This companion volume to "Judaism and Other Religions" provides the first extensive collection of traditional and academic Jewish approaches to the religions of the world, focusing on those Jewish thinkers that actually encounter the other world religions of Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism--that is, it moves beyond the theory of inclusive/exclusive/pluralistic categories and looks at Judaism's interactions with other faiths "in practice."

This is not just another book of records. The Guiness Book of World Records has done that job admirably, and it would be difficult to improve upon it. This book is primarily about the people who established or broke a record that had already been established.

Redemption and Resistance brings together an eminent cast of contributors to provide a state-of-the-art discussion of Messianism as a topic of political and religious commitment and controversy. By surveying this motif over nearly a thousand years with the help of a focused historical and political searchlight, this volume is sure to break fresh ground. It will serve as an attractive contribution to the history of ancient Judaism and Christianity, of the complex and often problematic relationship between them, and of the conflicting loyalties their hopes for redemption created vis--vis a public order that was at first pagan and later Christian. Although each chapter is designed to stand on its own as an introduction to the topic at hand, the overall argument unfolds a coherent history. The first two parts, on pre-Christian Jewish and primitive Christian Messianism, set the stage by identifying two entities that in Part III are then addressed in the development of their explicit relationship in a Graeco-Roman world marked by violent persecution of Jewish and Christian hopes and loyalties. The story is then explored beyond the Constantinian turn and its abortive reversal under Julian, to the Christian Empire up to the rise of Islam.

This is the first book about the meals of Early Judaism. As such it breaks important new ground in establishing the basis for understanding the centrality of meals in this pivotal period of Judaism and providing a framework of historical patterns and influences.

Rabbi Reuben Kaufman's Great Sects and Schisms in Judaism is a compact, but comprehensive study of the many cults and sects, from biblical to modern times, which have been the offshoots of Judaism.

The Bible contains passages that allow both scholars and believers to project their hopes and fears onto ever-changing empirical realities. By reading specific biblical passages as utopia and dystopia, this volume raises questions about reconstructing the past, the impact of wishful imagination on reality, and the hermeneutic implications of dealing with utopia - "good place" yet "no place" - as a method and a concept in biblical studies. A believer like William Bradford might approach a biblical passage as utopia by reading it as instructions for bringing about a significantly changed society in reality, even at the cost of becoming an oppressor. A contemporary biblical scholar might approach the same passage with the ambition of locating the historical reality behind it - finding the places it describes on a map, or arriving at a conclusion about the social reality experienced by a historical community of redactors. These utopian goals are projected onto a utopian text. This volume advocates an honest hermeneutical approach to the question of how reliably a past reality can be reconstructed from a biblical passage, and it aims to provide an example of disclosing - not obscuring - pre-suppositions brought to the text.

In 1638, a small book of no more than 92 pages in octavo was published "appresso Gioanne Calleoni" under the title "Discourse on the State of the Jews and in particular those dwelling in the illustrious city of Venice." It was dedicated to the Doge of Venice and his counsellors, who are labelled "lovers of Truth." The author of the book was a certain Simone (Simha) Luzzatto, a native of Venice, where he lived and died, serving as rabbi for over fifty years during the course of the seventeenth century. Luzzatto's political thesis is simple and, at the same time, temerarious, if not revolutionary: Venice can put an end to its political decline, he argues, by offering the Jews a monopoly on overseas commercial activity. This plan is highly recommendable because the Jews are "wellsuited for trade," much more so than others (such as "foreigners," for example). The rabbi opens his argument by recalling that trade and usury are the only occupations permitted to Jews. Within the confines of their historical situation, the Venetian Jews became particularly skilled at trade with partners from the Eastern Mediterranean countries. Luzzatto's argument is that this talent could be put at the service of the Venetian government in order to maintain - or, more accurately, recover - its political importance as an intermediary between East and West. He was the first to define the role of the Jews on the basis of their economic and social functions, disregarding the classic categorisation of Judaism's alleged privileged religious status in world history. Nonetheless, going beyond the socio-economic arguments of the book, it is essential to point out Luzzatto's resort to sceptical strategies in order to plead in defence of the Venetian Jews. It is precisely his philosophical and political scepticism that makes Luzzatto's texts so unique. This edition aims to grant access to his works and thought to English-speaking readers and scholars. By approaching his texts from this point of view, the editors hope to open a new path in research into Jewish culture and philosophy that will enable other scholars to develop new directions and new perspectives, stressing the interpenetration between Jews and the surrounding Christian and secular cultures.

The product of many years of intensive work, this volume represents the first time a comprehensive study of such magnitude and scope has been prepared for the reading public. Combining the skills of journalist and scholar, the author has composed a work that is not only easy-to-read, but is meticulous in its factual information. Mr. Beller is a Canadian journalist who spent many years in Latin America studying all the communities and their people at first hand.

Among the articles included in this Hebrew-English anthology are: . The Hebrew Manuscript as Source for the Study of History and Literature . A Fifteenth Century Hebrew Book List . Rashi's Commentary on the Pentateuch and on the Five Scrolls (Venice, 1538) . One Hundred Years of the Genizah Discovery and Research in the United States . Building a Great Judaica Library - At What Price? . The Liturgy of the Rothschild Mahzor . Two Philosophical Passages in the Liturgical Poetry of Rabbi Isaac Ibn Giat . The New Jewish Theological Seminary Library Prof. Menahem Schmelzer is Professor Emeritus of Medieval Hebrew Literature and Jewish Bibliography at The Jewish Theological Seminary. He has been a full-time member of the JTS faculty since 1961, and served as Librarian from 1964 to 1987. In addition to writing numerous articles and reviews for scholarly journals, Prof.. Schmelzer was Associate Division Editor of the "Modern Jewish Scholarship" section of Encyclopaedia Judaica. He has lectured at the Leo Baeck Institute, Yeshiva University and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. In 1992, he received a Guggenheim Fellowship. In 1999, he was the recipient of an honorary degree from the Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies in Chicago. He was appointed as a Distinguished Visiting Senior Scholar at the Kluge Center in the Library of Congress for a four-month period in 2004.

This book deals with the life and thought of an original but neglected religious thinker who, perhaps more than any other in the history of Jewish thought, grappled with the problems inherent in the idea of God's unity. Rabbi Aaron Horowitz is generally acknowledged to be the most outstanding, systematic exponent of the profound Habad theory of Hasidism. With the renewed interest in Jewish mysticism in general and Hasidism in particular, this work can serve as an excellent introduction to the more intricate and stimulating ideas of the Movement, normally to be found only in recondite tomes written in difficult Rabbinic Hebrew and therefore beyond the scope of even serious students of the subject. One of the most striking features of the book is the way it demonstrates that there is a close affinity between Habad thought and Far Eastern spirituality. Dr Jacobs has succeeded in bringing a vanished world to life for the modern reader.

"In this book, Miriamne Ara Krummel complicates the notion of the English Middle Ages as a monolithic age of Christian faith. Cataloguing and explicating the complex depictions of semitisms to be found in medieval literature and material culture, this volume argues that Jews were always present in medieval England, and it is only in rereading the historical record that it has been considered Judenrein-without Jews"--

This book explores the philosophy of love through the thought and life of Rabbi Akiva ben Joseph. Readers of the Talmud are introduced to Rabbi Akiva through the iconic story of his love for his wife Rachel. From this starting point, Naftali Rothenberg conducts a thorough examination of the harmonious approach to love in the obstacle-laden context of human reality. Discussing the deterioration of passion into simple lust, the ability to contend with suffering and death, and so forth, Rothenberg addresses the deepest and most pressing questions about human love. The readings and observations offered here allow readers to acquire the wisdom of love-not merely as an assemblage of theoretical arguments and abstract statements, but as an analysis of the internal contradictions and difficulties revealed in the context of attempts to realize and implement harmonious love.

Rosenberg looks to the Qumran scrolls for clues to the relationship of the Essenes or Sadoqites to the early Christians. He finds that many of their beliefs, including the expectation of a Moreh Sedeq or Correct Teacher, were taken on by the early Christians and shaped in the early days of the Church.

By comparing Qumran texts with New Testament materials, Rosenberg shows that, in Christian teaching, Jesus plays the part of the three separate persons who, according to the Sadoqites, were supposed to represent and embody sedeq or divine justice. This book will be of interest to all who are concerned with Judaism and the evolution of Christianity.

The term 'Judeo-Christian' in reference to a tradition, heritage, ethic, civilization, faith etc. has been used in a wide variety of contexts with widely diverging meanings. Contrary to popular belief, the term was not coined in the United States in the middle of the 20th century but in 1831 in Germany by Ferdinand Christian Baur. By acknowledging and returning to this European perspective and context, the volume engages the historical, theological, philosophical and political dimensions of the term's development. Scholars of European intellectual history will find this volume timely and relevant.

A new translation of, and commentary on, the Book of Koheles (Ecclesiastes). By means of a free, but accurate, translation, Dr. Eichhorn breathes new life into this difficult-to-understand (and often misunderstood) book of the Bible.

Volume 15 of The Jewish Law Annual adds to the growing list of articles on Jewish law that have been published in volumes 1-14 of this series, providing English-speaking readers with scholarly material meeting the highest academic standards. The volume contains six articles diverse in their scope and focus, encompassing legal, historical, textual, comparative and conceptual analysis, as well as a survey of recent literature and a chronicle of cases of interest. Among the topics covered are: lying in rabbinical court proceedings; unjust enrichment; can a witness serve as judge in the same case?; Caro's Shulham Arukh v. Maimonides' Mishne Torah in the Yemenite community, the New Jersey eruv wards.

The Second Century occupies a central place in the development of ancient Christianity. The aim of the book is to examine how in the cultural, social, and religious efflorescence of the Second Century, to be witnessed in phenomena such as the Second Sophistic, Christianity found a peculiar way of integrating into the more general transformation of the Empire and how this allowed the emerging religion to establish and flourish in Graeco-Roman society. Hadrian's reign was the starting point of that process and opened new possibilities of self-definition and external self-presentation to Christianity, as well as to other social and religious agencies. Differently from Judaism, however, Christianity fully seized the opportunity, thus gaining an increasing place in Graeco-Roman society, which ultimately led to the first Christian peace under the Severan emperors. The point at issue is examined from a multi-disciplinary perspective (including archaeology, cultural, religious, and political history) to challenge well-established, but no longer satisfactory, historical and hermeneutical paradigms. The contributors aim to examine institutional issues and sociocultural processes in their different aspects, as they were made possible on Hadrian's initiative and resulted in the merge of early Christianity into the Roman Empire.