Synopses & Reviews
During the thousands of years of their existence, the Jews have maintained their distinct identity while coming into contact with a wide variety of peoples, religions, and intellectual movements. This identity is based on a history and literature that is shared by Jews the world over, enabling them to feel a kinship to those who may dress differently and speak a different tongue in their daily life. Their shared sense of origin and their shared sense of destiny have enabled them to survive many challenges to their existence through the centuries. The cross-cultural contacts of the Jewish people have also enabled them to serve as a source of enrichment to those cultures in which they lived.
This magnificent anthology of Jewish art and literature reveals the depth and breadth of the Jewish experience through well-chosen texts and images that mark momentous developments in Jewish art, religion, politics, and everyday life. The selections evoke the tone and texture of Jewish life from biblical times through the centuries of Diaspora across Europe, northern Africa, Asia Minor, and ultimately to the New World; from the Middle Ages through the early twentieth century, a time of tentative accommodation and assimilation; and from the Holocaust to the subsequent creation of a Jewish homeland in Israel.
Excerpts from traditional religious literature, including the Bible, Mishnah, Talmud, and Midrash, state the founding principles of the Jewish faith, the Jews' first conceptions of Creation and their role in it. Writings by Benedict Spinoza, Moses Mendelsohn, Sigmund Freud, Albert Einstein, and other influential Jewish thinkers shed light on issues of importance to the Jewish people signposting, new directions in Jewish thought as it evolved through the centuries.
Social and political forces that have affected Jewish societies are portrayed by perceptions of Jews by non-Jews such as William Shakespeare, George Washington, and Napoleon Bonaparte; and political documents such as the edict of explusion issued by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain during the Inquisition.
The terrors of the Holocaust are expressed in the writings of Anne Frank, Simon Wiesenthal, Elie Wiesel, and Primo Levi, which rank among the most poignant and humane ever written. Finally, the exaltation and strife in building the new nation of Israel are described by such key players as Ben Gurion and Golda Meir.
Accompanying the texts are nearly 140 color and 100 black and white illustrations that represent the complete scope of Jewish arts and crafts: antiquities and ceremonial art, including fabric, preciouis metals, and stained glass; paintings from many periods and countries, including such 20th century artists as Marc Chagall and Larry Rivers; and selections of folk art which offer a glimpse of everyday Jewish life.
An incomparable diary of the Jewish experience emerges through the works of history's most sage and expressive Jews, a wealth of resources that bear testimony to the Jewish people. For Jews who wish to study the touchstones of the faith, and others who wish to understand the Jewish saga through the impressions of Jewish witnesses, this book is a rich trove of knowledge and enjoyment.
Review
"...this rich repository of Jewish culture....[T]his is an anthology to refer to again and again." Publishers Weekly