This foreword deals exclusively with the planning, organization, and execution of the Workshop's scientific as well as cultural programs. It is opened with a synopsis on how the global political changes that occurred immediately after the Workshop caused the ~elay in producing the proceedings, followed by a brief exposition on need, timeliness, and importance of this second ARW in the field of electromagnetic imaging, radar remote sensing, and target versus clutter di~rimination; and an outline of the objectives. An informal discussion about some of the organizational details, a retrospective summary of events, and a preview of the third workshop, planned for 1993 September 19-25, is intended to recapture the spirit of this second NATO Advanced Research Workshop (1988 September 18-24), and will reveal how successful it was in compar ison to the first of 1983 September 18-24, how its accomplishments may be appreciated and why a third and last workshop was requested by its participants to take place during 1993 September 19-25.

The first Jewish gender-sensitive translation of the full Hebrew Bible, The JPS TANAKH: Gender-Sensitive Edition renews and revises the iconic Jewish Publication Society Bible translation from 1985 to reflect advances in scholarship and changes in English while maintaining utmost fidelity to the original Hebrew. This edition offers gender-inclusive renderings where appropriate and gendered renderings when called for historically and linguistically, incorporating the best of contemporary research into Israelite history and religion, literary studies, philology, linguistics, and the social sciences to offer a faithful and accurate translation. References to persons are gender sensitive yet consistent with ancient gender norms, and the translation strives for inclusive language when referring broadly to people, ancestors, and humankind. References to God are typically gender neutral and generally avoid grammatically masculine pronouns and labels, with careful examination of each context yielding the most appropriate rendering. To enable the tetragrammaton (God’s four-letter name) to be encountered as a name and without masculine connotations, the edition typically translates it as “God� (in small capitals) rather than “the Lord.� Revising the venerable JPS translation, this gender-sensitive edition—RJPS (Revised Jewish Publication Society edition)—empowers readers to experience Scripture with all the power of the original Hebrew. It is sure to become the new Bible translation of choice for readers who embrace biblical scholarship with reverence for tradition, and for communities and individuals who adopt an inclusive, egalitarian perspective in today’s world.  

Offers readers new perspectives on the role gender plays in Bible translation This adaptation of the JPS translation of the Torah (1962) will appeal to readers who are interested in a historically based picture of social gender roles in the Bible as well as those who have become accustomed to gender-sensitive English in other aspects of their lives. Many contemporary Bible scholars contend that the Bible’s original audience understood that the references to God as male simply reflected gendered social roles at the time. However, evidence for this implicit assumption is ambiguous. Accordingly, in preparing this new edition, the editors sought language that was more sensitive to gender nuances, to reflect more accurately the perceptions of the original Bible readers. In places where the ancient audience probably would not have construed gender as pertinent to the text’s plain sense, the editors changed words into gender-neutral terms; where gender was probably understood to be at stake, they left the text as originally translated, or even introduced gendered language where none existed before. They made these changes regardless of whether words referred to God, angels, or human beings. For example, the phrase originally translated in the 1962 JPS Torah as “every man as he pleases� has been rendered here “each of us as we please� (Deut. 12:8). Similarly, “man and beast� now reads “human and beast� (Exod. 8:14), since the Hebrew word adam is meant to refer to all human beings, not only to males. Conversely, the phrase “the persons enrolled� has been changed to “the men enrolled� (Num. 26:7), to reflect the fact that only men were counted in census-taking at this time. In most cases, references to God are rendered in gender neutral language. A special case in point: the unpro-nounceable four-letter name for the Divine, the Tetragammaton, is written in unvocalized Hebrew, conveying to the reader that the Name is something totally “other�—beyond our speech and understanding. Readers can choose to substitute for this unpronounceable Name any of the numerous divine names offered by Jewish tradition, as generations have before our time. In some instances, however, male imagery depicting God is preserved because it reflects ancient society’s view of gender roles. David Stein’s preface provides an explanation of the methodology used, and a table delineates typical ways that God language is handled, with sample verses. Occasional notes applied to the Bible text explain how gender is treated; longer supplementary notes at the end of the volume comment on special topics related to this edition. In preparing this work, the editors undertook a thorough and comprehensive analysis of the Torah’s gender ascriptions. The result is a carefully rendered alternative to the traditional JPS translation.