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JEWISH BOOK ANNUAL
S a ra h
H.
K u sh n e r M em o r ia l A w a r d
A Mediterranean Society: The Jewish Community o f the Arab World as
Portrayed in the Documents o f the Cairo Geniza
—
Daily Life (JEWS &
ARABS, Vol. IV )
by S. D. Goitein (University o f California Press)
Volume IV o f A
Mediterranean Society
continues the work evi
dent in Goitein’s three previous volumes, as well as the labors that
have occupied him for many decades. This volume is also based
on documents found in the Cairo Genizah. Goitein’s great contri
bution is that he has reconstructed the Jewish way o f life in Arab
lands by focusing on documents relating to everyday life. The
uniqueness o f his method is that by meticulously analyzing the
prosaic facts o f everyday life, he is not only able to present a pic
ture o f how life was lived, but also to portray the religious and
ideological character o f the time.
Judges :
Dr. Steven Bayme,
American Jewish Committee;
Dr. Haym
Soloveitchik,
Yeshiva University;
Dr. Marshall Sklare,
Brandeis Uni
versity.
VISUAL ARTS
L
eon
L. G
ilde sg am e
A
w a r d
A Vanished World
by Roman Vishniac (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
A Vanished World
is a pictorial enterprise that belongs historic
ally to the great tradition o f documentary photography o f the
1930’s. It is above all a record o f people. Vishniac’s sensitive eye
and compassionate response have produced a unique and mov
ing portrait o f Eastern European Jewry in the last days before the
Holocaust. His photography will keep a vanished world ever be
fore us.
Judges :
Dr. Sheila Schwartz,
Whitney Museum;
Sylvia Herskowitz,
Yeshiva University Museum;
Dr. Michael Jacoff,
art department,
Brooklyn College.
YIDDISH L ITERA TURE
T h e W o rkm en ’s C i r c l e A w a r d
Tsu D i Himln Aroyf (To The Heavens Above)
by Chaim Leib Fuchs
(CYCO)
This seventh volume o f published verse by Chaim Leib Fuchs
SCHOLARSHIP