Encyclopaedia of Judaism
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Subject: Jewish Studies
General Editors: Jacob Neusner, Alan J. Avery-Peck and William Scott Green
The Encyclopaedia of Judaism Online offers more than 200 entries comprising more than 1,000,000 words and is a unique reference tool. The Encyclopaedia of Judaism Online offers an authoritative, comprehensive, and systematic presentation of the current state of scholarship on fundamental issues of Judaism, both past and present. While heavy emphasis is placed on the classical literature of Judaism and its history, the Encyclopaedia of Judaism Online also includes principal entries on circumcision, genetic engineering, homosexuality, intermarriage in American Judaism, and other acutely contemporary issues. Comprehensive and up-to-date, it reflects the highest standards in scholarship. Covering a tradition of nearly four thousand years, some of the most distinguished scholars in the field describe the way of life, history, art, theology, philosophy, and the practices and beliefs of the Jewish people.
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The Encyclopaedia of Judaism Online offers more than 200 entries comprising more than 1,000,000 words and is a unique reference tool. The Encyclopaedia of Judaism Online offers an authoritative, comprehensive, and systematic presentation of the current state of scholarship on fundamental issues of Judaism, both past and present. While heavy emphasis is placed on the classical literature of Judaism and its history, the Encyclopaedia of Judaism Online also includes principal entries on circumcision, genetic engineering, homosexuality, intermarriage in American Judaism, and other acutely contemporary issues. Comprehensive and up-to-date, it reflects the highest standards in scholarship. Covering a tradition of nearly four thousand years, some of the most distinguished scholars in the field describe the way of life, history, art, theology, philosophy, and the practices and beliefs of the Jewish people.
Subscriptions: see brill.com
Islamic Doctrines of Judaism
(6,242 words)
“Islam ,” no less than “Judaism,” is a construct, and its contents vary according to what Muslims, or Jews, or indeed anyone else, chooses to include in it. But in the case of Muslims and Jews, at least there are foundational texts that establish the general outlines of the construct and to some extent point the direction of its future development. What Muslims hold “Islam” to be is dictated in its broadest terms by the Quran, the text whose affirmation as the Word of God pr…
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Encyclopaedia of Judaism
Israelite Religion
(5,372 words)
The way Israelite religion actually was practiced in biblical times frequently was different from what the biblical sources, written according to later ideologies, claim to have been the case. In the face of the tendentious character of the biblical sources, to determine what people actually did and believed, we must take into account the realities of Israelite history and the specific contexts in which the Hebrew Scriptures were composed. We recognize as well that religious practice changed ove…
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Encyclopaedia of Judaism
Israel, Land of, in Classical Judaism
(8,045 words)
The land of Israel in the classical sources of Judaism, both the Oral Torah and the liturgy of the synagogue and the home, is the counterpart of Eden, just as, in these same sources, the people of Israel is presented as the counterpart of Adam. The parallel is appropriate, because gaining the land, at the end of the forty years in the wilderness, marked the completion of Israel's history. Or, it would have marked that end, had Israel not sinned and ultimately lost the land, the metaphorical coun…
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Encyclopaedia of Judaism
Israel, Land of, in Medieval and Renaissance Judaism
(8,124 words)
Treatments of the land of Israel in medieval Jewish thought address a number of central issues: (1) the scientific status (in the medieval sense of the term) of the country, mainly in terms of climatology and astrology; (2) the conceptual and metaphysical status of the country; (3) the relationship of the country to the religious commandments; and (4) the messianic significance of the country. Some thinkers, like Judah Halevi and Abraham ibn Ezra, discussed all these issues; others considered on…
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Encyclopaedia of Judaism
Israel the People in Judaism, in Medieval and Modern Times
(11,568 words)
Numerous recent studies by historians and social scientists have examined the nature of Jewish identity, attempting to discover how Jews create their identity, how they maintain their Jewishness, and what this means for our understanding of Jews in particular and other minority groups in general. 1 While these investigations have opened new avenues for comprehending Jewish identity and its construction, they largely have failed to investigate what major Jewish thinkers themselves have said on the subject throughout the medieval and modern …
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Encyclopaedia of Judaism
Israel the People in Judaism, the Classical Statement
(11,367 words)
In the religion, Judaism, “Israel” stands for the holy people, whom God has called into being through Abraham and Sarah and their descendants, to whom the prophetic promises were made, and with whom the covenants were entered. In every Judaism “Israel” is a theological category, not solely a fact of sociology or ethnic culture or secular politics. The “Israel” of Judaism—of every Judaism—forms a supernatural social entity, “chosen,” “holy,” subject to God's special love and concern. That “Israel…
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Encyclopaedia of Judaism