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Volume 27, No.4, May-June 2008 Association of Jewish Libraries N E W S L E T T E R May/June 2008 Volume XXVII, No. 4 Reference & Bibliography Award Winners Announced JIM ROSENBLOOM Many fine Judaica reference and bibliographic works appear each encyclopedias that cover some of the subjects in greater detail. year. The Awards Committee of the Research Libraries, Archives, To the best of my knowledge, however, many of the entries do and Special Collections Division of AJL reviews a great number not appear elsewhere in any organized form in other reference of them. I chair the committee, whose members are Rachel Ariel, literature. Geoffrey Dennis is the rabbi of Congregation Kol Ami Elliot H. Gertel, Louise Greenfield, Rachel Simon, Barry Walfish, in Flower Mound, Texas. He was previously the assistant rabbi and Yaffa Weisman. at Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation. Prior to his ordination at The Judaica Reference Award for 2007 goes to Writers in Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, he was a registered nurse Yiddish, edited by Joseph Sherman (Thomsen Gale, 2007). It is and RN supervisor. volume 333 of the series, Dictionary of Literary Biography. This The 2007 Judaica Bibliography Award winner is Dictionary of alphabetically arranged volume Iberian Jewish and Converso Authors by Norman Roth (Aben Ezra contains articles on forty major Ediciones; Universidad Pontifica Salamanca, 2007). Although figures in Yiddish literature. The published in Spain, all annotations are in English. The bibliogra- earliest is Nahman of Bratslav. Each phy includes not only Hebrew works, but those written in other article gives a transliterated and languages, especially Spanish, as well as translations into other translated list of the author’s works languages. Roth includes every edition of which he is aware, and published English translations, including material published in scholarly journals. One can including those found in antholo- get a sense of the amount of work that went into this 765-page gies and periodicals. The main body bibliography by noting that the entry on Maimonides (appar- of the article discusses the life and ently included because he spent his early years in Spain) is 78 writings of the author, including pages long. This bibliography will be a basic research tool for all information about relations with scholars in the field of Spanish Jews and Conversos. other writers, discussions of schools Norman Roth is professor emeritus in the Department of of literature, and brief comments about some of the works. There Hebrew and Semitic Studies at the University of Wisconsin— is a list of works for further reading. A useful feature at the end Madison. In addition to many articles in English and Spanish, he of each article is the location of the author’s papers. has published the following works: Maimonides: Essays and Texts Joseph Sherman is Corob Fellow in Yiddish studies at the (1985); Jews, Visigoths, and Muslims in Medieval Spain: Cooperation Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, University of Ox- and Conflict (1994); Conversos, Inquisition, and the Expulsion of the ford. He was previously associate professor in the Department of Jews from Spain (1995). He edited Medieval Jewish Civilization: An English, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. He has Encyclopedia (2003). published widely on Yiddish literature, special- The Honorable Mention in Bibliography is In- izing in Isaac Bashevis Singer, and has translated ventory of Yiddish Publications from the Netherlands: his novel Shadows on the Hudson. His other area of c.1650 – c.1950 by Mirjam Gutschow (Brill, 2007). specialization is Dovid Bergelson, whose novella This work lists 585 publications, all but three of Opgang (Descent), he recently published in a newly which were published in Amsterdam. Subjects redacted Yiddish text and translation. Sherman’s include narrative prose, plays, humorous lit- new translation of the novel Nokh alemen (When erature, textbooks, grammars, religious literature, All is Said and Done) will be published in the fall. and regulations of local Ashkenazi communities. Reference Honorable Mention is The Ency- Almost all were published before the twentieth clopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic and Mysticism by century. The author has excluded haggadahs and Geoffrey W. Dennis (Llewellyn Publications, calendars. The inventory is based on catalogs 2007). There are over 1,000 articles, varying in and other secondary literature. It does not claim length from a few lines to more than a page, with to be comprehensive, but is a major step toward extensive cross-references. All Hebrew is transliterated. There are identifying all of the Netherlands Yiddish publications. It is a numerous references to primary and a few secondary sources valuable tool for the history of Yiddish literature and culture, as in rabbinic and mystical literature. The value of this encyclope- dia is in the wide range of subjects covered; it does not replace Continued on p. 6 Association of Jewish Libraries Doris Orenstein P.O. Box 1118 President’s Message Teaneck, NJ 07666 LAU R EL WOLFSON Memorial Fund 212-725-5359, [email protected] YELENA LUCKE R T Dear friends, The AJL Newsletter (Irene Levin- The Doris Orenstein Memorial Wixman z”l, founding editor) is published quarterly by the It’s hard to believe that this is my final President’s Column. When Fund provides funds for AJL Association of Jewish Libraries I first joined AJL eighteen years ago, my goal was to become an members to attend their first to inform members about associa- tion activities and issues related active member of the association. After receiving the scholarship AJL convention. Please think to Judaica libraries. Receipt of the award to complete my degree, I was eager to justify the support of this fund as you remember newsletter is one of the benefits of loved ones or commend oth- membership. Annual dues are $50 and confidence that everyone so generously displayed. I think for individuals or institutions. that I have been on the council since shortly after joining in 1990, ers’ achievements, or if you first serving as publicity chairperson (with no committee) at the simply would like to perform Please send requests for member- 1991 convention in Miami Beach. Since then, I have held vari- a mitzvah. ship and dues information to: ous offices, served on committees, and attended almost every Joseph (Yossi) Galron P.O. Box 3816 convention. It is my pleasure to announce Columbus, OH 43210 the recipients of the Doris Phone: (614) 292-3362 Orenstein Memorial Conven- Fax: (614) 292-1918 Personal and professional relationships have both provided [email protected] much benefit and pleasure over the years, and I cannot suffi- tion Travel Grant to attend the ciently express my gratitude to everyone. I urge our members to 2008 AJL Annual Convention Send adult books for review to: Daniel Scheide support the AJL Scholarship Fund, since you might be nurturing in Cleveland, Ohio. They are S.E. Wimberly Library a future president of AJL. Anne Biermann, Yoram Bit- Florida Atlantic University 777 Glades Road ton, Helen Chronister, Deb- Boca Raton , FL 33431-6424 Thank you to everyone for a most interesting and broadening two bie Colodny, Esther Hexter, 561-297-0519 Aimee Lurie, Sean Martin, [email protected] years. I look forward to continuing to serve AJL in the future. Best of luck to Suzi Dubin and the incoming board and council. Anna Skorupsky, Elayna Wei- Adult Review Editor sel, and Judy Wolfthal. We Merrily F. Hart Siegal College of Judaic Studies Looking forward to seeing everyone in Cleveland in June. wish our new attendees a 26500 Shaker Blvd. very productive and enjoyable Beachwood, OH 44122 [email protected] convention, and hope that they will become convention Children and YA Review Editors regulars. Linda Silver & Anne Dublin [email protected] [email protected] A donation was received from General Editor Libby White in memory of Libby White Irene Seff’s mother. 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