Encyclopedia of Jewish Book Cultures Online

Get access Subject: Jewish Studies

Being an encyclopedia on book cultures rather than book contents, this work places textuality and materiality of the book in the center of its investigation. The singularity of the Jewish book can only be understood in full if it is studied in its broader cultural and intercultural context. This encyclopedia does that by focusing on the paleographic features, intended function, cultural significance, readership, acceptance, and design of particular books and genres, as well as the producer-consumer relations involved in the making and circulating of books. It covers more than 2000 years of Jewish book cultures from all corners of the earth.

The Encyclopedia of Jewish Book Cultures Online will appear before the print edition and features full-text searchable, richly illustrated articles. The print edition will be released after all online content is complete and will include one introductory volume, dealing with the fundamental research questions in the wide field of Jewish Book History, followed by three alphabetically organized volumes, offering a classic entry-by-entry encyclopedia, with articles of greatly varying length. The online work reflects this framework and presents the introductory essays as a separate, but strongly intertwined, section.

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Libraries and the Collecting of Jewish Books

(16,051 words)

Author(s): Bar-Levav, Avriel
This essay uses the concept of "library conception" in order to define and analyze various aspects of Jewish libraries. They are defined as accessible collections of books or any other written or digital materials, often multi-lingual, that are relevant to Jewish culture - either due to their content or to some other Jewish aspect. Until modernity, the centrality of texts and books in Jewish culture does not correspond to the place in this culture of libraries. ⸙What Are Jewish Libraries, When and Where Do We Find Them, and How Can We Study ThemWhat is a (Jewish) library? Based on the …
Source: Encyclopedia of Jewish Book Cultures Online
Date: 2023-01-31

Liturgical Books

(2,423 words)

Author(s): Rand (d.), Michael | Hollender, Elisabeth
1. Manuscripts 1.1. Oriental Jewish liturgy may be divided into two broad categories: statutory liturgy, organized around the "hard core" that is enshrined in Jewish law, and poetic ( piyyuṭ) liturgy, which historically originates in Byzantine-period Palestine and whose purpose is to either replace or embellish specific parts of the statutory liturgy. In codicological terms (Codicology), this division is reflected in the distinction that exists in most European rites between the siddur and the maḥzor - the former being the book containin…
Source: Encyclopedia of Jewish Book Cultures Online
Date: 2023-01-01