Jewish people have settled around the world, adapted to their host nations, and produced cultural variances within Judaism. In doing so, they have experienced both prosperity and tragedy. In about 800 A-to-Z entries, ""Encyclopedia of Judaism"" explores a religion that has a 2,000-year recorded history and has been a part of the culture of almost every country and society around the globe. Encapsulating all things Jewish - language, laws, literature, arts, theology, ritual, land, culture, and personalities - this authoritative volume offers readers access to Judaism from both a historical and contemporary perspective. Entries include: Ancient synagogues, Arab-Israeli conflict, Bar/bat mitzvah, Camp David, Albert Einstein, Ellis Island, Anne Frank, Guggenheim family, Hasidism, Holocaust, Kibbutz, Knesset, Golda Meir, Modern Orthodox movement, Rabbinic law, Seder, Yitzhak Shamir, Tel Aviv, United Nations, Yeshiva, Yom Kippur War, Leopold Zunz, and more.
Author Biography:
Sara E. Karesh is a teacher of Jewish history at the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Rockville, MD. She received her Ph.D. in religious studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Karesh is the coauthor of Facts On File's Jewish Faith in America. Mitchell M. Hurvitz is senior rabbi at Temple Sholom in Greenwich, CT, and a columnist for The Greenwich Citizen. He received his M.A. and ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. He is a past president of the Greenwich Fellowship of Clergy and former chairman of congregation life for the Fairfield Council of Churches and Synagogues.
