2011: A Year in Books

The holidays are over, the coffee-table books have all been unwrapped and set aside, and winter isn't going anywhere for a while. In short, it's time to settle in for some good reading. The literary critic D. G. Myers here presents the 38 best Jewish books of 2011, all of which merit your attention.

2010: A Year in Books  D.G. Myers,  Jewish Ideas Daily.  From the popular to the scholarly, a reader's and buyer's guide to 34 of the best books of 2010.  SAVE

Retrieving American Jewish Fiction  D.G. Myers,  Jewish Ideas Daily.  A historical symposium of some neglected classics, and an introduction to the avot and imahot of American Jewish writing.  SAVE

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Who Owns Maimonides?

Abraham Joshua Heschel once suggested that if one didn't know that "Maimonides" was a person, one would assume it was the name of a university. Heschel was referring to the monumental breadth and influence of the 12th-century philosopher's work.

Perplexed by Maimonides?  Natan Slifkin,  Rationalist Judaism.  A chart of the various approaches to Maimonides' theology, from the academic to the ultra-Orthodox.  SAVE

Mediterranean Maimonides  Jewish Ideas Daily.  For Maimonides, Islamic culture was not just background but shaping influence.  SAVE

The Tale of Maimonides and Peter  Fred MacDowell,  On the Main Line.  Was the great religious philosopher a heretic, as some medieval rabbis thought? A legend extant in many versions tells how he dramatically and successfully dispelled the charge.  SAVE

Sifting the Cairo Genizah  Lawrence Grossman,  Jewish Ideas Daily.  The centuries-old materials found in the loft of a Cairo synagogue include handwritten letters and documents of Maimonides.  SAVE

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Telling Jewish Time

The most acclaimed Jewish Bible commentary opens with a question. Why, asks Rashi (1040–1105), does the Torah begin with the account of creation, when it should properly have begun with God's revelation of His very first law to Moses on the eve of the Exodus from Egypt: "This month shall be for you the first of months"?

The Jewish Calendar  Joseph Jacobs, Cyrus Adler,  Jewish Encyclopedia.  An introduction to the history, character, and science of the calendar from biblical to post-talmudic times. (1906)  SAVE

Saving the Dates  Harriet R. Goren,  Jewish Week.  In an interview, Elisheva Carlebach offers examples of what she found in the Sifrei Evronot, and explicates the illustration on the jacket of her book.   SAVE

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Genizah fragment with Maimonides’ signature.

Sifting the Cairo Genizah

Everyone knows about the Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered over 60 years ago, and about the new light they shed on the sectarian Judaism of late antiquity, the beginnings of rabbinic Judaism, and possibly the prehistory of Christianity. Fifty years before that, the Cairo Genizah similarly revolutionized the picture of the Jewish Middle Ages.

Digitizing the Genizah  Friedberg Genizah Project.  Since 2004, a concerted program has been identifying, cataloguing, and transcribing the manuscripts of the Cairo Genizah as well as photographing and publishing them online.  SAVE

What the Geonim Wrought  Robert Brody,  Printing the Talmud.  For roughly 500 years, the cultural and intellectual centers of the Jewish world were located east of the Mediterranean, and the master teachers of the age devoted themselves to transmitting, explicating, and applying the Talmud as a guide to Jewish life. (PDF)  SAVE

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