Kobez al Yad , an annual of the Mekize Nirdamim Society, is a forum for the publication from manuscript sources of ancient texts in Jewish studies that are shorter than book-length Contents " Amitkha ve-Hasdekha al Tirhak ": A Possible Kallir Style Kerovah on the Amidah for Purim published by Eden HaCohen Two Piyyutim for Vayosha by Unknown Poets published by Shulamit Elizur Minhag Marseilles : A Practice Book by R. Moses ben Samuel published by Yaakov Gartner Collections of Paronomasia Poems by Judah al-Harizi published by Ezra Fleischer Grave Markers in the Land of Israel published by Zoar Amar Mesharet Moshe by R. Kalonymus published by Dov Schwartz

Montesquieu (1689-1755) is one of the prominent personas among eighteenth-century French writers and thinkers. When The Spirit of the Laws was published in 1748, all were impressed by its revolutionary novelty and methodological contribution to governmental theory and sociology, which is often compared to Newton's contribution to physics.

When Queen Victoria came to the throne in 1837, Britain was home to only 30,000 Jews and they did not yet have full political rights. By the end of the century their numbers had increased about sevenfold, and practising Jews had taken their places in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Victoria's reign therefore saw a tremendous change in the profile of Jews within British society. The Victorian period was also one of economic transition for British Jews. While initially in a narrow range of predominantly working-class or marginal occupations with only a small upper-class elite, Jews became increasingly middle-class during these years; they began to enter the professions, and to move from inner London to fashionable suburbs. Increasingly, Britain's Jews were British-born and of British descent, and proclaimed their loyalty to British ideals. From 1881 on, however, the position changed dramatically: a mass of Jewish immigrants arriving from Russia, made conspicuous by their foreign dress, appearance, language, and habits, prompted the emergence of an 'Aliens Question' into the British political arena. The image of Jews changed yet again. All these developments were picked up in the illustrated magazines of the time: the object of a magazine is to interest its readers, and the unfamiliar may be more compelling reading than the commonplace. To illustrate the social history of the Jews in Victorian Britain, the authors therefore combed the Illustrated London News, Punch, and The Graphic and selected nearly 150 illustrations, with commentary, to show how the British image of the Jew developed in this period. The topics considered include early Victorian attitudes to Jews; the leading Jewish families and other prominent Jews; the Jewish way of life; immigrant Jews; Jewish life abroad; and the Jew in art. The book includes an introductory essay by V. D. Lipman, late Director of Ancient Monuments and Historic Buildings for England.

Answer booklet for Gabrielle Schorrs "French for advanced students.

Introduction and notes: Esther Benbassa

Since 1901 the Jewish National Fund was the organ of the World Zionist Organization for the purchase of lands in Palestine and settling it with Jewish people. While working towards this goal, the JNF was faced with a multitude of issues to address: designing the land and settlement policy, deciding where to purchase lands, which types of farming and economy to enhance, which types of settlements to develop, which socio-economic sectors of the Jewish people to assist, how to develop national geographic and economic systems, how to secure as wide as possible borders for the anticipated Jewish autonomy, and how to create a Jewish demographic majority in Palestine. This book presents the first deep and detailed research conducted on the subject. In a lively and exciting way it relates the process of decision-making, planning, and carrying out of the policies and enterprises of the JNF in the years prior to World War I, all this against the background of the considerations in Palestine and developments in the Zionist world.

In this volume: Editor's Introduction – Jacob M. Landau Ottoman History in the Eyes of Contemporary Turks – David Kashner The Jews of Edirne During the Balkan Wars According to the Diary of a Jewish School Mistress – Avigdor Levy The Jews of Ioanina Between Ottoman Loyalty and Greek Resurrection, 1900-1913 – Yitzchak Kerem The La-Markaziyya: The First Syrian Party – Eliezer Tauber Muslim Nationalism: THE Missing Link in the Genesis of Modern Turkey – Erik Jan Zurcher The "Turkish-Islamic Synthesis": The National-Religious Narrative in the 1980s – Anat Lapidot Islam and Politics in Modern Turkey – Alon Liel The Attitudes of the Turkish Islamic Press Towards Israel – Aryeh Shmuelevitz Tevfik Fikret: A Humanist Turkish Poet – Avner Levi Turkey in the Gulf War and Subsequently – Amikam Nachmani Impression of the Israel's Ambassador to Turkey – Uri Gordon As Seen by the Israeli Ambassador to Turkey: Turkey in the Middle East – David Granit Review Article – Jacob M. Landau Book Reviews Article Summaries (in English)