The decision of the Jewish Theological Seminar to ordain women for the rabbinate constituted a watershed in American Jewish history. Under the leadership of then-Chancellor Gershon D. Cohen, the protracted process of decision-making at the Seminary was the first time that the halakhic case in favor of such an action was aired publicly. As Chancellor Emeritus Cohen notes in his Preface to these papers, this volume will be of interest "not only to a student of the place of women in Jewish law, but to any student of Halakhah, for uinderlying the opinions on the admission of women to the Rabbinical School is the fundamental question of the role of social forces in the shaping of the Halakhah." Included in this important volume are studies and responsa by Seminary faculty including Joseph Brodie, Israel Francus, Robert Gordus, Simon Greenberg, Anne Lapidus Lerner, Mayer Rabinowitz, David Roskies, Joel Roth and Gordon Tucker.

An epitaph to the Golden Age of Spanish Jewry Hundreds of years before the Inquisition, the Almohade invasion of Spain wiped out many of the Spanish Jewish communities in Muslim Andalusia ending the Golden Age of Spanish Jewry. Thousands of Jews fled north to Christian Spain, where they had to live among Karaite Jews very different from themselves. Philosopher Abraham ibn Daud responded to this upheaval by writing The Book of Tradition, known as Sefer ha-Qabbalah. This epic on Jewish history from ancient times to the 12th century eulogized Spanish Jewry and reminded readers of a once-thriving culture. No one before had ever attempted to write such a broad history of Jewish civilization. The Book of Tradition is unique and one of the first examples of Jewish historiography. In JPS's edition of this classic work, first published in 1967, renowned scholar Gerson D. Cohen presents his translation of ibn Daud's entire text, as well as commentary and an extensive introduction that masterfully provides context for the reader.