Judaism Books

Book SynopsisTrade Review"An excellent overview of the history of Jewish mysticism from its early beginnings to contemporary Hasidism...scholarly and complex." --Library Journal "An excellent work, clear and solidly documented by Joseph Dan on Gershom Scholem and on his work." --Notes Bibliographiques "An excellent guide to Scholem's work." --Christian Century

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Book SynopsisA major re-examination of postwar American Jewry that debunks the assumption of silenceTrade ReviewDiner sets out to drive a stake, once and for all, through the heart of a historical falsehood that has proved remarkably durable. This is the notion that, as Diner's subtitle has it, American Jews were initially & silent about the Holocaustthat the greatest catastrophe in Jewish history was somehow swept under the rug of American Jewrys collective consciousness. . . . Perhaps the & myth of silence was a necessary stage in American Jewrys ongoing struggle to make sense of its place in a post-Holocaust world. But even if that myth once served a need, thanks to Hasia Diners work, it must now be retired for good. * Tablet Magazine *Diners worthy, innovative, diligently researched work should spark controversy and meaningful dialogue among Holocaust scholars and in the Jewish community. * Publishers Weekly *We Remember's real interest lies not only in its polemical conclusion, but also in its primary argument and supporting evidence. -- Simon Perego * Books & Ideas *Diner's superb study effectively shatters this notion of avoidance, and argues effectively that American Jews were engaged with the Holocaust and its impact in deep and meaningful ways for many years preceding the trial. She has uncovered massive amounts of untapped evidence of 'widespread and intense American Jewish engagement with the Holocaust precisely in the years when silence supposedly reigned' (367)....Diner drives her point home with a scrupulous research and clear prose style that is readily accessible to the general public. By successfully proving that historical accounts of Jews avoiding the Holocaust in the postwar era are incorrect, Diner's account is revolutionist history at its best. -- Patricia Kollander * Yearbook of German-American Studies *A powerful book worthy of its important subject. Diner revises our understanding of the critical postwar decades when American Jews incorporated bitter memories of the murder of European Jews into their collective consciousness. -- Deborah Dash Moore,author of GI JewsA startling and passionate work of history. No one has written about the early American Jewish response to the Holocaust with more insight, sophistication, and sensitivity. -- Gary Gerstle,author of American CrucibleFor several years the debate over postwar responses to the Jewish catastrophe has simply recycled the same data, with partisans declaring that the cup is neither half empty or half full depending on their point of view. Now, thanks to the mountain of evidence she has excavated, Hasia Diner has landed a knockout punch on those who assert that after 1945 American Jews were silent about the fate that befell the Jewish communities in Nazi-occupied Europe, preferring to forget about it while busily integrating into American society and enjoying the postwar boom. -- David Cesarani,Royal Halloway, University of LondonFundamentally challenges the now widespread view that before the 1960s American Jewry showed little interest in the Holocaust. With a wealth of fascinating documentation, We Remember with Reverence and Love provides a moving account of the early efforts in the U.S. to document, commemorate, and memorialize the tragic fate of the Jews during the Second World War. -- Antony Polonsky,Brandeis UniversityThis research should convince even the most recalcitrant that American Jewry did care far beyond the mundane purposes to which some misused the Holocaust. . . . No course on the postwar period in American Jewish history can afford to ignore it. * The Journal of American History *In her new book We Remember With Reverence and Love. . . Diner argues that Jews not only did not want to forget the Holocaust in the postwar years, but actually pushed hard to memorialize it. * The Jewish Week *Diner sets out to drive a stake, once and for all, through the heart of a historical falsehood that has proved remarkably durable. This is the notion that, as Diner"s subtitle has it, American Jews were initially & silent about the Holocaustthat the greatest catastrophe in Jewish history was somehow swept under the rug of American Jewrys collective consciousness. . . . Perhaps the & myth of silence was a necessary stage in American Jewrys ongoing struggle to make sense of its place in a post-Holocaust world. But even if that myth once served a need, thanks to Hasia Diners work, it must now be retired for good. * The New Republic *Diner hurls a passionate, well-delineated attack on the conventional view that postwar Jews and survivors wanted to forget the Holocaust rather than memorialize the tragedy. . . . A work of towering research and conviction that will surely enliven academic debates for years to come. * Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review *Diner refutes the conventional wisdom that the American Jewish community ignored, or actively resisted, discussing the Holocaust until the 1960s. She makes a convincing case that in the post-1945 era American Jews, through their communal and religious institutions, assiduously grappled with the question of how to understand and commemorate the Holocaust. . . . An important contribution to American Jewish historiography. * Library Journal *Uncovers a rich and varied trove of remembrances in song, literature, liturgy, public display, and hundreds of other forms. * New Jersey Jewish News *A lively and controversial book, it is sure to spark debate and conversation for years to come. * Jewish Book World *Through her meticulously researched book, Diner helps to restore the vital postwar years to our understanding of American Jewish history and to honor those Jewish men and women who helped pick up the pieces of a shattered Jewish world. * Jewish Woman Magazine *In the last hundred pages of her book, Diner turns to other factors that led to more widespread memorialization of Holocaust victims and discusses the evolution of Holocaust commemoration in the United States. She commands enormous knowledge and her observations are astute. * Holocaust and Genocide Studies *The book details how, nationwide, Jews in those years memorialized the victims, documented the catastrophe, mobilized for survivors, sought justice from Germany, and used the Holocaust both to advance a political agenda and to build a Jewish future in America. * Forward *Diner conclusively disproves American Jewish Holocaust amnesia before 1962 or 1967... In over five hundred pages of massively researched text and notes, including numerous illustrations, we see documented in great detail how American Jews not only remembered and memorialized the six million during those earlier years; they invoked them in almost everything they said and did as a community, particularly in the struggle for civil rights, where they drew from memories of Nazism a special hatred and fear for American racism, segregation, and bigotry. * H-Net Reviews *Dismantles the idea of American Jewish & Forgetfulness about the Shoah in the post-war years. * Detroit Jewish News *Diners book successfully proves that American Jews did remember the Holocaust with reverence and love prior to the early 1960s. Rich in documentation, her work challenges preconceived notions extent in many areas. * American Historical Review *The evidencefrom youth groups programs, to memorial ceremonies, from early (and admittedly failed) efforts to build monuments, to synagogue programsis quite overwhelming. So resourcefully has Diner tracked down sermons and song lyrics, posters and programs, that this reviewer finds it hard to imagine any future historians continuing to perpetrate the claim that an explicit communal consciousness of the Holocaust did not really surface until the 1960s. * AJS *Diner persuasively and methodically demonstrates that American Jews established a strong interest in the genocide of European Jewry as early as the waning months of the war. * American Jewish Archives Journal *Diner’s compelling, albeit lengthy, study is an extremely important addition to the literature. Probing and compassionate, it dynamically challenges the myth of silence that has been so durable in popular and scholarly accounts of postwar American Jewish life. * American Jewish Archives Journal *Only a seasoned, mature, and brilliant scholar such as Professor Diner could take it upon herself to challenge long-accepted beliefs maintained by an entire school of historians who preceded her. . .[her] work is a very important, critical addition to the massive output of Holocaust research. * Association of Jewish Libraries *Diner seeks in this passionate volume to shatter the widespread myth that US Jews from 1945 to 1962 had little interest in thinking about, engaging with, and memorializing the Holocaust. * CHOICE *Diner seeks in the passionate volume to shatter the widespread myth that U.S. Jews from 1945 to 1962 & had little interest in thinking about, engaging with, and memorializing the Holocaust. . . . Highly recommended. * Choice *Table of ContentsPreface Introduction: Deeds and Words1 Fitt ing Memorials2 Telling the World3 The Saving Remnant 4 Germany on Their Minds 5 Wrestling with the Postwar World 6 Facing the Jewish Future Conclusion: Th e Corruption of History, the Betrayal of Memory Notes Bibliography Index About the Author

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Book SynopsisFirst book-length treatment of the history of Sephardic Jews in AmericaTrade ReviewThe book contains a great deal of information about relatively recent Sephardic immigration, much of it from interviews. . .and her research in obscure newspaper sand other printed and manuscripted sources that will be of value to any person who attempts such a history, which is surely one of the more apparent gaps in American Jewish history. -- Roger Daniels,University of CincinnatiThe obscure documentary evidence Ben-Ur has unearthed gives the content of this book a provocative critical edge...this book brings to the fore issues of race, identity, marginalization, and displacement, which in a globalized world are issues of profound and enduring relevance. -- George Lee Cuellar * Journal of the American Academy of Religion *Sephardic Jews in America is...a scholarly landmark...[its] multilayered trove of ethnographic and historical detail will interest scholars of ethnicity as a rich basis for comparative studies. -- David Graizbord * Journal of American Ethnic History *In this excellent book, Ben-Ur helps address a severe gap in the historical scholarship of American Jewry, and blazes a trail for other scholars to follow. . . . Scholars in the field will no longer have an excuse not to mention or give significant space in their works to Sephardic Jewry within American Jewry. Sephardic Jews in America will be of use in any course concerning immigration, ethnic identity, American and Jewish American history, and Ladino culture, as well as Spanish Diasporas. -- Zion Zohar,Director and Chair, President Navon Program for the Study of Sephardic and Oriental Jewry, Florida International UniversityThis wonderfully researched book can help to reconfigure ethnic studies and, certainly, represents the broadening of the Latino heritage in the United States. Ben-Ur’s exhaustive search for the ignored or forgotten Sephardic legacy has gone beyond the printed and academic sources to interviews of survivors and the recovery of all types of manuscript sources literally from coast to coast in the United States. The only term I can conjure up to adequately describe this work is: landmark. -- Nicolas Kanellos,Brown Foundation Professor and Director of Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage, University of HoustonOffers refreshing new insights into the Sephardic migration from Ottoman lands to America in the early twentieth century. Drawing heavily upon the unknown riches of the Judeo-Spanish (Ladino) press, Ben-Ur illuminates many unknown aspects of the Jewish immigrant experience. She sheds new light on American Jewry, providing a different narrative that will be especially welcome to students of ethnicity and immigration in general as well as readers seeking information on the Hispanic-Jewish encounter. -- Jane S. Gerber,Director of the Institute for Sephardic Studies, City University of New YorkNow, more than five centuries later, dozens of musicians, writers, poets . . . are reclaiming that culture to create a veritable Sephardic renaissance. Many artists mine Sephardic culture because they want to popularize a lesser-known Jewish heritage. * Reporter *Now, more than five centuries later, dozens of musicians, writers, poets . . . are reclaiming that culture to create a veritable Sephardic renaissance. Many artists mine Sephardic culture because they want to popularize a lesser-known Jewish heritage. * Intermountain Jewish News *The story Ben-Ur has to tell . . . is largely one of miscommunication. But failures to communicate can be as revealing, in their way, as successes, and the ways Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews thought about one another in the early 20th century offers some surprising insights into the construction of modern American Jewish identity. That is why Sephardic Jews in America offers so much food for thought. * Jewish Tribune *Now, more than five centuries later, dozens of musicians, writers, poets . . . are reclaiming that culture to create a veritable Sephardic renaissance. Many artists mine Sephardic culture because they want to popularize a lesser-known Jewish heritage. * JJ Monthly Magazine *Now, more than five centuries later, dozens of musicians, writers, poets . . . are reclaiming that culture to create a veritable Sephardic renaissance. Many artists mine Sephardic culture because they want to popularize a lesser-known Jewish heritage. * Heritage Florida Jewish News *An intriguing and academically rigorous book. . . It provides an invaluable survey into an overlooked component of the Jewish American experience and it provides keen insights into the religious dislocation between Ashkenazic and Sephardic Jews in the US. * History In Review *Now, more than five centuries later, dozens of musicians, writers, poets . . . are reclaiming that culture to create a veritable Sephardic renaissance. Many artists mine Sephardic culture because they want to popularize a lesser-known Jewish heritage. * Greater Phoenix Jewish News *Now, more than five centuries later, dozens of musicians, writers, poets . . . are reclaiming that culture to create a veritable Sephardic renaissance. Many artists mine Sephardic culture because they want to popularize a lesser-known Jewish heritage. * New Jersey Jewish News *The most detailed and thoughtful discussion on why Sephardic Jews have been excluded from mainstream Jewish life in the United States. * Moment *Carefully documented with particular reliance on the Ladino press, this book addresses a shortcoming involving both scholarly and communal engagement. Ben-Ur underscores the failure of academics and Ashkenazic Jews to acknowledge Sephardic Jews, which has resulted in historic oblivion. * CHOICE *Ben-Ur’s book is a valuable contribution to American Jewish historiography, within which treatments of the Sephardic experience have either focused exclusively on the “Old” Sephardic “Grandees” who came to the America before 1776 or, in a contemporary context, have limited themselves to a primarily ethnographic concentration on the folkways of particular communities. * American Historical Review *Now, more than five centuries later, dozens of musicians, writers, poets . . . are reclaiming that culture to create a veritable Sephardic renaissance. Many artists mine Sephardic culture because they want to popularize a lesser-known Jewish heritage. * American Israelite *A landmark contribution to the history of those Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews who were all too often invisible to the mainstream Jewish community and to the historiography of American Judaism. * American Jewish Archives Journal *Now, more than five centuries later, dozens of musicians, writers, poets . . . are reclaiming that culture to create a veritable Sephardic renaissance. Many artists mine Sephardic culture because they want to popularize a lesser-known Jewish heritage. * Buffalo Jewish Review *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction: The Jews Who Weren't There: Scholarly and Communal Exclusion 1 Immigration, Ethnicity, and Identity 2 Hebrew with a Sephardic Accent: A Test Case for Impact 3 East Meets West: Sephardic Strangers and Kin 4 Ashkenazic-Sephardic Encounters 5 The Hispanic Embrace 6 Conclusion: A View from the Margins Appendix: Population Statistics of Non-Ashkenazic Jews in the United States of AmericaAbbreviations NotesIndex About the Author

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Book SynopsisFeatures three intellectual currents in East European Jewry - Hasidism, Rabbinic Mitnagdism, and Haskalah. Focusing on the social and intellectual odysseys of merchants, maskilim, and rabbis, and their varied attempts to combine Judaism and European culture, this title chronicles the story of these first modern Jews of Russia.Trade ReviewAn important contribution to the history of Russian Jewry, the Haskalah, and traditional Jewish society. I heartily recommend it. -- Michael Stanislawski,Nathan J. Miller Professor of Jewish History, Columbia UniversityA succinct and well-researched study. Essential. * Choice *

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Book SynopsisArchaeological discovery of documents from the Near East has fuelled the debate as to the Hebrew Bible's relationship with the world. The biblical view that Israel "dwells apart" is belied by the Israelites' vulnerability to worldly attractions and cultural similarities with their neighbours.

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Book SynopsisExplores the questions and doubts surrounding the revitalisation of Jewish life in Germany since the fall of the Wall. The volume includes topics such as the social and institutional role of Jews; the role of religion in daily life; and gender and culture in post-Wall Jewish writing.Trade Review"Provocative and persuasive. In this well-written and meticulously documented book, Cynthia Lee demonstrates how the law has defined reasonableness in criminal law to favor men against women, straight men against gay men, and whites against blacks. Lee's synthesis of many seemingly different examples, with thoughtful responses to the various objections that might be raised, is legal scholarship that can make a difference in our social practices. This is a serious and compelling book that should lead to reform." - Frank H. Wu, author of Yellow: Race in America Beyond Black and White

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Book SynopsisAlthough women constitute half of the Jewish population and have always played essential roles in ensuring Jewish continuity and the preservation of Jewish beliefs and values, only recently have their contributions and achievements received sustained scholarly attention. Scholars have begun to investigate Jewish women's domestic, economic, intellectual, spiritual, and creative roles in Jewish life from biblical times to the present. Yet little of this important work has filtered down beyond specialists in their respective academic fields. Women and Judaism brings the broad new insights they have uncovered to the world.Women and Judaism communicates this research to a wider public of students and educated readers outside of the academy by presenting accessible and engaging chapters written by key senior scholars that introduce the reader to different aspects of women and Judaism. The contributors discuss feminist approaches to Jewish law and Torah study, the spiriTrade ReviewThe volume (Women and Judiasm)functions well for teaching, offering overview essays of recent scholarly developments and case studies of particular sources and genres. -- K. Hannah Holtschneider * Journal of Jewish Studies *In clear language accessible to lay readers, each informed essay provides tantalizing glimpses of the newly discovered lives of Jewish women, past and present. This volume offers a cogent and nuanced overview of current scholarship, outlining its broader implications for the field of Jewish Studies and setting the stage for future research. Ideal for both the university classroom and adult study. -- Dr. Ellen Frankel,CEO and Editor-in-Chief, The Jewish Publication SocietyThese essays shine a clear and helpful light, enabling the reader to watch women from the time of the Bible onward step out from the shadows of history. An enriching and enlivening collection. -- Rabbi David Wolpe,author of Why Faith MattersTable of ContentsPreface Introduction: Reading Mysteries: The Origins of Scholarship on Jewish Mysticism Hartley LachterI. Jewish Mysticism Takes Shape 1 Ancient Jewish Mysticism Michael D. Swartz 2 The Zohar: Masterpiece of Jewish Mysticism Eitan P. Fishbane 3 Abraham ben Samuel Abulafia and the Prophetic Kabbalah Elliot R. Wolfson 4 New Approaches to the Study of Kabbalistic Life in 16th-Century Safed Lawrence FineII. Becoming Modern 5 Mystical Messianism: From the Renaissance to the Enlightenment Matt Goldish 6 Hasidism: Mystical and Nonmystical Approaches to Interpreting Scripture Shaul Magid 7 Christian Kabbalah Allison P. CoudertIII. Contemporary Concerns 8 Kabbalah at the Turn of the 21st Century Jody Myers 9 Gender in Jewish Mysticism Hava Tirosh-Samuelson Epilogue: Kabbalah and Contemporary Judaism Pinchas Giller About the Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisOver the past generation, scholars have devoted increasing attention to the diverse forms that Jewish mysticism has taken both in the past and today: what was once called nonsense by Jewish scholars has generated important research and attention both within the academy and beyond, as demonstrated by the popular fascination with figures such as Madonna and Demi Moore and the growing interest in spirituality. In Jewish Mysticism and Kabbalah, leading experts introduce the history of this scholarship as well as the most recent insights and debates that currently animate the field in a way that is accessible to a broad audience. From mystical outpourings in ancient Palestine to the Kabbalah Centre, and from attitudes towards gender to mystical contributions to Jewish messianic movements, this volume explores the various expressions of Jewish mysticism from antiquity to the present day in an engaging style appropriate for students and non-specialists alike.Trade ReviewAn excellent summary of the history of Jewish mysticism and Kabbalah and the notes here, as in all of the essays, will provide readers with much additional reading material and resources... This is an excellent book for general readers who wish to learn about this fascinating area of Jewish life and literature, as the jargon of scholar-speak is kept to a minimum * Jewish Book Council *If you have an interest in Kabbalah, but are not aware of recent trends in the field, this is the book to pick up. -- Daniel Scheide * AJL Reviews *Libraries serving religion and Judaic programs will want to add this volume. -- S.T. Katz * CHOICE *Greenspahn has assembled many of the & usual suspects along with some welcome teachers from a newer generation of scholars. The buffet he sets before us refreshingly summarizes much of the current thinking about mysticism in general and Kabbalah in particular. The essays are thoughtful, provocative, and frequently even inspiring. -- Lawrence Kushner,author of I'm God; You're Not: Observations on Organized Religion & Other Disguises of the EgoThis carefully edited collection of essays on Jewish mysticism effectively delivers on its promise to be accessible to broad audiences. The volume amounts to a thoughtful and lucid conversation among leading scholars . . . It provides a sense of overall coherence as themes set forth in one essay regularly intersect with themes developed in other essays, the sum nicely ending up greater than the parts. The literate lay reader as well as faculty and students in a wide range of university courses will find this to be a most useful gateway to Jewish mysticism as well as an illumining account of current trends in scholarship. -- Jeremy Zwelling,Wesleyan UniversityTable of ContentsPreface Introduction: Reading Mysteries: The Origins of Scholarship on Jewish Mysticism Hartley LachterI. Jewish Mysticism Takes Shape 1 Ancient Jewish Mysticism Michael D. Swartz 2 The Zohar: Masterpiece of Jewish Mysticism Eitan P. Fishbane 3 Abraham ben Samuel Abulafia and the Prophetic Kabbalah Elliot R. Wolfson 4 New Approaches to the Study of Kabbalistic Life in 16th-Century Safed Lawrence FineII. Becoming Modern 5 Mystical Messianism: From the Renaissance to the Enlightenment Matt Goldish 6 Hasidism: Mystical and Nonmystical Approaches to Interpreting Scripture Shaul Magid 7 Christian Kabbalah Allison P. CoudertIII. Contemporary Concerns 8 Kabbalah at the Turn of the 21st Century Jody Myers 9 Gender in Jewish Mysticism Hava Tirosh-Samuelson Epilogue: Kabbalah and Contemporary Judaism Pinchas Giller About the Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Demonstrates the crucial nexus between the long held antipathy of the Catholic and Protestant churches in Hungary toward Hungarian Jewry and the deportation of more than 500,000 Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz in 1944." * Religious Studies Review *"A most valuable addition to our knowledge of a most painful chapter in the histories of both Hungary and the Jewish people." -- Yehuda Bauer,Jona M. Machover Professor of Holocaust Studies, Institute of Contemporary Jewry, Hebrew University of Jerusalem"A valuable contribution . . . Its publication will fill a long-felt need." -- Nathaniel Katzburg,Professor Emeritus in Jewish History, Bar-Ilan University"Based on rich documentation, it contains within it a great deal of information unknown to scholars to date. . . . A real contribution to our understanding of anti-Semitism in Hungary." -- Yisrael Gutman,Yad Vashem, The Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority, Jerusalem"Shocks by its very frankness. . . . Absorbing and excellently translated, it is a valuable contribution to Holocaust scholarship." * Association of Jewish Libraries *

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Book SynopsisTraces the story of Eastern Europe's Jews to America and offers a rich portrayal of the East European Jewish experience in New York. It is useful reading for those interested in understanding why these forebears to many American Jews made the decision to leave their homelands, and the challenges these new Jewish Americans faced.Trade Review"World of Our Fathers is a book for Jew and non-Jew, for immigrants and native-born Americans. It is a book for all people." -Chicago Tribune Book World "Irving Howe has written a great book ... a marvelous narrative." -The New York Times Book Review

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Book SynopsisA highly entertaining history of the Hebrew language and its contributions to all languages. Very well written and charming.Trade ReviewThose with a passion for Hebrew, linguistics and religious history will probably find much to captivate them * Na'amat Woman *[I]t is written in an energetic style with a commitment to exploring the evolution of Hebrew from ancient times to the present in ways that a broad audience can comprehend. It will be fortunate, indeed, if future efforts can achieve the commendable promise embodied in this volume’s title with the clarity and enthusiasm that fill its pages. * Religious Studies Review *A fascinating account of the evolution of Hebrew as a language. Those interested in language are in for a delightful surprise. * Record-Review of Scarsdale, NY *Hoffman has a flair for explaining how languages work. * Times Literary Supplement *Hoffman does a good job of pointing out the different traditions of biblical Hebrew that existed in antiquity. * The Jerusalem Post *Table of ContentsList of TablesList of Figures Acknowledgments I Getting Started1 Introduction 2 Rules of the GameII Antiquity3 Writing 4 Magic Letters and the Name of God5 The Masoretes 6 Pronunciation III Moving On7 The Dead Sea Scrolls 8 Dialects in the Bible 9 Post-Biblical Hebrew IV Now10 Modern Hebrew11 Keep Your Voice from Weeping V AppendicesA More about the Rules of the Game B Further Reading Bibliography Index About the Author

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Book SynopsisHighlights the contributions of rebbetzins to the development of American Jewry. Tracing the careers of rebbetzins from the beginning of twentieth century onwards, this title chronicles the evolution of the role from a few individual rabbis' wives who emerged as leaders to a cohort who worked together on behalf of American Judaism.Trade Review"Schwartz adds a new and important dimension to the history of American Judaism, to the history of American women, and to the history of American religion. She has introduced a new set of actors to the historic drama of religion in America." -- Hasia R. Diner,author of The Jews of the United States, 1654-2000"This is the definitive work on the American rebbetzin. At once well-written and well-researched, it makes a notable contribution to the history of women in American Judaism, and puts forth a highly persuasive thesis: that many rabbis' wives in America married what they wanted to be. A landmark study." -- Jonathan D. Sarna,author of American Judaism: A History"This well-written book successfully uses the rebbetzin as a window into larger issues: the evolution of Judaism in America, the opening of possibilities for women in the late twentieth century and the changing mores of the institution of marriage." * Publishers Weekly *"The first book to study the evolution of the role and the women who have filled it, The Rabbis Wife not only honors many unsung heroines but provides a significant contribution to American Jewish history. In this well-written work, the women are no longer footnotes to their husbands careers." * Jewish Week *"[It] will certainly entertain readers with personal stories about many of the well-known rabbis wives (and their husbands) who have graced American Jewish history" * Jewish Book World *"The book overflows with interesting stories and sharp insights into the nature of American Jewish communal life and culture. The strategy of profiling individuals valuably restores these women to the historical narrative...The Rabbis Wife provides a model for further investigation into the role of women’s leadership in American religious life" * Journal of American History *Table of ContentsPrefaceAcknowledgments Introduction 1 The Pioneers 2 The Power behind the Throne 3 "Mr. & Mrs. God" 4 Two for the Price of One 5 "Please [Don't] Call Me Rebbetzin!"6 They Married What They Wanted to Be, But What Does That Mean for the Future? Notes Bibliography IndexAbout the Author

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Book SynopsisDiscusses how media technology impacts the Jewish experience. This title explores mid-twentieth-century ecumenical radio and television broadcasting, video documentation of life cycle rituals, and museum displays and tourist practices as means for engaging the Holocaust as a moral touchstone.Trade ReviewThe new book Jews, God and Videotape reveals the many ways in which text-oriented Judaism, at least on an unofficial basis, has adapted to the digital media age. * Religion Watch *The message that this richly theorized, well-researched, and crisply written book delivers to historians is that communication, no less than politics and economy, society and culture, can and should become a major venue of historical research. -- Menahem Blondheim * The Journal of American History *Shandler's mastery of the relevant scholarly literature, his penetrating eye, and his sharp ear for a telling anecdote make this volume fascinating and illuminating. It is a valuable balance to the many institutional histories on American Jewry or analyses of American Jewish thought. It is equally important as a model of how new methodologies can offer valuable insights into phenomena that are well known but rarely understood. -- Scott Ury * Religious Studies Review *Insightful and engaging. . . . Jews, God, and Videotape details the remarkable success that Judaism has found beyond the pages of the book. There is a life for Torah and durability of its message, he shows us, outside the scroll. -- Samuel Heilman,Harold M. Proshansky Chair of Jewish Studies, City University of New YorkServing as the definitive road map through the history of American Jews encounters with modern media. Jews, God and Videotape demonstrates that although we tend to think of media and religion as opposed to one another, media practices can enhance religious identities even as they also shape and ultimately change them. -- Lynn Schofield Clark,author of From Angels to Aliens[An] insightful analysis of the impact of modern media on religious beliefs and practices. * Library Journal *In Jews, God, and Videotape, Shandler provides a fresh and fascinating account of the impact of technology on the religious life of American Jews during the last one hundred years. * Philadelphia Inquirer *In this richly detailed study, Shandler examines the complex and multivalent relations between Judaism and media in the US . . . Highly recommended. * Choice *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Author's Note Introduction 1 Cantors on Trial 2 Turning on The Eternal Light 3 The Scar without the Wound 4 Observant Jews 5 A Stranger among Friends 6 The Virtual Rebbe New Media/New Jews? An Afterword Notes Index About the Author

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Book SynopsisThis collection offers a systematic and accessible account of the central issues in the thought of Rav Kook, the first Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Palestine. It concentrates on three areas: his relationship with Jewish tradition; his approach to faith and culture; and his political thought.

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Book SynopsisThe origin, condition and future of the "Black Jews" of Ethiopia has been a source of debate. This study of the history of this community aims to demythologise the history of the Falasha and to consider them in the wider context of Ethiopian history and culture.Trade Review"...balanced and well informed...a striking piece of scholarship aimed at demythologizing the origins of the Ethiopian Falasha." -Foreign Affairs "Kaplan's definitive treatment will be of interest to students and scholars of Jewish history, African history, and comparative religion, as well as anyone interested in Jewish affairs and the modern Middle East." The Midwest Book Review "Kaplan's conceptualizations are judicious and clearly expressed...incisive and well documented... and provides essential background for the process of assimilation now taking place in Israel." -The International Journal of African Historical Studies "Kaplan's able interdisciplinary approach is of great value for persons interested in religion, civilization, and process of change." -Religious Studies Review "Kaplan's well-written, lucid presentation make[s] this important, competent contribution accessible to all levels of readers. Highly recommended.ChoiceInsightful and thorough, a welcome contribution."Kay Kaufman Shelemay, Professor of Music, Harvard University "Undoubtedly the most detailed, most scholarly, and most dispassionate argument of Falasha history hitherto published. [T]his work deserves ... the most careful study by all those (and in particular in Israel) who have any practical or scholarly connection with the Beta Israel." -- Edward Ullendorff, Emeritus Professor of Ethiopian Studies, University of London, Fellow of the British Academy "Given Kaplan's facility with both written and oral sources, he is in a unique position to synthesize and reconcile the new historical findings of ethnographers with the written sources and differing conclusions of earlier historians and linguists. His work is insightful and thorough, a welcome contribution." -- Kay Shelemay, Wesleyan University

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Book SynopsisContributors consider key topics from the meaning of divine providence to questions of redemption to the link between the Holocaust and the creation of the State of Israel. Together, they push our thinking further about how our belief in God has changed in the wake of the Holocaust.Trade ReviewAn invaluable text. The individual essays are gems, written by recognized authorities in their respective disciplines, and they work as a seamless whole to address the fundamental issues raised by the Holocaust. The volume offers both as a challenge and a stimulus for future thought. . . . Erudite and pathbreaking. -- Alan L. Berger,Raddock Eminent Scholar Chair of Holocaust Studies, Florida Atlantic UniversityIt is essential reading for advanced students and scholars who perhaps think that they possess anything near an understanding of the impact of the tremendum that is Holocaust. * Choice: Recommended *This is a serious book. . . .The scholars represented here wrestle with substantial issues. * Jewish Book World *Table of ContentsEditor's Introduction Steven T. KatzPart I1 Is There a Religious Meaning to the Idea of a Chosen People after the Shoah?2 The Issue of Con?rmation and Discon?rmation in Jewish Thought after the Shoah 3 Philosophical and Midrashic Thinking on the Fateful Events of Jewish History 4 The Holocaust: Lessons, Explanation, Meaning 5 Between Holocaust and Redemption: Silence, Cognition, and Eclipse 6 Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Thought about the Holocaustsince World War II7 Theological Re?ections on the Holocaust8 Building amidst Devastation9 Two Jewish Approaches to Evil in History10 A Call to Humility and Jewish Unity in the Aftermath of the HolocaustPart II11 Is There a Religious Meaning to the Rebirth of the State of Israel after the Shoah?12 The Concept of Exile as a Model for Dealing with the Holocaust 13 Is There a Theological Connection between the Holocaust and the Reestablishment of the State of Israel? 14 The Holocaust and the State of Israel15 Theology and the Holocaust16 Educational Implications of Holocaust and Rebirth About the Contributors Index of Names Index of Places

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Book SynopsisThe theological problems facing those trying to respond to the Holocaust remain monumental. This work brings together an array of senior scholars to consider key topics ranging from the meaning of divine providence to questions of redemption to the link between the destruction of European Jewry and the creation of the State of Israel.Trade ReviewAn invaluable text. The individual essays are gems, written by recognized authorities in their respective disciplines, and they work as a seamless whole to address the fundamental issues raised by the Holocaust. The volume offers both as a challenge and a stimulus for future thought. . . . Erudite and pathbreaking. -- Alan L. Berger,Raddock Eminent Scholar Chair of Holocaust Studies, Florida Atlantic UniversityIt is essential reading for advanced students and scholars who perhaps think that they possess anything near an understanding of the impact of the tremendum that is Holocaust. * Choice: Recommended *This is a serious book. . . .The scholars represented here wrestle with substantial issues. * Jewish Book World *Table of ContentsEditor's Introduction Steven T. KatzPart I1 Is There a Religious Meaning to the Idea of a Chosen People after the Shoah?2 The Issue of Con?rmation and Discon?rmation in Jewish Thought after the Shoah 3 Philosophical and Midrashic Thinking on the Fateful Events of Jewish History 4 The Holocaust: Lessons, Explanation, Meaning 5 Between Holocaust and Redemption: Silence, Cognition, and Eclipse 6 Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Thought about the Holocaustsince World War II7 Theological Re?ections on the Holocaust8 Building amidst Devastation9 Two Jewish Approaches to Evil in History10 A Call to Humility and Jewish Unity in the Aftermath of the HolocaustPart II11 Is There a Religious Meaning to the Rebirth of the State of Israel after the Shoah?12 The Concept of Exile as a Model for Dealing with the Holocaust 13 Is There a Theological Connection between the Holocaust and the Reestablishment of the State of Israel? 14 The Holocaust and the State of Israel15 Theology and the Holocaust16 Educational Implications of Holocaust and Rebirth About the Contributors Index of Names Index of Places

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Book SynopsisDating from the sixteenth century, there were hundreds of shtetls - Jewish settlements - in Eastern Europe that were home to a large and compact population that differed from their gentile, mostly peasant neighbors in religion, occupation, language, and culture. This volume takes a look at this most important facet of East European Jewish life.Trade ReviewThis important and comprehensive collection provides a fascinating re-evaluation of one of the main locations of Jewish life in Eastern Europe down to the Holocaust and beyond. -- Antony Polonsky,Albert Abramson Professor of Holocaust Studiesat the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and Brandeis University[A]nyone looking to really understand the Jewish past, not just the romanticized version of it, will find this book a perfect antidote. * The Reporter *Talk about stereotype busting! Not only are we forced to readjust our sights . . . but in the best moments of Katz’s collection we learn how to distinguish what is factually true from what is mythically imagined. Even more importantly, we begin to see . . . the world of the shtetlach that the fog and night of the Holocaust forever destroyed. * New Jersey Jewish News *The quality of the essays is uniformly good, and after reading them, readers will be fully acquainted with the elusive concept of the shtetl. The essays are well documented. * Choice *The book is a must-buy for all libraries. * AJL Newsletter *Table of ContentsEditor's NoteSteven T. KatzIntroduction Samuel Kassow1 The Importance of Demography and Patterns of Settlement for an Understanding of the Jewish Experience in East-Central EuropeGershon David Hundert2 A Shtetl with a Yeshiva: The Case of Volozhin Immanuel Etkes3 Rebbetzins, Wonder-Children, and the Emergence of the Dynastic Principle in HasidismNehemia Polen4 Two Jews, Three Opinions: Politics in the Shtetl at the Turn of the Twentieth CenturyHenry Abramson5 The Shtetl in Poland, 1914-1918 Konrad Zieli'nski6 The Shtetl in Interwar Poland Samuel Kassow7 Looking at the Yiddish Landscape: Representation in Nineteenth-Century Hasidic and Maskilic LiteratureJeremy Dauber8 Imagined Geography: The Shtetl, Myth, and Reality Israel Bartal9 Gender and the Disintegration of the Shtetl in Modern Hebrew and Yiddish LiteratureNaomi Seidman10 Rediscovering the Shtetl as a New Reality: David Bergelson and Itsik KipnisMikhail Krutikov11 Agnon's Synthetic ShtetlArnold J. Band12 The Image of the Shtetl in Contemporary Polish FictionKatarzyna Wi?ecl"awska13 Sarny and Rokitno in the Holocaust: A Case Study of Two Townships in Wolyn (Volhynia)Yehuda Bauer14 The World of the Shtetl Elie WieselAbout the Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewDrawing on French government archives, documents of the Alliance Isralite Universelle (AIU), Israeli archives, interviews and published sources, Laskier provides a readable, well-integrated socio-political history of the Jewish communities of North Africa. * Religious Studies Review *[An] outstanding pioneering effort. . . . Scholars and lay readers with an interest in 20th century North Africa, Jewish community life, Zionism, and political development will find much here that is new and useful. Highly recommended. * International Journal of Middle East Studies *

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Book SynopsisDescribes the lives of Jewish women who intermarried in the twentieth century while placing their decisions in historical contextTrade ReviewThis book is well written and will hold a special appeal for those who are interested in historical narrative as a means of analyzing intermarriage in general and how this impacts on American Jewish women in particular. * INTAMS *Still Jewish is a fascinating read for those interested in Jewish history or women’s history as well as for those concerned about the future of the Jewish community * Jerusalem Post *Great poignancy. * Moment Magazine *McGinity's story has great poignancy. Still Jewish demonstrates how, from insular beginnings surrounded by anti-Semitism to a world of inevitable intermarriage, Jewish women with gentile partners negotiated a new way to be Jewish in America. * Moment *McGinity creatively uses gender as a category of analysis...her approach is novel. * Journal of American Ethnic History *McGinity’s work makes clear the need for further study of intermarriage including experiences of Jewish men; comparisons of intermarried and in-married Jewish women; consideration of same-sex intermarriages; and, finally, larger sociological studies of contemporary women. * Lilith *Historian McGinity (Brown) makes an effort to evoke new perspectives on the intermarriage of US Jewish women during the 20th century.The author offers a brief candid assessment of her own experience, which seems contrary to accepted views that marrying “out” is a prescription for diminished religious and social identity, leading to assimilation. * CHOICE *Throughout her analysis, McGinity shows how the lives of Jewish women who intermarried demonstrate the complexity of Jewish identity in the United States. -- Sarah Imhoff * Religious Studies Review *In [McGinitys] new book Still Jewish, she traces the attitudes of intermarried women toward Judaism throughout the 20th century. * Forward.com *If you thought there was nothing new to say about Jews and intermarriage, think again. McGinity’s well-researched study focuses on American Jewish women who intermarried during the twentieth century and demonstrates that many of them not only remained Jewish but, paradoxically, became more Jewish, perhaps in response to the challenge of having a non-Jewish spouse. An invaluable addition to the scant scholarly literature on intermarriage, this volume shows that in intermarriage, as in so much else, gender matters. -- Jonathan D. Sarna,author of American Judaism: A HistoryThis compelling, impeccably researched book should make a huge difference in how we understand the contentious issue of intermarriage in the Jewish community. By putting Jewish women into the center of the story, McGinity offers a fresh perspective that challenges standard interpretations. It is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of Jewish life in America as well as for all those concerned with present-day patterns, policies, and outreach programs. -- Joyce Antler,Samuel Lane Professor of American Jewish History and Culture at Brandeis University“C. Wright Mills used the term “sociological imagination” to describe the insight a person has who “understand[s] the larger historical scene in terms of its meaning for the inner life and external career of a variety of individuals.” In this regard McGinity’s book reveals her own strong sociological imagination. * American Jewish History *A fascinating read for those interested in Jewish history or women’s history, as well as for those concerned about the future of the Jewish community. * Washington Jewish Week *Table of ContentsPreface Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Immigrant Jewesses Who Married "Out" 2. Intermarriage in an Age of Domesticity 3. Intermarriage Was A-Changin' 4. Revitalization from Within Conclusion Afterword Appendix Notes Selected Index About the Author

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Book SynopsisThis anthology, which covers colonial times to the present, illuminates the diverse and changing roles that American Jewish women have filled.Trade Review"A vibrant collection of classic and recent essays in American Jewish womens history that form the perfect starting point toexplore this burgeoning field. From the feminist politics of kosher meat boycotts and garment union organizing to the Jewish dimensions of modern dance and teenage diaries, this readable volume reveals the breadth and excitement of American Jewish women's history." -- Deborah Dash Moore,co-editor of Jewish Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia"An impressive compendium of essays, American Jewish Women's History paints a broad and diverse portrait of American Jewish women. Written by some of the most incisive historians of the American Jewish community, the chapters examine Jewish women in many different venues: the home and the marketplace, religious and secular institutions, and picket lines and cultural institutions." -- Deborah E. Lipstadt,Emory University"It's a thought-provoking book that should be read by women and men alike." * Booklist *"This anthology conveys the breadth of the historical experiences of American Jewish women." * Jewish Advocate *"Nadell makes explicit the diverse roles and experiences of Jewish women in the United States." * History Reviews of New Books *

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Book SynopsisA group of international scholars, applying insights drawn from history, folklore, political anthropology, historiography, cultural criticism and literary theory, re-examines critical issues surrounding the birth of Israel.Table of ContentsPart I Frameworks and perspectives: reading perspectives/perspectives on reading - an introduction, Laurence J. Silberstein. Part II The transition to statehood - Jews and Arabs in conflict: the transition from Yishuv to state - social and ideological changes, Jehuda Reinharz; the origins of the Palestinian refugee problem, Benny Morris; early state policy towards the Arab population, 1948-1955, Don Peretz; one hundred years of social change - the creation of the Palestinian refugee problem, Kenneth W. Stein; initial Israeli policy guidelines towards the Arab minority, 1948-1949, Elie Rekhess; Arab historiography of the 1948 War - the quest for legitimacy, Avraham Sela. Part III Myths, symbols, values - the struggle for national identity: attitudes of the young state of Israel toward the Holocaust and its survivors - a debate over identity and values, Dina Porat; myths, symbols and rituals of the emerging state, Myron J. Aronoff; new beginning, old past - the collective memory of pioneering in Israeli culture, Yael Zerubavel; at half-mast myths, symbols, and rituals of the emerging state - a personal testimony of an "Israeli Arab", Anton Shammas. Part IV Conflicts within and conflicts wihout - diplomacy and foreign policy: Israel's global foreign policy, 1948-1956, Uri Bialer; Zionist-Arab diplomacy - patterns and ambiguities on the eve of statehood, Neil Caplan; Israel-Diaspora relations in the early years of the state, Ronald W. Zweig.

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Book SynopsisRepresents a sample of the most penetrating and provocative scholarly interpretations of Jewish messianic movement from various perspectives- historical, sociological, psychological, and religious.

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Book SynopsisThis text explores the ways Jews have defined other groups and themselves. Topics include: the construction of gender; the gentile as Other; the Palestinian as Other; blacks as Other in American Jewish literature; the Jewish body image as symbol of Otherness; and women as Other in Israeli cinema.

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Book SynopsisThis title reclaims the distinctive culture of thousands of Jewish communities lost during the Holocaust. It chronicles the people, habits and customs of more than 6500 thriving Jewish communities. It clarifies locations of settlements based on documents and maps found in recently opened archives.Trade Review"An outstanding tribute to the vanished communities as well as a valuable document . . . . The editors have created a valuable resource for students, scholars, genealogists, and anyone interested in modern history. They have given the dead a monument and a name." * Booklist,starred review *"Eagerly awaited." * Library Journal,April 15, 2002 *"A major contribution to modern Jewish history. The entries are precise, clear and reliable. The photos are priceless and often rare." -- Jehuda Reinharz,Richard Koret Professor of Modern Jewish History and President, Brandeis University"There's been so much written about the Holocaust itself, but this will show the great sweep of Jewish culture that existed before." -- Francine Klagsbrun,author of Jewish Days"Majestic." * Publishers Weekly,starred review *

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Book SynopsisSephardic Jews trace their origins to Spain and Portugal. They have contributed some of the most important Jewish philosophers, poets, biblical commentators, and scientists, and have had a significant impact on the development of Jewish mysticism. This book presents an introductory overview of their history and culture over the past 1500 years.Trade ReviewYounger scholars have much to gain by their encounter with these brilliant essays especially where the authors generously gesture precisely to those lacunae in excisting scholarship that may prove to be the foundations of future careers. * Midwest Jewish Studies Association - Shofar Book Reviews *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Part I1 A Global Perspective on Sephardic and Mizrahi JewryZion Zohar2 The Origins of Sephardic Jewry in the Medieval Arab WorldMark R. Cohen3 The Judeo-Arabic Heritage Norman A. Stillman4 Judeo-Spanish Culture in Medieval and Modern Times David M. Bunis5 Literatures of Medieval Sepharad Jonathan P. Decter6 Medieval Sephardic-Oriental Jewish Bible ExegesisIsaac Kalimi7 Jewish Philosophy and Kabbalah in Spain Moshe IdelPart II8 Hispanic Culture in Exile: Sephardic Life in the Ottoman Balkans Annette B. Fromm9 Sephardic Jurisprudence in the Recent Half-Millennium Zvi Zohar10 Safed Kabbalah and the Sephardic Heritage Morris M. Faierstein11 Jewish Women in the Ottoman Empire Pamela Dorn SezginPart III12 Early Modern Sephardim and Blacks: Contact and Con?ict between Two Minorities Jonathan Schorsch13 Diversity and Uniqueness: An Introduction to Sephardic Liturgical Music Mark Kligman14 A Double Occlusion: Sephardim and the Holocaust Henry Abramson15 Sephardim and Oriental Jews in Israel: Rethinking the Sociopolitical Paradigm Zion ZoharAbout the Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisAmerican Jews and their rabbis are not normally associated with warfare, but Jewish chaplains have played a significant and sometimes heroic role in defence of the nation. This history has been written by one of their number who is in the US Navy.Trade Review"The Fighting Rabbis surges with true and exciting stories of faith and fortitude little known to the American public. How I wish it were required reading for all military chaplains, and for all clergy and military leaders who care about God's ministry among our men and women in the armed services. Rabbi Slomovitz has granted us a record of great significance." * Rear Admiral Donald K. Muchow *"Chaplain Slomovitz has opened the door to a previously undocumented, untold chapter of the history of the Jews in America. The Fighting Rabbis should be read with great pride by the Jewish American community, and with admiration by all others." -- Vice Admiral Bernard M. Kauderer(Ret.)"Slomovitz has pointed the way towards what could become a new and fascinating dimension of Jewish military history." * H-Net reviews *"[A] useful history of American rabbis serving as chaplains in the country's armed forces.. . . Utilizing archival materials and interviews with past and present chaplains, the author has enriched his work." * Journal of American History *"Very readable . . .an inspiring testimonial of heroic behavior and of ongoing Jewish commitment to the US and its military." * Choice *

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Book Synopsis"Impossible Images" brings together a distinguished group of contributors, including artists, photographers, cultural critics, and historians, to analyze the ways in which the Holocaust has been represented in and through paintings, architecture, photographs, museums, and monuments.Trade Review"(Makes) a cogent case for a deeper, unmastered engagement with Holocause trauma." * Journal of Jewish Studies *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Framing the Holocaust: Contemporary Visions I. GEOGRAPHIES OF THE HEART: PLACES/SPACESOF REMEMBRANCE1. Archiving an Architecture of the Heart 2. Haunted by Memory: American Jewish Transformations 3. A House for an Uninhabitable Memory (The Center for Holocaust Studies at Clark University) II. ISRAEL AND THE POLITICS OF MEMORY4. The Return of the Repressed 5. Racism and Ethics: Constructing Alternative History 6. "Don't Touch My Holocaust"-Analyzing the Barometer of Responses: Israeli Artists Challenge the Holocaust Taboo III. TRANSGRESSING TABOOS7. Holocaust Toys: Pedagogy of Remembrance through Play8. The Nazi Occupation of the "White Cube": Piotr Uklan'ski's The Nazis and Rudolf Herz's Zugzwang 9. On Sanctifying the Holocaust: An Anti-Theological Treatise IV. CURATING MEMORY10. Holocaust Icons: The Media of Memory11. Sense and/or Sensation: The Role of the Body in Holocaust Pedagogy Artists' Works A selection of works by artists Alice Lok Cahana, Judy Chicago,Debbie Teicholz, and Mindy Weisel, who participated in theBerman Center's conference, "Representing the Holocaust:Practices, Products, Projections."About the Artists About the Editors About the Contributors Index

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Book Synopsis"Impossible Images" brings together a distinguished group of contributors, including artists, photographers, cultural critics, and historians, to analyze the ways in which the Holocaust has been represented in and through paintings, architecture, photographs, museums, and monuments.Trade Review"(Makes) a cogent case for a deeper, unmastered engagement with Holocause trauma." * Journal of Jewish Studies *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Framing the Holocaust: Contemporary Visions I. GEOGRAPHIES OF THE HEART: PLACES/SPACESOF REMEMBRANCE1. Archiving an Architecture of the Heart 2. Haunted by Memory: American Jewish Transformations 3. A House for an Uninhabitable Memory (The Center for Holocaust Studies at Clark University) II. ISRAEL AND THE POLITICS OF MEMORY4. The Return of the Repressed 5. Racism and Ethics: Constructing Alternative History 6. "Don't Touch My Holocaust"-Analyzing the Barometer of Responses: Israeli Artists Challenge the Holocaust Taboo III. TRANSGRESSING TABOOS7. Holocaust Toys: Pedagogy of Remembrance through Play8. The Nazi Occupation of the "White Cube": Piotr Uklan'ski's The Nazis and Rudolf Herz's Zugzwang 9. On Sanctifying the Holocaust: An Anti-Theological Treatise IV. CURATING MEMORY10. Holocaust Icons: The Media of Memory11. Sense and/or Sensation: The Role of the Body in Holocaust Pedagogy Artists' Works A selection of works by artists Alice Lok Cahana, Judy Chicago,Debbie Teicholz, and Mindy Weisel, who participated in theBerman Center's conference, "Representing the Holocaust:Practices, Products, Projections."About the Artists About the Editors About the Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisDiscusses the enduring legacy of Holocaust restitution litigation, which is already being used as a model for obtaining justice for historical wrongs on both the domestic and international stageTrade ReviewA masterly study of the search for justice against long odds. Its analysis is compelling, its importance immense. It is also a fascinating read. -- Daniel Jonah Goldhagen,author of Hitlers Willing Executioners and A Moral ReckoningAn incisive work of legal history and an invaluable guide to the litigation involving Holocaust-era assets. Bazyler offers an elegant and up-to-date study that will prove indispensable for those interested in restitution law, the Holocaust, and the issue of historical injustice. -- Jonathan Petropoulos,former Research Director, Presidential Advisory Commission on Holocaust Assets in the United States.An indispensable guide to the complex and controversial struggle for justice in the aftermath of the Holocaust. -- Michael Berenbaum,The University of JudaismMichael Bazyler brings the passion of a child of Holocaust survivors and the tenacious investigative skills of a lawyer in addressing the complexities of Holocaust restitution. The result is courageous, provocative, and sobering. -- Rabbi Abraham Cooper,Simon Wiesenthal CenterThis book should be read by everyone interested in how some measure of justice was obtained for victims of the Holocaust and about how issues of historical injustice should be addressed by the international community. -- Paul Hoffman,Chair, Amnesty InternationalTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Preface 1 Suing the Swiss Banks2 German Industry and Its Slaves 3 Reclaiming Prewar Insurance Policies 4 Confronting the French Banks 5 Litigating Holocaust Looted Art 6 The Distribution Controversies 7 The Legacy and Consequences of Holocaust Restitution 8 The Post-Holocaust Restitution Era: Holocaust Restitution As a Model for Addressing Other Historical Injustices Notes Relevant Web Sites Bibliography Index About the Author

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Book SynopsisA rare look at the history of Sephardic Jews during the age of mass immigration to the USTrade ReviewThe book contains a great deal of information about relatively recent Sephardic immigration, much of it from interviews. . .and her research in obscure newspaper sand other printed and manuscripted sources that will be of value to any person who attempts such a history, which is surely one of the more apparent gaps in American Jewish history. -- Roger Daniels,University of CincinnatiThe obscure documentary evidence Ben-Ur has unearthed gives the content of this book a provocative critical edge...this book brings to the fore issues of race, identity, marginalization, and displacement, which in a globalized world are issues of profound and enduring relevance. -- George Lee Cuellar * Journal of the American Academy of Religion *Sephardic Jews in America is...a scholarly landmark...[its] multilayered trove of ethnographic and historical detail will interest scholars of ethnicity as a rich basis for comparative studies. -- David Graizbord * Journal of American Ethnic History *In this excellent book, Ben-Ur helps address a severe gap in the historical scholarship of American Jewry, and blazes a trail for other scholars to follow. . . . Scholars in the field will no longer have an excuse not to mention or give significant space in their works to Sephardic Jewry within American Jewry. Sephardic Jews in America will be of use in any course concerning immigration, ethnic identity, American and Jewish American history, and Ladino culture, as well as Spanish Diasporas. -- Zion Zohar,Director and Chair, President Navon Program for the Study of Sephardic and Oriental Jewry, Florida International UniversityThis wonderfully researched book can help to reconfigure ethnic studies and, certainly, represents the broadening of the Latino heritage in the United States. Ben-Ur’s exhaustive search for the ignored or forgotten Sephardic legacy has gone beyond the printed and academic sources to interviews of survivors and the recovery of all types of manuscript sources literally from coast to coast in the United States. The only term I can conjure up to adequately describe this work is: landmark. -- Nicolas Kanellos,Brown Foundation Professor and Director of Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage, University of HoustonOffers refreshing new insights into the Sephardic migration from Ottoman lands to America in the early twentieth century. Drawing heavily upon the unknown riches of the Judeo-Spanish (Ladino) press, Ben-Ur illuminates many unknown aspects of the Jewish immigrant experience. She sheds new light on American Jewry, providing a different narrative that will be especially welcome to students of ethnicity and immigration in general as well as readers seeking information on the Hispanic-Jewish encounter. -- Jane S. Gerber,Director of the Institute for Sephardic Studies, City University of New YorkNow, more than five centuries later, dozens of musicians, writers, poets . . . are reclaiming that culture to create a veritable Sephardic renaissance. Many artists mine Sephardic culture because they want to popularize a lesser-known Jewish heritage. * Reporter *Now, more than five centuries later, dozens of musicians, writers, poets . . . are reclaiming that culture to create a veritable Sephardic renaissance. Many artists mine Sephardic culture because they want to popularize a lesser-known Jewish heritage. * Intermountain Jewish News *The story Ben-Ur has to tell . . . is largely one of miscommunication. But failures to communicate can be as revealing, in their way, as successes, and the ways Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews thought about one another in the early 20th century offers some surprising insights into the construction of modern American Jewish identity. That is why Sephardic Jews in America offers so much food for thought. * Jewish Tribune *Now, more than five centuries later, dozens of musicians, writers, poets . . . are reclaiming that culture to create a veritable Sephardic renaissance. Many artists mine Sephardic culture because they want to popularize a lesser-known Jewish heritage. * JJ Monthly Magazine *Now, more than five centuries later, dozens of musicians, writers, poets . . . are reclaiming that culture to create a veritable Sephardic renaissance. Many artists mine Sephardic culture because they want to popularize a lesser-known Jewish heritage. * Heritage Florida Jewish News *An intriguing and academically rigorous book. . . It provides an invaluable survey into an overlooked component of the Jewish American experience and it provides keen insights into the religious dislocation between Ashkenazic and Sephardic Jews in the US. * History In Review *Now, more than five centuries later, dozens of musicians, writers, poets . . . are reclaiming that culture to create a veritable Sephardic renaissance. Many artists mine Sephardic culture because they want to popularize a lesser-known Jewish heritage. * Greater Phoenix Jewish News *Now, more than five centuries later, dozens of musicians, writers, poets . . . are reclaiming that culture to create a veritable Sephardic renaissance. Many artists mine Sephardic culture because they want to popularize a lesser-known Jewish heritage. * New Jersey Jewish News *The most detailed and thoughtful discussion on why Sephardic Jews have been excluded from mainstream Jewish life in the United States. * Moment *Carefully documented with particular reliance on the Ladino press, this book addresses a shortcoming involving both scholarly and communal engagement. Ben-Ur underscores the failure of academics and Ashkenazic Jews to acknowledge Sephardic Jews, which has resulted in historic oblivion. * CHOICE *Ben-Ur’s book is a valuable contribution to American Jewish historiography, within which treatments of the Sephardic experience have either focused exclusively on the “Old” Sephardic “Grandees” who came to the America before 1776 or, in a contemporary context, have limited themselves to a primarily ethnographic concentration on the folkways of particular communities. * American Historical Review *Now, more than five centuries later, dozens of musicians, writers, poets . . . are reclaiming that culture to create a veritable Sephardic renaissance. Many artists mine Sephardic culture because they want to popularize a lesser-known Jewish heritage. * American Israelite *A landmark contribution to the history of those Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews who were all too often invisible to the mainstream Jewish community and to the historiography of American Judaism. * American Jewish Archives Journal *Now, more than five centuries later, dozens of musicians, writers, poets . . . are reclaiming that culture to create a veritable Sephardic renaissance. Many artists mine Sephardic culture because they want to popularize a lesser-known Jewish heritage. * Buffalo Jewish Review *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction: The Jews Who Weren't There: Scholarly and Communal Exclusion 1 Immigration, Ethnicity, and Identity 2 Hebrew with a Sephardic Accent: A Test Case for Impact 3 East Meets West: Sephardic Strangers and Kin 4 Ashkenazic-Sephardic Encounters 5 The Hispanic Embrace 6 Conclusion: A View from the Margins Appendix: Population Statistics of Non-Ashkenazic Jews in the United States of AmericaAbbreviations NotesIndex About the Author

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Book SynopsisThrough incisive readings of a range of medieval texts and informed by poststructuralist, queer, and feminist theories, this book traces the Jewish presence in Western Europe to show how the body, gender, and sexuality were at the root of the construction of medieval religious anxieties, inconsistencies, and instabilities.

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Book SynopsisBy studying the multiracial Jewish organisation Hatzaad Harishon, Janice W. Fernheimerâs Stepping into Zion considers the question âœWho is a Jew?â - a critical rhetorical issue with far-reaching consequences for Jews and non-Jews alike. Hatzaad Harishon (âœThe First Stepâ) was a New York-based, multiracial Jewish organisation that worked to increase recognition and legitimacy of black Jews in the sixties and seventies. In Stepping into Zion, Janice W. Fernheimer examines the history and archives of Hatzaad Harishon to illuminate the definition and borders of Jewish identity, which have critical relevance to Jews of all traditions as well as to non-Jews. Fernheimer focuses on a period when white Jewish identity was in flux and deeply influenced by the Civil Rights and Black Power movements. In 1964, white and black Jews formed Hatzaad Harishon to foster interaction and unity between black and white Jewish communities. They raised the question of who or what constitutes Jewishness

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Book SynopsisExplores how Rabbi Stephen S. Wise entirely changed the trajectory of American Reform Judaism over the course of the twentieth century and well into the twenty-first century.

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Book SynopsisExamines the experiences of thousands of Jewish Argentines who built their life trajectories through migrations to and from Israel. Based on archival documents in English, Spanish, and Hebrew, as well as on interviews, Adrian Krupnik’s study gives voice to Argentine migrants to and from Israel.Trade ReviewThe little-known case studies of the journals La Luz and Aurora, of Argentine and Israeli cartoons, as well as the case study of moshav Kochav Sobel, are some of the best parts of the book, illuminating microhistories, which allow us to see the general narrative in a close-up. Krupnik manages to uncover how individual actors benefited from the migration-influenced developments that began to shape their lives." - Mariusz Kałczewiak, author of Polacos in Argentina: Polish Jews, Interwar Migration, and the Emergence of Transatlantic Jewish Culture

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Book SynopsisContains seven essays, which commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the first Reform Jewish educational camp in the United States. This book covers topics related to both the Reform Judaism movement and the development of the Reform Jewish camping system in the United States.Trade ReviewThis book makes a significant contribution to understanding a major development in American Reform Judaism and the use of organized camping for children and youth as a valuable educational tool. - Burton I Cohen, author of Case Studies in Jewish School Management

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Book SynopsisNationalizing a Borderland enriches understanding of ethnic conflict by examining the factors in the Austro-Hungarian province of Galicia between 1914 and 1920 that led to the rise of xenophobic nationalism and to the ethnocide of World War II. From Russian, Polish, Ukrainian, and Austrian archival sources, Prusin argues that while the violence inflicted upon Jews during that period may at first seem irrational and indiscriminate, a closer examination reveals that it was generated by traditional negative views of Jews and by the security concerns of the Russian and Polish militaries in the front zone. This violence, Prusin contends, served as a means of reshaping the socio-economic and political space of the province by diminishing Jewish cultural and economic influence.Trade Review“While a regional study, [Nationalizing a Borderland] is all the more important for locating the intersection between war, ethnicity, imperial collapse—and one should add collective psychic disturbance—in the creation of nation-states and the degree to which such a combination may have entirely fatal consequences for ethno-religious communities most marginal to the struggle.” —Nations and Nationalism “Prusin has produced a well-researched monograph that should be consulted by students of the Great War, twentieth-century ethnic cleansing, and Christian-Jewish relations in Eastern Europe.” —American Historical Review "The author explores the 'dynamics of persecution' of Galician Jewry (a very sizeable community) from the side of the Russian Empire and the emergent independent Polish state. He demonstrates that there was an interesting symmetry between their attitudes, both coming to see the Jews as a universal and lethal threat to their national interests." —John Klier, author of Imperial Russia's Jewish Question, 1855-1881"Nationalizing a Borderland is a fascinating, if harrowing case study. Making intensive use of primary and secondary sources, including the national archives of Poland and Ukraine, Prusin focuses his attention on a particular place and time – Galicia between 1914 and 1920 – in order to explore how empires fall and nation-states arise from their ashes. — Jildy Sauce

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Book SynopsisDocuments the first-hand experiences in the Holocaust of the Sephardim from Greece, the Balkans, North Africa, Libya, Cos, and Rhodes. The book embraces the Sephardim of all the countries shattered by the Holocaust and pays tribute to the memory of the more than 160,000 Sephardim who perished.Trade ReviewAn important contribution to the study of the Holocaust in the Sephardic context. This is a momentous monograph that encompasses 40 years of research by an eminent and trailblazing researcher." —Shmuel Refael, author of Conceptualizing the Unconceptualized: La Vida de Adolf Hitler, El Haman Moderno (The Life of Adolf Hitler, The Modern Haman)Table of Contents List of Figures Acknowledgments Introduction Chapter 1. Journey to the Death Camps Chapter 2. Living and Dying in Hell Chapter 3. The Revolt of October 7, 1944 Chapter 4. Medical Experiments Chapter 5. The Death March Chapter 6. Albania, the Mufti, and the Ustashas Chapter 7. Jews from North Africa and Libya, the Invisible Jews Chapter 8. The Place of God in the Holocaust Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisPresents the 1935 autobiography of Alexander Ziskind Gurwitz, an Orthodox Jew whose lively recounting of his life in Tsarist Russia and his immigration to San Antonio, Texas, in 1910 captures turbulent changes in early twentieth-century Jewish history.Trade Review“The text itself is an insightful description of events experienced in a life lived in great extremes. . . . Gurwitz’s recollections of his days in Europe give the reader insight into a world lost to Nazi destruction. Thankfully, Bryan Stone’s commentary adds an explanative background such that the reader gains an understanding of the interaction of ideas of the times. In as much as Jewish life in Texas is still very much yet-to-be recorded history, these writings open new windows on traditional observance influenced by new Jewish movements, particularly in the United States.”— American Jewish Archives Journal“This exceptionally rich memoir will immediately captivate readers with an introduction that appeals to the interests of academics, yet is accessible to general readers. Poetic, with scenes of tension that impel one to keep reading, the story sustains interest throughout.”—Jeffrey S. Gurock, author of Orthodox Jews in America“Gurwitz's memoir provides an almost unmatched glimpse into the daily life, folk and foodways, educational system, and family patterns of traditional East European Jews of the place and time—a real-life Fiddler on the Roof. The detail of the life of a yeshivah student and young Jewish functionary, as well as of Hassidic life are extraordinary yet this story goes beyond that to show Gurwitz’s middle age attempts to maintain tradition after immigrating to San Antonio, Texas. Bryan Edward Stone’s outstanding introduction and commentary places the memoir in historical context and highlights the important themes.”—Mark K. Bauman, editor of Dixie Diaspora: An Anthology of Southern Jewish History and coeditor of The Quiet Voices: Southern Rabbis and Black Civil Rights, 1880s to 1990s

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Book SynopsisThe story of religious life and Judaism in America is incomplete without an understanding of how three of the most consequential Jewish thinkers of this generation adapted the teachings of one of the most consequential Jewish thinkers of the previous generation. Soloveitchik’s Children tells this gripping intellectual and religious story.Trade Review“In his important study of the great twentieth-century Orthodox Jewish theologian Joseph Soloveitchik and his enduring legacy, Daniel Ross Goodman gives us profound and fascinating insights. His book is a highly original analysis of contemporary trends in Jewish thought.” —Susannah Heschel, Eli M. Black Distinguished Professor, Dartmouth College

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Book SynopsisNew in Paper Collection of essays by prominent historians, political scientists, and professors of literature that examine the political, social, and cultural impact of Zionism and Bundism on Jewish society.

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Book SynopsisKaplan's concept of Judaism as an "evolving religious civilization" was widely influential in 20th-century American Jewish life, and his founding of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College created a new denomination. This book contains a biographical essay and excerpts from all his major works.Trade Review"Intelligently organized... An excellent introduction to Reconstructionism." -Library Journal

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Book SynopsisThe phenomenal rise of Yiddish language and culture is one of the most interesting and colorful sagas of modern Jewish history.Trade Review"Of great value. I recommend it to everyone interested in Yiddish and Jewish culture." -- -Isaac Bashevis Singer Nobel Prize Laureate

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Book Synopsis"A book of great interest for anyone interested in the meaning of prayer."-Jewish Book NewsTrade Review“A book of great interest for anyone interested in the meaning of prayer.” * —Jewish Book News *...makes a useful contribution to shedding light on questions about prayer with which humans have struggled from time immemorial. * —Jerusalem Post *

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