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JEWISH BOOK ANNUAL
Biale offers an overview of Jewish political history that revises
popular stereotypes of Jewish sovereignty in Israel and power
lessness in the Diaspora. His work contains many important pol
icy implications for contemporary Jewish political behavior. In
his view, Jews ought to continue to navigate the difficult straits of
international relations, avoiding both isolation from foreign pow
ers and subservience to their demands. This essay compels us to
recognize that the reality of the Jewish condition generally lies
between Jewish omnipotence and powerlessness, although politi
cal theorists of varying ideologies have often sought to magnify
both Jewish power and weakness.
J
u d g e s
:
Dr. Steven Bayme,
AmericanJewish Committee
; Dr. Jane
Gerber,
City Univ. o fNew York
; Dr. Robert Chazan,
New York Univ.
JEW ISH THOUGHT
W
ill iam
(Z
ev
) F
rank
M
emor ial
A
ward
Galut, ModernJewish Reflection on Homelessness and Homecoming,
by
Arnold M. Eisen (Indiana University Press)
Galut, ModernJewish Reflection on Homelessness and Homecoming
is
a study of both classical and contemporary writings dealing with
rootlessness and return to Zion, a subject which has preoccupied
the Jewish imagination for two millenia. An important contribu
tion to the debate, this book will provoke today’s generation of
exiles — both political and spiritual — to re-examine the notion of
galut and achieve a true homecoming.
J
u d g e s
:
Dr. Eugene Borowitz,
HUC-JIR, New York
; Dr. Jacob
Staub,
Reconstructionist Rabbinical College',
David Blumenthal,
Emory University.
SCHOLARSHIP
S
arah
H.
a n d
J
u l iu s
K
u sh n e r
M
emor ial
A
w ard
Sifre: A Tannaitic Commentary on the Book ofDeuteronomy,
by Reuven
Hammer (Yale University Press)
Sifre: A Tannaitic Commentary on the Book o fDeuteronomy
is a work
of immense effort and scholarship. Among the earliest examples
of Midrashic interpretation, it will be a great help in increasing
the reader’s understanding. This translation is an important
service to the American reading public.
J
u d g e s
:
Dr. Jacob Kabakoff,
editor, Jewish Book Annual;
Dr.