From Torah to Diaspora: Highlights of the UCSC Library’s Jewish Studies Collections McHenry Library • UC Santa Cruz • Winter Quarter 2007 Introduction “Scattered among the nations of the world” (Ezekiel 6:8) for 2,000 years, the Jewish people have not just survived but in many cases have flourished and subsequently made significant contributions to the world at large. Adapting to local cultures has made the Jewish experience remarkably diverse and vital. At the same time Jews have maintained their integrity as a people and remain connected through the shared values and traditions embodied in the Torah – the Five Books of Moses – and subsequent teachings. The Torah was meant to provide a framework for a people living in their own homeland but became instead the means of holding together a community spread across the world. The survival of the Jews as a people within the Diaspora is due to the role the Torah has played as a portable homeland. Through selections from the UC Santa Cruz Library’s Jewish Studies collections this exhibit explores both the diversity of the Jewish experience – over distance, time and ideology – and the common threads of traditions and values that animate Jewish lives. To highlight this relationship we have included a relevant quotation from the Torah and related texts. The following pages provide a guide, with a bibliography, to each case in the exhibit. Lee Jaffe & Molly Jaffe University Library UC Santa Cruz With thanks to: The Koret Foundation Morris Brose Jewish Art Endowment Bauman Jewish Studies Fund Anne Neufeld Levin Holocaust Studies Collection Endowment Jewish Chautauqua Society Sharon Anolik and Orr Shakked & other donors for their generous support of the Jewish Studies collections Map of the Exhibit 6 - DIASPORA 5 - DIASPORA 3 L - E A I R C I C I T T O U S S A U J – L 9 S 7 T - H D M I O N O O K D F E 2 E R - - R S N 4 N H E A M G O A D W D - O 8 T 1 -TORAH 10 -WRITERS & TALMUD 1: TORAH and TANAKH The study of Torah is equal to them all. Talmud Bavli, Shabbat 127a Our exhibit begins appropriately with the Torah. Starting at the left-hand upright case, you will see examples of texts and commentaries demonstrating the continuing interpretation that is one of the hallmarks of the Jewish tradition. Prominently displayed on the upper shelf is a Commentator’s Bible (Miqra’ot Gedolot). These pages show a portion of the Torah narrative, in Hebrew, near the center, with two English translations at the top. Commentaries by the classical sages make up the rest of the page. The Torah text displayed here narrates the crossing of the Sea of Reeds from Sh’mot (Exodus). The full passage is shown in the facsimile Torah scroll displayed at the back . Other commentaries included here range from traditional interpretations, notably that of Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki), the 11th century French scholar, to a sampling of recent and especially feminist readings. The emergence of women’s voices in Judaism is a strong feature of this exhibit. TALMUD and the ORAL LAW Appoint yourself a teacher and acquire for yourself a study partner. Pirkei Avot 1:6 In the lower half of this first case are examples of the Oral Law, including the Talmud and other law codes. These teachings and dialogues of the sages address how the Torah should be applied to religious practice and everyday life. On display are two volumes from different editions of the Babylonian Talmud. At the center of each page is the text under consideration surrounded by the opinions of sages of the time. Also displayed here are examples of other codes and teachings. Some highlights include: the Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers); Midrash (legends which complete or explain the Torah narrative); a volume of the Mishneh Torah (Maimonides’s codification of the Talmud); and a Responsa (a modern-day contribution to the ongoing process of interpretation). TORAH and TANAKH Genesis : the traditional Hebrew text with Rashi, 1040-1105. new JPS translation / commentary by Perush Rashi ‘al ha-Torah = Rashi : the Nahum M. Sarna. Philadelphia : Jewish Torah with Rashi's Commentary / Publication Society, 1989. translated, annotated, and elucidated by BS1235.3.S325 1989. Yisrael Isser Zvi Herczeg. Brooklyn, N.Y. : Mesorah Publications, (2000 printing- ) Zornberg, Avivah Gottlieb. BS1225 .S57 1999. The Particulars of Rapture: reflections on Exodus. New York : Doubleday, c2001. Bonchek, Avigdor. BS1245.3 .Z67 2001 What's Bothering Rashi? : a guide to in- depth analysis of his Torah commentary / Avigdor Bonchek. Jerusalem ; New York : Antonelli, Judith S., 1952- Feldheim Publishers, 1997-2002. In the Image of God : a BS1225.3 .B66 1997. feminist commentary on the Torah. Northvale, N.J. : Jason The Language of Truth : the Torah Aronson, 1995. commentary of the Sefat Emet, Rabbi BS1225.3 .A58 1995. Yehudah Leib Alter of Ger / translated and interpreted by Arthur Green ; Hebrew Five Cities Of Refuge : weekly reflections texts prepared by Shai Gluskin. Phila. : on Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Jewish Publication Society, 1998. and Deuteronomy / Lawrence Kushner BS1225.3 .A46 1998 and David Mamet. New York : Schocken Books, c2003. BS1225.54 .K87 2003. Neusner, Jacob, 1932- The Way of Torah : an introduction to Judaism. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1993. BM565.N53 1993. Cohen, Norman J. The Women's Torah Commentary : new The Way into Torah. Woodstock, VT : insights from women rabbis on the 54 Jewish Lights Pub., 2000 weekly Torah portions / edited by Elyse BM71 .C64 2000. Goldstein. Woodstock, Vt. : Jewish Lights Publishing, c2000. Frankel, Ellen. BS1225.3 .G578 2000. The Five Books of Miriam : a woman's commentary on the Torah. The Commentators' Bible : the JPS Miqra'ot New York : G.P. Putnam's, c1996. Gedolot : Exodus / edited, translated, and BS1225.3 .F67 1996. annotated by Michael Carasik. Philadelphia PA : The Jewish Publication Society, c2005. BS1223 .C3713 2005. TALMUD and the ORAL LAW Talmud Bavli : ‘im kol ha-mefarshim The Classic Midrash : Tannaitic ka'asher nidpas mi-kedem ve-‘im commentaries on the Bible / translation, hosafot hadashot ka-mevo'ar ba-sha‘ar introduction and commentaries by ha-sheni. New York : Shulsinger, 708, Reuven Hammer ; preface by Judah [1947 or 1948] Goldin. New York : Paulist Press, c1995. BM499 1947. BM512.C56 1995. Abrams, Judith Z. The Women of the Talmud. Northvale, N.J. : Jason Aronson, 1995. BM509.W7 A25 1995. Biblical women in the Midrash : a sourcebook / [edited by] Naomi M. Hyman. Northvale, N.J. : Jason Aronson, c1997. BM509.W7 B53 1997. Maimonides, Moses, 1135-1204. Mishneh Torah. English. The code of Maimonides. New Haven, Yale University Press, 1949- BM545 .M62 1949. Talmud Bavli / mevo'ar meturgam u- menukad ‘a.y. ‘Adin Shtainzalts. Fishbane, Michael A. Yerushalayim : Ha-Makhon ha-Yisre'eli Biblical myth and rabbinic le-firsumim Talmudiyim, 1997- mythmaking. Oxford ; New York : Oxford BM504 .S58 1997 University Press, 2005. BS1183 .F57 2005. Pirke Avot : a modern commentary on Jewish ethics / edited and translated by Hayes, Christine Elizabeth Leonard Kravitz and Kerry M. Olitzky ; Between the Babylonian and foreword by W. Gunther Plaut. New Palestinian Talmuds : accounting for York, N.Y. : UAHC Press, c1993. halakhic difference in selected sugyot BM506.A2 E5 1993. from Tractate Avodah Zarah. New York : Oxford University Press, 1997. Central Conference of American Rabbis. BM506.A17 H39 1997. American Reform Responsa : collected responsa of the Central Maimónides y su época : Palacio de la Conference of American Rabbis, 1889- Merced, Córdoba, 1986. [Córdoba?] : 1983 / edited by Walter Jacob. New York Ministerio de Cultura, [1986?] : The Conference, 1983. BM755.M6 M277 1986. BM197.C46 1983. 2: HAGGADOT You shall say to your children, “We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt …” Deuteronomy 6:21 The next case to your left shows a sample of Haggadot (plural of Haggadah). The Haggadah is the liturgy for the ritual of the Seder -- the Pesach (Passover) meal -- and includes a retelling of the Exodus story. There may be no better example of how the core of Judaism has survived the Diaspora than the Haggadah, the most often reproduced and reinterpreted text in the Jewish liturgy. The three examples displayed here – a Medieval illuminated manuscript, a modern rendering by artist Ben Shahn, and the “new age” Santa Cruz Haggadah – show some of that range. Yet, in spite of the obvious differences in style and perspective, they share a common purpose: each is integral to an annual ritual that unites Jews wherever they are in the world and each tells the same story, the escape from slavery in Egypt and its relevance to today. In this way the Haggadah continues an unbroken tradition now thousands of years old. 3: RITUAL and PRACTICE This is the ritual law … Numbers 19:2 Moving to your left you will see a selection of texts related to Jewish observances and rituals. Open in the center of the case are the Artscroll Siddur, a traditional prayerbook, and the Book of Blessings, a modern reinterpretation of the Jewish liturgy by poet Marcia Falk: both texts display versions of the Kaddish (mourner’s prayer). Also displayed here are texts showing examples of a ketubah (wedding contract) and rimonim (Torah ornaments) as well as works about Jewish holidays. HAGGADOT Haggadah and History : a panorama in facsimile of five centuries of the printed Haggadah from the collections of Harvard University and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America / by Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi. Philadelphia : Jewish Publication Society, 2005. BM675.P4 Z95 2005 The Ashkenazi Haggadah : a Hebrew manuscript of the mid-15th century from the collections of the British Library / written and illuminated by Joel ben Simeon called Feibusch Ashkenazi ; with a commentary attributed to Eleazar ben Judah of Worms ; introduction, notes on the illuminations, transcription, and English translation by David Goldstein.