Volume XXII of the distinguished annual Studies in Contemporary Jewry explores the major and rapid changes experienced by a population known variously as "Sephardim," "Oriental" Jews and "Mizrahim" over the last fifty years. Although Sephardim are popularly believed to have originated in Spain or Portugal, the majority of Mizrahi Jews today are actually the descendants of Jews from Muslim and Arab countries in the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia. They constitute a growing proportion of Israeli Jewry and continue to revitalize Jewish culture in places as varied as France, Latin America, and the United States.
Sephardic Jewry and Mizrahi Jews offers a collection of new scholarship on the issues of self-definition and identity facing Sephardic Jewry. The essays draw on a variety of disciplines--demography, history, political science, sociology, religious and gender studies, anthropology, and literature. Contributors explore the issues surrounding the emergence and increasingly wide usage of "Mizrahi" in place of "Sephardic," as well as the invigoration of Sephardic Judaism. They look at the evolution of Sephardic politics in Israel through the dramatic rise and continuing influence of the Shas political party and its spiritual leader, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef. Other contributors examine the variegated nature of Mizrahi immigration to Israel, fictional portraits of female Mizrahi immigrants to Israel in the 1940s and 1950s, contemporary Mizrahi Israel feminism, modern Arab historiography's portrayal of Jews of Muslim lands, and the changing Sephardic halakhic tradition.

Israel is the only new state among the twenty-one countries in the world today that have maintained democracy without interruption since the end of the Second World War. Israel's case is all the more notable because its democracy was established under extremely adverse conditions: massive immigration; severe social dislocation; the introduction of ethnic, cultural, linguistic, religious, and national differences; rapid economic growth; a permanent security threat that led to five major wars in thirty-five years; and a population that, in the main, had little or no experience of a democratic order. In this insightful study of Israel's founding period from 1948 to 1967, Peter Medding addresses this puzzle, providing a lucid account of the political and historical conditions that gave rise to this distinctive period, as well as the changes which brought it to an end. The result is an eminently readable account of the state-building process and of the role played by David Ben-Gurion and other politicians in moving from consensus politics to a majoritarian-like democracy. Medding's analysis is further enriched by his comparisons of the development of Israeli democracy with that of other countries.

This 1972 work explains how Mapai governed Israel from 1948 to 1969 when it gave up its independent identity to become a major partner to the newly formed Israeli Labour Party. It analyses how Mapai's dominant role in Israeli society was built up before 1948 and how it successfully adapted itself to the changes which resulted from it becoming an independent state. Society, party and state are seen as the three main foci for this study of Mapai and the party is seen to perform the central political role of connecting the social forces within the population to the state institutions. This book demonstrates how Mapai's dominance rested upon its success in gaining the support of these social forces, including new ones that arose after 1948 as a result of immigration and socio-economic change. it also illuminates the organisational flexibility which Mapai demonstrates in incorporating these diverse and often competing groups.

Bringing together contributions from established scholars from multiple disciplines, Volume XVIII of Studies in Contemporary Jewry offers a broad-ranging and timely view of Jews and violence. The volume construes violence broadly, including deviance and crime, verbal threat and incitement, and coercion, force and the resort to arms in individual, collective and communal, and state contexts. The essays span events in Israel, Russia, Germany, and the United States.

How has the Jewish family changed over the course of the twentieth century? How has it remained the same? How do Jewish families see themselves--historically, socially, politically, and economically--and how would they like to be seen by others?
This book, the fourteenth volume of Oxford's internationally acclaimed Studies in Contemporary Jewry series, presents a variety of perspectives on Jewish families coping with life and death in the twentieth century. The book is comprised of symposium papers, essays, and review articles of works published on such fundamental subjects as the Holocaust, antisemitism, genocide, history, literature, the arts, religion, education, Zionism, Israel, and the Middle East.
Published annually by the Avraham Harman Institute of Contemporary Jewry at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Studies in Contemporary Jewry series features current scholarship in the form of symposia, articles, and book reviews by distinguished experts of Jewish studies from colleges and universities across the globe. Each volume also includes a list of recent dissertations. Volume XIV: Coping with Life and Death: Jewish Families in the Twentieth Century will appeal to all students and scholars of the sociocultural history of the Jewish people, especially those interested in the nature of Jewish intermarriage and/or family life, the changing fate of the Orthodox Jewish family, the varied but widespread Americanization of the Jewish family, and similar concerns.

Drawing upon original essays by such notable historians and political scientists as Michael Walzer, this collection confronts the often conflicting role of values, interests, and identity in contemporary Jewish politics.

The eighth volume of the acclaimed annual publication of the Institute of Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, this volume focuses on the history and development of American Jewish life since World War II. Contributions include "A 'Golden Decade' for American Jews, 1945-1955" by Arthur A. Goren, "American Judaism: Changing Patterns in Denominational Self-Definition" by Arnold Eisen, "Value Added: Jews in Postwar American Culture" by Stephen J. Whitfield, "The Postwar Economy of American Jews" by Barry R. Chiswick, "Jewish Migration in Postwar America: The Case of Miami and Los Angeles" by Deborah Dash Moore, and "All in the Family: American Jewish Attachments to Israel" by Chaim Waxman. The volume also contains essays, book reviews, and a list of recent dissertations in the field.

This is the seventh volume of the annual publication of the Institute of Contemporary Jewry. The editors are distinguished professors at the Hebrew University, and the international review and advisory boards for the annual include most of the major scholars of Jewish history in the world.

Jews and Messianism in the Modern Era examines the significance and meaning of messianic metaphors, themes, and ideals in modern Jewish history and culture.

Contents: Jody Elizabeth Myers: The Messianic Idea and Zionist Ideologies; Aviezer Ravitzky: Forcing the End: Zionism and the State of Israel as Anti-Messianic Undertakings; Yaacov Shavit: Realism and Messianism in Zionism and the Yishuv; Hannan Hever: Poetry and Messianism in Palestine between the Two World Wars; Paul Mendes-Flohr: `The Stronger the Better': Jewish Theological Responses to Political Messianism in the Weimar Republic; Richard Wolin: Reflection on Jewish Secular Messianism; The volume also contains essays, book reviews, and a list of recent dissertations in the field.

This is the fifth volume of the annual publication of the Institute of Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. This volume is an up-to-date examination by noted specialists of the issues and developments that have shaped the state and the people of Israel over the past forty years, with special emphasis on the most recent trends. The volume presents in a concise form a review of the most recent research on Israeli politics and society, affording the general reader as well as the specialist an in-depth introduction to the key developments affecting Israel from within. Highlights include: Dan Horowitz and Moshe Lissak on key issues and conflicts that will determine Israel's future course; Pnina Morag-Talmon and Eliezer Ben-Rafael on the emergence of Israeli multi-ethnicity; Sammy Smooha on the growing politicization of Israel's Arab minority; Aviezer Ravitzky on the dilemmas facing the Haredi, or ultraorthodox population; and Itzhak Galnoor and Erik Cohen on the underpinnings of Israeli democracy and social consensus in the light of recent events.

The most recent volume of the series published annually for the Institute of Contemporary Jewry of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and including symposia, articles, book reviews,and lists of recent dissertations. Amongst the editors and the international review and advisory board are virtually all the major scholars of Jewish history in the world.

This series is published yearly by the Institute of Contemporary Jewry at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. It is edited by Jonathan Frankel, Peter Medding, and Ezra Mendelsohn, all distinguished professors of history at The Hebrew University. Volume III, the first to be published by Oxford, includes symposia, articles, book reviews, and lists of recent dissertations by major scholars of Jewish history from around the world. This year's symposium topic is "Jews and Other Ethnic Groups in a Multi-ethnic World." Essays in Volume III cover such topics as Jews in the Austro-Hungarian armed forces; post-Holocaust Hungarian Jewry; the American Jew as journalist; and Jewish social history.