Rabbi Eleazar be-Rabbi Qilar was the most prominent and prolific poet during the heyday of Hebrew liturgical poetry in Eretz Israel: between the sixth and eight centuries ACE. Some of the thousands of poems he wrote was preserved in the Ashkenaz, France and Italy machzorim, while a small part is recited in synagogues even today. This book compiles all his poems that survived for all prayers, with an attempt reproduce the full compositions.

Can literature be given a concrete home? The story of the establishment of the Gnazim Archive of Modern Hebrew Literature recounts the attempt to institutionalize this body of literature in the context of the founding of the State of Israel—while simultaneously challenging its demands. This book reveals the persistent tension between the “Republic of Letters” and the nation-state, as well as the painful cost of realizing the ideal and embodiment of the metaphor of “a home for literature” within the “national home.” The Stitches of Hebrewness traces the history of the Gnazim Archive both in its own right and as a mirror of the formation of the canon of modern Hebrew literature. Like any mirror, the archive reflects reality as it is—and in reverse: The canon is thus revealed in a new light, with its erasures, rewritings, and repressions. Perhaps more than anything, the book unfolds the story of a culture and society grappling with a moment of crisis between three overlapping yet conflicting temporal frameworks: Jewish time, Hebrew time, and Israeli time.

The Devil's Renaissance describes the early modern period in Europe as a time of terrible bloodshed and persecution of minorities such as the Moriscos, the Gypsies, heretics, the Cagots and the imaginary sect of satanic witches. It was the age of fear of conspiracies and of the devil undermining the Christian commonwealth.

Korot publishes original articles related to medical history covering medicine in Jewish and Hebrew sources, the history of Jewish physicians, medicine in Palestine and Israel and medicine during the Nazi era. There are shorter historical notes on these topics, book reviews and comments on important developments in medical history. Articles are mainly in English but with a significant Hebrew section.

The treatise Scechina is a manifesto of Renaissance Christian-Kabbalistic messianism. The author, Cardinal Egidio da Viterbo (1469-1532), was a preeminent Christian Kabbalist, both in terms of his position within the ecclesiastical hierarchy and in what concerns the depth and breadth of his acquaintance with Hebrew sources. The treatise was composed in exquisite Renaissance Latin and is hereby rendered for the first time into a modern language. The text articulates the voice of the Jewish Shekinah herself, expounding in first person and with profound insight the doctrine of Kabbalah, fervently calling for the completion of the final stage of universal redemption. This redemption commences with the discovery of distant lands and foreign cultures, and its protagonist is Emperor Charles V, whose motto - plus ultra [further beyond] - refers to surpassing the Strait of Gibraltar and medieval knowledge (the Emperor and Pope Clement VII are among the book's addressees). While this redemption is Christian in nature, it emphasizes integration and synthesis with Greek and Roman wisdom, and particularly Judaism. Despite sharp condemnations of Jews for their non-acceptance of Jesus, Egidio's Shekinah lavishes love upon them, especially the Kabbalists, whom she refers to as "my Arameans" and considers as latent Christians. This even extends to support for Solomon Molkho, the Jewish messiah who apostatized from Christianity. Such an attitude towards Judaism did not survive in the Catholic Church in the generation following Egidio, the era of the Counter-Reformation. The translation is richly annotated by the translators, providing extensive commentary and explication. Furthermore, the volume is prefaced by comprehensive introductory chapters authored by Judith Weiss, elucidating the life, intellectual contributions, and literary corpus of Egidio da Viterbo.

The emergence of the Yiddish and Hebrew press in the United States was one of the great cultural enterprises of the Jewish immigrants from the Russian and Austro-Hungarian empires in the last third of the nineteenth century, and its influence on the lives of individuals and communities was enormous. From the Cellar to the Top Floor traces the journey of the Hebrew Alphabet press across the Atlantic following the Jewish mass migration. Against the background of the American press, the book discusses the development of the Hebrew and Yiddish press from an economic, cultural and political point of view. It traces the ongoing negotiations between the Jewish immigrant society and the American majority society at the end of the nineteenth century. Based on personal correspondence, legal documents, archival evidence, and contemporary press materials ,the book offers the first comprehensive analysis in Hebrew of the formative decades in the emergence of one of the leading cultural institutions in modern Jewish society.

This book investigates Ezekiel's restoration program and the way he describes Israel's future restoration. In addition to new readings of the prophecies and an evaluation of the influence of biblical and Mesopotamian literature on the prophet's message, the book deals with the exiles' daily life, their ideologies, and the way they perceived the exile and its theological role in the history of the People of Israel.

Yiddish in Israel: A History challenges the commonly held view that Yiddish was suppressed or even banned by Israeli authorities for ideological reasons, offering instead a radical new interpretation of the interaction between Yiddish and Israeli Hebrew cultures. Author Rachel Rojanski tells the compelling and yet unknown story of how Yiddish, the most widely used Jewish language in the pre-Holocaust world, fared in Zionist Israel, the land of Hebrew. Following Yiddish in Israel from the proclamation of the State until today, Rojanski reveals that although Israeli leadership made promoting Hebrew a high priority, it did not have a definite policy on Yiddish. The language's varying fortune through the years was shaped by social and political developments, and the cultural atmosphere in Israel. Public perception of the language and its culture, the rise of identity politics, and political and financial interests all played a part. Using a wide range of archival sources, newspapers, and Yiddish literature, Rojanski follows the Israeli Yiddish scene through the history of the Yiddish press, Yiddish theater, early Israeli Yiddish literature, and high Yiddish culture. With compassion, she explores the tensions during Israel's early years between Yiddish writers and activists and Israel's leaders, most of whom were themselves Eastern European Jews balancing their love of Yiddish with their desire to promote Hebrew. Finally Rojanski follows Yiddish into the 21st century, telling the story of the revived interest in Yiddish among Israeli-born children of Holocaust survivors as they return to the language of their parents.

Don Quixote de la Mancha was published in 1605, with its second part following a decade later, in 1615. Over four centuries have elapsed, yet this masterpiece of Spanish literature remains one of the most translated and widely celebrated works across various artistic mediums. It has left an indelible mark in literature, visual arts, cinema, theater, music, and dance, captivating not only writers and poets but also philosophers, jurists, politicians, and countless others. What lies behind the enduring success and relevance of this novel? In this book, we endeavor to offer insights into this question, contending that Don Quixote is, above all, a product of its time and milieu: of the Golden Age during the 16th and 17th centuries. We also argue that it stands as a revolutionary work in its narrative and structural innovations. Yet, beyond its literary innovations, Don Quixote features a rich tapestry of characters, who represent the marginalized—peasants, women, Muslims, and more—granting them voice and prominence. It imbues readers with the "madness" of adventure, ideals, and unconditional love. Ultimately, it imparts invaluable lessons, encouraging us not to shy away from doubt or ambiguity but to embrace them as integral aspects of the human experience.

The full edition of the secular poems of Yehudah Halevi is published here for the first time, based on the original collection of his poems edited by his contemporary Haya the Maghribean, who met the poet in Egypt. The poems follow Judaeo-Arabic incipits, which are discussed and translated into Hebrew by the modern editor. Variants, as well as a full modern Hebrew translation have been added.

Preludes is the story of the composer and conductor Noam Sheriff (1935-2018), whose life was dedicated to art and music almost from the moment he could think of it. In the first person Sheriff recounts a personal initiation story, which begins in the small Tel Aviv of the days of the British Mandate and the divided Jerusalem of the first years of the State of Israel, followed by the most renown and magnificent concert halls in Israel and around the world. In doing so, he describes some of the personalities who stood at the heart of world of music: Leonard Bernstein, Gary Bartini, Paul Ben-Haim, Arik Einstein and others. This is a story of pioneering musical activity, part of an enterprise of building Israeli culture. This is also the story of an artist who, looking back from a sober, unapologetic and unselfish perspective - recounts his achievements, doubts and personal and artistic choices.

Although Jews were at the centre of commercial activity in medieval Europe, a talmudic ban on any wine touched by a Gentile prevented them from engaging in the lucrative wine trade. Wine was consumed in vast quantities in the Middle Ages, and the banks of the Rhineland hosted some of the finest vineyards in northern Europe. German Jews were, until the thirteenth century, a merchant class. How could they abstain from trading in one of the region’s major commodities? In time, they ruled that it was permissible to accept wine in payment of debt, but forbade trading in it, and they maintained that ban throughout the Middle Ages. Further study in the twelfth century, however, led Talmudists to discover that Jews were only forbidden to profit from trading in Gentile wine if they dealt with idolaters, but that trade with Christians and Muslims was permitted. Nevertheless, the German community refused to take advantage of this clear licence. Using Jewish and Gentile sources, this study probes the sources of this powerful taboo. In describing the complex ways in which deeply held cultural values affect Jews’ engagement in the economy of the surrounding society, this book also illustrates the law of unintended consequences—how the ban on Gentile wine led both to a major Jewish contribution to German viticulture and to the involvement of Jews in moneylending, with all its tragic consequences. *** The second chapter is intended for those familiar with the eleventh-century halakha in Ashkenaz. The general reader can skip this chapter, reading only the concluding paragraph (on p. 63) and proceed to Chapter III.