Rabbi Judah Leib Alter of Ger, a famed nineteenth-century Hasidic master, wrote an influential collection of Hebrew homilies. But it seems that R. Judah Leib’s sermons were also transcribed by his students, some of whom recorded their teacher’s words in the original Yiddish rather than Hebrew translation. This monograph builds upon a newly-discovered Yiddish manuscript of sixty pages. It presents a synoptic edition of the Yiddish text alongside the Hebrew version, thus enabling comparison of the witnesses and demonstrating the development of the various texts. The introduction uses this manuscript to explore broader historical and theoretical issues such as the relationship between written texts and oral culture, the development of written Yiddish, the nature and boundaries of translation, and the complex pathways of transmission from teachers to their students.

Vardi and Weitz bring together wide-ranging scholarship to help us understand the roots, the effects, and the implications of misbehavior in organizations. The book covers key topics that have emerged in the scholarly literature in the past decade such as insidious workplace behavior, bullying and harassment in the workplace, information hiding, cyberbullying, and organizational spirituality. A thorough and up-to-date resource on this crucial and evolving topic in organizational studies, this book provides insights on misbehavior at the individual, position, group, and organizational levels.

The political upheavals, the leadership crisis, and the ideological frustration which the Israeli Labour party went through in the first two decades of the 21st century led it to an unprecedented electoral decline. What happened to the formerly dominant party which established the state? What kind of intrinsic changes did it undergo in the late modernity and due to new sociological generations? What kind of new or old ideological discourses were formed within it? And how can we characterize its renewed ideological discourse? These questions stood at the background of this ethnographic study. The study focuses on young, idealistic activists who joined the Israeli Labour Party during 2006-2009 and asked to promote a social-democratic agenda. The book is based on multi-arena fieldwork and it enables a rare ethnographic reflection on the way macro level political changes take shape and are embodied in interpersonal interactions on the micro level.

The Book Smugglers is the nearly unbelievable story of ghetto residents who rescued thousands of rare books and manuscripts—first from the Nazis and then from the Soviets—by hiding them on their bodies, burying them in bunkers, and smuggling them across borders. It is a tale of heroism and resistance, of friendship and romance, and of unwavering devotion—including the readiness to risk one’s life—to literature and art. And it is entirely true. Based on Jewish, German, and Soviet documents, including diaries, letters, memoirs, and the author’s interviews with several of the story’s participants, The Book Smugglers chronicles the daring activities of a group of poets turned partisans and scholars turned smugglers in Vilna, “The Jerusalem of Lithuania.” The rescuers were pitted against Johannes Pohl, a Nazi “expert” on the Jews, who had been dispatched to Vilna by the Nazi looting agency, Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg, to organize the seizure of the city’s great collections of Jewish books. Pohl and his Einsatzstab staff planned to ship the most valuable materials to Germany and incinerate the rest. The Germans used forty ghetto inmates as slave-laborers to sort, select, pack, and transport the materials, either to Germany or to nearby paper mills. This group, nicknamed “the Paper Brigade,” and informally led by poet Shmerke Kaczerginski, a garrulous, street-smart adventurer and master of deception, smuggled thousands of books and manuscripts past German guards. If caught, the men would have faced death by firing squad at Ponar, the mass-murder site outside of Vilna. To store the rescued manuscripts, poet Abraham Sutzkever helped build an underground book-bunker sixty feet beneath the Vilna ghetto. Kaczerginski smuggled weapons as well, using the group’s worksite, the former building of the Yiddish Scientific Institute, to purchase arms for the ghetto’s secret partisan organization. All the while, both men wrote poetry that was recited and sung by the fast-dwindling population of ghetto inhabitants. With the Soviet “liberation” of Vilna (now known as Vilnius), the Paper Brigade thought themselves and their precious cultural treasures saved—only to learn that their new masters were no more welcoming toward Jewish culture than the old, and the books must now be smuggled out of the USSR.

The book traces contested visions and representations of al-Andalus/Sepharad in modern Jewish discourse through an in-depth analysis of the work of Sephardi intellectual network in the turn of the twentieth century Palestine/Land of Israel. Against the backdrop of the tumultuous political and social events of that period, and processes of national, ethnic, and religious partitions, the book explores the ways in which these Sephardi intellectuals fundamentally challenged the nationalistic and monolingual ideologies and looks at their efforts to establish a shared Jewish-Arab society based on a symbolic return to the Sephardi/Andalusian medieval legacy of Hebrew-Arabic bilingualism and a Judeo-Muslim joint cultural heritage. By exploring these contested representations of Sephardi identity and culture the book re-examines some fundamental issues that emerged at the turn of the twentieth century and which still accompany us to this day: the national conflict between Jews and Palestinians, the contacts and splits between Hebrew and Arab culture and the formation of ethnic hierarchies between Ashkenazim and Mizrahim. The book aims to contribute to the growing interest in modern Sephardi and Middle Eastern Jewish history and to broaden the scope of “Jewish studies” beyond the European Jewish experience.

The Western musical tradition has produced not only music, but also countless writings about music that remain in continuous—and enormously influential—dialogue with their subject. With sweeping scope and philosophical depth, A Language of Its Own traces the past millennium of this ongoing exchange. Ruth Katz argues that the indispensible relationship between intellectual production and musical creation gave rise to the Western conception of music. This evolving and sometimes conflicted process, in turn, shaped the art form itself. As ideas entered music from the contexts in which it existed, its internal language developed in tandem with shifts in intellectual and social history. Katz explores how this infrastructure allowed music to explain itself from within, creating a self-referential and rational foundation that has begun to erode in recent years. A magisterial exploration of a frequently overlooked intersection of Western art and philosophy, A Language of Its Own restores music to its rightful place in the history of ideas.

These two collections of Yiddish letters date from the second half of the 17th century and are being published here in full for the first time. The opening five-letter collection was archived together with extensive information about three Jews from Hamburg-Altona, who had been arrested and investigated in Copenhagen in August 1666. The second collection consists of eighteen letters exchanged between Hamburg-Altona and Copenhagen in January 1678. They concern the family and business affairs of a range of people, among them some of Glikl Hamel’s relatives, business associates and acquaintances. Together, the two collections provide a wealth of illuminating new details about the economic, cultural, social, and family life of early modern Ashkenazi Jews in Northern Europe, and also shed light on the practice of Yiddish letter-writing at the time. The English section consists of an introduction followed by a synopsis of each letter, while the Hebrew section comprises a transcription of the original texts as well as their facsimile images.

Prof. Shraga Abramson was the most important scholar of his time in the field of Geonim literature and the teacher of most of the proceeding generation in this field of study. This book is the third collection of his studies pertaining to the Geonim period. The two others are considered mandatory for those interested in this formative and fascinating period. It contains studies published in his lifetime, which were not included in other compilations, as well as some studies found in his estate. The articles deal with various aspects of the Geonim literature.

The book deals with the conceptual and practical transformation of history as modern science and art between 1740 and 1940. The book concentrates on the work of six major historians who turned history from its rhetorical classical models of "teaching by examples" into a meaningful investigation narration of human life. Common to them as was the belief that human life and history are made by human being like themselves, by themselves.

The Babylonian Talmud is the Jewish composition of greatest scope, and its influence on Jewish life is decisive. Jewish sages have devoted more time and energy to its study and halakhic interpretation than to any other book, including the Bible, to the extent that "talmud Torah," Torah study, is mainly perceived as the study of the Babylonian Talmud. Its academic study, in contrast, is still in its initial stages. Critical editions, with the text based on the best manuscripts and an exhaustive and thorough critical commentary, have been published of only a few of the thirty-seven tractates of the Babylonian Talmud. Central questions pertaining to the manner of the formulation of the Talmud, its redaction, and its transmission are still unresolved. This is different from the state of research of other Rabbinic works, the study of which has taken significant strides in recent decades. Critical, balanced, and cautious interpretation of talmudic sugyot (discursive units) will likely illustrate the treasures to be revealed by a scholarly reading of the Babylonian Talmud: illuminating new facets of which traditional study is unaware; the consistent presentation of its meticulous literary fashioning, its contentual depth, and the creative force embodied in this corpus. All these find expression even in sugyot that seem tenuous and bothersome to the traditional student. Tiqqun Olam (Repairing the World) seeks to advance the research of the Babylonian Talmud with an annotated edition of the fourth chapter of Tractate Gittin, which contains various regulations that were enacted "for tiqqun olam." This chapter was chosen for the wide variety of its topics and the redactive methods employed, and for the benefit to be gained from their critical analysis. The widespread study of this chapter in high schools and yeshivot also influences its selection, in the hope it will aid both students and scholars in highlighting his difficulties and in exposing the overt and covert trends of the Amoraim and the redactors of the sugyot. The first chapter of this book examines the meanings of the term "tiqqun olam" in the Mishnah and the Tosefta, along with the structure of the tannaitic units containing regulations "for the repairing of the world" in these two tannaitic works. The main body of the book contains a systematic discussion of these mishnayot and sugyot, using philological-historical methodology, alongside the literary analysis, which has not been sufficiently developed in talmudic research to now. The talmudic text is divided into forty-nine sugyot. For each the book offers a new text based on MS. Firkovich 187, a list of parallels, a selection of textual variants and discussion of their originality, and a commentary. The commentary includes a detailed explanation of the sugyot and an analysis of their strata. A unique attempt is made to glean from within the traces of the difficulties within the sugyot and the dissonance they exhibit the aims of the redactors, who frequently formulated new laws, while devoting sophisticated literary effort in order to mask these innovations, and to impart to the sugyah a harmonious composition. In this book, much effort was invested to reveal the plain meaning of the Talmud, employing the tools of scholarly research - which, for various reasons, are not integrated into the widespread study of the Talmud today. The book undertakes to open a window to the academic world and its methodology, to enable Talmud students to come to know the world of Babylonian Talmud scholarship that is both demanding and profound, but also intriguing, while offering new insights.

According to its Declaration of Independence, the State of Israel "will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex". However, the equality between men and women in Israel was not de facto. What did Israeli women have to say about that? The book presents views and opinions of Israeli women in the 1950s and the early 1960s about their roles and duties in the public and the domestic spheres, based on contemporary women's sections in the press and women's magazines. It shows what women said about women in the Israeli parliament (Knesset) and about Golda Meir; women's service in the Israeli Defense Force and the exclusion of women from the public sphere; motherhood and parenthood, woman's right to choose to have an abortion and women's struggle for peace; women's duties as housewives and the discrimination of women as employees. The book also uncovers a forgotten feminist journal, sheds light on a famous adoption story of a Yemenite baby and discusses a protest of female cadets in the Israeli Air Force flight course that was ignored and silenced for many years. The book unveils Israeli women's voices from the past, which show that in an era of many fateful decisions, Israeli women also made choices that affected their status in society. Readers might find these decisions relevant vis-à-vis women's status in Israeli society nowadays.

MA'ARAG: The Israel Annual of Psychoanalysis is a democratic forum for psychoanalytic research, practice, and criticism published through the initiative and cooperation of the Sigmund Freud Center for Study and Research in Psychoanalysis of the Hebrew University, Israeli Association for Self Psychology and the Study of Subjectivity, Israel Society for Analytical Psychology, Israel Psychoanalytic Society, Israel Institute for Group Analysis, Tel-Aviv Institute for Contemporary Psychoanalysis, and the Israel Association for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy. This issue contains the following essays: Hila Elyakam and Devora Rosner-Wachs | THE ROLE OF THE BODY EN ROUTE TO BUILDING THE BIONIAN CONTAINER: INTEGRATING SOMATIC EXPERIENCE AND PSYCHODYNAMIC PYCHOTHERAPY Dana Amir | STUDIUM AND PUNCTUM IN PSYCHOANALYTIC WRITING Dana Amir | THE ‘NEWSPEAK’ OF THE PERPETRATOR: REFLECTIONS ON THE PHENOMENON OF SCREEN CONFESSIONS Dorit Ashur | FREUD AS “MIDWIFE TO THE SOUL”: THE RESTORATION OF MATERNAL SEMIOTIC PROFUSION IN H.D.’S ANALYSIS WITH FREUD Micha Weiss | ETHICAL PRESENCE IN THE PSYCHOANALYTIC ENCOUNTER: APOLOGY AS A POSSIBILITY Naomi Teller | TWO POEMS: TO CONTAIN DESIRE Moshe Landau | ON TRANSFORMATION FROM CHAOS AND BECOMING TO RHYTHM AND MENTALIZATION, AND THE RHYTHM IN THE TRANSFORMATION PROCESS FROM ‘O’ TO ‘K’ Rivka Matzner | PSYCHOANALYTIC CONSIDERATIONS ON THE MEETING POINT BETWEEN THE LURIANIC CONCEPT OF “LIGHTS AND VESSELS” AND BION’S CONCEPT OF “CONTAINER-CONTAINED” Ruth Netzer | ‘LISTEN TO HER’: POEMS ON THE ANALYST-PATIENT RELATIONSHIP Gila Ofer, Batya Shoshani and Michael Shoshani | WHEN ONE PLUS ONE EQUALS ONE: THE VICISSITUDES OF CHOSING BETWEEN TRUTH AND BLINDNESS IN THE OEDIPAL MYTH, AND THE FILM “INCENDIES” Gal Kachman | SILENT GRAVES AND TRANSIENT LIFE: ON SUBJECTIVITY AND MELANCHOLY IN THE WRITINGS OF ABRAHAM AND TOROK Victor Rubinov | THE CAPACITY FOR SUBJECTIVITY Merav Roth | TEARING UP THE LETTER AND THE URGE TO GET RID OF THE OBJECT Alejandra Sternschein | MY LANGUAGE, MY SPEECH, AND MY EXPRESSION: REFLECTIONS ON MULTIPLE LANGUAGES IN THE PSYCHIC SPACE OF THE ANALYTIC PROCESS Ofer Shinar Levanon | BETWEEN THE PSYCHOANALYTIC AND THE ARTISTIC ENCOUNTER: REFLECTIONS ON THE SHARED WORK OF THE COMPOSER YONI RECHTER AND THE POETS AVRAHAM HALFI, DAHLIA RAVIKOVITCH AND ELI MOHAR

This study delves into Israeli political life in 1947–1952, focusing on several main emphases: the crucial moment when statehood was decided upon, the election campaign for the Constitutional Assembly (which transformed itself into the First Knesset), Israel’s struggle for de facto and de jure American recognition, and Chaim Weizmann’s term as Israel’s first president.

Man and Nature , the most notable work by A. D. Gordon (1860-1922) was written mostly during the second decade of the twentieth century. It is an original philosophical work, which revolves around the ethics, aesthetics and philosophy of religion. In addition to presenting a comprehensive philosophical theory in Hebrew, Gordon discusses issues which became more and more central in the generations that followed him – like ecology, gender and the rejuvenation of Judaism. By returning to nature Gordon advocates a full life of creation. This new edition contains sections from the Dgania Alef archives, which were omitted from previous editions. In the introduction, the editors describe how the text deviates from the time and place in which it was written, explaining the recent wave of renewed interest in Gordon’s writings.

A dialogue between Michal Zmora-Cohen and Moshe Zuckermann on the development of music in the 20th century. While Zmora-Cohen criticized this development, Zuckermann defended it. The discourse has musicological, historical and philosophical aspects.

Contiruptance: Poetical Fluctuations in Naomi Frankel’s Work is the first book dedicated to Frankel's literary work, offering an in-depth reading of her entire fictional oeuvre. The concept of "Contiruptance," which indicates ruptures and continuity, provides insight into Frankel's poetics; suggesting that it may serve to deepen the analysis of the works of other authors.

In his book History, Literature, Critical Theory (2013), the historian Dominique La Capra presented the ways in which the voice of the narrator in the 19th and 20th century novel came to a collapse, which reflects the modern traumatic experience. This study employs this theoretical prism in order to construct a cultural dimension of 20th century Jewish poetics - a dimension in which trauma is reflected in its linguistic representation, but also shapes this same representation. The book offers an understanding of Jewish literature in the 20th century as a far-reaching cultural experience, in which the human figure is not made possible by words, but rather collapses into the animal, the absence, the broken witness, the Muslim, the eastern, the Arab and the queer.

This is the first comprehensive introduction to India’s history and civilization in Hebrew. It reflects decades of teaching by both authors, often together, at the Hebrew University, as well as long periods of residence in India. The book is structured chronologically, from prehistoric times to the twenty-first century, and includes, within a historical framework, numerous anecdotes, stories, and poems never before translated into Hebrew. Taken together, these are meant to give the lay readers--backpackers, couch travelers, India lovers, and other curious minds--a savory taste of India’s rich cultural menu.

In the few years after his retirement from public life and before he was sentenced to suicide, the Roman philosopher Seneca wrote the majority of his texts, which included over one hundred letters of wisdom (espistulae morales) sent to his friend Lucilius. These letters are considered the first appearance of literary letters in Roman prose. The letters are philosophical essays written by a very wise and witty old man concluding his life, an autobiography of our spiritual world. The issues that interested Seneca are eternally relevant.

This book sheds new light on the history of the sanctity of Jerusalem in Islam. It is noticed already in the Quran which describes Muhammad's vision of a nocturnal journey from the "sacred mosque" (al-masjid al-ḥarām) in Mecca to the "far-off mosque" (al-masjid al-aqṣā) namely, the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. In his night journey to the site of the demolished Temple, Muhammad signaled to his contemporary Jews the course of salvation in which already Moses had led the Children of Israel to their promised land. On the other hand, the Quran praises also the Abrahamic sanctity of Mecca, especially in sūras which reflect the polemical rift with the Jews who eventually refused to recognize Muhammad as their messianic savior. After the death of Muhammad, when the first Muslims came from Arabia to Palestine, their awareness of the Quranic sanctity of al-Masjid al-Aqṣā resurfaced. This book elucidates major aspects of the renewed and growing sanctity of Jerusalem and al-Sham at large, as reflected in the available Islamic traditions. These traditions show also how patterns of the sanctity of Jerusalem were eventually adapted to Mecca in reaction to the growing prestige of Jerusalem, especially during the Umayyad period.

The book deals with challenges to the identity and stability of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state. The first part of the book deals with the challenges that arise from all cultural groups in Israeli society: Arabs, migrant workers, religious Zionists, ultra-Orthodox, traditionalists, Olim from the former Soviet Union, Jews of Ethiopian origin, secular Jews. The second section deals with the ideological challenges that arise from the radical left and the religious and secular nationalist right. The third section deals with the significant issues in which there is a conflict between the Jewish and democratic identity of the State of Israel: the minority status of Arab Israeli citizens; Israeli control of Judea and Samaria; religious and state relations in Israel and the possibility of presenting an outline to strengthen Israel's Jewish and democratic identity at the same time.

Aron Menczer (1917-1943) was an active member of the Zionist youth movement Gordonya. After the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany in March 1938, he became deeply involved in the efforts of the Youth Aliyah to enable Jewish youngsters to emigrate from Austria to Palestine. Menczer postponed his own Aliyah in order to continue to work for the exit of Jewish youth from Nazi Austria, and became in September 1939 the director of the Youth Aliyah in Vienna. His absolute devotion to the emigration efforts and to the educational work with the remaining Jewish youngsters in Vienna made him their recognized leader. Menczer was deported to Ghetto Theresienstadt in September 1942, where he continued his educational work. In October 1943 he was transported to Birkenau with a group of 1196 children, who were brought to Theresienstadt from Bialistok, and with 52 adults who, like him, volunteered to take care of them. They were all murdered there. The personality and deeds of Aron Menczer are the center of the book. A couple of chapters deal with the historical background: the Nazi policy of pressuring Jews to exit the country, prior to the phase of deportation and murder, and the efforts by the Youth Aliyah and other organizations to rescue them. The book is based on the original German version edited by Joanna Nittenberg und Benjamin Kaufmann. Two new parts were added to the current Hebrew version, edited by Jacob (Kobi) Metzer . One is a comprehensive introduction which examines Menczer’s activity in light of some general issues raised in the research literature. The other part consists of archival sources which were added to the book for additional insights.

The Hebrew Bible is the cornerstone of Judaism and Jewish culture; as such, it also provides the foundation for the other two monotheistic religions, Christianity and Islam. It is a book that embodied numerous revolutions, the most prominent of which was the Monotheistic Revolution, the replacement of polytheism with the belief in one all-powerful God who both created the world and governs it. Among the other revolutionary ideas that are put forward by the Bible we find the establishment of the Sabbath, the granting of one city — Jerusalem — a monopoly over holiness, the opposition to human kingship, and the moral dimensions of prophecy, to name just a few. Over the centuries and millennia, these revolutionary ideas have continued to attract and inspire readers, believers, interpreters and artists.

The Quran is the holy scripture of a religion that has changed the world. It contains the speech of God unto Muhammad the prophet, and through him unto his entire generation -- Idolatrous Arabs, Jews and Christians. This book delineates the major issues which are discovered as one reads through the Quran: How God was revealed to the prophet; in what manner he speaks to him; how he guides the prophet to enlarge the community of believers and face his opponents; how he defines the community of believers; what are the moral and ethical codes which he lays down for them; what is the image of God; what is the religion of Islam which God calls the people to follow; what are the practical ways for expressing the belief in the unity of God; the Abrahamic faith to which one must adhere so as to become a true Muslim. The present book also reviews God's polemics with Jews, Christians and idolaters; the status of the scriptures of the Jews and the Christians; the conditions of war and peace with the unbelievers at large; the descriptions of the resurrection and the day of judgment, as well the colorful descriptions of paradise and hell.

David Biale’s Gershom Scholem traces Scholem’s tumultumous life, tying together his scholarly studies with his political activism and cultural criticism. By mining a rich trove of diaries, letters and other writings, Biale shows how Scholem’s inner life must be understood as the necessary background to understanding his most important writings. Far from a dry, ivory-tower scholar, Scholem emerges as a passionately engaged man of his times, whose life encompassed the most significant events of the Jewish twentieth-century: World War I, the rise of Nazism, World War II and the Holocaust, and the creation of the state of Israel.

The Mekhilta of R. Shimeon Ben Yohai is a Tannaitic Midrash on Exodus, redacted in the early third century in the spirit of the disciples of R. Akiba. This text was lost over the years, but a significant part of it was reconstructed on the basis of pages from the Cairo Geniza and citations by medieval scholars in an edition by J.N. Epstein and E.Z. Melamed. Heretofore this Mekhilta has not received a comprehensive commentary, and its study has been based only on selected passages. This book presents the first systematic study of the Nezikin portion in the Mekhilta . It is based on a re-examination of the manuscripts, suggesting improved readings and completion of lacunae, a thorough study of the terminology and methodology used in the text, close comparison with parallel passages in the Mekhilta of R. Ishmael and throughout Talmudic literature, and detailed analysis of its redaction. The book contains elucidating innovations regarding the literal meaning of the homilies, the precise understanding of midrashic terminology, the explicit and implicit literary connections between the Mekhilta and the Mishna and Tosefta, and a fascinating quest after its creation and redaction, helping to interpret the multitude of dissonances in content and style that appear in the section on Nezikin (Torts)}. The insights on substance and in principle to be found in this book constitute a major contribution to the interpretation and study of the Mekhilta of R. Shimeon Ben Yohai in particular, and the method of creation and redaction of Tannaitic Midrashim in general. Students of Torah and anyone interested in Talmudic research will find this book most edifying.

Policy Practice in Social Work by Idit Weiss-Gal and John Gal is the first Hebrew language book on this subject. The book, written by two international experts on the subject, offers an overview of the involvement of social workers in the social policy process. Based on a decade of research by the authors on policy practice in Israel and in a cross-national perspective, it includes a wide ranging discussion of the concept and presents an up-to-date review of the research on this subject. In addition, the book covers the findings of a study of the policy involvement of Israeli social workers in the policy process and draws upon the social policy and public policy literature in order to suggest strategies for policy practice by social workers.

This book describes the special customs belonging to the way of life and the communities of Ashkenazi Jews.

Meidias (in Greek Mειδίας; lived 4th century BC), an Athenian of considerable wealth and influence, was a violent and bitter enemy of Demosthenes, the orator. His hostility he first displayed in 361 BC when he broke violently into the house of Demosthenes, with his brother Thrasylochus, to take possession of it,–Thrasylochus having offered, in the case of a trierarchy, to make an exchange of property with Demosthenes, under a private understanding with the guardians of the latter that, if the exchange were effected, the suit then pending against them should be dropped. This led Demosthenes to bring against him an accusation of kakegoria (ie verbal insult), and when Meidias after his condemnation did not fulfil his obligations, Demosthenes brought against him a dike exules (ie a trial for obtaining something already lawfully assigned to the plaintif). Meidias found means to prevent any decision being given far a period of eight years, and at length, in 354 BC, he had an opportunity to take revenge upon Demosthenes, who had in that year voluntarily undertaken the choregia. Meidias not only endeavoured in all possible ways to prevent Demosthenes from dis­charging his office in its proper form; also, their mutual relations were sored more still when Demosthenes attempted to oppose the proposal for sending aid against Callias and Taurosthenes of Chalcis to Plutarch, the tyrant of Eretria, and the friend of Meidias. The breaking point arrived when Meidias attacked Demosthenes with open violence during the celebration of the great Dionysia. Such an act gave Demosthenes a good opportunity for moving a public incrimination against his enemy (353 BC), and on this occasion wrote Against Meidias, still extant, which was never pronounced as the two adversaries found an amicable arrangement under which Demosthenes retired his accusation for thirty minae.

This masterly collection of essays offers a multifaceted analysis of how Jewish leaders in medieval and early modern times responded to the challenges they faced. Based largely on the study of sermons and responsa—genres that show Jewish leaders addressing real situations in the lives of their people—it reveals how rabbis have handled intellectual, social, and political diversity and conflict within various vibrant Jewish societies. As medieval Jews were exposed to new philosophical ideas, many began to question and challenge rabbinical leadership. Several of the essays explore the process by which these ideas became more accessible , the doubts that consequently arose regarding certain biblical and rabbinic texts, and the attempt by some leaders to ban the study of philosophical texts. Other essays address the rhetoric of rebuke with which preachers criticized behavior within their community that they considered to be a violation of Jewish law and tradition. Another set of essays focuses on the challenges emerging from external forces, including the unification of France, the Spanish Inquisition and Edict of Expulsion, and the beginning of the Counter-Reformation. One essay explores and challenges the basis for criticism of the talent and leadership of rabbis in such times of crisis. A final section is devoted to conflicting attitudes towards the Holy Land, exile and diasporic existence, and messianic movements and personalities. These essays represent three decades of scholarship by a distinguished historian. Bringing them together in a single volume allows a new generation of students and scholars to have access to his insights and conclusions.

The book Statutory Jewish Prayers is a collection of essays by Ezra Fleisher on the subject of prayer and synagogue rituals. The two volumes of this book include Fleishers fundamental essays about the essence and emergence of statutory prayer in Israel. This text is accompanied by ancient versions of Israelite prayer found in the Cairo Geniza Collection in Geneva. The book also includes descriptions of other rituals and customs exercised in Israelite synagogues such as Rosh Hodesh (new moon) customs and special ways to blow the shofar on the Sabath. Torah and Haftorah (additional reading from the prophets) reading are also referenced. The book ends with a detailed inspection of a few important Mahzorim.

In recent years, more and more students have been taking Health Economics courses in the framework of different academic programs. These students are mostly health professionals who had not been exposed to the world of economics before. This textbook aims to introduce the material intuitively, in an informal and non-technical way, and above all – in Hebrew. The book is the fruit of extensive experience, its author having taught the course at the Hebrew University, Ben Gurion University, Tel Aviv University and Yale University.

This collection of essays is meant to introduce the Christian Kabbalah and its evolution. One of the main interests of this book is the analysis of Latin texts translations written by Flavius Mitridates of the Kabbalah. Wirszubski found that Mitridates divided the texts into two currents: Christianity and sorcery. He also found that Pico Dela Mirendulas writings about the Christian Kabbalah were very much influenced by the Mitridates translations and full of misunderstandings.

MA‘ARAG: The Israel Annual of Psychoanalysis is a democratic forum for psychoanalytic research, practice, and criticism published through the initiative and cooperation of the Sigmund Freud Center for the Study of Psychoanalysis of the Hebrew University and the Israeli Association for Self Psychology and the Study of Subjectivity, the Israel Society for Analytical Psychology, the Israel Psychoanalytic Society, the Israel Institute for Group Analysis, the Israel Institute of Jungian Psychology, and the Tel-Aviv Institute for Contemporary Psychoanalysis. The articles in this volume: A viel Oren - PLAY OF DREAMS, DREAMS ABOUT PLAY: ON DREAM SPACE IN PSYCHOANALYTIC PLAY THERAPY WITH CHILDREN Omri Bichovski - IS METAPHYSICS HYSTERIA? Gal Ventura - THE DEAD MOTHER, THE UNCANNY AND THE ANXIETY OF MODERNITY Ditza Hananel - REMARKS ON THE RELATION BETWEEN MOTHER AND SON IN THE EARLY STAGE OF THE OEDIPUS COMPLEX Shlomit Yadlin-Gadot - TRUTH AXES AND THE MULTILINGUAL MIND: THEORY AND TECHNIQUE IN THE MIRROR OF TRUTH Moshe Landau - THOUGHT, MEANING AND ANTI-MEANING: DEVELOPMENT OF THE AESTHETIC DIMENSION OF MIND Gabi (Gabriela) Mann - FLEXIBLE WALLS: THE ANALYTIC FRAME (‘SETTING’) AS THE CURATIVE CONTEXT Ruth Netzer - BEYOND ACTIVE GOODNESS: ON PSYCHOANALYTIC PSYCHOTHERAPY AND JUDAISM Yorai Sella - THE SENSE OF SENSE: A REVISED PERSPECTIVE ON THE SCHIZOID DILEMMA IN LIGHT OF WINNICOTT’S CONCEPT OF THE TRUE SELF AND MERLEAU-PONTY’S PHENOMENOLOGY OF THE BODY Yochai Ataria - TRAUMA AS A BLACK HOLE IN THE HEART OF CULTURE: THE PASSAGE FROM INDIVIDUAL TO SOCIETY Roey Shopen - FROM THE PAGES OF A DIARY TO THE GAZE OF THE OTHER: AN ANALYSIS OF LEAH GOLDBERG’S DIARY AND DIARY WRITING AS AN ESSENTIAL PHENOMENON FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF SELF AUTONOMY

In this volume the author attempts to describe the whole prophetical narrative in the Hebrew Bible, delimiting the extent of the single stories and establishing the date of their composition, their ideas, and message.The discussion centers on the problem of the literary genres, whether the stories are history, legend, parable or any other genre.The artistic value of some of these biblical masterpieces is highlighted. The conclusions bear upon the value of the prophetical stories as sources for the political and religious history of ancient Israel This third edition has been extensively revised and augmented. The second edition, published in 1986, was translated into English, Italian and Russian.

The commentaries of Midrash Chachamim were written by an anonymous Italian author in the early sixteenth century as part of an extensive commentary to the weekly portions of the Torah reading. Throughout the work, the author copied the early complete midrashim such as Genesis Rabba and the halakhic midrashim almost verbatim. His autonomous creation is contained mostly in the commentaries to those portions that are missing in the halakhic midrash, and as such they are contained in the books of Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy (though not for all portions of these books). The author tried to explain the verses according to their plain meaning, although he often incorporated in-depth discussions as well as interpretive and pedagogic excursus. In this edition, for the first time, the commentaries of Midrash Chachamim were collated from manuscript for the 27 weekly portions for which they were written, and brought together in order to present the author’s hermeneutical approach. The edition is complemented with an introduction that shows the background for writing these commentaries and discusses the style and interpretive techniques employed by the author.

Contents: Zvi Ben Avraham and Michael Lazar- The structure and development of the Dead Sea basin Gideon Baer- A view from space on movements in the earth’s crust at the dead sea basin Shmuel Marco- Lake sediments of the Dead Sea basin as paleoseismometers Abraham Kaplan- Bromine of the Dead sea – production and applications Aharon Oren- Life in the Dead Sea – past, present and future Gideon Hadas- ‘Ein Gedi, where they grow the best dates and the opobalsamum (balsam)’

This volume includes research papers in librarianship, archives and information studies, representing a multi-disciplinary range of topics, such as history of printing, the book and libraries, the sociology of books and reading, archives organization and such new fields as bibliometrics and information systems. Thus, the contributions published do not purport to represent a systematic exposition of a single field or problem. The variety of styles and approaches reflects the diversity of interest and training of the contributors.

This dictionary is the outcome of a over 20 years fieldwork. It presents over 4000 entries and over 12000 subentries of the Hebrew component in Jewish languages, most of which were recorded from the mouth or informants. The research was focused on languages that were not studied at all or poorly studied: Judeo-Arabic of North Africa, Yemen and Iraq, Judeo-Georgian, Judeo-Persian and some Jewish Neo-Aramaic dialects. The dictionary refers to thel literature relevant to this field and has systematic references to a dictionary on the Hebrew component in Judeo-Italian in the making by Prof. Maria Mayer-Modena. In some entries the dictionary functions merely as a bibliographical index. The examples are transliterated and translated into Hebrew. In parenthesis are given the intitals of the informants. Based on Shlomo Morag's records.

For contents and article abstracts press on Sample pages which is located on the right of the cover photo.

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. The articles in this volume: Avi Shmidman, The Selihot of R. Joseph Ibn Abitur for the Tenth of Tevet Dan Greenberger, Alfasi's Responses to R. Isaac b. Barukh Ibn al-Baliya's Ccritiques Sarah Cohen, The Selihot of R. Sadoq al-'Amani Na'ama Ben-Shachar, The Baraita of Joseph ben Uzziel Dov Schwartz, Two Wedding Sermons by R. Michael ben Shabtai Balbo

Dr. Mozes presents a reflection of his own personal 25-year journey through the fields of clinical practice, clinical epidemiology, and history and philosophy of medicine. His journey passes through 20 stations. Most of the chapters deal with problems that are at the focus of contemporary public debate, such as cholesterol and heart disease, screening for early detection of breast cancer, hormone replacement therapy to treat menopause symptoms, hypertension, diabetes, asthma, vaccination, obesity and bariatric surgery, depression and dementia . At the same time Mozes tries to open a skylight on the personal experiences, motives and desires that drove him to delve into the various topics, and select his particular point of view. "Benjamin Mozes easily refutes many prejudices, touching upon the connections between fears, motivations, beliefs and anxieties, while being attentive to the state of the contemporary man - lending a wise and compassionate ear to patients." (from a review by Ariel Hirschfeld).

The variety of topics, styles and critical approaches, present in this volume, reflects the diversity of interests and training of the contributors who between them have studied in many of the major universities in the world.

This book describes the increasing interactions between wildlife and people in human settlements in Israel and beyond.

The aim of this book is to bring back classical authors such as Mendele, Agnon, Bialik and Brenner into our reading cycle and our life. Today the shelf life of literature that was born only yesterday is very short, much less classical literature disappearing from the eyes and ears of most readers. The key authors who have been researched in this book are major assets of the Hebrew canon,

We are pleased to present the readers with volume 18 of Massorot, published through the cooperation of the Center for Jewish Languages and Literatures and the Jewish Oral Traditions Research Center of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The present volume contains nine articles and a review (with additional notes) of an unpublished Hebrew–Yiddish dictionary. The contributions include work by established authorities in the field of Jewish language research, as well as the fruit of younger researchers who have recently joined their ranks. The diversity of the scholarship in the present volume is to be seen in the wide variety of languages discussed, the varied linguistic and literary topics analyzed, as well as the diverse periods in which the sources studied were produced. In his article, Moshe Bar-Asher analyzes the Romance component in the varieties of Judeo-Arabic spoken in recent generations in Ksar Es-Souk, Morocco. Chava Turniansky focuses on the Hebrew component in literary Yiddish as an indicator of the level of traditional education of the writers incorporating it in works they composed in the second decade of the 18th century. Michal Held examines reflections of spoken Judeo-Spanish woven into the weave of a contemporary Hebrew novel. Ilil Baum analyzes the use of the productive suffix -ad̠a in Judeo-Spanish as compared with the use of its cognates in non-Jewish languages of Ibero-Romance stock. Hanoch Gamliel argues in his article that some of the lĕ‘azim (or Old Judeo-French explanatory elements) adduced in Rashi’s commentary on the Torah should be understood as examples of grammatical categories rather than as lexical correspondents. Two of the articles in the present volume deal with problems of translation. Michael Ryzhik examines how the Hebrew names of birds and fowl appearing in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14 were rendered in Judeo-Italian Bible translations from the 15th and 16th centuries. Shay Matsa focuses on the linguistic characteristics of a modern Arabic translation of the Passover Haggadah produced in 2003 by a Jew from Syria, examined in the light of personal observations made to the author by the translator himself. Ora (Rodrigue) Schwarzwald compares the linguistic features of two texts in Ladino composed by the same author, Rabbi Meir Benveniste of mid-16th-century Salonika. Efraim Hazan presents and analyzes a letter of friendship in Hebrew verse from Morocco; the numerical value of the Hebrew letters of each stanza (except one) is 654, corresponding to the Hebrew year ([5]654 = 1894) in which the letter was written. The closing article focuses on an unpublished Hebrew–Yiddish dictionary written by Meir Berger in the 1970s. This article includes an introduction by Berger’s former student, Chava Turniansky, and personal notes by his son, Yitzhaq Berger. These are followed by Yitskhok Niborski’s review of Berger’s dictionary, in which it is compared with the 1960 Hebrew–Yiddish dictionary of Mordechai Tsanin. Niborski’s review was translated from Yiddish into Hebrew by Moshe Taube. The book features article summaries in English.

MA‘ARAG: The Israel Annual of Psychoanalysis is a democratic forum for psychoanalytic research, practice, and criticism published through the initiative and cooperation of the Sigmund Freud Center for the Study of Psychoanalysis of the Hebrew University and the Israeli Association for Self Psychology and the Study of Subjectivity, the Israel Society for Analytical Psychology, the Israel Psychoanalytic Society, the Israel Institute for Group Analysis, the Israel Institute of Jungian Psychology, and the Tel-Aviv Institute for Contemporary Psychoanalysis. The articles in this Volume: Efrat Even-Tzur - MORAL ACTION BY WAY OF FREE WILL FROM A PSYCHOANALYTIC VIEWPOINT: A LACANIAN READING OF FREUD AND KANT Dudi (Yehudah) Alon - “IDENTIFICATION” AND “CANNIBALISM” IN FREUD’S THOUGHT: CONCEPTS THAT ILLUSTRATE DELEUZE’S AND GUATTARI’S NOTION OF RHIZOMATIC THINKING Rivah Altman - “WHO IS COMING AFTER ME?” TWO MODES OF SIBLING TRANSFERENCE IN PSYCHOANALYTIC PSYCHOTHERAPY Rony Alfandary - DREAMING IN ALEXANDRIA: A PSYCHOANALYTICAL STUDY OF LAWRENCE DURRELL’S THE ALEXANDRIA QUARTET Ruth Gat-Dubrov - ‘WETTING’ IN A SEA OF TEARS: THE JOURNEY FROM SYMPTOM TO THE OTHER Ditza Hananel - THE RAPE COMPLEX AND THE FEMININE OEDIPUS COMPLEX Joseph Triest - SEXUALITY AND ITS UNIQUE ROLE IN CONSTITUTING THE PSYCHOANALYTIC SUBJECT IN TERMS OF BODY-EGO AND OBJECT-EGO Refael Yonatan Leus - THE PRE-TRAUMATIC ZIONIST DREAM: A FREUDIAN STUDY OF BIBLICAL ETYMOLOGICAL INTERPERTATIONS OF THE NAME ‘ZION’ Ruth Netzer - FROM THE “TOTEMIC FEAST” TO THE “PEACHES OF ETERNITY:” FOOD SYMBOLISM FROM THE KITCHEN OF THE SOUL FROM A JUNGIAN PERSPECTIVE Shani Samai - THE LINES PLAY THEMSELVES: READING ‘THE THREE-LEGGED CHICKEN’ BY Y. KENAZ IN THE LIGHT OF DELEUZE’S AND GUATTARI’S CONCEPT OF ‘BECOMING’ Inbal Raz Brakin - REGARDING THE NAME-OF-THE-FATHER, THE DISCOURSE OF DESIRE, AND DEBT: A LACANIAN INTERPRETATION OF THE BIBLICAL STORY OF MIRIAM THE PROPHETESS Michael Shoshani and Batya Shoshani - A TWISTED MOTHER-SON COALITION LEADING TO PERVERSE NARCISSISTIC SELF-CONFIGURATION

Elementary School Mathematics is written for elementary school teachers as well as parents who wish to be involved in their childrens first steps in mathematical education. The reading of this book will benefit educators - whether at home or at school - by consolidating their content knowledge, while exposing them to both complexity and beauty of elementary mathematics.

This book present for the first time a comprehensive outlook at the field of internationalization in education combining a solid theoretical background with empiric studies within Israeli educational settings. This book contributes to the theory on globalization and education and it provides novel insights for scholars, students and practitioners within the discipline.

Martin Luther, the initiator of the Protestant Reformation, presents the principles of his theological and political theory in the four treatises before us. In the first essay from 1917, also known as Ninety-Five Theses , Luther condemns the Catholic custom of selling plenary indulgences, already expressing insinuated criticism against the Catholic Church and Pope for their pretentions attempts to mediate between the believer and God. In the three essays he wrote in 1520, Luther undermines the foundations of the Catholic Church and its medieval development. This approach had a tremendous influence on all countries that later became Protestant.

The religious transformations that marked late antiquity represent an enigma that has challenged some of the West’s greatest thinkers. But the oppositions between paganism and Christianity that characterize prevailing theories have endured for too long. Instead of describing this epochal change as an evolution within the Greco-Roman world from polytheism to monotheism, he argues that the cause for this shift can be found not so much around the Mediterranean as in the Near East . The End of Sacrifice points to the role of Judaism, particularly its inventions of new religious life following the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. . The end of animal sacrifice gave rise to new forms of worship, with a concern for personal salvation, for scriptural study, for rituals like praying and fasting, and with the rise of religious communities and monasticism. It is what Christianity learned from Judaism about texts, death, and, above all, sacrifice that allowed it to supersede Greco-Roman religions and transform religion itself.

Order In the Bible: The Arrangement of the Torah in Rabbinic and Medieval Jewish Commentary examines ideas about biblical order in the commentaries of Rashi, Ibn Ezra, and Nahmanides against the background of the Midrashic tradition. On the face of it, the arrangement of portions in the Torah is chronological, but close examination reveals more than a few discrepancies. The Midrash sometimes responded by saying that "There is no ‘earlier’ and ‘later’ in the Torah" (en muqdam ume'uhar ba-Torah)-- the order of the Torah is not always chronological. This response left the reader facing unexplained juxtapositions of chapters and verses. In some of the cases, the sages asked, lama nismekha, “Why were these two portions juxtaposed?” Usually, they sought to connect the unconnected stories and verses in the midrashic fashion, by adding to the events of the stories or by taking the second unit as the outcome of the first and deriving therefrom some moral teaching. Occasionally though, we find an attempt to answer the question of juxtaposition in terms that might be considered closer to the peshat method of explication. Moving in the direction of the peshat, medieval Jewish exegetes tried to explain biblical arrangement of both narratives and law based on thematic, associative, or literary links. Their attempts resulted in new ideas about the ordering of the Torah. This book contains hundreds of references to juxtaposition and non-chronological arrangements cited in the writings of the above commentators. These examples are put into the framework of each commentator's general approach to interpretation and his particular sense of biblical order. Dr. Isaac Gottlieb is a Senior lecturer in the Department of Bible at Bar-Ilan University and a member of its Institute for Jewish Bible Interpretation.

Sifre is a Tannaitic midrash on the book of Numbers, and is rightfully considered to be one of the fundamental assets of our ancient literature. Its previous edition was published about hundred years ago by R. Hayyim Shaul Horovitz. Since then, additional manuscripts have been discovered of Sifre, its first commentators, and medieval collections and midrashim that cite it. This was accompanied by the significant development of the methodological conceptions of the study of the Rabbinic literature, and of the ways to publish critical editions of this literature. All these factors justify the publication of a new scientific edition of this midrash . The text of the new edition, that is based on MS. Vatican 32, includes many versions that differ from the earlier version, and that occasionally shed new light on the exegeses and halakhot of the Sifre. It is accompanied by the scholarly apparatus that lists and explains all of the edition's changes from the version of MS. Vatican. The number of direct and indirect textual witnesses presented in the "Textual Variants" section of the new edition is twice, and at times even triple, the number of textual witnesses that were available to Horowitz. In the detailed commentary on the expositions in Sifre, I made considerable use of all the Sifre commentators who preceded me, and who made a decisive contribution to the literal explanation of the midrash's exegeses and the clarification of their meaning. Thanks, however, to the diverse textual witnesses available to me and the great progress made in recent generations in the study of the language and teachings of the Tannaim, I believe that I have succeeded in recreating the original version of many expositions, in giving them a new and straightforward explanation, and in advancing the research of their redaction . The edition is intended, first and foremost, for the scholars, in Israel and throughout the world, who are engaged in the research of all aspects of the Rabbinic literature. Additionally, the new edition will likely aid the community of Torah scholars who teach and study in yeshivot, and the educated public at large. The first half of the work, comprising the portions of Naso and Beha'alotekha, was published by Magnes Press in 2011. Contents Part I: The Edition Volume 1 Preface Symbols of the textual witnesses of Sifre on Numbers List of symbols in the edition Introduction Editing rules for the text and the accompanying scholarly apparatus Textual variants Parallels passages in Talmudic literature The commentary Edition of Sifre on Numbers, portions of Naso and Beha'alotekha (the base text, and below it: 1. Scholarly notes to the base text; 2. Talmudic parallels; 3. Textual variants) Volume 2 Preface Edition of Sifre on Numbers, portions of Shelach till Masei (the base text, and below it: 1. Scholarly notes to the base text; 2. Talmudic parallels; 3. Textual variants) Part II Commentary on Sifre , Piska‛ot 1-58 (portion of Naso ) Part III Commentary on Sifre , Piska‛ot 59-106 (portion of Beha'alotekha ) Part IV Commentary on Sifre , Piska‛ot 107-161 (portions of Shelach – Masei ) List of abbreviations of the primary sources and the scholarly literature Indices

The articles in this volume: The Legislation of War: A Study of the Story of the Israelite War against Midian (Numbers 31) - riel Kopilovitz ‘You shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots’ (Joshua 11:6): The Identification of Horses and Chariots as the Weapons of Israel’s Enemies in Biblical Literature - Yakov Dolgopolsky-Geva A Complete Root Glossary of Canaanite Words and Forms from the Amarna Tablets - Esther Haber ‘We must have a king over us, that we may be like all the other nations’ (I Sam 8:19): Israelite Kings in Art - Irit Ziffer The Story of the Sons of God and the Daughters of Men (Gen. 6:1–4) in Light of the Hesiodic Catalogue of Women. Akkadian Itineraries: From the Kingdom of Akkad to the Assyrian Empire - Amitai Baruchi-Unna The Akkadian Wisdom Composition ‘Hear the Advice’: Traditional Wisdom versus Rebellious Skepticism - Yoram Cohen The Leqah Tov Commentary on Song of Songs: Its Place in the History of Biblical Exegesis and its Relationship with the Commentary of Rashi - Jonathan Jacobs Nachmanides’ Exegesis of Midrash in his Commentary on the Torah - Miriam Sklarz Additions and Changes in Nachmanides’ Commentaries relating to the Geography of Israel - David Shneor Book Reviews For contents and article abstracts please press " Sample pages "

AMILAT se honra en presentar el séptimo volumen de su serie Judaica Latinoamericana , que incluye una amplia selección de los trabajos presentados en la Sección América Latina del XV Congreso Mundial de Estudios Judaicos (Jerusalén 2009), por investigadores establecidos en las Américas e Israel, especializados en diversas disciplinas de las humanidades y las ciencias sociales. El volumen enfoca una variedad de temas pertenecientes a las experiencias históricas, sociales y culturales del judaísmo en América Latina, tanto respecto de lo que poseen en común como en cuanto a sus diferencias debidas a los diversos contextos nacionales. A ello se suman renovadoras propuestas metodológicas, necesarias en vista de fenómenos socio-culturales recientes originados en la globalización y el transnacionalismo, que se proyectan hacia el futuro de las investigaciones en el área.

Contents: Zvi Garfunkel- The tectonics of the Dead Sea transform Mordechai Stein- Climate change in the Dead Sea basin and the evolution of human culture in Israel and the neighboring regions during the Holocene Avinoam Danin- Vegetation in the Dead Sea basin Yoseph Yechieli and Meir Abelson- Sink-holes on the Dead Sea shore Nir Moscovitch and Oren Bar-Yosef- The magnesium metal era – the future is light Shimon Moses- The Dead Sea – a natural site for therapy and health

This study of the Parable of the Three Rings is the first full account in Hebrew of the history and the literary and allegorical origins of the parable, as well as of its reception from the early Middle Ages to the Early Modern period. The study provides evidence for the non-Western origins of the parable, which are known mostly through its Western European renderings in Lessing's Nathan the Wise and Boccaccio's Decameron. In some of its versions, the parable contains the idea of religious relativism. This idea was often accommodated in its particular cultural and religious surroundings, but at other times negated and altered to suit the preferences of the other narrators and audiences. Whether the original, relativist, possibly tolerant, message were upheld or not – makes the history of the parable more intriguing to modern readers. The study of the parable tracks the religious idea -- presented in various allegorical forms -- back to its Muslim origins. It also reveals the Eastern origins of the parable's literary framework. The discussion follows the evolution of the parable and its entrance into Catholic Europe, analyzing it contextually and with reference to prevalent contemporary religious ideas among Muslims, Jews, and Christians between the eighth and the sixteenth centuries . A Hebrew translation of Avishai Margalit's “The Ring: On Religious Pluralism” provides a logical-philosophical perspective on the idea of religious pluralism .

The Jewish National and University Library came into being in the years of the British mandate. Its mission was to collect preserve and centralize the spiritual treasures of the Jewish people. Eventually, it would contribute to the fulfillment of the Zionist objective of nation building. The Tel Aviv municipality brought the literary remains of national poets and writers like Bialik and Ahad Ha-Am into its library system. Their collections were developed into public municipal libraries. The Histadrut established a central library and supplied the settlement movement with library services. In that way it contributed to the realization of political, social and ideological aspirations of establishing a socialist society. Simultaneously, with these efforts to collect centralize and preserve the Jewish spiritual heritage in Palestine, the evil Nazi regime became active in destroying Jewish culture by book burning, cleansing German libraries of Jewish books and scattering Jewish libraries and collections in ghettos and concentration camps. Nevertheless and paradoxically, the Nazis have secured and preserved some of the more valuable Jewish library collections for future research in order to be able, post factum to legitimize the destruction of the Jewish people and its spiritual heritage. The two sections of the book document and describe conflicting processes: building and destruction, collecting and dispersion, securing and destroying, plunder and restitution of private and public Jewish book collections and libraries. In the first part, "Libraries and book collections during the British mandate in Palestine" the creation and shaping of a national library and public libraries are described. In the second part "Burning scrolls and flying letters" the negative processes of confiscation and plundering of Jewish libraries throughout Europe are delineated. The salvaging activities of libraries and books by Hebrew University emissaries after the Holocaust and the transfer of the remnants to Jerusalem are discussed. In the last section of the book, the reader may find some historical documents that lend support to the two sections of the book and have never been published so far.

Aristotle’s Hand discusses in an accessible way but without intellectual compromise some classical philosophical problems and issues. It contains five independent chapters: on the dream argument; on freedom of the will; on measurement and distance; on the argument from design and evolution; and on the nature of philosophy. It will appeal to the general reader but is also suitable for introductory university courses and high school philosophy classes. The first chapter presents the dream argument and explains why the conception of knowledge that the argument presupposes, originating with Plato and derived from mathematics, is unjustified. The second chapter discusses the nature of free will and its relation to our accountability for our actions, and shows how it is compatible with determinism in nature. The third chapter investigates various aspects of measurement generally and of that of distance particularly, and explores their interrelations and limitations. The fourth chapter confronts the argument from design with evolutionary theory as purported explanations of apparent design in nature, and explains the limitations of the former, its fundamental weakness, and the advantages of the latter. The last chapter discusses the nature of philosophy, its failure to supply knowledge about the world, the insights it can offer, and its possible contribution to other disciplines. The book combines an introduction to classical philosophical debates with original contributions. Both experienced and new readers will find it valuable and stimulating.

Mount Carmel of Graf von Mülinen is a translated, edited and annotated edition of the monumental Beiträge zur Kenntnis des Karmels, written by Graf Eberhardt von Műinen, a well-known Swiss researcher and diplomat. His book was first published in Leipzig by Baedeker Publishing in 1908. The work constitutes a meticulous and professional exploration of Mount Carmel in the beginning of the twentieth-century, and an important stepping stone in the chronology of the field. This Interdisciplinary study of the mountain covers a range of fields such as Arabic dialectology, botany, zoology, general geography, geology, climate, anthropology, religion, archaeology and folklore. This book is dedicated to the 44 casualties of the devastating fire on Mount Carmel in December 2010.

The Biographies of the Severi emperors are part of a Roman Emperor biography collection known as SCRIPTORES HISTORIAE AUGUSTAE, and in short - 'History Augusta'. Introduced, translated and annotated by David Golan

The book "Sabras don’t age" explores the inner world and identities of 23 senior officers from the founding Israeli 1948's generation, at their seventies. As human representations of the "Sabra" – the mythological "new Jew" – these officers embody the extreme opposition between youthfulness and old age; between hegemony and marginality. Those persons who once constituted the ultimate symbols of the Hebrew youngster, the agile commander, the powerful masculine body, and the Western ideal of eternal youth – are presently facing the deterioration of their bodies, their approaching death, and most painfully – the current cultural meanings of being old. Their personal aging process is accompanied by major changes that took place in the Israeli society, primarily the move from collectivistic toward individualistic ideologies, with the consequent undermining of their status. How do these Israeli heroes settle the wide contradiction between the values which they have symbolized throughout their lives and their present situation? Are they able to preserve their status as national pantheon heroes, while coping at the same time with the various demands posed by their advanced age? Already at their eight life decade, the Israeli officers identify themselves – in their "narrative identity cards" – as Sabras, men and heroic commanders who have dedicated their lives to their homeland, and above all –as non-old. Yet, as opposed to the ceased time in the narratives, time incessantly flows in their private lives. Indeed, the officers do not deny their aging. Rather, they are completely aware of the changes that took place in their lives and bodies and directly cope with the new needs. Through the mechanism of compartmentalization, they are able to preserve a public heroic young self, while coping - in private - with old age. In this way, they succeed to maintain a valued identity in a world that worships youth. These officers' identity management sheds light not only on the first Israelis at their advanced years, but also on the founding ethos of the Israeli collective identity. However, as the youth ideal is by no means bounded to the Israeli case, but encompasses the Western world as a whole, the identity strategies employed by the Sabra Generals possess major implications for all elders, and especially for older men, in the post-modern era. Thus, this book is aimed not only at readers interested in the Israeli society and culture, and not only at those concerned with the aging of army officers, but to anyone that wonders how is it possible to age keeping a respected and continuous self in a world that relates to old people as the ultimate "other".

In this second volume of his essays on the history of halakhah, Haym Soloveitchik grapples with much-disputed topics in medieval Jewish history and takes issue with a number of reigning views. His insistence that proper understanding requires substantive, in-depth analysis of the sources leads him to a searching analysis of oft-cited halakhic texts of Ashkenaz, frequently with conclusions that differ from the current consensus. Medieval Jewish historians cannot, he argues, avoid engaging in detailed textual criticism, and texts must always be interpreted in the context of the legal culture of their time. Historians who shirk these tasks risk reinforcing a version that supports their own preconceptions, and retrojecting later notions on to an earlier age. These basic methodological points underlie every topic discussed. In Part I, devoted to the cultural origins of Ashkenaz and its lasting impact, Professor Soloveitchik questions the scholarly consensus that the roots of Ashkenaz lie deep in Palestinian soil. He challenges the widespread notion that it was immemorial custom (minhag kadmon) that primarily governed Early Ashkenaz, the culture that emerged in the Rhineland in the late tenth century and which was ended by the ravages of the First Crusade (1096). He similarly rejects the theory that it was only towards the middle of the eleventh century that the Babylonian Talmud came to be regarded as fully authoritative. On the basis of an in-depth analysis of the literature of the time, he shows that the scholars of Early Ashkenaz displayed an astonishing command of the complex corpus of the Babylonian Talmud and viewed it at all times as the touchstone of the permissible and the forbidden. The section concludes with his own radical proposal as to the source of Ashkenazi culture and the stamp it left upon the Jews of northern Europe for close to a millennium. The second part of the volume treats the issue of martyrdom as perceived and practised by Jews under Islam and Christianity. In one of the longer essays, Soloveitchik claims that Maimonides’ problematic Iggeret ha-Shemad is a work of rhetoric, not halakhah—a conclusion that has generated much criticism from other scholars, to whom he replies one by one. This is followed by a comprehensive study of kiddush ha-shem in Ashkenaz, which draws him into an analysis of whether aggadic sources were used by the Tosafists in halakhic arguments, as some historians claim; whether there was any halakhic validation of the widespread phenomenon of voluntary martyrdom; and, indeed, whether halakhic considerations played any part in such tragic life-and-death issues. The book concludes with two essays on Mishneh torah which argue that that famed code must also be viewed as a work of art which sustains, as masterpieces do, multiple conflicting interpretations.

This book, a first attempt to analyze German Zionism in a global Zionist context, sheds new light on the role of German Zionism in the German-Jewish community. It traces the emergence of a small component of the Zionist movement which regardless of size played a distinctive part in both German-Jewish and Zionist history on the eve of World War II. Positioned strategically between East and West, German Zionism was open to influences from both sides. Although post-assimilationist, it was affected by the encounter with East European Jewry. The product was a unique form of Zionism that combined Western ideas with radical "Palestinocentrism."

Mediation Ethics: Codes of Ethics and Dealing with Dilemmas is the first book in Israel to present a theoretical conception of professional ethics in mediation, alongside ethical codes for mediators, practical examples of ethical dilemmas, and ways to solve these dilemmas. The book presents and explains professional ethics in the mediation process; the ethical obligations of mediators; ethical codes for mediators, including the Ethical Code for Mediators in Community Mediation and Dialogue Centers (2018) and the Ethical Code for Mediators (2014) of Kiryat Ono Community Mediation Center. It presents a systematic approach to ethical analysis of questions, which arise during the mediation process, and real case studies of ethical issues in mediation. The book is intended for mediators, mediation parties, lawyers representing mediation parties, researchers, lecturers, students, instructors and students in mediation courses. It provides a glimpse into the unique knowledge and activities developed in the Kiryat Ono Community Mediation Center in the field of ethics, and distributes the work of the Ethics Forum that operates in the Center from 2012.

This monograph originated in the Paley Lectures in American Civilization, at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, May 1978. The lectures tackle one of the most powerful forces shaping American constitutional law, a notion deeply rooted in the county’s pre-constitutional history: the idea that there are natural, or fundamental, rights which take precedence over the enactments of legislatures.

The Assassination of Y. Rabin has bought around an influx of artistic reflection . This book opts to study the assassination as it was depicted by leading Israeli artists, while stressing the interrelations between arts and politics in Israel. The book includes 30 interviews with the artists and images depicting the assassination, combining their political convections in the context of their artistic styles and personal biographies.

Korot is devoted to the study of the philosophical, sociological and ethical aspects of the history of medicine and Judaism. The topics covered by the Journal include: medicine in Jewish and Hebrew sources, the history of Jewish physicians, medicine in Palestine and Israel and medicine during the Nazi period. Korot is published annually. Each volume contains mostly English-language articles, together with some Hebrew contributions (abstracted in English). The "Historical Notes" and "Notes and Events" sections cover recent important developments and events in the above mentioned topics around the world. Each issue also includes several reviews of noteworthy books and contributions to the field. Korot is sponsored by The Dr. Manuel & Helen Glazier Memorial Fund of The American Physicians Fellowship for Medicine in Israel, and the Center for Jewish Medical Heritage. Its editorial board comprises scholars from the USA, France, Germany, UK and Israel. Korot is the organ of the Israel Association of the History of Medicine, of the Harry Friedenwald Chair of the History of Medicine and of the M. Glazier Institute of the History of Medicine, Jerusalem. Its past editor was the late Professor Joshua O. Leibowitz and the present editor is Professor Samuel S. Kottek, M.D.

This book explains in simple and understandable words all the principles, mechanisms of action and advantages of all the treatment modalities at health resort areas. This book describes all the diseases that can be treated successfully at the Dead Sea. and is the first one that was written and directed for the general public.

This collection of essays by scholars from Canada, England, France, India and Israel explores the intersections of identity, community and nation within Canadian culture. Multiple waves of immigration and the intermingling of histories, memories and cultures have engaged Canadians in cross-cultural exchanges that have rendered definitions of identity, increasingly complex. Modern-day mobility fosters cultural diversity and transnational identities, calling for a redefinition of subjectivity and belonging as well as challenging nationalist discourses.

Textus is the only scholarly journal in the world devoted solely to issues of the textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible and related questions. The volumes present a wide range of research papers dealing with general topics and the specialized aspects of the work of the Bible Project, in English, French (with Hebrew summaries), and Hebrew. To date twenty three volumes of studies have been published, edited by the editors of the HUBP and other textual scholars Contents Alexander Rofé - Isac Leo Seeligmann – Text Criticism in Context Jože Krašovec - Phonetic Factors in Transliteration of Biblical Proper Names into Greek and Latin D. Andrew Teeter - “You Shall Not Seethe a Kid in its Mother’s Milk”: The Text and the Law in Light of Early Witnesses Christoph Levin Aram und/oder Edom in den Büchern Samuel und Könige David Weissert - Obadiah 20: Septuagint and Vulgate Adele Berlin - Rams and Lambs in Psalm 114:4 and 6: The Septuagint’s Translation of X //
 Y Parallelisms Johann Cook - The Relationship between Textual Criticism, Literary Criticism and Exegesis – An Interactive One? Frank H. Polak - The Place of the Dikaios: Creative Translation and Verse Order in the Septuagint of Proverbs Bradley Gregory - The Rebuilding of the Temple in the Text of Tobit 13 and its Implications for Second Temple Hermeneutics Christopher - Begg Solomon Secures his Kingdom According to Josephus Yonatan Sagiv - “To Give Moses a Pause …”: New Examples of Biblical Textual Divisions as Reflected in Rabbinic Literature and a Suggested Connection to the Calendar Debate Moshe A. Zipor - “The Blessing of the Priests is not Read and not Translated”? Rafael Isaac (Singer) Zer - Was the Masorete of the Aleppo Codex of Rabbinate or of Karaite Origin? Sara Japhet - Did Rashbam Know the Vulgate Latin Translation of the Song of Songs? Yosef Ofer - Methods and Sources of Yedidya Shelomo Norzi in his Treatise Minhat Shay Hebrew Abstracts 

The Babylonian Talmud is the Jewish composition of greatest scope, and its influence on Jewish life is decisive. Jewish sages have devoted more time and energy to its study and halakhic interpretation than to any other book, including the Bible, to the extent that "talmud Torah," Torah study, is mainly perceived as the study of the Babylonian Talmud. Its academic study, in contrast, is still in its initial stages. Critical editions, with the text based on the best manuscripts and an exhaustive and thorough critical commentary, have been published of only a few of the thirty-seven tractates of the Babylonian Talmud. Central questions pertaining to the manner of the formulation of the Talmud, its redaction, and its transmission are still unresolved. This is different from the state of research of other Rabbinic works, the study of which has taken significant strides in recent decades. Critical, balanced, and cautious interpretation of talmudic sugyot (discursive units) will likely illustrate the treasures to be revealed by a scholarly reading of the Babylonian Talmud: illuminating new facets of which traditional study is unaware; the consistent presentation of its meticulous literary fashioning, its contentual depth, and the creative force embodied in this corpus. All these find expression even in sugyot that seem tenuous and bothersome to the traditional student. Tiqqun Olam (Repairing the World) seeks to advance the research of the Babylonian Talmud with an annotated edition of the fourth chapter of Tractate Gittin, which contains various regulations that were enacted "for tiqqun olam." This chapter was chosen for the wide variety of its topics and the redactive methods employed, and for the benefit to be gained from their critical analysis. The widespread study of this chapter in high schools and yeshivot also influences its selection, in the hope it will aid both students and scholars in highlighting his difficulties and in exposing the overt and covert trends of the Amoraim and the redactors of the sugyot. The first chapter of this book examines the meanings of the term "tiqqun olam" in the Mishnah and the Tosefta, along with the structure of the tannaitic units containing regulations "for the repairing of the world" in these two tannaitic works. The main body of the book contains a systematic discussion of these mishnayot and sugyot, using philological-historical methodology, alongside the literary analysis, which has not been sufficiently developed in talmudic research to now. The talmudic text is divided into forty-nine sugyot. For each the book offers a new text based on MS. Firkovich 187, a list of parallels, a selection of textual variants and discussion of their originality, and a commentary. The commentary includes a detailed explanation of the sugyot and an analysis of their strata. A unique attempt is made to glean from within the traces of the difficulties within the sugyot and the dissonance they exhibit the aims of the redactors, who frequently formulated new laws, while devoting sophisticated literary effort in order to mask these innovations, and to impart to the sugyah a harmonious composition. In this book, much effort was invested to reveal the plain meaning of the Talmud, employing the tools of scholarly research - which, for various reasons, are not integrated into the widespread study of the Talmud today. The book undertakes to open a window to the academic world and its methodology, to enable Talmud students to come to know the world of Babylonian Talmud scholarship that is both demanding and profound, but also intriguing, while offering new insights.

Napoleon’s invasion of the Middle East and Palestine marks the beginning of the modern era in the region. The aim of this book is to trace the developments that led to the making of a new and separate geographical-political entity in the Middle East known as Eretz Israel, and to the establishment of the State of Israel within its boundaries. Thus, the time frame of this study spans from Napoleon’s invasion of Eretz Israel/Palestine in 1799 to 1948-1949, the years in which Israel was established. 'Eretz Israel' as the formal term for a separate geographical territory in the modern era first appeared in the early translations into Hebrew of the Balfour Declaration of November 2, 1917, while in the original document the country was referred to as 'Palestine'. During the period of Ottoman rule the territory that would in time be called Eretz Israel/Palestine was not a separate political unit. For hundreds of years it was known as Terra Sancta, the Holy Land, or Palestine, a historical name stemming from that of the Roman province of Palaestina. Among Jews, the most widespread name during the first eight decades of the nineteenth century was 'Eretz Hakodesh' (the Holy Land). Use of 'Eretz Israel' increased only after the beginning of Zionist Aliyot. Had the Zionist movement not arisen, it is doubtful whether the development to which this study is devoted would have occurred at all. The motivating force behind that process is without doubt the Jewish Zionist element. That explains why Jews are the major protagonists in this book. Based on many written sources, it focuses on the major developments and events during a 150-year period that culminated in the establishment of Israel.

CASSUTO (1883-1951), one of the greatest Bible scholars and Jewish historians of his generation, was also a pioneer in the field of Ugaritic-scholarship. His book The Goddess Anath is a classic of its kind. It was first published in Hebrew by the Bilalik Institute in 1951, reprinted in 1953, 1958, and 1965, and appears now in the English translation of Prof. ABRAHAMS (reprint 2009). The book contains three parts a) an introduction to Ugaritic literature that is based on the texts discovered (up to 1951) at the Ras-Shamra in general, and on the epic of Baal in particular b) some Ugaritic tablets containing episodes from the epic of Baal, in which the Goddess Anath plays an important role. These texts appear in three parallel columns: the first gives a transcription of the Ugaritic text in Latin characters, the second contains Cassuto's Hebrew translation, and the third comprises the English rendering. c) A commentary on these texts. This work also sheds invaluable light on important and hitherto unexplained linguistic usages in the Bible, while the author's brilliant methodology will serve as an enduring beacon of light to many generations of researchers.

Yehuda Halevi: Poetry and Pilgrimage follows the life story of the greatest Hebrew poet of medieval times from his first publication in Christian Toledo to his heroic journey toward Zion from Muslim Spain. The description is based, for the first time, on the entire collection of his poetry- the Diwan , which was edited and reedited between East and West at every important crossroad of his life. This in turn is done through comparison to autobiographical letters and contemporary correspondence discovered and collected over the past 50 years in the Cairo Geniza collections. Documentary material and Literary works, which were shun behind the iron wall in The Russian National Library in St. Petersburg, are woven for the first time into one, enabling us to examine closely the intricate relationship between old Jewish traditions and the ideological heritage associated with Halevi's innovative writings in prose and in poetry. Confronting Halevi's "Zion, will thou not ask"? opens the study which is mainly concerned with the story of Halevi's odyssey from Christian to Muslim Spain and eventually to Egypt, including the epic quest to the beloved yet fatal Zion. Professor Joseph Yahalom Studies and teaches Hebrew poetry at the Hebrew Literature Department of The Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

L.S. Vygotsky (1896-1934) a man of many talents, who is famous mainly as a psychologist. His works written between 1924-1934 do not belong to history. The influence of his ideas on modern psychology and education is only growing. The importance of his cultural-historical approach is widely accepted today particularly because the most influential twentieth century approaches to Psychology failed to recognize the vital role of cultural and social environment and the mediating function of adults in the learning process and cognitive development of the child. The book "Language and Thought" was published in Russian in 1934 shortly after Vygotsky's death and the first translation into English came only in 1962. Today it has been translated into more than twenty languages. In the present Hebrew complete translation from the original Russian a special effort has been made not only to precise in transmission of the content, but also to preserve the style and the distinctive thought process of the author. In this book Vygotsky gives a thorough critical analysis of the theory of Jan Piaget. The Hebrew edition includes the response of Jan Piaget, written about thirty years later. The book includes also Vygotsky's article on childhood bilingualism as this subject matter is of particular relevance and importance in the context of Israel. The book contains a preface "The Riddle of Vygotsky" by the scientific editor of the Hebrew translation Dr. Bella Kotik-Friedgut. The author explains the importance of Vygotsky's ideas for modern education. The introduction provides acquaintance with the many and varied accomplishments of Vygotsky's brief life as a man, a scientist and as a Jew.

One measure of the economic and cultural strength of a country is the level of its citizens' literacy since literacy is important for integration in the occupational and social world. In Israel, about one-third of the students exhibit literacy difficulties. Furthermore, literacy level gaps between the upper and the lower percentile are among the largest of 43 OECD countries. Israeli children, therefore, need support in literacy acquisition. Several public committees have discussed ways supporting education on these issues, basing their conclusion on current research. However, only two Hebrew books were published on the subject since the 1990's. This book attempts to address this scarcity. The book focuses on learners' literacy development and includes suggestions for intervention programs for supporting the literacy of children. It presents recent studies and programs of the best Israeli researchers on mono and bilingual learners, on children with normal development and those with special needs. This book is suitable for policy makers, psychologists, school teachers, kindergarten teachers, educational counselors, language and learning diagnosticians and therapists, teachers for reading rehabilitation, university, and college researchers, teachers and students. This book was written in honor of Prof. Iris Levin's (Tel Aviv University, Israel) retirement. Prof. Levin is a renowned and influential researcher, has studied early literacy for over 35 years, and has published in leading journals. She is among the leaders of the early literacy policy in Israel. The editors of the book, Dr. Dorit Aram and Dr. Ofra Korat, were Prof. Levin's students and are now her colleagues.

The Bible from Within — The Method of Total Interpretation is a revised, enlarged, and fully updated English version of the Hebrew book HaMiqra Kidemuto "The Bible and Modern Literary Theory" which appeared in Jerusalem in 1962. The aim of the work, now as then, is to present an approach to the critical study of the Bible. Even when it first appeared, it was not the first work in recent Biblical scholarship to concern itself primarily with methodology, and the large number of such works which have since appeared is sufficient evidence that the crisis in the field — and in the study of literature in general — has not abated, and is, perhaps, even more acute. For as the old adage has it, the less one understands the material, the more one speaks of methods. When paths of inquiry no longer lead to the desired goal and perplexed scholars' sense that they have perforce stumbled and taken wrong turns along the way it is then that they begin to concern themselves with questions of methodology. The Bible from Within , as was the Hebrew work that preceded it, is an attempt to set the perplexed student of the Bible firmly and securely on the right path to understanding.

Stories of a group of booksellers who operated in Eastern Europe in the second half of the 19th century. These people were active in various cities: Odessa, Bobruysk, Vilna, and Warsaw within the Russian Empire, and Lvov and Krakow within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Through their life stories we find out about cultural developments of the time as well as various historical developments

Table of Contents Introduction Robert Brody — Canon: An Elusive Concept Sarah Stroumsa — Whose Canon? A Reconstruction of the Philosophical Horizon of Jews in the Middle Ages Moshe Lavee — Haggadic Midrash in the Genizah, as Reflected in the Book Lists of Rav Yosef Rosh Haseder Miriam Fraenkel — Literary Canon and Social Elite in the Geniza Society Daniel Stoekl: Canonization as a Non-Linear Process. What the Christian (and Jewish) Papyri from Egypt Reveal about the Process of Canonization Menahem Ben-Sasson — Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah: Towards Canon Formation in the Life of an Author Yehudah Zvi Stampfer — Writer’s Authority and Halakhic Canon in the Geonic Period Aharon Maman — To What Extent did Medieval Philological Works Survive? Three Case Studies Shulamit Elizur — Hebrew Poetry in the Cairo Genizah: Survival and Canonization of A-Canonical Texts Ze’ev Elkin — Sefer Ha-Galui Gabriela Cerra — Translation and the Canonization of Literary Texts – The Latin Translations of Aratos’ Phaenomena Donna Shalev — Protagoras and the Controversy over ‘First Inventor’ as a Canonical Founding Figure: Prw'toi EuJretaiv In Greek and Subsequent Culture Amia Lieblich — The Second Generation of Kfar Etzion − Collective Memory and the Canon Maya Benish-Weisman — Transformation and Preservation in Jewish Identity Characteristics of Immigrants from the Former USSR Yoel Regev — The Other Side of the Horse: Canon and Kabbalah: Narratives of Two Disintegrating Balance Mechanisms Christof Schmidt — Canon, Gnosis and Modernity − Hans Blumenberg's Legitimacy of the Modern Age Revisited

This volume, written by a range of scholars, offers a new understanding of one of the central cultural and ideological movements among Jews in modern times. Disengaging the Haskalah from the questions of modernization or emancipation that have hitherto dominated the scholarship, the essays put the Haskalah under a microscope in order to restore detail and texture to the individuals, ideas and activities, that were its makers in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In particular, the contributors replace simple dichotomies with nuanced distinctions, presenting the relationship between 'tradition' and Haskalah as a spectrum of closely linked cultural options rather than a fateful choice between old and new or good and evil. The essays address major and minor figures; ask whether there was such an entity as an 'early Haskalah', or a Haskalah in England; look at key issues such as the relationship of the Haskalah to Orthodoxy and Hasidism; and also treat such neglected subjects as the position of women. New Perspectives on the Haskalah will interest all students of modern Jewish history, literature, and culture.

Israelis on the Move” tells the story of young adults from the Former Soviet Union as they beat a path to Israeliness Based on analyses of their immigration stories, the book offers a new perspective in immigration studies that sees belonging as achieved not through the adoption of foundational national ethos of the new place, but rather through participation in local debates about this ethos . More particularly, the book examines the way in which the young immigrants shape their belonging to Israel through a reading of the homecoming ethos that awards them automatic citizenship. Based on an interpretation of instantiations of the homecoming ethos in everyday life, they form an affinity to their new home, construct their identity, and locate themselves within Israeli society. In doing so they are concerned with decoding, interpreting and critiquing the building blocks of the ethos: the memory of the Holocaust and anti-Semitism, military service, the new Jew, and allegiance to their new place. The book shows how the immigrants hold onto an ethos that promises them recognition and inclusion within the ethno-religious nation. At the same time, they resist the total demands Imposed by the ethos, and criticize Zionist premises that are considered as taken for granted . We term this double, interrelated movement critical belonging, a concept that suggests that the immigrants’ belonging to the new place does not entail the unconditional acceptance of local ethos, while at the same time implying that their critique does not entail their rejection of the new place or a retreat into socio-cultural enclaves.

Insiders and Outsiders: Dilemmas of East European Jewry examines problems of Jewish cultural and political orientations, associations, and self-identification within a broad framework. The contributors approach the predicament of east European Jews in various settings: some focus primarily on the Jews' inner development and outlook, while others discuss how elements of the majority society viewed their presence. Scholars of history, art history, and literature display originality and insight in illuminating the nuances and intricacies of the Jewish ‘outsider’. Following an overview by the distinguished intellectual historian of German Jewry Steven Aschheim, who offers some comprehensive thoughts on the insider/outsider dilemma in modern times and its relevance to eastern Europe, the discussion revolves around three major themes: the cultural conundrum; modes of acculturation, assimilation, and identity; and the minority’s inclusion in or exclusion from the political agendas of certain east European societies. It concludes with a focus on two remarkable cities―Czernowitz and Vilnius―where the Jewish minority has often been conceived as being no less ‘inside’ than other groups. Contributors to the ‘cultural conundrum’ section deal with artists and writers from Romania and Poland who have gained wide public and critical attention over the years, including Reuven Rubin, Itzik Manger, Avot Yeshurun, and Mihail Sebastian. Other essays discuss the work of a group of writers from Poland, including Henryk Grynberg, Wilhelm Dichter, Joanna Olczak-Ronikier, Krzysztof Teodor Toeplitz, and Michal Glowinski, who reflected intensively on their experiences as Jews in the Second World War and tried to integrate these experiences into their often fractured identities. The complex personal evolution of these figures shows the multi-layered influences on their creativity and imagination while underscoring the dilemmas they faced to find points of meeting between their Jewish background and their national identity. The section on modes of acculturation, assimilation, and identity offers detailed analyses of the ways in which multi-ethnic and multi-national situations demand that the ‘outsider’, consciously or unconsciously, develop inner strategies to fashion a specific identity. Surveying such vibrant areas as Czechoslovakia and Poland between the two world wars and the city of Lwów in the late nineteenth century, three essays present some of the choices Jews made in order to deal with the changing political and cultural context. Their meditations on belonging and not-belonging―on the constitution of identity and its fluidity, and on the formation, breakdown, and reconfiguration of physical, mental, social, and geographical borders―acquire a special relevance and urgency in these settings. How did Jews as ‘outsiders’ configure their political allegiance in eastern Europe? How prominent were they in the radical elements of the communist movement in Russia? What tactics did they employ to safeguard their future in such societies and what means did they employ to galvanize the ‘Jewish street’? These are some of the questions raised in the section on society and politics, which delves into such problematic terrain as ‘Jewish informers’, the ‘non-Jewish Jew’, and ‘Jewish politics’. The concluding essays examine the tensions, paradoxes, and ironies of the phenomenon of the Jewish outsider in Czernowitz and Vilnius, two cities where, indeed, Jews were often construed to be the true ‘insiders’. Contributors Steven E. Aschheim, Karen Auerbach, Richard I. Cohen, Jonathan Frankel, Stefani Hoffman, Zvi Jagendorf, Hillel J. Kieval, Rachel Manekin, Amitai Mendelsohn, Joanna B. Michlic, Antony Polonsky, David Rechter , Scott Ury, Leon Volovici, Ruth R. Wisse, Mordechai Zalkin

This book deals with being grateful and with the moral status of gratitude. It claims that gratitude is a moral obligation of great importance, being the right response to something done for the agent and out of regard for her. The more is done for her, the more grateful she should be. And yet, it seems that whoever is doing something out of regard for us is expecting nothing in return. Gratitude thus becomes a paradoxical obligation: the recipient of the favor owes something to the giver, which the giver does not want. Sometimes the recipient does not want it either. He is attached to it unwillingly, trying to rid himself of it if he only could. Can he? And how are his attempts to do so connected to being ungrateful? This book analyses such cases, and juxtaposes them with cases of full and happy gratitude. I claim that children's gratitude towards their parents is the paradigm case of full gratitude. But how can children show their gratitude? What should they do? Can one really do enough to thank another for upbringing one and shaping her into who she is? This is a philosophical book, presenting and criticizing philosophical analyses of gratitude, from Seneca to Kant, and from Kant to modern thinkers. But among its heros you will also find Dickens's Pip of "Great Expectations," Rabi Hia, Rabi and a Koves (washer) from the Talmud, key figures of psychological and sociological thinking, Jean Valjean and Javert of Hugo's "Les Miserables," and a construction and development company selling shares at the stock exchange.

In 1908, Pauline Wengeroff published the first piece of writing by a woman in the history of Jewish literature to tell the story of a life and a family with historical consciousness and purpose. It is also the first account in this literature to make women, and men, the focus of a gendered inquiry. Shulamit Magnus’s biography of this extraordinary woman lets readers share Wengeroff’s life, her aspirations, and her disappointments, making a significant contribution to women’s history and to our understanding of the emergence and shape of Jewish modernity. Pauline Wengeroff was born in 1833 into a pious Jewish family in Bobruisk in the Pale of Settlement (now Belarus); she died in 1916 in Minsk. Her life, as recounted in this biography, based in part on Shulamit Magnus’s award-winning critical edition of Wengeroff’s Memoirs of a Grandmother, was one of upheaval and transformation during Russian Jewry’s passage from tradition to modernity. Remarkably, Wengeroff's narrative refracts communal experience and larger cultural, economic, and political developments through her own family life, interweaving the personal and the historical to present readers with an extraordinary account of the cultural transformation of Russian Jewry in the nineteenth century. Wengeroff's is the first piece of writing by a Jewish woman to display such authorial audacity and historical awareness, and the first contemporaneous account of Jewish society in any era to make the sensibilities and behaviour of Jewish women—and men—a central focus, providing a gendered account of the emergence of Jewish modernity. In this, her memoirs are a full counterpart to the male-centred autobiographies of her contemporaries, and the basis for much new thinking about gender and modernity. Shulamit Magnus probes Wengeroff’s consciousness and social positioning as a woman of her era and argues that, though Wengeroff was well aware of the women’s movement in Russia, she wrote not from a feminist perspective but because of her socialization in traditional Jewish society. A brilliant woman who loved books, Wengeroff produced a carefully crafted, beautifully written, and compelling account of tradition and its demise; of intergenerational and marital strife over Jewishness; and of betrayal, loss, and hope. Despite a dramatic and readily accessible narrative—what Magnus calls ‘Wengeroff’s myth of her life story'—Wengeroff embeds much counter-evidence in her memoirs that subverts this same myth. Why she constructs—and also, if unconsciously, subverts—the particular myth she does is a major focus of this study. Using archival and secondary sources, Magnus goes beyond constructing a portrait of Pauline Wengeroff, her family, and her social circles to consider how Memoirs of a Grandmother came to be in the form in which we have it: this is a biography of a literary work as well as of a woman. She documents its astonishing success: published for the first time (largely in German, in Berlin) in 1908, it was republished in 1910, 1913, 1919, and 1922 to rave reviews, in the Jewish but also the non-Jewish press, in Germany, Austria, Russia, and even the Netherlands. Organized topically rather than chronologically, Magnus introduces the reader to Wengeroff’s life, aspirations, and her disappointments—above all, with her husband, who ridiculed her attachment to traditional observance and forced her to relinquish it, and with her seven children. It raises the question of Wengeroff's actual intended audience for her work and argues that, her title notwithstanding, it was not her biological offspring but other ‘grandchildren’ from among the Jewish youth of the fin de siècle who shared her Jewish cultural nationalism and her affinity with Herzlian Zionism. Finally, Magnus probes the reception of Memoirs on two continents, Europe and North America, to reveal a surprising story of the same work being read as an apologia for tradition (Orthodoxy) and for assimilation and even conversion—both, she argues, fundamental, if revealing, misreadings. When Pauline Wengeroff died in 1916, the world was very different from the one in which she had grown up. Her story makes a significant contribution to Jewish women’s history; to east European Jewish history; to the history of gender, acculturation, and assimilation in Jewish modernity; and to the history of Jewish writing and Jewish women’s writing.

Various aspects of Medieval Jewish Philosophy still await exploration.One of them is late medieval thought in Byzantium. This book analyzes traditional topics like divine attributes, prophecy and psychology as well as unique phenomenon of the Byzantine area like the hesychastic polemics . The book covers also topics like Jewish Byzantine preaching, debates with Karaite theology and the thought of important figures such as Shemaria from Crete and Juda Mosconi.

This study deals with various aspects of the philosophy of Abu’l-Barakât al-Baghdâdî, an Islamic philosopher of Jewish descent active in the early 11 century, during the Islamic Golden Age. Some of the physical and psychological doctrines of Avicenna , another Islamic thinker of roughly the same era are also discussed in the book.

Many tend to think of post-Zionism Jerusalem as a forsaken provincial Ottoman town, entangled in a net of hatred originating in its various religions. This image coincided with the Zionist redemption vision, which sought to revive the deserted land. Lemire, studying Jerusalem of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century from within its own context – the writings of its inhabitants, documents of its governing bodies, maps, and economic reports – depicts a completely different picture. For over seventy years, members of the different religions - Jews, Christians, and Muslims - lived a life of incredible coexistence. Mutual respect and reciprocation dominated the city and its enlightened Ottoman rulers were aware of the needs of its various communities. Only the rise of nationalism and the city’s partition into quarters destabilized its unique social fabric. Vincent Lemire did not write a nostalgic document about a long-lost past, but rather illustrated an important political outlook, demonstrating that the national and religious animosity in Jerusalem is not necessarily inherent to the city.

Rashi w as the first Biblical Commentator in Northern France/Ashkenaz to compose a comprehensive commentary to the Book of Proverbs , and this commentary has survived in 55 manuscripts scattered in libraries throughout the world. For the first time we present a critical edition of this commentary to Proverbs. This critical edition is based on MS New York JTS Lutzki 778 . Variant readings from six other accurate manuscripts, the two earliest printed editions, and three later printed editions appear in the apparatus of variants . The edition also contains a “super-commentary” in which difficult words & sections in need of clarification are explained. The editor searched for Rashi’s sources - both those explicitly stated and those not . Preceding the critical edition is an introduction which analyzes important topics such as: interpolations to the commentary , Rashi’s exegetical approach, language & syntax and the Jewish-Christian debate.

This collection presents the readers with essays and articles that raise the issue of the religious and cultural sources – together with philosophical, ethical and legal aspects – of the concept of "human dignity". The analyses and presentations only emphasise the necessity for the intellectual grappling with "human dignity" in Israel at the beginning of the 21st Century

In 1895, Lewis Carroll, the author of the iconic novel Alice in Wonderland and a renowned logician, composed a collection of mathematical problems while he was suffering from sleeplessness. However, Carroll seemed to have overlooked a crucial paradoxical error in his presentation of one of these problems, which is analysed in this book, along with questions such as: Do men have more sisters than women? Why do people find their own coincidences more surprising than those encountered by others? How are life and death expectancies treated probabilistically? Statistics, probability, coincidences, randomness and infinity are explored in this book – a collection of essays written over years of research – through a variety of everyday anecdotes and situations, aimed at students, teachers and readers interested in enriching their knowledge of these subjects.

Man and Nature , the most notable work by A. D. Gordon (1860-1922) was written mostly during the second decade of the twentieth century. It is an original philosophical work, which revolves around the ethics, aesthetics and philosophy of religion. In addition to presenting a comprehensive philosophical theory in Hebrew, Gordon discusses issues which became more and more central in the generations that followed him – like ecology, gender and the rejuvenation of Judaism. By returning to nature Gordon advocates a full life of creation. This new edition contains sections from the Dgania Alef archives, which were omitted from previous editions. In the introduction, the editors describe how the text deviates from the time and place in which it was written, explaining the recent wave of renewed interest in Gordon’s writings.

The book is concerned with the main trends in Jewish Liturgy during Late Antiquity and its connections and inter relations with Aramaic Targum, Midrash, mysticism, popular beliefs, structure and rhyme patterns as performed amid Late Antique Synagogues in Palestine, as well as the later spread of these fertile products to Southern Italy and then to the rest of Europe. The book discusses the different layers of poets and performers as presented in ancient manuscripts which were preserved in the Cairo Geniza collections and later in European Mahzorim, and the fascinating struggle of survival of the different liturgical cycles.

Bearing Witness to the Witness examines the different methods of testimony given by trauma victims and the ways in which these can enrich or undermine the ability of the reader to witness them. Years of listening to both direct and indirect testimonies on trauma have lead Dana Amir to identify four modes of witnessing trauma: The “metaphoric mode”, the “metonymic mode,” the “excessive mode”, and the “Muselmann mode.” The author thus demonstrates the importance of testimony in understanding the nature of trauma, and therefore how to respond to trauma more generally in a clinical psychoanalytic setting. In order to follow these four modes of interaction with the traumatic memory, the various chapters of the book present a close reading of three genres of traumatic witnessing: Literary accounts by Holocaust survivors, memoirs (situated between autobiographic recollection and fiction) and ‘raw’ testimonies given by Holocaust survivors. Since every traumatic testimonial narrative contains a combination of all four modes with various shifts between them, it is of crucial importance to identify the singular combination of modes that characterize each traumatic narrative, focusing on the specific areas within which a shift occurs from one mode to another. Such a focus is extremely important, as illustrated and analysed throughout this book, to the rehabilitation of the psychic metabolic system which conditions the digestion of traumatic materials, allowing a metaphoric working through of traumatic zones that were so far only accessible to repetition and evacuation.

We are pleased to present readers with volume 19–20 of the journal Massorot , dedicated from its inception to research on Hebrew and Jewish language traditions. The present volume contains 12 articles and a book review. They reflect the investigations of 16 researchers, since three of the articles were produced through the fruitful collaboration of two authors. Five of the articles deal with diverse aspects of Judeo-Arabic, both in the Middle Ages and the modern era. Moshe Bar-Asher focuses on disparate translations of a single Biblical Hebrew lexical item in the Maghrebian Sharḥ or literal Bible-translation tradition, and Gabriel Rosenbaum discusses the unique language of the Karaites of Egypt, a variety of Arabic containing distinctive words and expressions of Hebrew origin. Yosef Yuval Tobi analyzes Arabic poetic verses employed by grammarians and philosophers writing in Judeo-Arabic during the Middle Ages. Nahem Ilan reviews the new lexicon of medieval Judeo-Arabic (Jerusalem, 2016) by Mordechai Akiva Friedman, and Rachel Hasson offers a detailed analysis of the language of two Judeo-Arabic folktales from the Cairo Genizah. The contribution by Yehudit Henshke demonstrates the influence of spoken Maghrebian Judeo-Arabic on the Hebrew of Israeli immigrants from Morocco and their descendants. The article by Yael Reshef and Einat Gonen, too, focuses on influences on spoken Hebrew — in this instance, traces of traditional Ashkenazi Hebrew on the Hebrew spoken in Israel in the early 1960s. The volume includes English abstracts.

This book discusses the models of the relationships between the G'dly power and the human power in Jewish mystical literature.

If everyone who took a course in introductory statistics understood that there is a better chance of doing well and enjoying the subject than winning the jackpot, this book would not have been published and lotteries would be making less. Maybe you have a phobia regarding Statistics and maybe your conception of it is boredom, tedium and incomprehensibility. The book Thinking Differently invites you to reconsider. Statistics helps us understand phenomena in a wide variety of fields. This book presents in a friendly and humorous manner the logic, the intuition and the beauty of Statistics, without delving into mathematical depth. This goal of the book is not a mere transmission of technical details; it aims to impart comprehension and a way of thinking. The book places a strong emphasis on the connection between Statistics and the world, expressed by timely examples from many fields - via detailed applications, through exercises whose solutions appear at the end of the book and by means of pictures and illustrations. Basic statistical concepts, such as "average", are in everyday use. Why, then, is the attitude towards Statistics ambivalent? Why do we have faith in the weather forecast, but regard surveys suspiciously? What is a "statistical fraud"? How do babies come into the world? This book makes an effort to answer the first three questions and to underscore the intricacy of the subject, both its capability and incapability, the misunderstanding of which incurs errors and invites unrealistic expectations.

The Stage as a Temporary Home : On Dzigan and Shumacher's Theater (1927-1980)has been designated as the winner of the prestigious Shapiro Award for 2019 for the best book in Israel Studies The Stage as a Temporary Home takes us through the fascinating stages in the life and career of the duo Shimen Dzigan and Isroel Shumacher , over the course of half a century - from the beginning of their work at the Ararat avant-garde Yiddish theater in Łodz, Poland, and to their Warsaw theater, where they produced bold, groundbreaking political satire. The book further discusses their wanderings through the Soviet Union during the Second World War and their attempt to revive Jewish culture in Poland after the Holocaust, and finally describes their arrival in Israel, first as guest performers and later as permanent residents. Despite the restrictions on Yiddish actors in Israel, the duo insisted on performing in their own language and succeeded in translating the new Israeli reality into unique and timely satire. In the 1950s, they voiced a political and cultural critique of a kind that was not heard on any of the Hebrew stages. After they parted ways, and following the death of Shumacher in 1961, Dzigan continued to perform on his own and with other Israeli artists until his death in 1980 . The book is based on rare recordings, transcriptions, programs, personal diaries, letters, photographs, oral testimonies, and critical articles, all of which come together to create the first critical portrait of this extraordinary duo. The book also examines their art, the connection between theater and politics, and the complex relationship between majority culture and minority language . The study includes several valuable indexes: of titles of programs and plays, of the artists who participated in them, of writers and the drafts they wrote, of actors and the programs in which they participated, and a general name index. The book also includes a facsimile of the manuscript Der Nayer Dybbuk [The New Dybbuk].

This present volume is a collection of papers written by members of the Department of Art History at the Hebrew University in 1972.

How did Monet really paint his series? What influence did the writings of Kant, Goethe, and Rousseau, or the art criticism of Baudelaire and Zola, have on nineteenth-century artists? Did you know that Renoir also wrote art theory? How did women artists, such as Morisot and Cassatt, struggle against social barriers? How were the lives of the artists expressed in their works? This book answers these questions and much more about the art of the nineteenth century, the cradle of modern art, a century rich in innovations both in art theory, philosophy and in the ideas of writers with whom the artists held a fruitful dialogue. By means of these theories, the author analyzes the principles of the three main movements that developed simultaneously at the beginning of the century: the idealism that ruled the Neo-Classical school and is found in the paintings of David and Ingres; the subjectivism of Romanticism that is revealed in the landscapes of Friedrich and Turner, in the highly expressive works of Goya and Delacroix and in the sculpture of Rodin; and Naturalism's interest in present-day life that is displayed in the landscapes of Constable and Corot and in the figure paintings of Millet and Courbet. This last movement was developed by Manet, Degas, Monet, and Renoir into Impressionism in the second half of the century. The book concludes with an analysis of the many different styles that were current at the end of the century in the art of Seurat, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Redon, and Munch. The texts in the book illuminate the art works that were the gateway to modern art in a new light. These texts are translated into Hebrew – for the most part for the first time – while conserving the writing style of each author. Each chapter is accompanied by an introduction and explanatory footnotes. A book for artists, lovers of art, teachers, and students.

This was published in 3 volumes, sprawls over hundreds of years - the Middle Ages and the New Age. The second volume has 2 sections. The first section discusses the phenomena of the Shabtai movement, mostly in Italy and Turkey, and contains important information about investigating this movement.

This book discusses the content of the Book of Numbers, in a literary context.

'The Erudite Comedy' introduces the Hebrew reader to three saucy Italian comedies. These comic gems were written in the first quarter of the 16th century, the period in which Western classical theatre was reborn. Each of them possesses unique historical and artistic values: Ludovico Ariosto’s ‘ La Cassaria ’ (1508) is well-known as ‘The first modern play’; Bernardo Dovizi’s ‘ La Calandra ’ (1513) is remarkable for its ingenious plot, bold erotic allusions and surprisingly feminist soliloquies; Niccolo Machiavelli’s ‘ Clizia ’ (1525) contains autobiographical elements, reflecting the aging Renaissance genius’ love affair with a well-known young courtesan .

Judah Halevi is the most prominent Hebrew poet of the Middle Ages. This book tells his life story, from the early publications of his poems in Toledo and until his tragic death, which occurred during his heroic journey to the Land of Israel. For the first time, the presentation of Halevi’s story is based on his entire oeuvre - his poem collections and dewans - written during different landmarks in the poet’s life in the east and west. In addition, this study compares and confronts his autographic letters with letters written by his contemporaries, unraveled upon the historic discovery of the Cairo Geniza.