Shlomo Naeh - Tradition and Interpretation in Mishnah Sheqalim 5:3–5 and Its Talmud David Henshke - On the Strata in the Passover Haggadah in the Mishnah David Rosenthal - An Additional Stage in the History of the Mishnaic Text Robert Brody - Two Traditions with Regard to a Particular Passage in Mishna Sheqalim Moshe Bar-Asher - On General Rules and Individual Cases in Mishnaic Noun Formation Daniel Boyarin - Once Again: ‘Two Dominions in Heaven’ in the Mekhilta Menahem Kister - The Manifestations of God in the Midrashic Literature in Light of Christian Texts Menahem Kahana - ‘When You Enter the Land’: A Tannaitic Controversy and Its Realistic Meaning Joseph Tabory - The Baraita of the Four Sons Moshe Assis More on the Question of the Redaction of Yerushalmi Neziqin Binyamin Elizur - A Genizah Manuscript of Yerushalmi Sheqalim according to Its Recensions Yoav Rosenthal - The Integration of Sugyot on Mishnah Middot into Bavli Tamid Aharon Shweka - The Tablets of Stone, the Law, and the Commandment Vered Noam - Did the Rabbis Know Josephus’ Works? H. Ben-Shammai - Yohar: The transformations of a Middle-Persian Word in Judaeo-Arabic and in Medieval Hebrew Hananel Mack - Homilist and Literalist: Rabbi Moses Hadarshan Heralds a Literal Exposition of the Bible Simcha Emanuel -From First to Third Person: A study in the Culture of Writing in Medieval Ashkenaz M. H. Schmelzer - Avigdor Aptowitzer’s Letters to Shalom Spiegel

Articles: Eyal Regev - Hever Ha-Yehudim and the political ideology of the Hashmoneans Michael Schneider - Goats, Demons and Angels Tamar Kadari - Transferred Petirot in Midrash Song of Songs Rabbah Eran Viezel - The divine content and the words of Moses Tsippi Kauffman - Ritual immersion at the beginning of Hasidism Bracha Yaniv - The throne of glory Jonatan Meir - The 'Wondrous Charlatan'

It is an honor and a privilege to offer this second volume of Iggud: Selected Essays in Jewish Studies to the scholarly and general reading public. The articles included in the volume are expanded versions of lectures originally presented at the Fourteenth World Congress of Jewish Studies, held in August 2005, in the divisions of the History of the Jewish People and Contemporary Jewish Society. These articles have undergone a careful and selective refereeing process. Both the editors of these volumes and the executive of the World Union of Jewish Studies are confident that this new format, which replaces the older Proceedings of the World Congress of Jewish Studies, will become an important publishing forum for scholars of Jewish studies around the world. The present collection includes thirty-one articles written by scholars from every continent except Africa and Antarctica, a potent testimony to the truly worldwide scope of Jewish studies. Worthy of note in this context is the relatively high representation, among the authors of articles submitted and eventually chosen for publication, of scholars from Germany and Eastern Europe—a demonstration of the renaissance of many aspects of Jewish studies in those countries over the past few decades. The articles are divided into six chronological and/or topical categories: history of the Jews in the medieval and early modern periods; history of the Jews in Eastern Europe; Holocaust studies; Zionism and the State of Israel; gender and history; intellectual history. The authors, senior scholars and younger researchers alike, apply a wide variety of disciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches to their topics, ranging from social and economic history to sociological field work and literary analysis. The result, we believe, is an impressive collection of studies that illuminate in innovative ways the topics chosen for investigation. As this volume of Iggud reaches the stage of publication, we acknowledge the unstinting assistance of the staff of the World Union of Jewish Studies: Dr. Ronela Merdler, Executive Director of the World Union, who has overseen every stage in the process of producing this volume with her endless patience and good judgment, and Yochi Kahana, the secretary of the World Union, who has enabled us to keep track of myriad details and correspondence with authors. Thanks also to colleagues on the executive of the World Union, under the leadership of our president, Prof. Sara Japhet, whose support and encouragement helped make Iggud into a reality and, we hope, an important new addition to the field of Jewish studies. Gershon Bacon Bar-Ilan University, February 2009