Facsimile Edition Volume two This book presents the sermons of Rabbi Kalonymus Kalmish Shapira, The Piaseczno Rebbe, which were delivered during the Holocaust years in the Warsaw Ghetto. The second volume is a facsimile edition, with the original manuscript on one side and the detailed line-by-line presentation of the text as the Rebbe corrected it. The second volume includes the words and passages that were deleted and is printed in 4 different colors which follow the proofs and changes that the Rebbe made in the text.

Samuel b. Judah ibn Tibbon (c. 1165-1232) is most famous for his translation of Maimonides’ Guide of the Perplexed into Hebrew. He translated other writings as well and produced original works of philosophy and biblical exegesis. This book makes available for the first time ever Ibn Tibbon’s Perush Qohelet, a sprawling adaptation of Maimonides’ method of exegesis to the complete verse-by-verse explication of a biblical book. The edition is presented with full annotation -- identifying Ibn Tibbon’s sources and explaining his ideas and terminology -- and analytical introduction, which presents the life and writings of the author, describes the commentary itself in detail, explains the method and philosophy of the commentary, and charts its historical influence. In later medieval Jewish thought, few figures were unaffected by this foundational work of Maimonideanism.

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. The journal 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 publishes a section for recent WUJS news and publications, as well as reviews of new books published in the various fields of Jewish studies. The articles in the volume: Arkady Kovelman - Rabbi Meir as a Messiah (English) Hanan Mazeh - “He Who has said this did not say that": The Origin and Development of the Speaker - Splitting Technique in Rabbinic Midrash Shalom Sadik - Utilization of Maimonides’ Writings by Jewish Apostates in Medieval Spain Joseph Rapoport - Crime and Violence in the Jewish Communities in the Kingdom of Navarre before the Expulsion Dina Stein - A Wild Goat Chase: Models of Diaspora and Salvation Yossef Charvit - Hokhmat Israel in France in the Twentieth Century, through the Prism of R. Askénazi : Between Berlin and Jerusalem

Pra yer customs and the treasures of liturgical poetry brought to Israel from the Diaspora have been the subject of diverse studies in the past few years, encompassing every community and its customs, every community and its poetry. This classic study, a translation of Leopold Zunz’s Ritus des synagogalen Gottesdienstes , reviews the history of prayer customs of diverse communities from ancient times to the nineteenth century. The author examines the uniqueness of each community, both through the wording of the permanent prayers and through the treasures of liturgical poetry recited in the Middle Ages and the Modern Era. Relations and influential factors between ethnic groups are discussed in detail. The introductory chapters present the history of Jewish prayer since the Geonic period, including the formation of the first prayer books; the creation of communal manuscripts; the impact of print; and the creation of fixed forms of public prayer. The study takes account of: books of J ewish law dealing with pra y er ; books of customs; exegeses on prayer and liturgical poetry; translations of Hebrew prayer into other languages; additions to and deletions from liturgical texts; the status and role of the prayer leader; the influence of mysticism and kabbalah; the influences of censorship and the Enlightenment. Other chapters are dedicated to the prayers of Yom Kippur , the status of Slichot pra yers, debates on integrating liturgical poetry into public prayers, and a description of the Karaite prayer book. For many years, Zunz’s study, originally published in 1859, served as a fundamental textbook for research on the history of prayer. This contemporary Hebrew translation includes research updates, many clarifications, and detailed indexes; among them an index of prayers, an index of prayer customs, an index of liturgical poetry, and an index of early manuscripts and printings of the prayer books mentioned in the study. In addition, the Hebrew edition includes notes and additions found on the author's personal copy, never to have been published before.

“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. The journal 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 publishes a section for recent WUJS news and publications, as well as reviews of new books published in the various fields of Jewish studies. The articles in the volume: Cult as Literature in Second Temple Judaism (Papers from the 16 th World Congress of Jewish Studies) Anne Katrine Gudme – Dyed Yarns and Dolphin Skins: Temple Texts as Cultural Memory in the Hebrew Bible Line Sogaard Christensen – Cultural Evolution in the Hebrew Bible: Animal Sacrifices, Blood Sprinkling, Sacred Texts, and Public Readings Soren Holst – Provisional, Primordial, and Preexistent Temples in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Texts Martin Friis – "Aaron…The Most Deserving of Us": Josephus on the Priestly and High-Priestly Offices in the Jewish Antiquities book 3-4 ABSTRACTS HEBREW SECTION Efraim Sand – Traces of Byzantine Jewish Exegesis in Rashi's Commentary Eran Viezel – The Composition of the Bible in the Writings of R. David Kimhi Yaron Naim – Djerba's Rabbis: Orthodox Judaism in Islamic Territories? Yael Shemesh – Jewish Feminist Biblical Scholarship: Possible Directions Book Review Abraham David – Review: Guide to the Hebrew Manuscripts collections Benjamin Richler, Guide to Hebrew Manuscript Collections, Second edition, Jerusalem, The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities 2014, 410 Pages Eliezer Schweid – Review Essay: Germans Against Germans? Moshe Zimmermann, Germans Against Germans: The Fate of the Jews 1938-1945, Am Oved, 251 pps., Moshe Zimmermann – Response to Eliezer Schweid New Books and Periodicals in Jewish Studies Manuscripts and Annoted Critical Editions Journals Anthologies, Jubilee and Memorial Book Monographs

Rosh Hashana, the Day of Judgment, has been embellished with numerous fascinating liturgical poems (piyyutim). This book is devoted to the compositions that were written for Rosh Hashana by the illustrious poet R. El‘azar berabbi Qillir, who was active in the Land of Israel at the beginning of the seventh century. The piyyutim for Rosh Hashana are many and varied, and they adorn all of the special prayers for the festival. A number of these piyyutim are known and recited to this day in Ashkenazi congregations, while others are published here for the first time. Even those piyyutim that are known from the festival prayer books (mahzorim) are presented here in a new light. The present edition is primarily based not on European mahzorim, but on earlier fragments from the Cairo Genizah; on the basis of such early sources the editors have succeeded in adding new, original material to the known compositions—there is not one famous composition to which heretofore unpublished material has not been added, in some cases throwing new light on the entire work. Even in such cases, therefore, we are not merely offering old wine in new wineskins, but presenting a new blend that confers on the poetic compositions novel aspects, not previously brought to light. This edition has been prepared on the basis of close to 400 manuscripts, and all of the variant readings have been given in the margins. An extensive commentary aids the reader in understanding the difficult idiom of the payyetan, identifying the many scriptural and midrashic sources that are woven into the piyyutim, and following the development of their themes. A general introduction treats various questions connected to the poems, from their attribution to the author and the reconstruction of the component parts of each composition, to the literary shaping of the material. In his piyyutim, R. El‘azar berabbi Qillir treats Rosh Hashana in all of its aspects: the Day of Judgment, the blowing of the shofar; the malkhiyot, zikhronot, and shofarot verses; the merit of the Fathers; and more. A number of compositions are specially intended for when Rosh Hashana falls on the Sabbath. Qillir’s unique method in the shaping of each of these themes is also clarified in the introduction. The complex web of interrelations between the piyyutim and their literary sources is elucidated as well; thus it has become clear, for example, that one of the piyyutim edited here for the first time throws new light on the famous poem, U-netane toqef qedushat ha-yom. “O King, Remember [the ram] caught [by its] horn!” These few words from one of the piyyutim published in the book reveal the genius of the great payyetan. Here, R. El‘azar berabbi Qillir has succeeded in encapsulating in four words the three great themes that lie at the heart of the benedictions that are unique to Rosh Hashana—kingship, remembrance and the ram’s horn (shofar)—all in the form of a prayer that beseeches God to remember for our sakes, on the Day of Judgment, the Binding of Isaac, symbolized by the ram whose horns are caught in the thicket. And if in four words the payyetan has managed to encapsulate such far-flung meanings, one can only imagine the riches contained in this enormous collection of R. El‘azarʼs writings for the Day of Judgment, which we now have before us.

The book Ahava ba-Ta¢anugim - (Love In delights) was written during the years 1353- 1356 by Rabbi Moses Ben Judah. It is a huge and comprehensive encyclopedia of Aristotelian physics and metaphysics and includes also a substantial theological section. Nevertheless, Ahavah ba-Ta¢anugim is far from being a simple compendium of the Aristotelian sciences and a mere summary of its corpus. Its author discusses and explains each scientific topic in a creative and innovative way. Some of his innovative explanations of matter, atoms, time and motion, have no source in the classical Aristotelian literature and deviate from the whole Aristotelian system. These innovations contributed to the development of sciences of the author's days and they reflect new trends of the study of Aristotle’s philosophy of nature among the 14th-century scholars. These trends paved the ground for modern science that, as modern scholarship observed, did not emerge ex nihilo, but had its roots in the criticism of Aristotelian science in the 14th century. The current book is a critical edition of the first seven discourses of the first part of the encyclopedia, which deals with physics. Each discourse deals with one scientific topic and includes some biblical commentary chapters that aim to show the harmony between the scientific topic and the Torah and to expose the secrets that were hinted by Ibn Ezra, Maimonides, and Nachmanides in their treatises. The edition includes an introduction which presents a general overview of the treatise: its period, place and its purpose, its sources and its approach. The introduction also describes and explains the content of the seven discourses presented in the edition and highlights its innovations and main original explanations. Critical Edition - Introduction and Commentary by Esti Eisenmann.

“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. The journal 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 publishes a section for recent WUJS news and publications, as well as reviews of new books published in the various fields of Jewish studies. The articles in the volume: Essays Resulting from the Session "Menahem Stern's Contributions to Research: Twenty Years after his Death" at the Fifteenth World Congress of Jewish Studies (2009) Daniel R. Schwartz - Menahem Stern as a Classical Philologist Albert l. Baumgarten – Menahem Stern as a Historian of the Jews in the Second Temple Period Isaiah Gafni – Menahem Stern as a Historian of the Mishnaic and Talmudic Periods Moshe David Herr – Menahem Stern as a Scholar of Jewish Studies and Litterae humaniores Yakir Englander and Orit Kamir – Body and Shame in the World of the Tannaaim and Amoraim Yechiel Tzeitkin – "The Straight Path which our Forefathers Followed": "Total" Interpretation of Biblical Narratives in Provencal Exegesis Ofer Elior – Rabbi Yom Tov Lipmann Muhlhausen Investigates the Sounds of the Spheres Shlomo Glicksberg and Shlomo Kassierer – The Halakhah and Meta-Halakhah Codification Debate: Rabbi Chaim ben Bezalel and the Maharal of Prague Margalit Shilo – "I Have Only Paradoxes to Offer" – The Case of Suffrage in the Jewish Community of Mandatory Palestine (1917-1926) New Books and Periodicals in Jewish Studies Manuscripts and Annotated Critical Editions Journals Anthologies, Jubilee and Memorial Books Monographs

This book presents three hundred pieces added by Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman (Nachmanides) to his commentary on the Torah when he made aliyah to Israel at the end of his life. The added segments were identified according to update lists sent by Nachmanides himself and others to the Diaspora, as well as on the basis of extensive comparative examination of all the hand-written transcripts of Nachmanides’ interpretation of the Torah found today in the world (about fifty in number). There is a comprehensive introduction at the beginning of the book, that discusses the phenomenon of the additions and analyzes the findings of the hand-written transcripts and surveys the reasons and for these additional pieces. The bulk of the book is comprised of interpretive discussions detailed in every piece, whose purpose is to clarify Nachmanides’ motives when making additions to what he first wrote. In the book itself – and the website that accompanies it – detailed information is presented about the additions and the evidence of them in the list of additions and the hand-written transcripts. The awareness of the commentary’s formation by those who studied the commentary, both at large and specifically for each particular piece, adds a new dimension to the commentary, and is a significant contribution to understanding the way of Nachmanides, to solving problems in his sayings and clarifying his intent. To this end, the book is a very important tool for scholars of Nachmanides, Torah learners and lovers. The book won the Yad Ben-Zvi prize, 2017

This fascinating work represents the peak of philosophical , allegorical interpretation of the Middle Ages. The book by Rabbi Levi rests on Talmudic , midrashic , halakhic , rich philosophical and scientific sources , and evokes admiration in its readers, who are left impressed by the scope of the author's knowledge and fertile imagination . Towards the end of the thirteenth century,the Provençal Jewish philosopher R. Levi ben Avraham wrote aunique treatise – an in-depth Hebrew encyclopedia of the sciences and of Judaism entitled LivyatḤen. R. Levi was known already in his lifetime as a leading exponent of the philosophical-allegorical interpretation of the Torah and of rabbinic midrash. In the Jewish part of his encyclopedia he deals with a myriad of topics, including Jewish ethics, prophecy, the reasons for the commandments, the stories of Moses and the patriarchs, the principles of faith, the Work of Creation, the Work of the Chariot, and the interpretation of rabbinic midrash and aggadah. Prior to LivyatḤenR. Levi wrote an encyclopedic poem of over 1000 stanzas in rhymed meter entitled Batei ha-Nepheshve-ha-Laḥashim. This poem is devoted to the same topics in science and Judaism that are later discussed in great detail in his treatise.

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. The articles in the volume: Language mix and multilingualism in ancient Palestine: Literary and inscriptional evidence (English) Leopold Low and the study of rabbinic literature - a bicentennial appraisal (English) Myth and ritual: a study in the rituals of "Passover sacrifice" (Exodus 12) and "The festival of YHWH" (Leviticus 23) Philosophical and political aspects of the migration of Abraham from Ur of the Chaldeans to Philo The presence of the Shekinah in the second temple Hermeneutic lexicon Rosh Hodesh Torches - cancellation and renewal

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. The Subjects in the book: Preface: Legends and Folklore: Some Aspects of Louis Ginzberg's The Legends of the Jews in a Historical and Critical Perspective (English) Aggadah in Higher Unity": The German Manuscript of The Legends of the Jews (English) The Legends of the Jews as Viewed by Louis Ginzberg and by Others The Legends of the Jews: On Theological Contacts Between the Babylonian Rabbis and the Church Fathers in Late Antiquity - A Model and a Case Study Ginzberg , the Church Fathers, and The Legends of the Jews The Silent Revolution: The Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg and the Genre of Midrashic Anthology Ancient Jewish Folk Literature: The Legends of the Jews and Folklore Research at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century The Legend of The Legends: Methodological Observations Regarding The Legends of the Jews