The articles in this volume originated, in large part, as papers presented at a conference convened by the Melton Coalition for Creative Interaction in December 2014 at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The Melton Coalition is a consortium of the three Melton Centers established over the years by the visionary philanthropist Samuel Mendel Melton: at the Jewish Theological Seminary, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Ohio State University. The conference was devoted to the various forms of interaction that obtain between the oral and the textual modes of discourse in Jewish history and contemporary Jewish life. Some of the essays dwell on oral and textual media in historical context – while others place more emphasis on the contemporary educational implications of the phenomena under discussion. All the essays in this volume articulate patterns of oral and written discourse that can greatly enrich our knowledge of both the history of Jewish culture and the theory and practice of Jewish education.

המאמרים בכרך זה הם פרי סמינר מחקר אקדמי שהתקיים, באופן סדיר, במשך שנתיים בפרויקט משותף לקרן מנדל והמרכז לחינוך יהודי ע"ש מלטון באוניברסיטה העברית בירושלים. בקבוצת המחקר השתתפו חוקרים ומחנכים מרקע מגוון, שייצגו נקודות מבט שונות ודנו במשותף בחיבור בין חקירה פילוסופית לפרקטיקה בחינוך יהודי, תוך התמקדות באופנים שונים של תרגום חינוכי.

The biblical idea of a distinct 'Jewish contribution to civilization' continues to engage Jews and non-Jews alike. This book seeks neither to document nor to discredit the notion, but rather to investigate the idea itself as it has been understood from the seventeenth century to the present. It explores the role that the concept has played in Jewish self-definition, how it has influenced the political, social, and cultural history of the Jews and of others, and whether discussion of the notion still has relevance in the world today. The book offers a broad spectrum of academic opinion: from tempered advocacy to reasoned disavowal, with many variations on the theme in between. It attempts to illustrate the centrality of the question in modern Jewish culture in general, and its importance for modern Jewish studies in particular. Part I addresses the idea itself and considers its ramifications. Richard I. Cohen focuses on the nexus between notions of 'Jewish contribution' and those of 'Jewish superiority" David N. Myers shifts the focus from 'contribution' to 'civilization', arguing that the latter term often served the interests of Jewish intellectuals far better, and Moshe Rosman shows how the current emphasis on multiculturalism has given the idea of a 'Jewish contribution' new life. Part II turns to the relationship between Judaism and other monotheistic cultures. Elliott Horowitz's essay on the sabbath serves as an instructive test-case for the dynamic and complexity of the 'contribution' debate and a pointer to more general, theoretical issues. David Berger expands on these in his account of how discussion of Christianity's Jewish legacy developed in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and Susannah Heschel shows how the Jewish-Christian encounter has influenced the study of other non-Western 'others'. Daniel Schroeter raises revealing questions about the altogether Eurocentric character of the 'contribution' discourse, which also bore heavily on perceptions of Jews and Judaism in the world of Islam. Part III introduces us to various applications and consequences of the debate. Yaacov Shavit probes the delicate balance forged by nineteenth-century German Jewish intellectuals in defining their identity. Mark Gelber moves the focus to the present and considers the post-war renewal of German Jewish culture and the birth of German-Jewish studies in the context of the 'contribution' discourse. Bringing the volume to its conclusion, David Biale compares three overviews of Jewish culture and civilization published in America in the twentieth and twenty-first-centuries. CONTRIBUTORS David Berger, David Biale, Jeremy Cohen, Richard I. Cohen, Mark Gelber, Susannah Heschel, Elliott Horowitz, David N. Myers, Moshe Rosman, Daniel Schroeter, Yaacov Shavit

עיונים בחינוך יהודי הוא בימה לניתוח מחקרי של סוגיות מרכזיות בתחום החינוך היהודי בימינו. הסדרה באה לתת ביטוי לאמונה בחיוניותו של הקשר בין תיאוריה למעשה כחלק מן המאמץ לשיפורו של החינוך היהודי. כל הכתבים המכונסים בכרך זה, נוגעים בין במישרין בין בעקיפין, בסוגיה של הצמחת היהודי המחונך בזיקה להשקפות ולנקודות מבט רבות ומגוונות.

The essays in this volume are a summary of a conference held in honour of Prof Michael Rosenak on the occasion of his retirement from the Melton Centre. The articles all deal with, either directly or indirectly, the question of the cultivation of the educated Jewish citizen as viewed from plural perspectives. There is an article on the moral and intellectual challenges in teaching the Bible both in the Orthodox and non Orthodox school system. There is also an article on the introduction of Holocaust studies into different educational frameworks. עורכת משנה: ויויאן בורשטיין. 121עמודים בעברית ו-127 עמודים באנגלית.