The Decisive Decade (1939–1949) examines the encounter between the needs of the Yishuv (the Jewish community in the Land of Israel) and those of North African Jewry. It explores the implications of this encounter for the eventual end of the Jewish presence in North Africa and the period's influence on the patterns that characterized that conclusion. The book analyzes this era through the lenses of decolonization processes, French policy in North Africa, the functioning of Jewish leadership, and—above all—the ways in which North African Jews shaped their own world and future during this time. Topics discussed include: Muslim and French colonial societies and their attitudes toward immigration to the Land of Israel; stages of clandestine immigration ( Ha'apala ); early points of contact between North African Jews, Holocaust survivors, and the Yishuv society; the period's impact on decolonization; the protection of the Jewish population; the roots of the ethnic divide in the Land of Israel; and the shaping of the historical memory of this era.

Carnival and Canon examines the emergence and development of the Purim parody, a distinctive genre of Jewish literature that flourished from the Middle Ages onward. Created for the annual celebration of Purim, these humorous works transformed the language and forms of canonical Jewish texts, including the Talmud, the Hebrew Bible, liturgy, and prayer, into playful parodies centered on the festive customs of eating, drinking, and revelry. Situated at the intersection of the sacred and the secular, elite literary culture and popular humor, the genre offers a unique perspective on the cultural life of medieval and early modern European Jewry. The book focuses on the three most influential Purim parodies: Masekhet Purim by Kalonymus ben Kalonymus (1324–1328), and Megillat Setarim together with Sefer Ḥabakbuk by Rabbi Levi ben Gershom (Gersonides, 1332). First printed together in 1513, these works circulated widely in manuscript and print and inspired generations of later Purim parodies. Combining literary analysis with cultural history, the book explores the Jewish and non-Jewish intellectual contexts in which these texts were written, their role in Purim celebrations, and their reception over several centuries. It presents the first comprehensive historical study of a genre that illuminates the dynamic relationship between ritual, humor, and literary tradition.

They were ordinary people – citizens of Mandatory Israel – Jewish women, children and men who had traveled to visit Poland and with the German occupation were unable to return home. Most of them remained in Poland and became hostages, captured by Nazi Germany, who used them to exchange them for German Templars living in Israel. The Drowning Person Grabs at Straws follows their journeys, the actions taken to rescue them, the many efforts invested by various political elements, and the pressure exerted by the families in the country to return them. Ultimately, in December 1941 and November 1942, about 120 civilians – “uninvolved” – were returned to their homes in Israel, and upon their arrival, they gave testimonies about the fate of the Jews in Poland that shocked the Yishuv. Another hero of the book is the foreign passport. Immediately after the German occupation, Polish Jews believed that a foreign passport could save them. Demand increased in 1943 after the mass murder of the Jews. Those who survived lived under false identities or in hiding. For some, these were shaky solutions, and they hung their lives on foreign papers, mainly from Latin American countries, which were bought for a lot of money. The Germans lured and hunted them down, and concentrated them in a special camp in Bergen-Belsen. Thus, the Jews with foreign passports once again became hostages, until they were murdered. However, not all of them were murdered. Out of 2,500 people, a group of 275 Jews who held British-Eretz Israel passports, and dozens more citizens of the United States and South America, arrived on Liberation Day and were saved. The book won the "Am Ve'olam" prize in the name of the late Bella and Shlomo Bartal for an outstanding book in history.

The Living Symbol explores one of the Zohar’s most distinctive literary and theological features: the symbolic connection between its stories and its teachings about the divine realm. A young woman holding a lamp in a remote inn, travelers crossing dark mountain ranges, a doe crying out in distress, an old man emerging from the desert, all become symbols of processes unfolding within the hidden life of God. The lamp signifies divine love, the doe the suffering Shekhinah, the mountains divine judgment, and the desert the realm of metaphysical evil. Focusing on a wide range of Zoharic narratives, this book examines how everyday realities are transformed into symbols of the divine and how earthly stories intertwine with mystical interpretation. Through close readings of the Zohar’s tales, it reveals the intricate ways in which narrative and theosophy are woven together, linking the human world and the divine, the visible and the hidden. At the heart of the study stands the kabbalistic symbol. The book argues that the symbolic relationship between story and exposition reflects fundamental Zoharic conceptions of reality and offers a fresh perspective on one of the Zohar’s most important literary and religious innovations.

Sefer Eshkol Ha-Kofer ("The Book of the Cluster of Henna Blossoms"), written by the Karaite Sage Judah ben Elia Hadassi the Mourner in Constantinople in the mid-twelfth century, is unique in the annals of Hebrew literature, in terms of both content and style. The book is a monumental composition which includes more than 350,000 words, consisting of approximately 400 rhymed acrostics. Eshkol H a-Kofer is devoted principally to legal discussions, organized according to the order of the Ten Commandments, and it analyzes all facets of Karaite religious life, usually presenting strict interpretations of the law. Included as well are numerous arguments against Rabbinic Judaism, theological, scientific and grammatical discussions, biblical exegesis, and much more. The book is a veritable treasure trove whose contents have been investigated by scholars of both Karaite and Rabbinic Judaism for much valuable information. It is a major source of knowledge of Karaism, but its importance for Rabbinic literature is also considerable. The only previous edition, completed 190 years ago, was quite deficient, censoring many passages and omitting almost all the Judaeo-Greek words and phrases that Hadassi used. A new edition, based on the best manuscripts, has long been a scholarly desideratum, and the present edition is intended to fill that need.

Korot publishes original articles related to medical history covering medicine in Jewish and Hebrew sources, the history of Jewish physicians, medicine in Palestine and Israel and medicine during the Nazi era. There are shorter historical notes on these topics, book reviews and comments on important developments in medical history. Articles are mainly in English but with a significant Hebrew section.

These volumes contain most of Prof. Yaakov Zussman's essays. The essays include complex and extensive discussions in all areas of Talmudic literature from its beginnings to its scholars in recent centuries. Their collection in one book, accompanied by detailed indexes, presents to the reader the entirety of Prof. Zussman's research work, and at the same time makes it possible to locate and include discussions in distant places that were previously hidden from view.

Emotions and emotional life have come to assume an important place in the study of religion and the humanities, but little attention has yet been given to considering the kabbalistic and hasidic traditions. This volume aims to fill that gap. Ranging historically from the thirteenth century to contemporary times, it touches on a broad selection of Jewish mystical movements. The theoretical and methodological approaches adopted are similarly diverse, drawn from fields including history, psychology and psychoanalysis, literary and cultural studies, and the history of religion. The range of emotions covered includes shame, guilt, sadness, anger, awe and fear, joy, compassion, and love. How have different teachers and communities conceived of and articulated emotional life? To what extent do emotions play a role in attaining spiritual and moral perfection, and what practices have been encouraged in the pursuit of these ideals? What is the relationship between notions of ethics, interpersonal relations, and emotions? When we speak of ‘emotional life’ we think not only of ideas about emotions, but also the complex, dynamic role that emotional experience plays in the actual lives of individuals and communities. A substantial introduction to the volume addresses these broad questions in the context of religious literature and culture.

In this volume: Eshbal Ratzon | The Qumran Calendar: a Historical Reconstruction Emmanuel Mastey | The Terms קלקלה ‘qlqlh’ and קלון ‘qlwn’ and the Meaning of Mishnah Horayot 3:7 Menahem Kahana z”l | The Status of Rabbi Ishmael and Rabbi Akiva in Their Schools Yonatan Sagiv z”l | Revisiting Midrash and Halakha in the Sifra Elnatan Chen | R. Jonah Ibn Janāḥ as Philologist and Text-Critic Moshe Idel | Gleaning from the Field of Kabbalah in Tarbiz Edward Fram | Groundwater Mikves: An Example of the Influence of Legal Ideas from the Sephardic World on Polish Rabbinic Culture at the End of the Sixteenth Century Tom Parnass | ‘The Soulless Body of the Torah’: The Sabbatean Quest for the ‘True Religion’ in the Eighteenth Century in Context

The story of the migration of German Jews between the two world wars is a multifaceted story that spans different routes and destinations: to the United States, the Land of Israel, Britain, and other places in the world. The book explores this story from a comparative perspective and from the perspective of the immigrants themselves. In this way, the envelope that defines the migration of Jews from Germany as a movement of purely persecuted refugees, as passive objects swept along in the course of history, is unraveled. The book seeks to examine the decisions of migration, its timing, and its destinations, and to illuminate the similarities and differences in the identities of the immigrants at different times and destinations. To this end, it traces the course of immigration from the moment the decision to emigrate was made, the choice of timing and destination, the obstacles and opportunities, to the patterns of adaptation in the destination countries and the role played by immigrant groups in the host countries. This historical perspective places the question of whether the immigration of German Jews created a distinct German Jewish diaspora or whether it marked the end of the German chapter in Jewish history at the center.

Jews and Crime in Medieval Europe is a topic laced by prejudice on one hand and apologetics on the other. Beginning in the Middle Ages, Jews were often portrayed as criminals driven by greed. While these accusations were, for the most part, unfounded, in other cases criminal accusations against Jews were not altogether baseless. Drawing on a variety of legal, liturgical, literary, and archival sources, Ephraim Shoham-Steiner examines the reasons for the involvement in crime, the social profile of Jews who performed crimes, and the ways and mechanisms employed by the legal and communal body to deal with Jewish criminals and with crimes committed by Jews. A society's attitude toward individuals identified as criminals - by others or themselves - can serve as a window into that society's mores and provide insight into how transgressors understood themselves and society's attitudes toward them.

Within the Babylonian Talmud are dozens of stories depicting sharp confrontations between the Amoraim, the Talmudic sages. These narratives portray the charged relationships among the sages, the emergence of conflict, and the profound emotional harm that results from it. Why do conflicts among the creators of Talmudic literature occupy such a central literary place? This book examines these stories as a distinct literary corpus. The analysis shows that the conflicts consistently center on one domain: injury to personal honor. They are also marked by a characteristic plot structure, in which conflict develops unintentionally and escalates uncontrollably, leading to a rupture between the characters. Using tools from narrative theory and comparative poetics, the book explores how these stories operate. They draw the reader into a web of misunderstandings and communicative failures, making simple moral judgment difficult. Instead, they direct attention to the inner and interpersonal worlds of the characters, and to the literary construction of the Talmudic study house as a space of mutual dependence and identity formation.