The Bible itself calls the Jewish people 'a company of nations', suggesting that difference within Judaism is not a new phenomenon. It has continued throughout Jewish history, and this volume investigates how and why such difference has been tolerated. Drawing on examples from different geographical areas and from ancient times to the present, the contributors consider why Jews sometimes attempt to impose constraints on other Jews or relate to them as if they were not Jews at all, but at other times recognize differences of practice and belief and develop ways of handling them. In doing so, they provide an insight into a history of Judaism as a complex web of interactions between groups of Jews despite grounds for mutual antagonism. Substantial introductory chapters lay out the issues and provide an extensive survey of cases of toleration throughout the past two thousand years, outlining possible structural reasons for it. The eight chapters that follow each take a specific case of toleration within Judaism, attempting to explain it in light of the models outlined in the Introduction. Presented in chronological order, the cases have been selected to reflect a spectrum of responses, from grudging forbearance to enthusiastic welcome of difference. Covering both practice and theology, each case is presented in depth, with full documentation. The Conclusion provides an overview of the patterns of tolerance that have emerged and discusses the implications for writing the history of Judaism as a narrative more complex than either the tracing of a linear progression from the Bible to the present, with variations presented as deviations, or as a model of overlapping 'Judaisms'. This innovative volume sheds light on an important and overlooked aspect of the history of Judaism and should have broad appeal, not only for students and scholars of Judaism but for students of religious studies more generally.

This study is devoted to three interrelated subjects: We seek to understand the theory of Jewish criminal punishment, we shall endeavor to describe the role of pain and suffering in punishment, and we wish to present an encyclopedic view of Jewish penology, the history of criminal punishment among the Jews throughout history. We intend to point out that there was more than one system of Jewish penology. We will elaborate upon the existence of a classical system – retributory and expatiatory – related to a self-perfecting society. Only such a society would ordain a painless penalty for death for criminals guilty of the most serious crimes with malice and forethought and a painful punishment with immediate restoration to one's community for criminals guilty of lesser crimes. Criminal penalties for the purposes of deterrence (private or public) or of social rehabilitation are minor considerations. In addition to and alongside the classical penological system, we will be detailing other systems of a more practical nature: one governed by the King's law and others emerging from rabbinical ad hoc jurisdiction and communal legislation. These systems are less governed by the classical motivations of strict retribution and religious expiation (which continue to play a role – albeit a relatively minor one); deterrence and social rehabilitation, law and order, are their dominant considerations. Moreover the varying degrees of judicial autonomy granted to the Jewish community by the non-Jewish governments resulted in variations in penal practices among the various communities themselves. A summery in English at the end of the book.

The kibbutz and the moshav are two collective democratic forms of settlement inspired by the socialist ideology prevalent within the Jewish national movement in Palestine at the end of the 19th beginning of the 20th century. As was the case in a number of other voluntary forms of association such as communes, social movements, political parties and some trades union which, from the beginning of the modern age, were influenced by the socialist utopia, the promise of gender equality in the kibbutz and the moshav became one of the fundamental principles of these communities. This promise was part of an attempt to establish a new egalitarian society, in which inequality in the distribution of rights and obligations between men and women will be abolished through transforming the boundaries between the private and the public spheres. As this division forms a central institutional mechanism which, for centuries, has produced and re-produced an unequal gender order, it was by attacking this mechanism that equality was meant to be achieved. This book presents the historical development of gender boundaries in the kibbutz and the moshav. It underscores their dynamic nature and sheds light on the changing private and public spheres that evolved during decades. This is accomplished through giving space to the multi-faceted and multi-cultural voices of the women members of the kibbutz and the moshav, secular and religious women, old-timers and new comers, situated at the center or at the periphery of their communities. It brings into sharper focus many issues related to gender boundaries and to the private and public spheres that have rarely or even never been raised. By doing so, this book contributes to our understanding of the social mechanisms that (re)produce gender inequality in modernity, be it in its socialist, capitalist or post-industrial version. It also provides additional evidence to the limits of any attempt to achieve gender equality by focusing only on the transformation of women without challenging hegemonic masculinities.

Prof. Dov Levin was one of the first researchers who recognized the value of recording oral history as one of the primary sources for understanding the events of the twentieth century. This book includes brief summaries of 611 interviews, conducted between 1957 and 2008, that were deposited in the archive of the Oral History Division of the Avraham Harman Institute of Contemporary Jewry. Many of the interviews were conducted with Lithuanian Jews, as part of Prof. Levin's important research on the Jews of the Baltic countries in the inter-war period, during the Shoa and under Soviet rule. Other interviews deal with the history of Israel and its culture. Levin's collection of oral histories includes interviews of people from different countries, different social environments, and varied political views, reflecting the wide spectrum of his interests and studies. This book was published by Magnes press for the Avraham Herman Institute of contemporary Jewry.

The production of this issue of Korot has marked the completion of a lengthy program of study in aspects of infectious diseases in the Holy Land over the past century or so. My own studies in the management of trachoma by the Yishuv during the British Mandate illustrated many of the features which characterized the Zionist movement of the period. These included the sense of community care and of nation building and the concern to create a new society. For some years there had been plans to bring together the research conducted by various Israeli academics working in a range of university settings on aspects of infectious diseases into one printed forum. Therefore, this issue of Korot represents the fruits of many areas of study into many different diseases as they have affected the population of the Land of Israel, with an introduction by Nadav Davidovich and Rakefet Zalashik, who have long shared my determination that this collection of essays should be published within a single volume, which sets the scene for the essays which are included here. Korot has long had a reputation for stimulating research into many aspects of the Jews and medicine, and I have relished the opportunity afforded to me to work in Jerusalem as an active member of the Editorial Board in close conjunction with Professor Samuel Kottek and with Dr. Helena Paavilainen. Medical history in Israel continues to flourish in a number of different settings, and research continues in many contemporary fields, whether it relates to social aspects of health and disease, medicine and the Holocaust, or as we portray here, to the wider impact of infectious diseases on the land and its peoples. Having a special collection of essays in this issue is an occasion of significance for the study of medical history in Israel, and it underlines the importance of this journal in showcasing the best of Israeli studies in the history of medicine. This theme of infectious diseases is also represented in this issue by a collection of essays resulting from a Symposium entitled “A Leper is Like a Dead Person,” which was held at the Van Leer Institute on June 2, 2010. The meeting was sponsored by the School of Pharmacy, Hebrew University (Ein Karem campus) and by the National Center for Hansen’s Disease at Hadassah Hospital. Organized by Dr. Yisraela Nili, it brought together many different aspects of this enigmatic medical and sociological phenomenon from ancient times to modern Israel. As the editor of Vesalius: the Journal of the International Society for the History of Medicine I have had a first-hand opportunity to see the vitality of medical history studies around the world. Israeli researchers have taken a prominent role on the world stage whether in the Congresses and Meetings of the International Society or in the submitted articles to Vesalius. Professor Samuel Kottek has long been an honored figure in the International Society, and Professor Shifra Shvarts is the Society’s Business Manager. It was interesting to see at the recent International Society Congress in Padua/Abano the continuing presence of Jewish historical issues, from the enduring presence of Jewish medical students to the role of the converso physician. While there may be no independent entity of “Jewish medicine,” the confluence of the Jews and medicine remains an area of fascination which retains the power to excite, to instruct, and for us all to learn and to share. Thus, the Editorial Board of Korot is always open to original contributions and communications on the history of Jews and medicine, medicine in Jewish sources as well as medical history topics relating to Israel. Dr. Kenneth Collins, Guest Editor

The encounter of Jews with the Enlightenment has so far been considered almost entirely from a masculine perspective. In shifting the focus to a group of educated Jewish women in Berlin, this engaging study makes an important contribution to German Jewish history as well as to gender studies. Natalie Naimark-Goldberg's study of these women's letters,literary activities, and social life reveals them as cultivated members of the European public. Their correspondence allowed them not only to demonstrate their intellectual talents but also to widen their horizons and acquire knowledge—a key concern of women seeking empowerment. Her descriptions of their involvement in the public sphere, a key feature of Enlightenment culture, offer important new insights: social gatherings in their homes served the purpose of intellectual advancement, while the newly fashionable spas gave them the opportunity to expand their contacts with men as well as with other women, and with non-Jews as well as Jews, right across Europe. As avid readers and critical writers, these women reflected the secular world-view that was then beginning to spread among Jews. Imbued with enlightened ideas and values and a new feminine awareness, they began to seek independence and freedom, to the extent of challenging the institution of marriage and traditional family frameworks. A final chapter discusses the relationship of the women to Judaism and to religion in general, including their attitude to conversion to Christianity—the route that so many ultimately took.

Israelis on the Move tells the story of young adults from the Former Soviet Union as they beat a path to Israeliness Based on analyses of their immigration stories, the book offers a new perspective in immigration studies that sees belonging as achieved not through the adoption of foundational national ethos of the new place, but rather through participation in local debates about this ethos . More particularly, the book examines the way in which the young immigrants shape their belonging to Israel through a reading of the homecoming ethos that awards them automatic citizenship. Based on an interpretation of instantiations of the homecoming ethos in everyday life, they form an affinity to their new home, construct their identity, and locate themselves within Israeli society. In doing so they are concerned with decoding, interpreting and critiquing the building blocks of the ethos: the memory of the Holocaust and anti-Semitism, military service, the new Jew, and allegiance to their new place. The book shows how the immigrants hold onto an ethos that promises them recognition and inclusion within the ethno-religious nation. At the same time, they resist the total demands Imposed by the ethos, and criticize Zionist premises that are considered as taken for granted . We term this double, interrelated movement critical belonging, a concept that suggests that the immigrants’ belonging to the new place does not entail the unconditional acceptance of local ethos, while at the same time implying that their critique does not entail their rejection of the new place or a retreat into socio-cultural enclaves.

The book of the community of Casale, the main community in Monferrato in northern Italy, is published here for the first time. The books that survived are among the earliest that came to us from Europe, and some of them have already been published in excellent scientific editions. This booklet, which sheds light on the life of a vibrant Jewish community, opens a window to the history of the Jews and their relationship with the Christian world in Italy in the late Middle Ages and the beginning of the modern era.

The book Biblisch- talmudische Medizin , first published in Berlin, in 1911, is a unique life's bringing together a comprehensive knowledge in medicine, Jewish and general sources. The various chapters include a broad review of the world of medicine in the Bible and the Talmud in light of Jewish law, a detailed description of the biological organs, diseases of body and mind, deformities, gynecological and sexual. There are chapters on legal medicine, preventative medicine, health cures and dietetics. The material is also based on in-depth study of Bible, Mishnah, Talmudic and Rabbinic literature, Midrash, the External Books, the works of Joseph Ben Matityahu, the New Testament, as well as ancient and modern legal literature, Likewise illuminating sources from Greek and Latin literature, western medical literature, referencing hundreds of publications from the eighteen and nineteen hundreds were used. The writer Dr. Julius Preuss (1861-1913) was born in a small town in Prussia, in which his parents' house was the only Jewish family. He studied medicine in Berlin and was close to the orthodox Jewish community, where he acquired much of his extensive knowledge in Judaism. Over the years Preuss published over thirty articles on medicine and Judaism in various scientific journals, all the while maintaining a medical practice in the town of his birth and afterward in Berlin. He passed away two years after publishing his book in German, based on his articles. Preuss' book was translated into English by Dr. Fred Rosner (Biblical and Talmudic Medicine) and was published in the United State in 1978. At a conference on Jewish and medical law, which took place in Jerusalem in 1998, the book was quoted and it was indicated that a translation into Hebrew was sorely needed. The translator into Hebrew, Uri Wurzburger, remained loyal to the original German, at the same time expanding the quoted references appearing in the book and adding modern interpretations.

This volume of Polin is a wide-ranging contribution to the complex history of the Jews in Lithuania and to developing an inclusive national narrative. It deals in depth with the specific character of Lithuanian Jewry; Lithuanian–Jewish relations; Vilna as the focus of Jewish life; the impact of the Soviet and Nazi occupations, and of the post-war Soviet reoccupation; the subsequent slow revival of Jewish life; and recent attempts to investigate the past and to accommodate the legacy of the Holocaust.