American Jewish Archives

Tickets for two lectures by Yigael Yadin to discuss his then-newly published edition of "The Genesis Apocryphon"

VOLUME LXI NUMBER 1 (2009)
Published by The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives

Gary P. Zola, Ph.D., Editor
Dana Herman, Ph.D., Managing Editor
Phil Reekers, Editorial Assistant
Jacob Rader Marcus, Ph.D., Founding Editor (1896-1995)

Downoad this issue in PDF format. You may download an individual section or article by clicking on the PDF button next to the article description.
PDF VOLUME LXI NUMBER 1 ISSN 002-905X (3.99 MB)

THIS ISSUE: CONTENTS

To our readers Gary P. Zola, Editor
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ARTICLES:

Optimistic, Even With the Negatives: HUC-JIR and the Dead Sea Scrolls, 1948–1993 ~ Jason Kalman
Between 1948 and 1993, scholars at HUC-JIR were actively engaged in the study of the Dead Sea Scrolls, participated in efforts to acquire and preserve the manuscripts, and played a significant part in breaking the monopoly of scholars initially assigned to publish them. Despite these activities, a number of HUC-JIR’s influential teachers took a negative view of the scrolls, which created a situation in which rabbinical students either did not encounter the material or left the institution with a view of it that was far from the mainstream. This article traces the activities of HUC-JIR’s professors over five decades, the contribution they made to the new academic field, and their influence on how knowledge of the Dead Sea Scrolls was shared with Jewish clergy and teachers-in-training.
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How the Dead Sea Scrolls Influenced Reform Judaism ~ Richard A. Freund
The Dead Sea Scrolls are acknowledged as the greatest discovery of Hebrew manuscripts in modern times. For modern Jews and Judaism the question is, what is the impact of the scrolls beyond the obvious contributions to the understanding of ancient manuscript readings of the Hebrew Bible and verification of certain historical beliefs of the Jews in the first centuries before and after the Common Era? Do the Dead Sea Scrolls actually affect modern Reform synagogue theology, life, and customs?
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DOCUMENTARY ANALYSIS:

A Spiritually Powerful Sect of Judaism: Two Sermons on the Dead Sea Scrolls by Rabbi Harold I. Saperstein
~ Introduced by Marc Saperstein and annotated by Jason Kalman
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BOOK REVIEWS:
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Naomi W. Cohen, What the Rabbis Said: The Public Discourse of Nineteenth-Century American Rabbis
reviewed by Ira Robinson

John Cooper, Raphael Lemkin and the Struggle for the Genocide Convention
reviewed by Mitchel Gerber

Carole S. Kessner, Marie Syrkin: Values Beyond the Self
reviewed by Norman Finkelstein

Julian Levinson, Exiles on Main Street: Jewish American Writers and American Literary Culture
reviewed by Lara Trubowitz

John P. Marschall, Jews in Nevada: A History
reviewed by Marc Dollinger

Michael A. Meyer, ed., Joachim Prinz, Rebellious Rabbi: An Autobiography—The German and Early American Years
reviewed by Tobias Brinkmann

Andrew Muchin, “Chosen Towns: The Story of Jews in Wisconsin’s Small Communities” (DVD)
reviewed by Amy Hill Shevitz

Marc Lee Raphael, ed., The Columbia History of Jews and Judaism in America
reviewed by Dana Evan Kaplan

Walter Roth, Avengers and Defenders: Glimpses of Chicago’s Jewish Past
reviewed by Stephen J. Whitfield

Leonard Saxe and Barry Chazan, Ten Days of Birthright Israel: A Journey in Young Adult Identity
reviewed by Caryn Aviv

Edward S. Shapiro, ed., Yiddish in America: Essays on Yiddish Culture in the Golden Land
reviewed by Shiri Goren

Shlomit Steinberg, Orphaned Art: Looted Art from the Holocaust in the Israel Museum
reviewed by Karen S. Franklin

Hollace Ava Weiner, Jewish “Junior League”: The Rise and Demise of the Fort Worth Council of Jewish Women
reviewed by Susan Landau-Chark

Jack Wertheimer, ed., Imagining the American Jewish Community
reviewed by Adam Mendelsohn

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VOLUME LXI INDEX

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ARTICLE SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
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AUTHOR'S STYLE SHEET
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