The book explores the representations and depictions of old age in the rabbinic Jewish literature of late antiquity. Through close literary readings and cultural analysis, the book reveals the gaps and tensions between idealized images of old age on the one hand, and the psychologically, physiologically, and socially complicated realities of aging on the other hand. The authors argue that while rabbinic literature presents various statements on the qualities and activities that make for good old age, on the respect and reverence that the elderly should be awarded, and on harmonious intergenerational relationship, it also includes multiple anecdotes and narratives that portray aging in much more nuanced and poignant ways. These anecdotes and narratives relate, alongside fantasies about blissful or unnoticeable aging, a host of fears associated with old age: from the loss of physical capability and beauty to the loss of memory and mental acuity, and from marginalization in the community to being experienced as a burden by one’s own children. Each chapter of the book focuses on a different aspect of aging in the rabbinic world: bodily appearance and sexuality, family relations, intellectual and cognitive prowess, honor and shame, and social roles and identity.

Jewish Studies – Journal of the World Union of Jewish Studies has appeared since 1996, when it replaced the WUJS Newsletter, which had been published since 1970. It presents original innovative essays in all fields of Jewish Studies, and includes lists of new publications in these fields. In this volume: Articles The Thirteenth World Congress of Jewish Studies Ruth R. Wisse – The Pain and the Gain of Proposing a Canon Monika Adamczky-Garbowska & Antony Polonsky – Caught in Half-Sentence: Polish-Jewish Writing Before World War I and in Inter War Poland Jonathan D. Sarna – Jewish Culture Comes to America Book Reviews Wout Jac. Van Bekkum – Don Vidal Benveniste's Melitsat Efer ve-Dinah, By Matti Huss Scott Ury – Can We Go Home Again: Shmuel Werses and the Lost World of East European Jewry HEBREW SECTION Articles Yair Zakovitz – On the Canon of the Heart: the Genetics of Canonization in Hebrew Literature Ya'akov Sussman – At the Completion of the Concordances' Project by the Kossovsky Family Menachem Elon – The "Other" in MISHPAT IVRI and in the Decisions (Judiciary) of The Supreme Court Abraham Melamed – The Image of the "Other" in medieval Jewish Thought: Between Gender and Color Sagit Mor – The Status of Female Captives on their Return to the Jewish Community in the Talmudic Literature Alon Goshen-Gotstein – Polemomania-Methodological Reflection on the Study of the Judeo-Christian Controversy between the Talmudic Sages and Origin over the Interpretations of the Song of Songs Yochanan Cohen-Yashar – Philo Alexandronius – On the Change of Names Michal Arbel – "Three Sisters": Notes on Narrative Closure in the Fiction of S. Y. Agnon Book Reviews Aviad Hacohen – The Writing of Judge Prof. Menachem Elon Nahem Ilan – Zeev Gries - The Book as an Agent of Culture Ron Margolin – Emmanuel Levinas – Nine Talmudic Readings Yael Shemesh – Uriel Simon – "Seek Peace and Pursue it" – Topical Issues in the Light of the Bible Aviad Hacohen – A Selection of Prof. Saul Lieberman's Letters Haim Weiss – New Books and Periodicals in Jewish Studies

In this volume: Union News Articles Gershon Greenberg – The Holocaust Apocalypse of Ya'akov Moshe Harlap Avriel Bar-Levav – We are where we are not: the Cemetery in Jewish Culture The Thirteenth World Congress of Jewish Studies The Bearing of Arms and Military Service of Jews from Ancient Rome to the Enlightenment Helmut Castiritius – Forward Israel J. Yuval – Rabbinical Perspectives on the Bearing of Weapons By the Jews Helmut Castiritius – Military Service and Militance among Jews in Late Classical Antiquity Christine Magin – Armed Jews in Legal Sources from the High and Late Middle Ages Friedrich Battenberg – Court Jewry and the Bearing of Weapons in Early Modern Times Book Review Harry Fox (le Beit Yoreh) – Biography, Stories, Tall Tales: Fishing for Gullibility Tzvi Howerd Adelman – In Zion and Jerusalem By Abraham David HEBREW SECTION Union News The Thirteenth World Congress of Jewish Studies Menachem Elon – Welcoming Adress Session in Memory of E. E. Urbach Ya'akov Sussmann – The Yerushalmi in the Literature of the Rishonim: 100 Years after "Ahavat Zion ViYerushalaim" Jonah Frankel – The Study of the Ashkenazi Siddur: 200 Years after the Heidenheim Siddur Israel Ta-Shma – Prof. E. E. Urbach "Baalei Ha-Tosafot" – 50 Years after Its Appearance Vered Noam – Beit Shammai and the Sectarian Halakha Gedaliahu Alon: 50 Years after His Deat Shmuel Safrai – Gedaliahu Alon the Teacher Yeshayahu Gafni – On Gegaliahu Alon and His Role in the Study of Rabbinic Historiography Doron Mendels – The Gracco-Roman Background in Gedaliahu Alon's Scholarship Bezalel Bar-Kochva – Everyone has His Gedaliahu Alon Articles Zeev gries – A Bibliographer and A Librarian as an Agent of Culture: The Contribution of Abraham Ya'ari to the Study of Jewish Print in Eastern Europe Tzvi Mark – On Laughter and Foolishness as the Worship of God: Reading "The Story of the Humble King" of R. Nahman of Bratslav Julia Schwarzmann – The Commentator as Editor: Gersonides' Commentary on Ecclesiastes Book Reviews Devorah Dimant – David Flusser: Judaism of the Second Temple Period – Qumran and Apocalypticism Binyamin Elizur – The Historical Dictionary's Edition of the Yerushalmi Haim Weiss – New Books and Periodical in Jewish Studies