Hoshea was active during the decline of the Kingdom of Israel, from the twilight of the long reign of Jeroboam II (788-747 BCE) until nearly the end of the days of Israel, probably before the Assyrian conquest (720 BCE) of Samaria. Hoshea's prophecies enrich our knowledge of the chaotic period in which, throughout twenty years of intrigues, rebellions and murders, six kings had been replaced, and Israel was lost.

We do not know who Malachi was. Malachi might have been his birth name, or perhaps his nickname, as God's messenger. He was active during the reign of Persia, around 500 BCE. The subjects with which Malachi was preoccupied were different from those that preoccupied the classical prophets and reflected his time. But one can find in them beautiful comparisons to today's problems as well. One of the main subjects in his prophecy was the covenant between God and Israel, as well as his criticism of the people's disdain for the worship of the temple, and of the priests for misusing their position.

Haggai was active for a very short time, only about four months, in the second year of Darius I (520/521 BCE). In these four months, Haggai managed to encourage the exiled people of Zion to return to Judah and Jerusalem, to begin building the temple. They faced many difficulties: they suffered from drought and shortage and did not manage to get by in the barren land. When they started building the temple, Haggai was required to strengthen the spirit of the people and its leaders, Zerubbabel the priest and Joshua the high priest, in view of the modest dimensions of the building, with the promise that "the glory of this new Temple will surpass that of the old".

We are pleased to present our readers with this double issue of Massorot , volume 21–22, published by the Center for Jewish Languages and Literatures in collaboration with the Jewish Oral Traditions Research Center. The volume contains eleven articles which testify to the varied interests of contemporary scholars in the field of Jewish languages and the Hebrew traditions of the diverse communities of the Jewish People. Five of the articles concern themselves with Bible translations in Jewish languages, four of these in varieties of Judeo-Arabic: Moshe Bar-Asher discusses the conservative features of the Sharḥ (Judeo-Arabic calque translations transmitted orally) in the Maghreb. Shay Matsa deals with the last Judeo-Arabic Bible translation from Aleppo and its author. Ibrahim Bassal scrutinizes the interplay of elements from the Tafsīr of Saadiah Gaon and the Syriac Bible tradition in a Christian Arabic Bible translation. Zahi Abbas discusses the distinctive features of Saadiah Gaon’s Judeo-Arabic Bible translation. Yaffa Israeli analyzes translations of the Book of Jonah in three different regional dialects of Jewish Neo-Aramaic, from Urmi, Saqqiz and Rawanduz. Another two articles are concerned with other aspects of Judeo-Arabic in North Africa: Paul B. Fenton discusses three Judeo-Arabic historical dirges, two from the Tafilalt region and one from Algiers. Mor Daniel analyzes the forms of the plural used in the Judeo-Arabic of newspapers published in Tunis at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century. Two articles in the volume deal with Jewish Romance languages: Ora (Rodrigue) Schwarzwald offers the fruit of her research into the Passover Haggadah published in Sofia in Cyrillic letters. Michael Ryzhik focuses on the linguistic features of two Judeo-Italian dramas in Latin letters. Two articles in the volume are concerned with the Hebrew language traditions of different Jewish communities: Mor Shemesh analyzes the whole plural forms of segholate nouns in the reading of the Mishnah according to the late Ashkenazi tradition. Adam Bin-Nun discusses the link between the Yemenite version of the Torah text and that of Maimonides.

The Jewish Haskalah movement heralded a profound, unprecedented cultural-spiritual revolution in the Jewish world. Beginning in the German lands in the second half of the eighteenth century and subsequently spreading to central Europe, it called for reconstituting traditional Jewish society in line with maskilic values. This volume spotlights the early-nineteenth-century Galician Haskalah. Although a backwater annexed to the Austrian Empire from Poland but two generations earlier, Galicia’s impressive gallery of outstanding individuals and literary activity has granted the Galician Haskalah its place as one of the most productive, influential centers of the Haskalah movement. This collection of articles is based on lectures delivered at the "Revealers of Secrets—200 Years of Galician Haskalah" conference. Held in Jerusalem in 2013, this fifth annual conference for the study of the Haskalah movement aimed to submit the Galician Haskalah to renewed scholarly examination. Organized in five sections, the volume’s twenty-three essays by outstanding scholars portray the variegated aspects of this movement, which ranged from attempts to preserve Jewish identity by nurturing modern Jewish culture in Hebrew to radical attempts to reform traditional Jewish society.

In the current book two of the most prolific authors in the area of Medieval Judeo-Arabic and poetic Hebrew Medieval texts go back to its basic theses on the relations between Hebrew literature and its parallel Arabic and Judeo-Arabic texts. By re-establishing an up-to-date picture they are attacking the field of encounters from new and different angles.

The starting point for any study of the Bible is the text of the Masora, as designed by the Masoretes. The ancient manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible contain thousands of Masora comments of two types: Masora Magna and Masora Prava. This book presents the way in which the Masoretic comments preserve the Masoretic Text of the Bible throughout generations and all over the world, providing comprehensive information in a short and efficient manner. The book describes the important manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible, and the methods of the Masora in determining the biblical spelling and designing the forms of the parshiot and the biblical Songs. The effectiveness of Masoretic mechanisms and their degree of success in preserving the text is examined. A special explanation is offered for the phenomenon of qere and ketiv . The book discusses the place of the Masoretic text in the history of the Bible, the differences between the Babylonian Masora and that of Tiberias, the special status of the Aleppo Codex and the mystery surrounding it. Special attention is given to the comparison between the Aleppo Codex and the Leningrad Codex (B 19a). In addition, the book discusses the relationship between the Masora and other tangential domains: the grammar of the Hebrew language, the interpretation of the Bible, and the Halakha. The appendix to the book contains a description of books and computer software that are tools for researching the Masora. The book is based on the author's research and the research of the great scholars of the Masora in recent generations. It is a necessary tool for anyone interested in the text of the Bible and its crystallization.

Articles in this issue: Menahem Kahana| 'וכולה מתניתין': Who were the Abbreviators of Mishnayot in the Tannaitic Midrashim? Robert Brody | How many editions of his book Oaths (Kitab al-Ayman) did R. Hayya Publish? Warren Zev Harvey | Did Ibn Gabirol Write Adon 'Olam? Adiel Breuer | Hidushim on Tractate 'Eruvin Attributed to Hame'iri Moshe Yagur | Shaving Hair and Pairing Nails: The Origins and Transmutations of a Unique Rite of Passage in Medieval Judaism

The Intention of the Torah and the Intention of Its Readers surveys how traditional Jewish exegesis throughout the ages has coped with the literary and topical difficulties found in the Torah, in the context of the belief in the Torah’s divine source and sanctity. “All problems stem from expectations.” Readers and exegetes of the Torah throughout the ages supposed, and many continue to suppose, that the Torah is perfect and flawless. They expect the Torah to reflect superior and timeless standards of morality, as well as precise and eternal theological principles. They believe that everything written in the Torah is true, essential, and well thought out. The history of Torah scholarship from the end of the Second Temple period until our day can be conceived of as an uninterrupted continuum of challenges which this unique and, frankly, impossible level of expectations has imposed upon its readers and exegetes. These are glorious attempts to bring the Torah nearer to the time and place of its devotees and to adapt its meaning to theirs. This book is the first attempt of its kind to examine the history of the enterprise of Torah exegesis from a distance. It contains an examination of dozens of key texts from the end of the Second Temple period, from Talmudic and Midrashic sources, dicta of medieval Sages, and the reflections and research penned by scholars of the Enlightenment (Haskalah) and the modern era. A bird’s eye view blurs the details which differentiate between these texts, enabling us to more easily focus upon the similarities; this point of view also allows us to note the central crossroads of change and development which characterize each period. This is an indispensable book for anyone interested in the changing nature of biblical exegesis over the generations.

Articles in this issue: David Henshke | Ma'amadot: A First Stage in the History of Rabbinic Prayer? Hannan Mazeh | Amanos or Ammana: An Emerging Interpretative Tradition and Maimonides' Emendation of the Mishnah Elyashiv Cherlow | The History of the Text of Talmud Yerushalmi: Studies of the Genizah Fragments Yehuda Zvi Stampfer | Sa'adia Gaon's Interpretation of the thirteen Hermeneutical Principles according to the Arabic Source: Commentary, Tendencies, and Unknown Sources

Midrash Aggadat Bereshit is a Midrash for the Book of Genesis, which has a unique structure. It includes 28 units, each composed of three chapters: a Torah chapter - on a verse from Genesis; a Prophets chapter - on a verse from Prophets; and a Ketuvim chapter - on a verse from Psalms. This division reflects the Torah reading at Shacharit on Shabbat, the Haftara that follows, and the reading of Ketuvim during the Shabbat Mincha.