The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Studies

Edited by Martin Goodman
Jeremy Cohen and David Sorkin

Oxford Handbooks

State-of-the-art survey of contemporary Jewish Studies
Coverage of all the main areas currently taught and researched as part of Jewish Studies in Europe, the United States, and Israel
Enormous chronological and geographical scope
Helps to define the discipline
Invaluable for both academics and students
39 brand-new contributions by an outstanding international team
The most comprehensive and authoritative guide available
Part of the prestigious Oxford Handbooks series
A primary reference and starting point for further research in Jewish Studies

The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Studies

Edited by Martin Goodman
Jeremy Cohen and David Sorkin

Description

The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Studies is part of a major new series of Oxford Handbooks. The volume on Jewish Studies reflects the aim of the series to produce distinctive and original surveys of today's interests and directions in the Humanities and Social Sciences.

The Handbook covers all the main areas currently taught and researched as part of Jewish Studies in universities throughout the world, especially in Europe, the United States, and Israel. The span of the volume chronologically and geographically is thus enormous, but all contributors have in common their expertise in the study of the history, literature, religion, and culture of the Jews.

Jewish Studies is a comparatively young discipline which has grown over the past fifty years in a somewhat undisciplined way. In a period of great upheaval for Jews following the Holocaust, the creation of the State of Israel, the emergence of new forms of dialogue between Jews and Christians, deepening divisions between secular and religious Jews, and unprecedented assimilation by diaspora Jews to the wider culture, the study of Jewish traditions and history has rarely been dispassionate. This is a good time to examine where we are and where the subject is going.

There have been some attempts in recent years to encapsulate current conclusions about particular aspects of Jewish Studies, but these other works aim to provide compendia of agreed facts rather than a survey of interests and directions such as is found in the Oxford Handbook.

The Handbook begins with an examination of Jewish Studies as an academic discipline in its own right. The first half of the volume is organized chronologically, followed by sections on languages and literature, general aspects of religion, and other branches of Jewish Studies which have each accumulated a considerable corpus of scholarship over the past half-century.

This substantial volume of c. 400,000 words reflects the current state of scholarship as analysed by an international team of experts in the different and varied fields represented within contemporary Jewish Studies.

The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Studies

Edited by Martin Goodman
Jeremy Cohen and David Sorkin

Oxford Handbooks

1: The Nature of Jewish Studies, Martin Goodman
2.1a: Biblical Studies and Jewish Studies, Alan Cooper
2.2a: Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period, Martin Goodman
2.2b: Jewish Literature in the Second Temple Period, John Collins
2.3a: Jews and Judaism in the Talmudic Period, Seth Schwartz
2.3b: Classical Rabbinic Literature, Catherine Heszer
3.1: Medieval Jewry in Christendom, Ram Ben-Shalom
3.2: Medieval Jewry in the World of Islam, Mark Cohen
3.3: Rabbinic Scholarship in the Middle Ages, Israel Ta-Shma
3.4: Medieval Judaism, Joseph Dan
3.5: Medieval Jewish Literature, Eli Yassif and Tova Rosen
3.6: Medieval Karaism, Meira Polliack
4.1: Oriental and Sephardic Jewry since 1492, Sarah Stein
4.2: European Jewry in the Early Modern Period, 1492 to 1750, Elisheva Carlebach
4.3: Western and Central European Jewry in the Modern Period, 1750-1933, David Rechter
4.4: Eastern European Jewry in the Modern Period, 1750-1939, Michael Stanislawski
4.5: The Holocaust and its Aftermath, Saul Friedlander
4.6: Settlement and State in the Land of Israel, Ilan Troen
4.7: Jews and Judaism in America, Hasia Diner
5.1a: Hebrew Language, Pablo-Isaac Kirtchuk
5.1b: Modern Hebrew Literature, Glenda Abramson
5.2: Yiddish Studies, Cecilia Kuznitz
5.3: Ladino Studies, Ora Schwarzwald
5.4: Judaeo-Arabic and judaeo-Persian Studies, Geoffrey Khan
5.5: Other Diaspora Jewish Literatures since 1492, Ilan Stavans
6.1: Halakha and Law, Bernard Jackson, with B. Lifshitz, A. Gray, and D.B. Sinclair
6.2: Bible Interpretation, Michael Fishbane
6.3: Mysticism and Magic, Elliot Wolfson
6.4: Liturgy, Lawrence Hoffman
6.5: Jewish Philosophy and Theology, Paul Mendes-Flohr
7: Jewish Women's Studies, Tal Ilan
8: Demography, Sergio Della Pergola
9: Art, Architecture, and Archaeology, Lee Levine
10: Music, Phil Bohlman
11: Theatre, Gad Kaynar and Ahuvia Belkin
12: Film, Moshe Zimerman
13: Antisemitism, Wolfgang Benz
14: Folklore and Ethnography, Galit Hasan-Rokem
15: Modern Jewish Society and Sociology, Harvey Goldberg

The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Studies

Edited by Martin Goodman
Jeremy Cohen and David Sorkin

Oxford Handbooks

Author Information

Edited by Martin Goodman, Professor of Jewish Studies, University of Oxford

Jeremy Cohen, Professor of Jewish History, Tel Aviv University, and David Sorkin, Frances and Laurence Weinstein Professor of Jewish Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Contributors:

Martin Goodman, Oxford
Alan Cooper, Jewish Theological Seminary
John Collins, Yale
Seth Schwartz, Jewish Theological Seminary
Catherine Hezser, Trinity College, Dublin
Ram Ben-Shalom, Open University, Israel
Mark Cohen, Princeton
Israel Ta-Shma, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Joseph Dan, Berlin
Eli Yassif, Tel Aviv
Tova Rosen, Tel Aviv
Meira Polliack, Tel Aviv
Sarah Stein, Washington
Elisheva Carlebach, Queens College, City University of New York
David Rechter, Oxford
Michael Stanislawski, Columbia
Saul Friedlander, Tel Aviv
Ilan Troen, Ben Gurion
Hasia Diner, New York
Pablo Isaac Halevi (Kirtchuk), Ben Gurion
Glenda Abramson, Oxford
Cecilia Kuznitz, Georgetown
Ora Schwarzwald, Bar Ilan
Geoffrey Khan, Cambridge
Ilan Stavans, Amherst
Bernard Jackson, Manchester
Michael Fishbane, Chicago
Elliot Wolfson, New York University
Lawrence Hoffman, Hebrew Union College, New York
Paul Mendes-Flohr, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Tal Ilan, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Sergio Della Pergola, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Lee Levine, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Phil Bohlman, Chicago
Gad Kaynar, Tel Aviv
Ahuva Belkin, Tel Aviv
Moshe Zimerman, Tel Aviv
Wolfgang Benz, TU-Berlin
Galit Hasan-Rokem, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Harvey Goldberg, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Studies

Edited by Martin Goodman
Jeremy Cohen and David Sorkin

Oxford Handbooks

Reviews and Awards

Winner of National Jewish Book Award from the Jewish Book Council in New York

"impressive and highly useful volume... The remarkably large coverage of this volume reflects a broad conception of Jewish Studies, which will make it particularly useful to those looking for an introduction to fields they do not know... The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Studies is a very timely, very welcome, and very useful publication, which will introduce order into our perception of this heterogeneous field and help structure it as well." - Aleph: Historical Studies in Science and Judaism

"...an excellent introduction to the contemporary academic study of Judaism and everything related to it." - Religion and Theology

"This is a splendid book ... All those setting up a course in one or more of the thirty-nine areas covered in this handbook now have clear introductory essays to put on their reading lists." - George J. Brooke, Journal of Semitic Studies

"... an excellent reference book." - The Database of Jewish Education Materials

"... a helpful and generally up-to-date work of reference." - The Journal of Theological Studies

"... Jewish studies scholars will welcome a work that enables them to find out everything they wanted to know, along with a whole lot of things they didn't know they wanted to know and about which they will now be able to hold intelligent conversations. In all, highly recommended." - Jewish Chronicle

"... undergraduates could not wish for a more reliable and helpful volume." - Jewish Chronicle

"... the book will principally be of interest to academics and university students ... the overall standard of essays is extremely high." - Jewish Chronicle

"... as a state-of-the-art exploration of Jewish studies, this book is of seminal importance." - The Church Times

"... this volume is a vital reference source, and will be of enormous benefit to undergraduates, graduates, and interested readers." - The Church Times

"... provides a panoramic overview of the nature of Jewish studies today." - The Church Times

"This informative collection of essays covers all main areas currently taught and researched throughout the world, especially in Europe, the United States and Israel." - The Church Times