This issue contains the following essays : Hallel Baitner | Sprinkling at the Temple Entrance: A Forgotten Temple Ritual Gideon Libson | Maimonides and the Muslim Theologian Muhammad Al-Ghazali on the Generality of Law and the Doctrine of Distinction Yosseph Schwartz | Maimonides’ Guide of the Perplexed in Jewish and Christian Mysticism: A Chapter in Comparative Historiography Adam Afterman and Ido Pinto | On Apotheosis in the Kabbalah of Rabbi Bahya ben Asher

Elijah the Prophet is a remarkably impressive figure whose life is full of dramatic moments: the decree to stop the rain, the fierce tension with King Ahab and Queen Jezebel, the war on idolatry which had its climax on Mount Carmel with the killing of the prophets of Baal, God’s revelation at Horeb, the ascent to heaven in a chariot of fire, etc. These episodes sparked the imagination of readers and commentators, thinkers and artists, who continued to study the figure of Elijah throughout the generations. The book Until Elijah Comes: The Portrayal of Elijah the Prophet in Tannaitic Literature is an examination of Elijah’s multi-faceted character as reflected in Tannaitic sources, the earliest stratum of rabbinic literature. Adiel Kadari presents an in-depth analysis of the major issues related to Elijah the Prophet in the intellectual world of the sages, such as the principles and limits of halakhic discourse, messianism and eschatology, religious and political zealotry, the phenomenon of prophecy and the question of its persistence in the post-biblical era, and the relationship to history, religious piety and asceticism. The analysis of Elijah in this volume is rooted in philological studies concerning the origin and transmission of the text, and branches out to an examination of ideological aspects and worldviews. The synthesis of various approaches employed in the study of rabbinic literature yields a rich and variegated discourse. The book’s various chapters reveal the tremendous importance of Elijah in the eyes of the sages, as well as the exegetical and ideological struggles over the shaping of his image.

This book offers a cultural biography of Maimonides as a product of his multi-cultural and multi-religious background. It studies “the great eagle” in his multi-faceted historical and cultural context, and highlights the deep impact on him of Islamic culture as a whole: not only his philosophy, but also his legal and scientific writings as well as his correspondences. The aim of the book is twofold. On the one hand, it highlights universal patterns in Maimonides’ thought. On the other hand, it shows Maimonides’ relevance to the study of Medieval Islam. The presentation of Maimonides as a Mediterranean thinker elucidates his consistent interpretation of his own Jewish tradition in contemporary terms, as they were shaped by his Mediterranean legacy.

The book examines the relations between Oriental, local Jews and Palestinian Arabs in Mandatory Palestine. It focuses on the role of Oriental Jews as possible mediators from a cultural, political and social perspective, as those who sought to bridge Jewish-Arab culture, Jewish-Arab nationalism, and Jewish-Arab identity. Examining these relations from the perspective of Oriental and local Jews sheds new light on the history and historiography of Zionism, the Yishuv, and the Jewish-Arab conflict.

Jewish Studies is published annually by the World Union of Jewish Studies (WUJS) and provides an outlet for the publication of articles, studies, documents and various other contents in Jewish studies. The journal publishes articles in Hebrew and in English, which undergo a review process. It focuses on studies of a methodological-programmatic nature and reviews various areas of Jewish studies. The journal was first published in 1971 under the title 'Newsletter of the World Union of Jewish Studies'. Since 1996 it is published in its current form as Jewish Studies - Journal of the World Union of Jewish Studies . In addition to articles, the journal features a section for recent WUJS news and publications, as well as reviews of new books published in the various fields of Jewish studies. Articles in this volume : English Section: World Union News Abstracts Hebrew Section: David (Dimitry) Kopeliovich | From Absence to Presence: Jeremiah's "wandering" between the Book of Kings and the Book of Chronicles Itzhak Amar | Marriage and Birth in the Davidide Narrative of Chronicles (1Chr. 11-2 Chr.36): A Mere Component of Retribution? Brachi Elitzur | Messianic and Anti-Messianic Elements Reflected in Traditions about Hezekiah from the Second Temple, Mishnaic, and Talmudic Periods Naama Weiss | The Basic Structure of Kinship in the Book of Genesis and Rabbinic Midrash Adiel Kadari | The Halakha of Elijah: Heavenly Knowledge, Piety and Danger Eran Viezel | The Study of Medieval Exegesis in Modern Israel in the Twentieth and Early Twenty-First Centuries Shalem Yahalom | The Historical Reliability of the Tosafot Literature Eliezer Schlossberg | Yemenite Midrashic Literature - Between Old and New Michal Fram Cohen | Romantic, Active, and Virtuous Heroine: Pinellia Adelberg in Love of the Righteous, or, the Pursued Families , by Sarah Feiga Meinkin New Books and Periodicals in Jewish Studies: Manuscripts and annotated Critical Editions Journals Anthologies, Jubilee and Memorial Book Monographs

The Western Wall—Judaism’s holiest site—occupies a prominent position in contemporary Jewish and Israeli discourse, current events, and local politics. In The Western Wall: The Dispute over Israel's Holiest Jewish Site, 1967–2000 , Kobi Cohen-Hattab and Doron Bar offer a detailed exploration of the Western Wall plaza’s evolution in the late twentieth century. The examination covers the role of archaeology, attempts to design the space, the Wall’s transformation as an Israeli and Jewish symbol, and the movement to open it to a variety of Jewish denominations, studying the central processes and shifts that took place at the Western Wall during the three decades that followed the Six-Day War, a relatively short yet crucial chapter in Jerusalem's extensive history.

Jewish Studies is published annually by the World Union of Jewish Studies (WUJS) and provides an outlet for the publication of articles, studies, documents and various other contents in Jewish studies. The journal publishes articles in Hebrew and in English, which undergo a review process. It focuses on studies of a methodological-programmatic nature and reviews various areas of Jewish studies. The journal was first published in 1971 under the title 'Newsletter of the World Union of Jewish Studies'. Since 1996 it is published in its current form as Jewish Studies - Journal of the World Union of Jewish Studies . In addition to articles, the journal features a section for recent WUJS news and publications, as well as reviews of new books published in the various fields of Jewish studies. Articles in this issue : Michael Schneider | The Liturgical Roots of the Kabbalistic Concept of "Unification" Eliyahu Rosenfeld | "One Must Speak with Silence": The Function of Silence in Virginity Claim Stories from the Babylonian Talmud Eli Gurfinkel | The Order and Structure of the List of the Maimonidean Principles: Between Form and Meaning Hagay Shtamler | "The Course of Ideas in Israel" as a Response to Wissenschaft des Judentums"

This issue contains the following essays: Menahem Kahana | The Tosafot (‘Marginal Annotations’) in Sifre on Deuteronomy Omri Livnat | Discoveries from Constantine: New Liturgical Poems by Yosef Ibn Avitur and Evidence of the Inclusion of Byzantine Poems in a North African Maḥzor Omer Michaelis | Ṣūfī Terminology and Its Meaning in Maimonides’ Guide of the Perplexed Jonatan Howard | The System of Exceptions: On the Organizational Structure of Grammatical Knowledge in Medieval Ashkenaz

Zionists without Borders tells the story of the Halutz movement in Poland and its role in helping the Labor movement rise to the leadership of the Zionist Movement in the interwar period. It describes the founding of a mass national and socialist movement, which changed the face of the Zionist map. The leaders of the Labor movement in Israel established strong ties with pioneers from Poland, thus making the Halutz a cross-border movement, connecting Jews by means of politics, nationalism and socialism.

The book The State of Israel and Its Institutions in the Halachic Thought of Rabbi Shlomo Goren reviews the diverse subjects with which Rabbi Goren dealt as a halakhic ruler: the halakhic status of the State of Israel, the concept of sovereignty, military and war laws, immigration absorption, changes in prayer and blessings, and others. The book describes his original, and sometimes unusual, positions within the history of Israel, and his desire to take part in shaping this history.

The Second Commandment’s injunction against making graven images and likenesses resonates in all facets of Jewish visuality throughout the generations. Although Jews have always created and consumed art, the attitude to figural art –anthropomorphic and zoomorphic representations – has oscillated, like a pendulum, between strict prohibition and full permissibility. Figureless Art traces a lesser-known chapter in the history of Jewish art – a period governed by the swing to extreme stringency that left its mark on Late Antique synagogues in the Land of Israel. This anti-figural trend manifested in the avoidance of anthropomorphic and zoomorphic depictions and in the deliberate obliteration of anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figures on stone carvings and mosaic carpets that adorned the synagogues. What is the meaning of this strict trend? Did it emerge from within the Jewish world or was it stimulated, conversely, by external influences? Who was responsible for the effacement of the figures in the synagogues and when did these iconoclastic events occur? This book examines these phenomena through a broad historical, religious, and cultural perspective, based on visual and literary sources from Late Antique and early Muslim Palestine.

Ateret Zekenim is a work of historical research into the lives of several well-known medieval halakhists from France, Germany, and Spain. The primary focus of the book is biographical, and it attempts to resolve difficult questions that have puzzled the scholarly community for many years. Its author seeks to rely on the writings of his predecessors, but he first substantiates that these foundations were properly laid and that he is not adding to an edifice that is destined to collapse. Thus, for example, the author re-examines the story of Rabbi Asher b. Yeḥiel (Rosh)’s migration from Germany to Spain in the early 14th century, a migration that had a dramatic impact on the culture of Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jewry alike. Is the scholarly consensus – according to which Rosh meticulously planned his flight to distant Toledo, in an entirely different cultural realm, over the course of two decades – correct? After methodical examination of the sources, a very different story emerges. Rosh, and with him the Ashkenazi halakhic tradition, moved from Germany to Spain at the last moment, when there were no other options.