places? Do Jewish beliefs derive their meaning from texts and revelation or from rational argument and experience? This title addresses major Jewish thinkers who have wrestled with the moral and theological dilemmas.Trade Review"Michael Morgan has served up an intellectual treat. These subtle and carefully reasoned essays explore the dilemmas of the post-modern Jew who would take history seriously without losing the commanding presence Israel heard at Sinai... It is a pleasure to be nourished by a fresh mind exploring the tension between reason and revelation, history and faith."- Rabbi Samuel Karff "This is without doubt one of the most significant works in modern Jewish thought and a must for a thoughtful student of contemporary Jewish philosophy." - Rabbie Sheldon Zimmerman "This may well mark the next stage in the long history of Jewish self-understanding." - Ethics " ... rigorous history of modern Jewish thought ... " - ChoiceTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroductionChapter 1 Overcoming the Remoteness of the Past: Memory and Historiography in Modern Jewish ThoughtChapter 2 History and Modern Jewish Thought: Spinoza and Mendelssohn on the Ritual LawChapter 3 Liberalism in Mendelssohn's JerusalemChapter 4 The Curse of Historicity: The Role of History in Leo Strauss and the Possibility of Jewish PhilosophyChapter 5 Leo Strauss and the Possibility of Jewish PhilosophyChapter 6 Judaism and Peter Berger's Heretical ImperativeChapter 7 Jewish Ethics after the HolocaustChapter 8 Historicism, Evil, and Post-Holocaust Moral ThoughtChapter 9 Philosophy, History, and the Jewish Thinker: Jewish Thought and Philosophy in Emil Fackenheim's To Mend the WorldChapter 10 Franz Rosenzweig, Objectivity, and the New ThinkingChapter 11 Jewish Philosophy and Historical Self-ConsciousnessChapter 12 Contemporary Jewish Thought in AmericaNotesIndex

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Book SynopsisOffers a radical interpretation of the writings of Moses Hess, a nineteenth-century German Jewish intellectual figure who was at times religious and secular, traditional and modern, practical and theoretical, socialist and nationalist. This study contributes to the diverse fields of Jewish history, philosophy, Zionism, and religious studies.Trade Review"Koltun-Fromm's reading of Hess is of crucial import for those who study the construction of self in the modern world as well as for those who are concerned with Hess and his contributions to modern thought...a reading of Hess that is subtle, judicious, insightful, and well-supported." --David EllensonTable of ContentsAcknowledgments 1. Hess and Modern Jewish Identity Hess and Modern Jewish Identity Categories of Modern Identity Outline of Chapters 2. Conceptions of Self and Identity in Hess's Early Works and Rome and Jerusalem Rome and Jerusalem as Socialist and Zionist Manifesto Conceptions of Self and Identity in Hess's Socialist and Scientific Works Conceptions of Self and Identity in Rome and Jerusalem 3. Hess's "Return" to Judaism and Narrative Identity Discontinuity and Resolution in Hess's "Return" to Judaism The Reading of Hess's "Return" as Resolution Narrative Identity 4. Inescapable Frameworks: Emotions, Race, and the Rhetoric of Jewish Identity Evocative Language in Rome and Jerusalem Spinoza as Model for Passionate Philosophy Hess's Racial Theory Inescapable Frameworks 5. Traditions and Scars: Hess's Critique of Reform and Orthodox Judaism Identity and Difference: Hess's Critique of Bildung and Jewish Reform Traditions: Race and Scars Identity and Creativity: Hess's Critique of Jewish Orthodoxy 6.Innocence and Experience in Rome and Jerusalem Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisExplores Ottoman Sephardic culture through a study of rabbinic texts written in Ladino, the vernacular language of the Ottoman Jews. This book covers the modernization of Sephardic Jewry in the Eastern Mediterranean in the 19th century. It offers readings of works that examine issues such as social inequality, gender, and secularization.Trade ReviewScholars of the late Ottoman Empire and the modern Middle East more generally will undoubtedly find within this work a number of striking parallels between the responses of other individuals and groups to the growing Western influence in the region and those of the vernacular rabbis portrayed in Lehmann's study. The unexpected consequences precipitated by these rabbis' attempts to preserve their religious universe in the face of change similarly offer fruitful points of comparison. Ladino Rabbinic Literature and Ottoman Sephardic Culture will therefore also be welcomed by scholars interested in broader debates about the role religion played in the emergence of modernity and about the various ways that religious thinkers became modern, even despite themselves.March 2010 -- Julia Phillips Cohen * Vanderbilt University *Lehmann's book is clear and didactic, containing ... some eye-opening conclusions.April 2011 * American Historical Review *. . . [a] detailed and profound study . . . . Lehman's book is an important comtribution to the study of Ottoman Jewry as well as of Middle Eastern social and cultural history in general.Vol. 40 2008 -- Rachel Simon * Princeton University Library *. . . an incisive examination of rabbinic authors and their readers that highlights the importance of vernacular musar literature as a valuable and underutilized resource for the reconstruction of Ottoman Jewish culture. . . . [T]his book is a welcome addition to the burgeoning field of Sephardic and Mizrahi studies, and it should appeal to anyone interested in the interplay between religion and culture in the modern world. * AJS Review *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1 Historical BackgroundPart I Vernacular Musar Literature as a Cultural Factor2 Print and the Vernacular: The Emergence of Ladino Reading CulturePart II Authors, Translators, Readers3 The Translation and Reception of Musar4 "Pasar la Hora" or "Meldar"? Forms of SociabilityPart III Musar Literature and the Social Order5 The Construction of the Social Order6 Three Social Types: The Wealthy, the Poor, the Learned7 The Representation of GenderPart IV Exile and History8 Understanding Exile, Setting Boundaries9 The Impossible Homecoming10 Reincarnation and the Discovery of HistoryPart V The Challenge of Modernity11 Scientific and Rabbinic Knowledge and the Notion of Change12 ConclusionsNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisAn account of the controversial actions of Pius XII, the man whom some have called "Hitler's Pope", and the Vatican during Europe's darkest years.Trade ReviewPhayer's text reads like a riveting suspense novel—filled with intrigue, conspiracy, and money laundering. . . . The so-called Pius Wars will not end with this book, but Phayer makes a welcome addition to the debate. . . . Recommended. * Choice *This is an impressive study, which uses the new documentation in a judicious manner to develop credible reinterpretations of papal policy during the war and after. . . . The book makes a particularly valuable and original contribution . . . March 2009 * The International History Review *The new material that Phayer has brought to light from the National Archives offers a useful contribution to our understanding of the controversial relationship between the Vatican and the perpetrators of the Holocaust, expecially in the postwar period. April 2009 * American Historical Review *Michael Phayer has made excellent use of newly released archival material in his study of Pope Pius XII. May 2009 * German Studies Review *Unlike several passionate recent studies of Pius XII . . . Phayer makes every effort at scholarly restraint and caution. But, in the end, his careful effort produces powerful evidence that will likely add significantly to the controversy surrounding the pope . . . Certainly anyone interested in this fascinating, important, and disturbing topic must read this book.Volume 43, 2010 * Central European History *Table of ContentsContentsPrefaceIntroduction1. Eugenio Pacelli: 1900 to 19422. The Genocides of Polish Catholics and Polish Jews3. Pius XII's 1942 Christmas Message: Genocide Decried4. 1943: Pius XII Reverses Course5. Papal Capitalism during World War II6. The First Cold War Warrior7. The Origin of the Vatican Ratlines8. Bishop Hudal's Ratline9. Looted Gold and the Vatican10. Ante Pavelic: War Criminal, Murderer, and Defender of the Faith11. The Biggest Ratline12. An Obsession with CommunismNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisExplores the exegetical tradition of Isaac Luria and his followers within the historical context in 16th-century Safed, a community that brought practitioners of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam into close contact with one another. This title suggests that Luria and his followers were far from cloistered.Trade ReviewShaul Magid has written a bold and intriguing book that should be stimulating to scholars of Jewish literature and intellectual thought. Utilizing five Scriptural narratives—one from each book of the Chumash—Magid shows how Lurianic Kabbalists imposed their own particular mystical interpretation on Scripture. Reconstructing the Lurianic Kabbalists' exegesis, he argues that their reading of Scripture linked contemporary sociological issues with metaphysical themes. Their most compelling societal issue was a preoccupation with the question of the conversos who wished to re-enter Judaism and the Jewish community. Their metaphysical preoccupation was the presence of Evil in a world that Torah proclaimed, "And God saw all that He had Made, and behold it was very good." Both these themes concerned a concept of "the Other." Each of the Scriptural narratives that Magid presents is a case study of the Other. In Genesis, Magid presents the Lurianic interpretation of Adam's sin as a way to introduce their view of Evil; in Exodus, he examines the Lurianic exegesis of the erev rav, the minority of non-Jews who accompanied the Jews out of Egypt, and who were responsible, according to some rabbinic interpretations, for the sin of the golden calf. In Leviticus, he discusses the prohibition against male homosexuality. In Numbers, Balaam is presented as the Other in contrast to Moses. And in Deuteronomy, the Torah as authoritative text is the Other when juxtaposed with the authority that is vested in the person Moses. In each case study, the Other turns out to be not a true other but a complement—part of a duality that is necessary for certain historical and metaphysical processes to complete their mission. Magid notes that making the Other (always ontologically impure) part of one's self is a paradoxical move for a religion that proclaims its special election as a "people apart," and who live lives of distinctiveness and separation. Magid explains that Lurianic thinkers can incorporate the impure into the pure because they hold a worldview that "all things contain their opposite; consequently, all otherness is only a temporary instantiation of the self." Chapters One and Two provide readers enough background information to understand the assumptions of Lurianic Kabbala. Magid introduces the notion of the sephirot, entities that, depending on what kabbalistic system one studies, are alternatively regarded as building blocks of the universe or aspects of God (often characterized as the entities that constitute the personality of God). In the Lurianic system, there is a reciprocal relationship—an ebb and flow—between the actions of people and the sephirot: the smallest movement in one realm effects the entire configuration of the other realm. Thus, the sephirot and creation are ontologically and cosmologically seamless. Adding to this seamlessness is the notion of soul inheritance (gilgul), which is a kind of recycling of souls into other souls. In the case study on Adam's sin, the system works in the following way: the sephirot that constitute primal Adam sin with the primal serpent, resulting in a spiritual or metaphysical blot on the soul. This blot is transmitted to the earthly Adam who passes it along to Cain and Abel. As Magid explains: "More than being born after the sin, here Cain and Abel are born in or as a result of the sin. They do not merely inherit the sin but essentially are the sin. This affects their diminished soul construction and foreshadows their sinful behavior and the behavior of their soul progeny: the generation of the flood, of Babel, and of Sodom. Those born from Adam's 130 years of spilled seed culminates in Jacob and his family's descent to Egypt (Jacob being prefigured in Adam) resulting in the generation of Egypt . . . and the birth of Moses (prefigured as Seth)." For the Kabbalists, each stage of history is regarded as an opportunity to "repair" the sin of previous generations. This latent potential is called tikkun. In fact, the potential is always only partially fulfilled. Full success is only possible in messianic time. This pattern provides the kabbalists with an answer to the problem of Evil: we are diminished by evil (a notion, by the way, already found in the Talmud, e.g., Chagiga 12a) but we strive towards total redemption. The metaphysical "Other" (evil) turns out to be a necessary and unavoidable component of the structure of the universe. Ultimately, there is no real notion of otherness because Evil is an intrinsic part of creation and an essential part of the creation of Man with roots in the divine itself. Magid also connects the story of Adam's sin to the societal issue of the status of conversos. According to his thesis, the kabbalist's version of creation and sin allows the converso, "burdened with the weight of sin from birth," to understand that his situation is "rooted in the highest realms of the cosmic world." Reconversion is simply another narrative of cosmic tikkun. Magid never claims that sixteenth-century Lurianic Kabbalists were adjudicating questions of whether coversos were Jews: "[W]hat I am doing is linking the historical fact with a particular literary trope as it appears in Lurianic exegesis and am suggesting how one may have informed the other." The book also illustrates how this "taming" of the Other works in Lurianic Kabbala's understanding of the role of the erev rav, the reality of male homosexuals, Balaam, and the transformation in Deuteronomy of text as the sole authority for a people who no longer have direct access to the person Moses. In a fascinating comparison of the Christian notion of incarnation (the divine became human in order that the human might become divine), Magid suggests that studying Torah triggers the divine in man: "The divine text (as divine names) and the zelem elohim [the image of God] in the human (also comprised of divine names according to these kabbalists) become activated through the engagement of text and person in the performance of study." The identification of text and person is a Jewish version of incarnation. From Metaphysics to Midrash is rich in intriguing discussions about the boundaries between Jews and non-Jews, good and evil, God and man from the perspective of Lurianic Kabbalah's interpretation of Scripture. -- Michael Nutkiewicz * SHOFAR *Shaul Magid has written a bold . . . book. . . . From Metaphysics to Midrash is rich in intriguing discussions about the boundaries between Jews and non-Jews, good and evil, God and man from the perspective of Lurianic Kabbalah's interpretation of Scripture.Vol. 28, No. 1 Fall 2009 -- Michael Nutkiewicz * Religious Studies Program,University of New Mexico *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Kabbala, New Historicism, and the Question of BoundariesThe Lurianic Myth: A Playbill1. Genesis "And Adam's Sin Was (Very) Great": Original Sin in Lurianic Exegesis2. Exodus The "Other" Israel: The Erev Rav (Mixed Multitude) as Conversos3. Leviticus The Sin of Becoming a Woman: Male Homosexuality and the Castration Complex4. Numbers Balaam, Moses, and the Prophecy of the "Other": A Lurianic Vision for the Erasure of Difference5. Deuteronomy The Human and/as God: Divine Incarnation and the "Image of God"ConclusionNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisQuestions the thought of three major Jewish philosophers of the 20th century - Franz Rosenzweig, Martin Buber, and Emmanuel Levinas - to help the author reconcile the philosophical and religious sides of his life. This work explains the leading ideas of each of these great thinkers.Trade ReviewOne of the most distinguished analytical philosophers, Putnam has written an unusual book that uses the thought of key philosophers to find points of commonality between the religious and the philosophical. October 1, 2008 * Library Journal *Hilary Putman has been in the thick of philosophical discussion for more than half a century . . . engagingly personal . . . there are interesting, characteristically Putnamian insights to be had throughout.November 7, 2008 -- Abraham Socher * Times Literary Supplement *In yoking Jewish thought to his efforts to give philosophy a human face, and in giving us glimpses of three men who helped shape a vibrant and beautiful form of Jewish thought, Hilary Putnam—to his profit, and to ours—has sided with Isaiah.October 2008 * FIRST THINGS *. . . Putnam has . . . discovered a barely contemplated terrain, where American pragmatism and Continental Jewish existentialism are happily intermarried. Mazel tov.Volume 15, Number 2 (rec'd 6/09) -- Michael Fagenblat * Common Knowledge *Philosopher Hilary Putnam, who is also a practicing Jew, examines the thought of three major Jewish philosophers of the 20th century—Franz Rosenzweig, Martin Buber, and Emmanuel Levinas—to help him reconcile the philosophical and religious sides of his life. . . . Although the religion discussed is Judaism, the depth and originality of these philosophers, as incisively interpreted by Putnam, make their thought nothing less than a guide to life.Vol. 28.1 Fall 2009 -- Joseph Haberer * Book Editor *Written by the distinguished emeritus professor of analytical philosophy, this intriguing little study is a concise presentation of three figures in modern Jewish thought: Franz Rosenzweig, Martin Buber, and Emmanuel Levinas.Vol. 33/2 * AJS Review *Putnam is a master teacher, and his elucidations of four difficult thinkers are valuable in themselves.Vol. 28, No. 3, 2010 * Shofar *Putnam succeeds in his goals of introducing Anglo-American philosophers to some of the 'post-modernist' philosophy of Judaism; and of providing a reminder of a central task of philosophy as a directional guide for living a worthwhile life. * Studies in Religion *Rosenzweig, Buber, and Levinas are for Putnam the great Jewish philosophers of the twentieth century. As their thought has intrigued him in his struggle with his Jewish heritage, he wrote this slim volume to 'help a reader who is struggling with these difficult authors to understand their difficult and spiritually deep writings.'72 Winter/Spring 2010 * Menorah Review *Table of ContentsContentsPrefaceIntroduction (Autobiographical)1. Rosenzweig and Wittgenstein2. Rosenzweig on Revelation and Romance3. What I and Thou Is Really Saying4. Levinas on What Is Demanded of UsAfterword Notes

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Book SynopsisLawrence A. Hoffman's inquiry into the reasons for the canonization of the Jewish style synagogue service between the eighth and eleventh centuries presents a novel reinterpretation of the available evidence that will have repercussions for studies of Jewish and Christian liturgy. The author suggests that Babylonian Jewish authorities attempted to fix Jewish liturgy during the height of the geonic period (c. 750-1025 A. D.) in response to changing social and economic conditions, and that this period, customarily considered as a whole, should be divided instead into three distinct eras. Because the changing attitude toward liturgical canonization during this period reflects the Jewish community's self-perception and its view of other groups with whom it dealt, Professor Hoffman's findings cast fresh light on such important matters as the Karaite schism and the condition of the medieval Palestinian community. In addition, many of the ancient liturgical alternatives discussed provide esseTrade Review" ... a well-written and highly intelligent book... a truly compendious and thorough account of the subject. The work is carried out in reverent detail. It is a truly formidable treatment of an important subject." —Journal of Jewish Studies"Hoffman's book is bound to become a classic in the field of Jewish liturgy...highly recommended to all students of liturgy and religion." —Journal of the American Academy of Religion

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Book SynopsisThis text focuses on what it means to be Jewish in America and the different positions held within the Jewish community on past and present church-state issues - whether Orthodox Jews in the military should wear yarmulkes while in uniform - and if Jewish prisoners have a right to Kosher food.Trade Review“Religion and State in the American Jewish Experience justifies itself as offering a fresh view on how American Jews have situated themselves on the emotional issues surrounding church-state relations in the United States.” —Journal of Church and State

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Book SynopsisTeachers, students, composers, performers, and other practitioners of sacred sound will appreciate this volume because, unlike any book currently available on sacred music, it treats the history, development, current practices, composition, and critical views of the liturgical music of both the Jewish and Christian traditions. Contributors trace Jewish music from its place in Hebrew Scriptures through the nineteenth-century Reform movement. Similar accounts of Christian music describe its growth up to the Protestant Reformation, as well as post-Reformation development. Other essays explore liturgical music in contemporary North America by analyzing it against the backdrop of the continuous social change that characterizes our era.Trade Review“Liturgical musicians should consider adding [Sacred Sound and Social Change] to their libraries. Each critical aspect of music is considered. As society continues to change and social pressures intensify, music will continue to play its critical role. This book gives us a chance to reflect upon where we’ve been, where we are, and where we may be going.” —Modern Liturgy * Modern Liturgy *"Following two excellent collections examining the development of Judaism and Christianity, this third volume in this series traces the usages of music in the two faiths, from biblical origins and medieval developments to current practices, while analyzing the varieties of music within each tradition." —Journal of Ecumenical Studies"The editors sought to bring diverse voices to the discussion. Their treatment of Jewish and Christian traditions within the same volume is significant; since both musical traditions stem from common sources and deal with similar social forces today, common reflection can lead to greater insight." —Theological Studies"This book reveals profound thought about the function of music in liturgy. All church and synagogue musicians should read it." —Choice

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Book SynopsisThis collection of essays focuses on sacrifice in the context of Jewish and Christian scripture and is inspired by the thought and writings of René Girard. The contributors engage in a dialogue with Girard in their search for answers to key questions about the relation between religion and violence. The book is divided into two parts. The first opens with a conversation in which René Girard and Sandor Goodhart explore the relation between imitation and violence throughout human history, especially in religious culture. It is followed by essays on the subject of sacrifice contributed by some of the most distinguished scholars in the field, including Bruce Chilton, Robert Daly, Louis Feldman, Michael Fishbane, Erich Gruen, and Alan Segal. The second part contains essays on specific scriptural texts (Abraham''s sacrifice of Isaac in Genesis 22 and the book of Job in the Jewish tradition, the Gospel and Epistles in the Christian tradition). The authors explore new ways of applyinTrade Review"In increasing numbers, scholars are turning to the mimetic theory espoused by René Girard for answers to key questions about religion and violence. For the first time, the editors of this volume place in conversation with each other scholars who, from the perspective of Christian and Jewish traditions and scholarship, engage via mimetic theory the sacrificial and anti-sacrificial features of ancient Judaism and early Christianity and explore their subsequent trajectories." —Martha Reineke, University of Northern Iowa"A distinctive contribution of this volume is the focus of many of its essays on Judaism and Jewish readings of the Hebrew Bible. Girard's Christian focus has left his thought open to the criticism that it is a recycled form of supersessionism. Though I do not think that this book will put that issue completely to rest, its engagement with Jewish history and Jewish thinkers is welcome and an important advance." —James W. Watts, Syracuse University"This volume first presents a 'conversation' between R. Girard and Goodhart on mimesis, sacrifice, and the Bible. Then it presents twenty essays on specific scriptural texts." —New Testament Abstracts“This important book consists of twenty-one essays that are knowing, critical, and venturesome. . . . The intent of the collection is to understand better the ancient relationship of Judaism and Christianity. The accent of the volume, variously explored, expanded, appreciated, and in small ways critiqued, is the work of René Girard, to whom, along with his wife, the book is dedicated.” —Journal of Ecumenical Studies“The introduction . . . expounds René Girard’s theory that every culture is founded on the collective murder of a surrogate victim. . . . In Girard’s view, the Hebrew Bible reflects a profoundly anti-sacrificial development, and Christianity extends it by positing Jesus’ sacrifice as the supreme sacrifice that ends all sacrifices. . . . This volume . . . puts his theory at work, in two main ways, to which the two parts of the book are devoted.” —Bryn Mawr Classical Review“The ground-breaking work of René Girard on the theme of violence and mimesis in religion is the inspiration for this collection of twenty-one essays. The impact of Girard’s thinking is particularly felt in biblical studies, as this volume demonstrates. The first nine essays address some aspect of biblical sacrifice itself; the rest focus on explicit biblical passages that treat the topic. . . . This is a very readable treatment of an important yet unresolved topic.” —The Bible Today“. . . ultimately, this book serves as an excellent introductory conversation into mimetic theory and sacrifice. This collection of essays is a good starting point for a beginning student, but also will function as a tool for the researcher.” —Religious Studies Review

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Book SynopsisJames Diamond''s new book consists of a series of studies addressing Moses Maimonides'' (11381204) appropriation of marginal figureslepers, converts, heretics, and othersnormally considered on the fringes of society and religion. Each chapter focuses on a type or character that, in Maimonides'' hands, becomes a metaphor for a larger, more substantive theological and philosophical issue. Diamond offers a close reading of key texts, such as the Guide of the Perplexed and the Mishneh Torah, demonstrating the importance of integrating Maimonides'' legal and philosophical writings.Converts, Heretics, and Lepers fills an important void in Jewish studies by focusing on matters of exegesis and hermeneutics as well as philosophical concerns. Diamond''s alternative reading of central topics in Maimonides suggests that literary appreciation is a key to deciphering Maimonides'' writings in particular and Jewish exegetical texts in general.Trade Review“Diamond takes a linguistic pebble and throws it into the sea of Maimonides' thought, following the ripples where they lead: verses connect to verses and to rabbinic glosses upon them, which in turn lead to further exegetical and philosophical ripples. In addition to being an extraordinarily learned and careful reader, and in addition to being a deep thinker, James A. Diamond is also a fine craftsperson of the English language-the book is a joy to read.” —Shofar “This richly detailed book presents a fascinating study of the way Moses Maimonides, the supreme medieval Jewish philosopher, uses marginal figures to define broader philosophical issues. . . . For this study Diamond draws equally on Maimonides' philosophical writings and on his halakhic (legal) writings, demonstrating the interplay between these genres. This examination of figures on the margins provides a filter to allow Maimonides to explore ideal characteristics in a unique way.” —Congregational Libraries Today“. . . James A. Diamond presents a refreshing, if somewhat unconventional, approach to Maimonidean interpretation, which, if integrated with the prevailing philological contextualization, will undoubtedly lead to fruitful conclusions as to the intentions of the Guide.” —Speculum“In this remarkable book, James A. Diamond continues his project of close and sensitive readings of the Maimonidean corpus. Taking the Rambam at his word in the introduction to the Guide of the Perplexed, Diamond leads us into the inner recesses of that and other works to revel in the master’s religious and poetic artistry, thereby revealing something of the hidden desires and fractures in Maimonides’ positioning of philosophy vis-à-vis religion.” —H-Judaic“James Diamond's book about Maimonides is a welcome addition to the regular stream of books about the thinker Jews have rightly called ‘the great eagle.’ His unique contribution to the Maimonidean literature is to show that the true Jewish philosopher like Maimonides is always an outsider in ordinary Jewish thought, and he is thus uniquely able to appreciate and explicate what Jews and other worshipers of the One God have to learn from other outsiders like himself.” —David Novak, J. Richard and Dorothy Shiff Professor of Jewish Studies, University of Toronto". . . a series of extraordinarily close readings of core texts of Maimonides', readings which illuminate the delicate interplay of philosophical and religious ideas in Maimonides. In his previous work, Diamond convincingly illustrated the way in which Maimonides carefully chooses, subtly interprets, and circumspectly weaves together rabbinic materials to address philosophers and talmudists alike, each in their own idiom. This book is a further expression of Diamond's mastery of this intricate methodology and is a work to be studied and re-studied. All students of Maimonides are in his debt." —Menachem Kellner, University of Haifa“Converts, Heretics, and Lepers is a very sophisticated exploration of Maimonidean religious philosophy. Although there have been numerous studies on Maimonides, perhaps more than any other Jewish thinker, James Diamond manages to approach the master from fresh perspectives. The result is a stunningly lucid and deep engagement with Maimonides.” —Elliot Wolfson, Abraham Lieberman Professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies, New York University

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Book SynopsisTwo interviews have been added to this second edition, in which Wiesel discusses religious faith in the face of evil and love, the moral responsibilities of Jews and non-Jews, the plight of the exiled, Jewish-Christian relations, antisemitism, and mystery and the ineffable.Trade Review"God may be unjust but is never indifferent, speculates Wiesel in these brilliant, intense interviews conducted in 1987 with French journalist de Saint-Cheron. The eminent Holocaust scholar and novelist ranges widely over Jewish-Christian relations, anti-Semitism, politics, Hasidism and Jewish thought". —Publishers Weekly“Throughout this book, Wiesel's understanding of the human condition offers both an honest assessment and also hope that we may learn to live with one another in harmony.” —The Jewish Book News“Saint Cheron probes deeply, asking searching questions about evil, responsibility, faith, and the meaning of life as well as addressing topics of current political import. Wiesel responds passionately, offering many penetrating, personal comments.” —Library Journal"Two themes dominate this book: change and meaning. These form the context of six days of questions posed by Saint Cheron to Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel. Contained here are probably the most comprehensive statements that Wiesel has ever made on Jewish theology, although he labels it as tradition (thought and quest) as distinguished from the more formalized theology of Christianity." —Spirituality Today“M. de Saint Cheron has come with questions only about evil, a universal problem , and exile, an endemically Jewish question, but also about the whole gamut of Jewish existence, past, present, and future…. As a result, the reader is fortunate to share Mr. Wiesel’s thoughts. It is a privilege to see the breadth of his Jewish involvement, commitment, and understanding. It is almost awesome as he talks of his activities, writings, and experience.” —Science and Technology“His [Wiesel] thoughts on evil, love, responsibility, life, death and Judeo-Christian relations as well as his comments on the extermination of over six million Jews give testimony to his own deep belief in God. Michaël de Saint Cheron's insightful questions expand the interviews to a deeper discussion of Wiesel's writings, his comments on the writings of such authors as Unamuno, Kafka, and Mauriac, and his interpretations of the scriptures. Evil and Exile is a most powerful book recommended for students of Wiesel and all readers who are concerned with the defense of human rights. —Charles Snyder, Church and Synagogue Library Assn.“It will not be long before readers come to realize that like Dante and Balzac, Wiesel is the creator of a comprehensive, unified oeuvre that reveals the path taken by an intellect - in the face of unprecedental odds - trying to travel toward God at the same time it tries to reach an understanding of man. One of the pleasures in reading Wiesel is the feeling one gets of being engaged in conversation with a warm human being. The tension created by this contradiction is one of the things that makes this book so interesting. What makes it indepensible is the way Wiesel chooses to respond. —Hadassah Magazine“Wiesel offers wise counsel in this volume concerning evil and suffering, life, and death, chance and circumstance.” —Times Outlook Magazine

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Book SynopsisPhilo''s Portrayal of Moses in the Context of Ancient Judaism presents the most comprehensive study of Philo''s De Vita Mosis that exists in any language. Feldman, well known for his work on Josephus and ancient Judaism, here paves new ground using rabbinic material with philological precision to illuminate important parallels and differences between Philo''s writing on Moses and rabbinic literature. One way in which Hellenistic culture marginalized Judaism was by exposing the apparent defects in Moses'' life and character. Philo''s De Vita Mosis is a counterattack to these charges and is a vital piece of his attempt to reconcile Judaism and Hellenism. Feldman rigorously examines the text and shows how Philo presents a narrative of Moses''s life similar to that of a mythical divine and heroic figure, glorifying his birth, education, and virtues. Feldman demonstrates that Philo is careful to explain in a scientific way those portions of the Bible, particularly miTrade Review“This book is a study of Philo’s De Vita Mosis, Feldman, well known for his work on Josephus and ancient Judaism, here uses rabbinic material to illuminate important parallels and differences between Philo’s writing on Moses and rabbinic literature. . . . Feldman shows how Philo glorifies the birth, education, and virtues of Moses and demonstrates that Philo is careful to explain in a scientific way those portions of the Bible, particularly miracles, that appear incredible to his skeptical Hellenistic readers.” —Shofar * Shofar *“While focusing on Philo's De vita Mosis, Feldman . . . attempts to place Philo's portrait on Moses in the context of what other Jews and non-Jews in antiquity said about him . . . Feldman concludes that Philo intended De vita Mosis primarily for non-Jews in order to answer the misunderstandings, disparagement, and maligning of Moses; and that he presented Moses as a philosopher king but objected strongly to the view of Moses as divine.” —New Testament Abstracts“Feldman’s intention is to produce a comprehensive, systematic account of the depiction of Moses by Philo, chiefly by Philo’s De Vita Mosis (Mos.). In this, he succeeds. He organizes his work in imitation of Mos.: part one proceeds chronologically through the life of Moses; part two he organizes topically around ‘virtues’ of Moses, as does Philo.” —Bulletin for Biblical Research“Feldman shows how Philo presents an aretalogy similar to that of a mythical divine and heroic figure by glorifying the birth, education, and virtues of Moses. He demonstrates that Philo is careful to explain in a scientific way those portions of the Bible, particularly miracles, that appear incredible to his skeptical Hellenistic readers. Moses, as presented by Philo, emerges as unique among ancient law givers.” —International Review of Biblical Studies“This book is a gold mine of information. In two sections that follow the arrangement of Philo's two treatises on the life of Moses, Feldman expertly sets forth an impressive array of material from Philo, other Jewish sources, and non-Jewish sources. Each section on the life of Moses and on his virtues is clearly and helpfully organized into many subsections, and Feldman discusses each topic with characteristic erudition. This is the first book-length study to focus on these Philonic and other traditions about Moses, and readers from a variety of disciplines will find much here to appreciate.” —Ellen Birnbaum, author of The Place of Judaism in Philo's Thought: Israel, Jews, and Proselytes“Feldman provides a characteristically thorough, even exhaustive, discussion of Philo's Life of Moses, informed by his unsurpassed knowledge of both Jewish and classical literature. This is a very substantial and welcome contribution to the detailed analysis of the major Jewish philosopher of antiquity.” —John J. Collins, Yale Divinity School“This book represents the first full-length treatment of Philo’s portrait of Moses in the De vita Moysis. The work is erudite and careful. As is characteristic of Professor Feldman’s work as a whole, the strongest quality of this book is it comprehensive nature and encyclopedic learning. It will appeal to a significant number of scholars and students from a wide range of disciplines, including Second Temple Judaism, Rabbinic Judaism, New Testament, and the Early Church.” —Gregory E. Sterling, associate professor of theology, University of Notre Dame

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Book SynopsisThe variety of ways in which Jews in Israel responded to and appropriated Greek culture is the subject of this volume. The contributors provide corroborating evidence of the influence of Greek culture in Judea and Galilee, from before the Maccabean revolt on into the rabbinic period.Trade Review“[A] formidable collection of the leading scholars in the field. Anyone interested in the intercultural interplay between Judaism and Hellenism in antiquity should own this fine collection of well-written and highly accessible essays.” —Choice“. . . As a whole, the book has as its principal focus the issues of acculturation, assimilation, adaptation, inculturation and implicitly ethnic aspects, which are presented by the contributors in a highly professional way, advancing by a step some hitherto neglected or inadequately analysed details.” —Ancient West & East“In reviewing the articles in the present volume, it would be impossible to do justice to each and every one. All are deserving of careful study, and each expands our horizons with respect to the topic in question. For furthering our awareness and understanding of this important phenomenon in ancient Judaism, we are profoundly indebted to the organizers of this conference, who also produced this most impressive volume of studies. This book is a must for anyone interested in investigating this most central topic in the study of ancient Jewish society.” —Journal of Biblical Literature“This important collection continues the work of discussing how and to what degree the Jews were Hellenized and a part of the Hellenistic world.” —Journal for the Study of the Old Testament“. . . Superb collection . . . Authors constitute a veritable ‘Who’s Who’ of Hellenistic Jewish scholars. . . .[F]ully indexed and carefully crafted, this volume is essential reading for those with a serious interest in the Hellenistic world.” —Religious Studies Review

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Book SynopsisFor nearly four decades, E. P. Sanders has been the foremost scholar in shaping and refocusing scholarly debates in three different but related disciplines in New Testament studies: Second Temple Judaism, Jesus and the Gospels, and Pauline studies. This collection of essays by an impressive array of colleagues and former students presents original scholarship that extendsor departs fromthe research of Sanders himself. Both apologists and dissenters find their place in this volume, as the authors actively debate Sanders's innovative positions on central issues in all three disciplines. The introductory group of essays includes a substantive intellectual autobiography by E. P. Sanders himself. The next three parts examine in turn the three areas in which Sanders made his important contributions. The essays in part 2 engage Sanders''s notion of common Judaism. Those in part 3 deal with issues that Sanders raised respecting the historical Jesus and the Gospels. And the essays in part 4 Trade Review“This volume is a fitting tribute to the single most influential scholar in the fields of New Testament and early Judaism of the last half century. . . . A real strength of this volume is that most of the essays not only directly engage the work of Ed Parish Sanders but confirm, refine, and even extend various aspects of his innovative and widely debated positions on central issues in the study of Jesus, Paul, and Second Temple Judaism.” —Daniel C. Harlow, Calvin College“No scholar of our generation has done more to advance the study of the New Testament than E. P. Sanders, whose work has revolutionized our understanding of early Judaism, the historical Jesus, and the apostle Paul. These are three enormously significant areas of research; most good scholars need an entire career to master, let alone influence, any one of them. The present collection of essays by leading researchers of early Judaism and early Christianity—including an insightful intellectual autobiography by the great man himself—is a fitting tribute to the career and thought of a giant in the field.” —Bart D. Ehrman, James A. Gray Professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill“A celebratory testimonial to the far-ranging interests of the most influential intertestamental historian of our age, this stellar, seminal, stimulating compendium—one exciting essay on the heels of another—is a veritable ‘scholarly page-turner.’ Gloriously rich in content, provocatively diverse in perspective, and brilliant in categorization and sequence, this volume will be indispensable to all of E. P. Sanders' followers and reactors as well as to present and future newcomers to his distinctive contributions.” —Michael J. Cook, Sol & Arlene Bronstein Professor of Judeo-Christian Studies, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion“This volume is a tribute to Professor Ed Parish Sanders of Duke University, who is one of the foremost biblical scholars on the topic of the relationship of Judaism and early Christianity. A thread that binds together Sanders' work and is apparent in most of these essays is his fundamental contention that running through the midst of the cultural and theological diversity of first-century Judaism there was also a “common Judaism” expressed in some fundamental convictions and common practice.” —The Bible Today“The 21 essays originated as papers presented at an April 2003 conference at the University of Notre Dame, which focused on the principal themes of Sanders’ work: Judaism, Jesus and the Gospels, and Paul. Among the topics are the problem of self-definition, common Judaism in Greek and Latin authors, historiography for an age of destruction, the place of the Sadducees in first-century Judaism, Jesus in Jewish Galilee, Hellenism and the high priesthood in life-of-Jesus narratives, the incident at the temple as the occasion for Jesus’ death, the source of Paul’s problem in Judaism, Pauline soteriology, and grace and the transformation of agency in Christ.” —Research Book News“ . . . a gem of a volume and a fitting tribute to Sanders, the foremost scholar of Second Testament Studies. It contains informative and often controversial portraits of Jesus, first-century Judaism, and Pauline Christianity, as well as detailed information on Jesus’ missions in the Galilee region and his activities in Jerusalem.” —Journal of Ecumenical Studies“No contemporary New Testament scholar’s work is more important than the work of Sanders. No scholar of ancient Judaism or of early Christianity can afford to overlook this volume. Each of the contributors is a distinguished scholar in his or her own right and the contributions offer generally appreciative, but always stimulating, dialogue with Sanders’s seminal ideas. Every theological library should have a copy of this work.” —Religious Studies Review“Some of the papers from a 2003 conference in honour of E. P. Sanders form this fine Festschrift. It is organized around the three foci of Sanders’s achievement. . . . Professor Sanders might justifiably view with satisfaction the way his research has stimulated further theological reflection on scripture as well as hugely advancing the study of early Judaism, including Jesus and Paul.” —Journal of Theological Studies

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Book SynopsisThis collection of essays focuses on sacrifice in the context of Jewish and Christian scripture and is inspired by the thought and writings of René Girard. The contributors engage in a dialogue with Girard in their search for answers to key questions about the relation between religion and violence. The book is divided into two parts. The first opens with a conversation in which René Girard and Sandor Goodhart explore the relation between imitation and violence throughout human history, especially in religious culture. It is followed by essays on the subject of sacrifice contributed by some of the most distinguished scholars in the field, including Bruce Chilton, Robert Daly, Louis Feldman, Michael Fishbane, Erich Gruen, and Alan Segal. The second part contains essays on specific scriptural texts (Abraham''s sacrifice of Isaac in Genesis 22 and the book of Job in the Jewish tradition, the Gospel and Epistles in the Christian tradition). The authors explore new ways of applyinTrade Review"In increasing numbers, scholars are turning to the mimetic theory espoused by René Girard for answers to key questions about religion and violence. For the first time, the editors of this volume place in conversation with each other scholars who, from the perspective of Christian and Jewish traditions and scholarship, engage via mimetic theory the sacrificial and anti-sacrificial features of ancient Judaism and early Christianity and explore their subsequent trajectories." —Martha Reineke, University of Northern Iowa"A distinctive contribution of this volume is the focus of many of its essays on Judaism and Jewish readings of the Hebrew Bible. Girard's Christian focus has left his thought open to the criticism that it is a recycled form of supersessionism. Though I do not think that this book will put that issue completely to rest, its engagement with Jewish history and Jewish thinkers is welcome and an important advance." —James W. Watts, Syracuse University"This volume first presents a 'conversation' between R. Girard and Goodhart on mimesis, sacrifice, and the Bible. Then it presents twenty essays on specific scriptural texts." —New Testament Abstracts“This important book consists of twenty-one essays that are knowing, critical, and venturesome. . . . The intent of the collection is to understand better the ancient relationship of Judaism and Christianity. The accent of the volume, variously explored, expanded, appreciated, and in small ways critiqued, is the work of René Girard, to whom, along with his wife, the book is dedicated.” —Journal of Ecumenical Studies“The introduction . . . expounds René Girard’s theory that every culture is founded on the collective murder of a surrogate victim. . . . In Girard’s view, the Hebrew Bible reflects a profoundly anti-sacrificial development, and Christianity extends it by positing Jesus’ sacrifice as the supreme sacrifice that ends all sacrifices. . . . This volume . . . puts his theory at work, in two main ways, to which the two parts of the book are devoted.” —Bryn Mawr Classical Review“The ground-breaking work of René Girard on the theme of violence and mimesis in religion is the inspiration for this collection of twenty-one essays. The impact of Girard’s thinking is particularly felt in biblical studies, as this volume demonstrates. The first nine essays address some aspect of biblical sacrifice itself; the rest focus on explicit biblical passages that treat the topic. . . . This is a very readable treatment of an important yet unresolved topic.” —The Bible Today“. . . ultimately, this book serves as an excellent introductory conversation into mimetic theory and sacrifice. This collection of essays is a good starting point for a beginning student, but also will function as a tool for the researcher.” —Religious Studies Review

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Book SynopsisMoses Mendelssohn (17251786) is considered the foremost representative of Jewish Enlightenment. In No Religion without Idolatry, Gideon Freudenthal offers a novel interpretation of Mendelssohn's general philosophy and discusses for the first time Mendelssohn's semiotic interpretation of idolatry in his Jerusalem and in his Hebrew biblical commentary. Mendelssohn emerges from this study as an original philosopher, not a shallow popularizer of rationalist metaphysics, as he is sometimes portrayed. Of special and lasting value is his semiotic theory of idolatry. From a semiotic perspective, both idolatry and enlightenment are necessary constituents of religion. Idolatry ascribes to religious symbols an intrinsic value: enlightenment maintains that symbols are conventional and merely signify religious content but do not share its properties and value. Without enlightenment, religion degenerates to fetishism; without idolatry it turns into philosophy and frustrates religiouTrade Review"In this lucid and provocative study, Gideon Freudenthal offers an original and compelling reading of Mendelssohn as well as a defense of the possibility of religious rationalism more generally. This book is not only an excellent contribution to a growing body of scholarship on Mendelssohn and early modern philosophy, but it also significantly sharpens and advances contemporary conversations about the relations between religion and reason." —Leora Batnitzky, Princeton University"In this masterful study, Gideon Freudenthal demonstrates how Mendelssohn’s philosophy, including his philosophy of religion, is grounded in semiotics. The result is a landmark work that not only successfully challenges standard interpretations of Mendelssohn’s 'enlightened Judaism' and its alleged inconsistency but also effectively invites reconsideration of the very possibility of 'religion without idolatry.'" —Daniel O. Dahlstrom, Boston University"In focusing on Mendelssohn's 'semiotics of idolatry,' Gideon Freudenthal writes as a philosopher fully at home in multiple traditions: contemporary philosophy, eighteenth-century philosophy, Jewish biblical exegesis, and comparative religion. The result is a systematic and penetrating study, based on the Hebrew as well as the German texts, that engages Mendelssohn on perhaps the most critical issue of his understanding of religion with unprecedented philosophical rigor and imagination." —David Sorkin, City University of New York Graduate Center“This is an innovative study of the views of the ‘father’ of modern Jewish philosophy, Moses Mendelssohn. It emphasizes correctly that Mendelssohn’s philosophy of Judaism was thoroughly rational in the Enlightenment’s sense of the notion of rationality, and concentrated not on metaphysical arguments and disputations about matters of faith but, rather, on the role and significance of religious practices. . . . As a result, this is a valuable, provocative, unconventional interpretation of Mendelssohn that is sure to stir scholarly debate” —Choice“Freudenthal’s book introduces us to a Mendelssohn who is a serious, consistent, and careful philosopher, an independent thinker whose true philosophical position has gone underappreciated for too long. . . . We are indebted to Freudenthal’s book for challenging us to rethink Mendelssohn’s philosophical project and thereby to rethink the relevance Enlightenment philosophers may still have today.” —Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews“Freudenthal’s book is highly to be recommended. Its scholarship is impressive, the writing lucid and engaging. It represents an important and original contribution to our understanding of Mendelssohn, complementing the work of Altmann, Allan Arkush, and others.” —H-Judaic“Freudenthal expands the notion of idolatry beyond its common restriction to false objects of devotion and renders it a heuristic principle to examine not only Judaism but all religions as semiotic systems.” —Theological Studies“In all, Freudenthal’s book is highly to be recommended. Its scholarship is impressive, the writing lucid and engaging. It represents an important and original contribution to our understanding of Mendelssohn, complementing the work of Altmann, Allan Arkush, and others.” —H-Net“This book offers a thorough and robust defense of Moses Mendelssohn’s (1729–86) philosophical and religious project. Freudenthal’s familiarity not only with Mendelssohn’s philosophical, but also with his theological works—including scriptural commentaries in Hebrew—allow him to offer a more complete and consistent view of Mendelssohn’s project.” —The Review of Metaphysics

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Book SynopsisAn exploration of the literary and cinematic representations of the kibbutz movement in Israel. Authors discussed include Amos Oz, Savyon Liebrecht, Nathan Shaham, Avraham Balaban, Atallah Mansour, Eli Amir, and Batya Gur. Directors discussed include Yitzhak Yeshurun, Akiva Tevet, Dror Shaul, and Jonathan Paz.Trade Review“Thanks to the extensive outlook and the copious collection of texts, Imagining the Kibbutz is a valuable resource and a welcome contribution to the field of kibbutz studies.”—Lior Libman Israel Studies Review“In a brilliant analysis that is both comprehensive and penetrating, Ranen Omer-Sherman illuminates the vast spectrum of literary and cinematic narratives that emerged from one of the most radical and thrilling social experiments of our time: the Israeli kibbutz. Omer-Sherman writes with authority and passion, in prose that will excite the scholar and layperson alike. Part literary critique, part social history, Omer-Sherman’s book sheds light not only on the narratives of the kibbutz but also on the utopian enterprise itself, from its heady idealism to its bitter contentiousness. I was, quite honestly, unable to put it down. Anyone interested in Israel, literature, film, or the myriad ways in which artistic expression reflects and shapes the birth and growth of a modern nation would do well to read this book.”—Joan Leegant,author of An Hour in Paradise and Wherever You Go“The kibbutz is an extraordinary human, social, and economic accomplishment, widely recognized as one of the most impressive achievements of Zionism. The impact of the kibbutz has always far exceeded its numerical size, and Imagining the Kibbutz makes us realize that this is also the case with the visions of the kibbutz in Hebrew literature and in films made in or on Israel. Ranen Omer-Sherman very skillfully combines the particularity of the local scene with universal human experience transcending space and time, such as the clash between individual desires and unyielding national imperatives. Combining the critical outlook of the academic outsider with deep, loving insight acquired through his own personal experience, the author portrays the kibbutz as a crucial microcosm for understanding Israeli values and identity. The book proves that the reports of the kibbutz’s death are greatly exaggerated; it is still a vibrant society making an inspiring imprint both on Israeli reality and Hebrew literature and film. Imagining the Kibbutz is a very relevant and up-to-date book, enhancing our understanding of contemporary Israel at large.”—Aviva Halamish,The Open University of Israel “Imagining the Kibbutz is not only a masterful study of literary representations of the kibbutz, but also a portrait of a country—Israel—through the lens of its most radical experiment. Tracing the evolution of the kibbutz from its utopian beginnings through economic crisis and ideological disillusionment to its current hybrid forms, Ranen Omer-Sherman illuminates the tensions between individualism and collectivism, capitalism and socialism, diaspora and national identity that lie at the heart of Israeli society. A probing analysis of a wide array of imaginative renderings of the kibbutz experience, this important book should be required reading for anyone interested in understanding Israel’s individual diversity and collective soul.”—Margot Singer,author of The Pale of Settlement“What makes Imagining the Kibbutz particularly compelling is its emphasis on the affective power that the kibbutz exercises upon the individual. Ranen Omer-Sherman guides us through a diverse array of literary and cinematic texts with sensitivity and astuteness, urging us to bear in mind culture’s humanizing function even in its representation of the most intensely politicized situations. A deeply engaged and delightfully engaging writer, Omer-Sherman balances his experiences with the kibbutz with a discerning and rigorous critical eye, confronting its complexities and contradictions in order to suggest that in many ways these reflect paradoxes that continue to inhabit the core of Israeli identity itself.”—Karen Grumberg,University of Texas at Austin“The kibbutz has always played an outsized role in images of Israel, representing in microcosm the ideals upon which the nation was founded. The kibbutz embodied, in its purest form, the inherent tension between common goals and individual interests. As Ranen Omer-Sherman gracefully demonstrates in this penetrating analysis, the literature growing out of the kibbutz experience is also an outsized component of Israeli culture. From the outset, the kibbutz was ‘always in crisis,’ portrayed sensitively in the many novels, short stories, essays, and films inspired by the tension between ideology and reality. This landmark study also puts the recent ‘normalization’ of the kibbutz into clearer perspective, making it clear that its role in the broader society remains central. Anyone with an interest in Israeli culture and society will find this book indispensable in highlighting a critical dimension of the Israeli experience, past and present.”—Alan Dowty,University of Notre Dame“From its emergence in pre-war Palestine until its privatization in the mid-1980s, the kibbutz was an iconic symbol of the settlement of Jews in their historic land. The lived experience of that utopian experiment was sometimes too controversial to deal with in nonfiction, but found expression in literature and film. Ranen Omer-Sherman has produced a valuable survey of such representations, which he considers wistfully, yet hopefully, at a time when kibbutzim are succumbing to privatization, even as some cling to their erstwhile promise of communalism.”—Aviva Ben-Ur,University of Massachusetts Amherst“A volume whose sharp insights and wide-ranging analyses (some of them appearing here for the first time in English) contribute greatly to our understanding of the histories of and shifting perceptions surrounding one of modernity’s most fascinating ideological movements. Informative for the specialist reader as well as accessible for students and a general lay audience, Imagining the Kibbutz promises to shape the ways in which historiographers, ethnographers, literary and cultural critics, and even authors and artists themselves discuss portrayals of the kibbutz phenomenon in the decades to come.”—Nathan P. Devir Studies in American Jewish Literature“Just as some new religions changed and structured themselves in innovative routines, while others failed and declined, the kibbutzim have gone through a similar process of triumph, fall, decline, and change. Imagining the Kibbutz offers an excellent opportunity to review these transformations.”—Motti Inbari Nova ReligioTable of ContentsContentsList of IllustrationsIntroduction1. Trepidation and Exultation in Early Kibbutz Fiction2. “With a Zealot’s Fervor”: Individuals Facing the Fissures of Ideology in Oz, Shaham, and Balaban3. The Kibbutz and Its Others at Midcentury: Palestinian and Mizrahi Interlopers in Utopia4. Late Disillusionments and Village Crimes: The Kibbutz Mysteries of Batya Gur and Savyon Liebrecht5. From the 1980s to 2010: Nostalgia and the Revisionist Lens in Kibbutz FilmAfterword: Between Hope and Despair: The Legacy of the Kibbutz Dream in the Twenty-First Century AcknowledgmentsNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisRecounts events surrounding the recovery, in 2017, of a sixteenth-century biographical manuscript by Luis de Carvajal the Younger, a crypto-Jew executed by the Inquisition in colonial Mexico.Trade Review“People interested in Jewish and Latin American history will most enjoy Stavans’s study, which for all its scrupulous research leaves the central mystery tantalizingly unsolved.”—Publishers Weekly“This book will be of interest to crypto-Jewish collections and potentially also to library science collections.”—Shmuel Ben-Gad Association of Jewish Libraries ReviewsTable of ContentsList of IllustrationsPart I: Lost1. The Thief2. The ProphetPart II: Found3. The Chronicler4. The CollectorNotes

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Brings a new perspective to considering the dimensions of Jewish modernity from the history of the book. . . . [Ruderman’s] exploration of book marketing as a markedly modern exercise should invite future scholars to conduct comparative research on the role of literary bestsellers in the shaping of modern Judaism." * Journal of Jewish Studies *"Brings us one step closer to a revision of modern Jewish intellectual history, providing us with a window into the myriad ways in which Jewish thought was transformed in modern Western life." * Association for Jewish Studies Review *

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Book SynopsisTable of ContentsPrefaceIntroduction1. "If you wish to live, then die": Aspects of Death and Desire in Jewish Spirituality2. "For Your sake we are killed all day long": The Sanctification of God in Love3. "As if he sacrificed a soul": Forms of Ritual Simulation and SubstitutionEpilogueNotesIndex

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Book SynopsisReviews Jewish culture and history. This book examines how and why various rites and customs celebrating stages in the life cycle have evolved through the ages and persisted to this day. For each phase of life - from childhood, adolescence, adulthood, to the advanced years, it traces the origin and development of specific rites.Trade Review"Informative, clear, and well written. This comprehensive guide is historical ethnography at its best." * Association of Jewish Libraries Newsletter *Table of ContentsPreface and Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Birth, "Bris," Schooling 2. Bar Mitzvah, Bat Mitzvah, Confirmation 3. Engagement, Betrothal, Marriage 4. Aging, Dying, Remembering Conclusions Glossary Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisConsiders how teacher/student relations sustain and renew the Jewish traditionTrade Review"The book was written to be accessible and its insights, literary and education, are relevant to the many readers of these rabbinic sources, and to teachers and lecturers seeking insight from Jewish sources." -- Pinchas Roth * Association of Jewish Libraries Reviews *"Her book wonderfully demonstrates the creative interplay between traditional learning and contemporary intellectual freedom . . . Rabbis, and all of us, would do well to internalize Handelman's call to see teaching as not an add-on but a central category of human experience." -- Yehudah Mirsky * Jewish Ideas Daily *"Handelman’s book drew me into a world I knew little about, providing a heretofore neglected, but intriguing space for thinking about the teacher-student relationship. . . . That Handelman wrote this book when bombs were exploding throughout Jerusalem – including at the university where she teaches – demonstrates that the teacher-student relationship lives, and may be even more critical, during crises." -- Mitzi J. Smith * Teaching Theology & Religion *Table of ContentsPreface A Note on Translation and Transliteration of Hebrew Notes on Notes Introduction "I Only Want the Piece Which Is in Your Mouth" 1. "Torah of the Belly": Rabbi Eliezer Starves for a Teacher 2. "The Gates of Wounded Feelings"" Rabbi Eliezer Is Banned 3. "Father! Father! Israel's Chariot and Its Horsemen!": The Passing of Rabbi Eliezer Epilogue Notes Selected Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisDescribing the developments in science and philosophy in the sacred language of Hebrew, the author argued that an intellectual understanding of the cosmos was not at odds with but actually key to achieving spiritual attainment.Trade Review"Brings a new perspective to considering the dimensions of Jewish modernity from the history of the book. . . . [Ruderman’s] exploration of book marketing as a markedly modern exercise should invite future scholars to conduct comparative research on the role of literary bestsellers in the shaping of modern Judaism." * Journal of Jewish Studies *"Brings us one step closer to a revision of modern Jewish intellectual history, providing us with a window into the myriad ways in which Jewish thought was transformed in modern Western life." * Association for Jewish Studies Review *

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Book SynopsisLaced with brilliant insights, broad in its view of the interaction of culture and theology, this book gives new resonance to old and important questions about the meaning of the Bible.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“Through an incisive and critical analysis of the history of the concept of ‘Jewish Christianity,’ Matt Jackson-McCabe shows persuasively how abandoning the concept enables different voices and social formations to be heard and mapped in their own terms.”—Judith Lieu, University of Cambridge“Future investigations under the rubric of ‘Jewish Christianity’ will be unable to avoid reckoning with the argument of this volume, namely that the category ‘Jewish Christianity’ inevitably encodes a Christian metaphysics of Christianity itself.”—John W. Marshall, University of Toronto“Jackson-McCabe’s Jewish Christianity is a brilliant book, navigating the complex issues surrounding this vexed term with incredible clarity and insight, while providing a cutting-edge vision of how attention to the historiography of modern scholarship can enrich our understanding of religion and identity in both antiquity and modernity.”—Annette Yoshiko Reed, New York University“The term ‘Jewish Christianity’ has always been problematic. This book is a provocative and stimulating plea for an abandoning of the term, in spite of its long history of study, and is sure to engender discussion and reassessment.”—James Carleton Paget, University of Cambridge“In this excellent study, internationally renowned scholar Matt Jackson-McCabe has given us an essential tool for a deeper understanding of Christian origins. An indispensable resource and a must read for anyone interested in Jewish–Christian relations.”—Anders Runesson, University of Oslo

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Book SynopsisThe first comprehensive study of friendship in the Hebrew BibleTrade Review“Saul Olyan has written a truly original work that not only opens up a new area in biblical studies, but creates a full-blown synthesis of the socio-literary field of biblical friendship.”— Ronald Hendel, University of California, Berkeley“Saul Olyan is one of the world’s most consistently insightful scholars of the Hebrew Bible. Here he offers a study of friendship that will prove a helpful companion for anyone curious about what biblical texts reveal about the history of human relationships."—Steven Weitzman, University of Pennsylvania“A learned yet affecting study of a much-overlooked topic by a world-class scholar. Olyan brilliantly demonstrates how in the Hebrew Bible family and friends (and to a lesser extent, treaty partners) manifest similar behaviors. This comprehensive survey will become the standard work on the subject.”—Mark S. Smith, Princeton Theological Seminary“Through an insightful and sensitive reading of the vocabulary of friendship along with an astute analysis of its function in a variety of biblical passages, Olyan illuminates with striking clarity this important but oft-ignored concept.”—Carol Meyers, Duke University“Another groundbreaking study from one of the finest scholars in the field of biblical studies. With Olyan as our expert guide, we learn to rethink our assumptions not only about the biblical texts but also about what it means to be human.”—Jacob L. Wright, Emory University

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Book SynopsisIn this sparkling debut, a young critic offers an original, passionate, and erudite account of what it means to feel Jewish-even when you're not.Trade Review“A scintillating exploration of how feelings stereotypicaly associated with Jewishness are not quite so uncomplicatedly negative as is surmised and, what’s more, increasingly common in a globalised, hyper-connected society.” —Keiron Pim, Spectator"...an immensely informative, interesting and important book... we might well emulate Baum's bold and bracing book by interrogating our feelings, complex and contradictory though they may be, and try to understand what they tell us about ourselves and our world."—Glenn C. Altschuler, Jerusalem Post"Like the phenomenon it describes, this book is intellectually luminous, psychologically penetrating, existentially anxious, and wonderfully funny."—Zadie Smith “Baum has startling clarity about complicated issues. The fluency of her amusement and engagement—her deadpan provocations, her intriguing formulations—gives Feeling Jewish an irresistible originality. After reading this book you will feel differently about your feelings and so about virtually everything else.”—Adam Phillips “Feeling Jewish is a wonderful book for everyone who has feelings, whether or not they are Jewish. Devorah Baum gives us psychoanalysis (Jewish), literature (sometimes Jewish), and feelings (definitely Jewish) and makes them all come alive. She also gives us herself—a great new, neurotic friend.”—Stephen Frosh, Birkbeck College “This marvellous book offers a rich, subtle, and thought-provoking analysis not only of ‘feeling Jewish’ but of a range of questions that go far beyond this. Challenging received ideas, Baum invites us to rethink assumptions and divisions we take for granted, from identity to gender, from love to hate, from doubt to certainty, and from insider to outsider.”—Darian Leader, psychoanalyst and author “Baum guides us with great poise and comic verve through the strange and confusing labyrinth we call ‘feeling.’ As stimulating intellectually as it is involving emotionally, this sparklingly original book brilliantly attests to the intricate and mutually enriching relation of feeling to thinking.”—Josh Cohen, Goldsmiths, University of London

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Book SynopsisA biography of the rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, who became a symbol of the marriage between religion and social justiceTrade Review“This highly appreciative biography of Heschel benefits from hindsight throughout. . . . Zelizer’s constantly looking for early signs of his protagonist’s radical social activism, for his Heschel is not only the author of the highly influential Prophets, he is also driven—like the subjects of that work—‘to communicate God’s anguish to the world.’”—Sara Jo Ben Zvi, Segula“Julian E. Zelizer does a fine job in evoking the different social and cultural milieux in which Heschel moved, from the often grinding poverty but religious richness of Jewish life in Warsaw to the comforts of America, where the primary threat to the Jewish community was spiritual desiccation.”—Simon Rocker, Jewish Chronicle“Zelizer covers the life and career of Heschel thoroughly and elegantly. This book will find an enthusiastic and appreciative public.”—Rabbi David Wolpe, Sinai Temple“Julian Zelizer’s Abraham Joshua Heschel transcends time and place. The life of Heschel moves seamlessly from inside the Jewish world to exhilarating movements of the 1960s and the quest for peace and justice. Zelizer shows how Heschel’s words, thoughts, and actions resonate to this day.”—Hasia Diner, author of Julius Rosenwald: Repairing the World“Julian Zelizer’s exciting new biography brings Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel to life. Zelizer brings his own unique lens as a political historian and sheds new light on a life well and inspirationally led.”—Rabbi Shai Held, author of Abraham Joshua Heschel: The Call of Transcendence

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Book SynopsisExamines how notions of Jewishness have been conveyed in a range of television, stage, and film productions, since the end of World War II. Beginning in 1947, this book draws on a different discipline of performance studies to explore the ever-changing relationship between Jews and mainstream American culture.Trade Review"Fascinating and original...Bial's command of sources is impressive, and his concept of 'double-coding' is convincing... the book should have no trouble finding a large audience." - Barbara W. Grossman, author of Funny Woman: The Life and Times of Fanny Brice"

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Book SynopsisThis study adds to contemporary scholarship on cosmopolitanism by making the experience of Jews central to the discussion, as it traces the evolution of Jewish cosmopolitanism over the last two centuries. Through a series of case studies, the authors analyse the historical and discursive junctures that mark the central paradigm shifts in the Jewish self-image.Trade ReviewThis book has an extraordinarily grand sweep and offers penetrating and fascinating insights—a true tour-de-force."" - Michael Berkowitz, University College London""A thorough and exhaustive study of the history of the ‘cosmopolitan’ ideal and its relationship to Jewish identity from the Enlightenment to the present, providing short and incisive analyses of a vast number of texts. Because the writing is clear and does not get bogged down in arcane academic debates, Cosmopolitanisms and the Jews should appeal to a broad audience."" - Robert D. Tobin, Clark University

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Book SynopsisStudies violent temporal clashes that are written into the medieval vision of annus domini. Through a select group of literature in Middle English, Latin, and Hebrew, as well as sixteen manuscript pictorials, author Miriamne Ara Krummel confronts the notion that annus domini time (whether disguised as CE or AD) figures as the universal standard.

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Book SynopsisUsing the lens of memory studies, the work shows how the Christian tradition of the Wandering Jew legend centred the memory of the Passion at the heart of the Wandering Jew’s curse. Instrument of Memory also shows how Jewish artists and writers have reimagined the legend through Jewish memory traditions.Trade ReviewWith its new analysis of a well-known and enduringly popular legend and new identifications of Jewish literary and artistic re-imaginings of it, Instrument of Memory will be an important intervention in both literary criticism and Jewish studies. It also provides new insights relevant to our understanding of nationalism and antisemitism, subject areas in which the author has published other important work. For medievalists, it newly demonstrates how medieval Christian tropes and ideas provided the historical infrastructure for antisemitisms of later periods, which is an issue of concern across disciplines." - Debra Strickland, University of GlasgowTable of Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction Part One: The Wandering Jew and Christendom Chapter One: The Wandering Jew as Relic in Matthew Paris’s Chronica majora Chapter Two: The 1602 Kurtze Beschreibung: A Lutheran Recalibration Part Two: The Wandering Jew in the Age of Emancipation Chapter Three: EugÈne Sue’s Le Juif errant Chapter Four: Heine and the Wandering Jew’s Beard Part Three: The Wandering Jew and Jerusalem in an Age of Global War Chapter Five: Marc Chagall’s Remembrance and White Crucifixion Chapter Six: Uri Zvi Greenberg’s King Ahasver Chapter Seven: Edmond Fleg’s JÉsus: RacontÉ par Le Juif errant Chapter Eight: Sholem Asch’s The Nazarene Part Four: Contemporary Encounters with the Wandering Jew Chapter Nine: Stefan Heym’s Ahasver Chapter Ten: The Wandering Jew in the Twenty-First Century: Eshkol Nevo, Dara Horn, and Sarah Perry Conclusion Bibliography

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Book SynopsisJewishness disrupts categories of identity because it is not genealogical, or even religious, but all of these, in dialectical tension with one another. An exploration of these tensions in the Pauline corpus, argues the author lead us to an appreciation of our own cultural quandaries as male and female, gay and straight, Jew and Palestinian.Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction: Wrestling with Paul I. Circumcision, Allegory, and Universal "Man" 2. What Was Wrong with Judaism? The Cultural Politics of Pauline Scholarship 3· The Spirit and the Flesh: Paul's Political Anthropology 4· Moses' Veil; or, The Jewish Letter, the Christian Spirit 5· Circumcision and Revelation; or, The Politics of the Spirit 6. Was Paul an "Anti-Semite"? 7· Brides of Christ: Jewishness and the Pauline Origins of Christian Sexual Renunciation 8. "There Is No Male and Female": Galatians and Gender Trouble 9· Paul, the "jewish Problem," and the "Woman Question" 10. Answering the Mail: Toward a Radical Jewishness Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisTraces the continuing, changing, and often clashing roles of blood as both symbol and substance through the entire sweep of Jewish and Christian history.Trade Review"Biale's writing is as interesting, and sometimes as controversial, as his topics." -- Ingrid Wilkerson World History Connected "Bird provides readers with a readable, informed overview of the state of the question." Hebrew Studies: A Journal Devoted To Hebrew Language And LiteratureTable of ContentsPreface Introduction: Writing with Blood 1. Pollution and Power: Blood in the Hebrew Bible 2. Blood and the Covenant: The Jewish and Christian Careers of a Biblical Verse 3. God's Blood: Medieval Jews and Christians Debate the Body 4. Power in the Blood: The Medieval and the Modern in Nazi Anti-Semitism 5. From Blood Libel to Blood Community: Self-Defense and Self-Assertion in Modern Jewish Culture Epilogue: Blood and Belief Notes Selected Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisRevolving around the central figure of the rebbe, this book explores two families with too few successors, two with too many successors, and one that believes their last rebbe continues to lead them even after his death.Trade Review"One might expect to find these riveting succession stories-of the rebbes of the Munkacs, Boyan and Kopyczynitz, Bobover, Satmar, and Chabad Lubavitch dynasties-in a TV mini-series rather than in a work of sociology and history. While fueled by an enormous amount of research, they read more like page turners where the obsession is not sex, but succession." MomentTable of ContentsList of Illustrations Prologue 1 Succession in Contemporary Hasidism: Who Will Lead Us? 2 Munkács: An Oedipal Challenge 3 Boyan and Kopyczynitz: Running Out of Rebbes 4 Bobov: A Clash of Families 5 Satmar: Succession Charged with Conflict 6 ChaBaD Lubavitch: A Rebbe Who Never Dies Final Thoughts Notes Index

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