The essay that forms the core of this book is an attempt to understand the developments that have occurred in Orthodox Jewry in America in the last seventy years, and to analyse their implications. The prime change is what is often described as ‘the swing to the right’, a marked increase in ritual stringency, a rupture in patterns of behaviour that has had major consequences not only for Jewish society but also for the nature of Jewish spirituality. For Haym Soloveitchik, the key feature at the root of this change is that, as a result of migration to the ‘New Worlds’ of England, the US, and Israel and acculturation to its new surroundings, American Jewry—indeed, much of the Jewish world— had to reconstruct religious practice from normative texts: observance could no longer be transmitted mimetically, on the basis of practices observed in home and street. In consequence, behaviour once governed by habit is now governed by rule. This new edition allows the author to deal with criticisms raised since the essay, long established as a classic in the field, was originally published, and enables readers to gain a fuller perspective on a topic central to today’s Jewish world and its development.

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. 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. In this issue - Ethics and the Health Professions: Education of the Holocaust and Healthcare.

Thoroughly researched, this study highlights the historical scholarship that is one of the lasting legacies of interwar Polish Jewry and analyses its political and social context. As Jewish citizens struggled to assert their place in a newly independent Poland, a dedicated group of Jewish scholars fascinated by history devoted themselves to creating a sense of Polish Jewish belonging while also fighting for their rights as an ethnic minority. The political climate made it hard for these men and women to pursue an academic career; instead they had to continue their efforts to create and disseminate Polish Jewish history by teaching outside the university and publishing in scholarly and popular journals. By introducing the Jewish public to a pantheon of historical heroes to celebrate and anniversaries to commemorate, they sought to forge a community aware of its past, its cultural heritage, and its achievements---though no less important were their efforts to counter the increased hostility towards Jews in the public discourse of the day. In highlighting the role of public intellectuals and the social role of scholars and historical scholarship, this study adds a new dimension to the understanding of the Polish Jewish world in the interwar period.

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. Few 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 Richard Hidary | The Talmud as Rhetorical Exercise: Progymnasmata and Controversiae in Rabbinic Literature 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"

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. Few articles in this volume: 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 New Books and Periodicals in Jewish Studies: Manuscripts and annotated Critical Editions Journals Anthologies, Jubilee and Memorial Book Monographs

This volume offers rich accounts of pioneering leadership development projects and other education-related programs operated or supported by the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation over the last thirty years - initiatives designed to advance the Foundation’s mission to enhance the vitality of the Jewish people and to strengthen Israel as a just, compassionate and inclusive society. Scholars, educational leaders and philanthropists will find much to ponder in this book. It offers multiple perspectives on the qualities needed for effective leadership; on leadership development, with attention to the role of the humanities and policy studies in this process; on ways to foster educational and social change; on philanthropic engagement; and on the role of research and profound ideas in efforts to strengthen educational practice and communal life.

Jews have been active participants in shaping the healing practices of the communities of eastern Europe. Their approach largely combined the ideas of traditional Ashkenazi culture with the heritage of medieval and early modern medicine. Holy rabbis and faith healers, as well as Jewish barbers, innkeepers, and pedlars, all dispensed cures, purveyed folk remedies for different ailments, and gave hope to the sick and their families based on kabbalah, numerology, prayer, and magical Hebrew formulas. Nevertheless, as new sources of knowledge penetrated the traditional world, modern medical ideas gained widespread support. Jews became court physicians to the nobility, and when the universities were opened up to them many also qualified as doctors. At every stage, medicine proved an important field for cross-cultural contacts. Jewish historians and scholars of folk medicine alike will discover here fascinating sources never previously explored—manuscripts, printed publications, and memoirs in Yiddish and Hebrew but also in Polish, English, German, Russian, and Ukrainian. Marek Tuszewicki's careful study of these documents has teased out therapeutic advice, recipes, magical incantations, kabbalistic methods, and practical techniques, together with the ethical considerations that such approaches entailed. His research fills a gap in the study of folk medicine in eastern Europe, shedding light on little-known aspects of Ashkenazi culture, and on how the need to treat sickness brought Jews and their neighbours together.

Orthodox Jewish women are increasingly seeking new ways to express themselves religiously, and important changes have occurred in consequence in their self-definition and the part they play in the religious life of their communities. Drawing on surveys and interviews across different Orthodox groups in London, as well as on the author’s own experience of active participation over many years, this is a thoroughly researched study that analyses its findings in the context of related developments in Israel and the USA. Sympathetic attention is given to women’s creativity and sophistication as they struggle to develop new modes of expression that will let their voices be heard; at the same time, the inevitable points of conflict with the male-dominated religious establishment are examined and explained. There is a focus, too, on the impact of innovations in ritual: these include not only the creation of women-only spaces and women’s participation in public practices traditionally reserved for men, but also new personal practices often acquired on study visits to Israel which are replacing traditions learned from family members. This is a much-needed study of how new norms of lived religion have emerged in London, influenced by both the rise of feminism and the backlash against it, and also by women’s new understanding of their religious roles.

Orthodox Jewish women are increasingly seeking new ways to express themselves religiously, and important changes have occurred in consequence in their self-definition and the part they play in the religious life of their communities. Drawing on surveys and interviews across different Orthodox groups in London, as well as on the author’s own experience of active participation over many years, this is a thoroughly researched study that analyses its findings in the context of related developments in Israel and the USA. Sympathetic attention is given to women’s creativity and sophistication as they struggle to develop new modes of expression that will let their voices be heard; at the same time, the inevitable points of conflict with the male-dominated religious establishment are examined and explained. There is a focus, too, on the impact of innovations in ritual: these include not only the creation of women-only spaces and women’s participation in public practices traditionally reserved for men, but also new personal practices often acquired on study visits to Israel which are replacing traditions learned from family members. This is a much-needed study of how new norms of lived religion have emerged in London, influenced by both the rise of feminism and the backlash against it, and also by women’s new understanding of their religious roles.

Following tremendous advances in recent years in the study of religious belief, this volume adopts a fresh understanding of Jewish religious life in Poland. Approaches deriving from the anthropology, history, phenomenology, psychology, and sociology of religion have replaced the methodologies of social or political history that were applied in the past, offering fascinating new perspectives. The well-established interest in hasidism continues, albeit from new angles, but topics that have barely been considered before are well represented here too. Women’s religious practice gains new prominence, and a focus on elites has given way to a consideration of the beliefs and practices of ordinary people. Reappraisals of religious responses to secularization and modernity, both liberal and Orthodox, offer more nuanced insights into this key issue. Other research areas represented here include the material history of Jewish religious life in eastern Europe and the shift of emphasis from theology to praxis in the search for the defining quality of religious experience. The contemporary reassessments in this volume, with their awareness of emerging techniques that have the potential to extract fresh insights from source materials both old and new, show how our understanding of what it means to be Jewish is continuing to expand.

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.

Maimonides ends each book of his legal code the Mishneh torah with a moral or philosophical reflection, in which he lifts his eyes, as it were, from purely halakhic concerns and surveys broader horizons. Menachem Kellner and David Gillis analyse these concluding paragraphs, examining their verbal and thematic echoes, their adaptation of rabbinic sources, and the way in which they coordinate with the Mishneh torah ’s underlying structures, in order to understand how they might influence our interpretation of the code as a whole—and indeed our view of Maimonides himself and his philosophy. Taking this unusual cross-section of the work, Kellner and Gillis conclude that the Mishneh torah presents not only a system of law, but also a system of universal values. They show how Maimonides fashions Jewish law and ritual as a programme for attaining ethical and intellectual ends that are accessible to all human beings, who are created equally in the image of God. Many reject the presentation of Maimonides as a universalist. The Mishneh torah especially is widely seen as a particularist sanctuary. This study shows how profoundly that view must be revised.