Selected articles from current issue: Arnon Atzmon | ‘He Who Seeks Out Good: This is David’: The Opening Unit of Midrash Psalms as an Introduction to the Book of Psalms David Sabatto | ‘Thus, I Received it From the House of My Father’s Father’. The Sources and Structuring of the Legend of Yehonatan, Moses’ Grandson Ido Hevroni | Turning the Hearts of the Children to Their Parents: The Education of R. Elazar Son of R. Shimon (Pesiqta de Rab Kahana 11) Omri livnat | ‘Samuel, The Son of Labrat Has Died’: Between Manuscript and Edition, Between Panegyric and Lampoon

How might a poem acquire divine forgiveness? Ariel Zinder’s book Arise and Sing follows medieval Jewish poets from Iraq and al-Andalus as they seek answers to this pressing question. The book presents close readings of liturgical poems (piyyutim) written in the 10th and 11th centuries, and brings them into contact with contemporary literary theory as well as modern philosophical discussions of the possibility of forgiveness.

The book Registers of Ashkenazi Communities in Italy from the 18th Century presents a scientific edition of three files documenting customs in Ashkenazi communities in the north of Italy in the 18th century, from Trieste, from Mantua and Padova, with an introduction and indices. The world of Halacha in Italy, starting from the beginning of the Rishonim period, was influenced by different centers, and was not an independent center. Ashkenazi Judaism had a decisive influence on Italy beginning in the 13th century. Files documenting customs of Ashkenazi communities existed already in the 11th century and continued to be written throughout the generations in the Ashkenazi communities. However, files documenting the customs of Ashkenazi communities on Italian soil were relatively few. The book before us hence makes up a little for this lack. It is true that the writing of files documenting customs is an Ashkenazi phenomenon, we have found it among Ashkenazi people in all generations, but in the 17th-18th centuries, which are documented by the files before us, the Jewish communities in Ashkenaz and in Italy were subject to the influence of important historical processes, such as heated rabbinic polemics, the beginning of the Enlightenment, the French Revolution and its cultural and political effects and the emancipation processes. These processes had a profound impact on the Jewish world and we find echoes of this impact in the custom files as well. The certificates published here were written at a unique historical, cultural and religious junction, and have great significance in all these fields.

In the current book two of the most prolific authors in the area of Medieval Judeo-Arabic and poetic Hebrew Medieval texts go back to its basic theses on the relations between Hebrew literature and its parallel Arabic and Judeo-Arabic texts. By re-establishing an up-to-date picture they are attacking the field of encounters from new and different angles.

In this issue: Gal Sela | The Long Sleep of Honi the Circle-Maker: The Ecotype and the Conglomerate as Analytical Concepts Roni Cohen | Between 'Blessed Mordechai' and 'Cursed Haman': The Story of Esther in Kalonymos ben Kalonymos' Massechet Purim and the Medieval Custom of Hitting Haman Vered Tohar and Noga Rubin | A Comparative Study of the Shared Stories of the Yiddish Sefer Midot (Isny, 1542) and the Hebrew Orhot Tzaddikim (Prague, 1581) Eli Yassif | Menasseh ben-Israel and the Early Study of Jewish Folklore

Among the articles in this issue: Yair Lorberbau | On Rules and Reason on Law and Halakhah - A Fresh Conceptual Framework for the Study of the Rationale of the Commandments Shalom Zadik | The Status of the Tormented Heretic according to Rabbi Hsdai Crescas and his Relation to Abner of Burgos Hillel Ben-Sasson | The concept of Repentance in the Zohar Itzhak Brand | Commandments between Man and God and between Man and his Fellow: A Study in the Dualistic Thought of R. Isaac Abarbanel Eliezer Baumgarten and Uri Sfrai | Kabbalah and Marriage Customs in Early Modern Italy Dvir Warshavski | Zot Torat Ha-'Ola : The Belief in the Creation of the World in Rema's Thought

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. Among the articles in this issue: Dan Greenberger | An Essay on the Ten Commandments attributed to R. Saadia Gaon Haggai Mazuz | Ma'aśeh Mehmeṭ: Re-examination and Critical Edition Gad Freudenthal and Hannah Kasher | Kalonymus ben Kalonymus rebukes Joseph Ibn Kaspi Pinchas Roth | A Collection of Rulings from Medieval Montpellier Eliezer Schlossberg | The Commentary of R. Avraham ben Shelomo the Yemenite on the Book of Zephaniah: A Critical Edition

Galit Hasan-Rokem | Dov Noy – A Centennial Anniversary Amos Noy | Three Variants of a Riddle and a Solution: In Memory of Dov Noy Few articles in this issue : Avishar Har-Shefi | On the Beginnings of the Hasidic Story Itamar Dagan | Written New Year’s Greetings According to Texts from the Cairo Geniza and Rabbinic Literature Haya Bar-Itzhak z”l | The Dead and the Survivors: Historical Legends about Women during the1648/49 Pogroms as a Female Site of Memory Hanna Cohen-Perez and Esther Schely-Newman | Sainte Laktar (el Guettar) in Tunisia and Israel: Passages through Time and Space Michael Lukin | The Traditional Yiddish Lullaby as an East-Ashkenazi Phenomenon

Samuel ben Hosha‘na was a prolific author of liturgical poetry and a member of the political and religious leadership of the Jewish community of the Land of Israel in the late tenth and early eleventh century CE, yet over the centuries his poetry and his very existence were forgotten by history. He was rediscovered by twentieth-century scholars from manuscripts in the Cairo Geniza. This volume presents all the information known about Samuel's life, and a selection of his poetry, as well as Megillath Miẓrayim, his prose account of a harrowing event that he experienced in Cairo in 1012. The texts are presented in Hebrew, with an English translation on facing pages, and English commentary explaining the poet's allusions.

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 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.

Kobez Al Yad , an annual of the Mekize Nirdamim Society, is a forum for the publication from manuscript sources of ancient texts in Jewish studies that are shorter than book-length. Contents Avishai Bar Asher Isaac b. Shelomo Ibn Sahula Commentary on Psalms Leore Sachs-Shmueli The Beginning of Sefer Toldot Adam by Joseph of Hamadhan Eric Lawee and Doron Forte The Book of Strictures on Rashi's Torah Commentary Ascribed to Rabad Ofer Elior R.Shalom 'Anabi's Commentary on the Laws of the Foundations of the Torah Yohanan Kapah R. Joseph Hayyun's Commentary on Amos

Birkat Ha-Avoda of Tefillat Ha-Amidah has a long history spanning the Second Temple period to the early Middle Ages. This title follows the different formats of the prayer through the ages, examining a variety of sources: Writings from the Second Temple period, rabbinic texts, Christian texts, early Piyutim, medieval sources, and dozens of Siddurim and excerpts from Siddurim. The comparative study of these sources generates a detailed description of the development of Birkat Ha-Avoda, which sheds light on the history of the regular prayers and Jewish customs.