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The origins of Judaism's regional 'subcultures' are poorly understood, as are Jewish identities other than 'Ashkenaz' and 'Sepharad'. Through case studies and close textual readings, this volume illuminates the role of geopolitical boundaries, cross-cultural influences, and migration in the medieval formation of Jewish regional identities.

The carved wooden Torah arks found in eastern Europe from the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries were magnificent structures, unparalleled in their beauty and mystical significance. The work of Jewish artisans, they dominated the synagogues of numerous towns both large and small throughout the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, inspiring worshippers with their monumental scale and intricate motifs. Virtually none of these superb pieces survived the devastation of the two world wars. Bracha Yaniv's pioneering work therefore breathes new life into a lost genre, making it accessible to scholars and students of Jewish art, Jewish heritage, and religious art more generally. Making use of hundreds of pre-war photographs housed in local archives, she develops a vivid portrait of the history and artistic development of these arks, the scope and depth of her meticulous research successfully compensating for the absence of physical remains. In this way she has succeeded in producing a richly illustrated and comprehensive overview of a classic Jewish religious art form. Professor Yaniv's analysis of the historical context in which these arks emerged includes a broad survey of the traditions that characterized the local workshops of Lithuania, Belarus, and Ukraine. She also provides a detailed analysis of the motifs carved into the Torah arks and explains their mystical significance, among them representations of Temple imagery and messianic themes-and even daring visual metaphors for God. Fourteen arks are discussed in particular detail, with full supporting documentation; appendices relating to the inscriptions on the arks and to the artisans' names will further facilitate future research. This seminal work throws new light on long-forgotten traditions of Jewish craftsmanship and religious understanding.

Chaim Waxman presents a detailed analysis of halakhicdevelopments, covering family and community life, the increasingAmericanization of Orthodox Jews, and how developments in Orthodoxy in Israelare having an impact on American norms. He shows that there is both greater stringencyand greater leniency, and he discusses the many reasons for this.

An examination of the complex past and changing circumstances of the Jewish diaspora in the British and Dutch Caribbean, with particular emphasis on Jamaica.

This much-updated edition of a ground-breaking book expands the broad coverage of its stimulating approach. With forty-five new photographs and accompanying essays, it convincingly demonstrates the complexity of the Jewish past in Polish Galicia and the attempts to memorialize its heritage, as well as the unexpected revival of Jewish life.

This first volume of an award winning three-volume series begins with an overview of Jewish life in Poland and Lithuania down to the mid-eighteenth century, including social, economic, and religious history. The period from 1764 to 1881 is covered in more detail, with attention focused on developments in each country in turn.

Moshe Rosman's revolutionary approach has become a cornerstone of Polish Jewish historiography. Analytical introductions weigh their significance in the light of modern and postmodern Jewish and Polish historiography.

'An admirably coherent and clearly written account ... which has long been needed ... sure to serve as the standard text on the subject for years to come.' David Vital, Times Literary Supplement

The two decades since the last authoritative general history of Dutch Jews was published have seen such substantial developments in historical understanding that new assessment has become an imperative.

Samuel Hirszenberg is an artist who deserves to be more widely known: his work intertwined modernism and Jewish themes, and he influenced later artists of Jewish origin. Born into a traditional Jewish family in Lodz in 1865, Hirszenberg gradually became attached to Polish culture and language as he pursued his artistic calling.

The first critical study of how Maimonides has been read by leading Orthodox rabbis in our time shows that some have tried to liberate themselves from his influence, others have built on his ideas generating vibrant controversy, and yet others have sought to recreate Maimonides in their own image.