The sixth volume of the annual publication of the Institute for Contemporary Jewry at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Art and Its Uses analyzes the levels of meaning present in a wide range of visual images, from high art by Jewish artists to Judaica, caricatures, and political propaganda. The use of such material to illuminate aspects of modern history and society is rather uncommon in the field of modern Jewish studies; these essays provide the tools necessary for understanding the image in its proper social and political context. The distinguished contributors include Richard...

With the help of over one hundred illustrations spanning three centuries, Richard Cohen investigates the role of visual images in European Jewish history. The interaction of Jews with the visual arts takes place, as Cohen says, in a vast gallery of prints, portraits, books, synagogue architecture, ceremonial art, modern Jewish painting and sculpture, political broadsides, monuments, medals, and memorabilia. Pointing to recent scholarship that overturns the stereotype of Jews as people of the text, unconcerned with the visual, Cohen shows how the coming of the modern period expanded the...

Insiders and Outsiders: Dilemmas of East European Jewry examines problems of Jewish cultural and political orientations, associations, and self-identification within a broad framework. The contributors approach the predicament of east European Jews in various settings: some focus primarily on the Jews' inner development and outlook, while others discuss how elements of the majority society viewed their presence. Scholars of history, art history, and literature display originality and insight in illuminating the nuances and intricacies of the Jewish 'outsider'. Following an overview by the...

The biblical idea of a distinct 'Jewish contribution to civilization' continues to engage Jews and non-Jews alike. This book seeks neither to document nor to discredit the notion, but rather to investigate the idea itself as it has been understood from the seventeenth century to the present. It explores the role that the concept has played in Jewish self-definition, how it has influenced the political, social, and cultural history of the Jews and of others, and whether discussion of the notion still has relevance in the world today. The book offers a broad spectrum of academic opinion: from...

Continuing its distinguished tradition of focusing on central political, sociological, and cultural issues of Jewish life in the last century, Volume XXVI of the annual Studies in Contemporary Jewry examines the visual revolution that has overtaken Jewish cultural life in the twentieth century onwards, with special attention given to the evolution of Jewish museums. Bringing together leading curators and scholars, Visualizing and Exhibiting Jewish Space and History treats various forms of Jewish representation in museums in Europe and the United States before the Second World War and...

In the last two decades, Jewish historians worldwide have developed and refined the discussion of an early modern period in Jewish culture, spanning roughly three centuries from 1500 to 1800, and have increasingly found this periodization to be a useful heuristic for interpreting historical developments.
Thirty-one leading scholars both within and beyond Jewish studies advance, refine, and challenge how we understand the Jewish early modern period. The collection includes a comprehensive range of topics, beginning by examining authority structures of Jewish communities following the...

Bringing together contributions from a diverse group of scholars, Volume XXX of Studies in Contemporary Jewry presents a multifaceted view of the subtle and intricate relations between Jews and their relationship to place. The symposium covers Europe, the Middle East, and North America from the 18th century to the 21st.