A New AJCommittee-Published Book Helps Readers Understand Jewish History And Enhance Judaic Literacy

American Jewish Committee
Tuesday, 20 May 1997

The American Jewish Committee and KTAV Publishing House have just released a unique volume geared toward helping Jews better understand all facets of Jewish historical experience - cultural, religious, political, and social - from the biblical covenant to modern-day.

The 443-page book, entitled "Understanding Jewish History: Texts and Commentaries," was written by Dr. Steven Bayme, AJC's Director of Jewish Communal Affairs, as a guide for anyone seeking a core course in Jewish history. Its particular objectives include an understanding of the primary historical experiences of the Jews, the distinctive ideas which Jews and Judaism have advocated, and some exposure to the classical texts of the Judaic heritage.

In his introduction to the book, Dr. Bayme writes: "This volume is shaped by several assumptions about Jewish experience: continuity rather than discontinuity, salience rather than irrelevance, and the value of honest and informed confrontation with Jewish sources.

"Given these three assumptions of continuity, salience , and value in reading texts, what can a course in Jewish history accomplish? On one level, the aim is to nurture understanding of how the Jews evolved as a people. On yet another level, the goal is to ensure confrontation with Jewish texts and enhance Judaic literacy. Beyond these, the distinctiveness of this volume lies in its emphasis upon Jewish ideas and their continued salience to the modern Jew. On this level, readers will be asked not only to understand which ideas were distinctive Judaically and how they developed, but to continue the process of dialogue and questioning of these ideas to determine whether, how, and should these ideas affect contemporary Jewish living."

The volume is broken down into 34 units which examine topics including: Creation, Covenant, Redemption; Prophecy and Biblical Religion; Destruction and Exile; Rome and Jerusalem; Origins of Christianity; The Church and the Jews; Jewry and Islam; The Crusades and the Jews; Renaissance and Reformation; Hasidism; Reform Judaism; Neo-Orthodoxy; Modern Anti-Semitism; Modern Zionism; Jewish Settlement in America; Conservative Judaism and Reconstructionism; Jewry and the Soviet Union; The Holocaust; and Israel and World Jewry. After each section there is a suggested bibliography for further reading.

Publication of this volume is part of AJC's ongoing initiative to enhance Jewish literacy - a program designed to bridge the gap between the secular attainments of American Jews and their attainments in Judaic heritage.

"Understanding Jewish History" is available, prepaid, from the Publications Department of the American Jewish Committee at 165 East 56th Street, New York, NY 10022. The cost of the volume is $24.95

For more information, or to contact American Jewish Committee, see their website at: www.ajc.org