Encyclopedia Judaica 22 Volume Set [Hardcover]

Fred Skolnik (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 10 Up—This long-awaited revision of the premier reference source on Jewish life, culture, and history updates the 1972 edition by either adding to the original information or creating a completely new entry. New to this publication are a charted summary of transliteration rules; a list of abbreviations; and entries discussing aspects of Holocaust study, the development and impact of the State of Israel on Jewish life, and the evolution of Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, Hasidic, and Reconstructionist branches of the faith. Entries on Judaism in all 50 U.S. states and major U.S. cities have been updated. Others are unchanged although updating may have been warranted: for example, information on the biblical character Noah is unaltered, despite a great deal of related research, both textual and archaeological, since 1972. However, many entries related to religious law (halakhah) have been totally rewritten to reflect its impact on the Israeli legal system. This edition consists of 22 volumes compared to the original 16. It boasts all new illustrations: more than 600 maps, charts, archaeological plans, and chronologies (for example, family trees and an 8-page chart of Hasidic dynasties) and a few color photographs of paintings, drawings, and artifacts in each volume. The glossary is unchanged. The last volume contains a detailed 270-page thematic outline and a superb 632-page index that make the information in each volume accessible. Libraries that own the first edition will want to replace it with this one.—Jack Forman, Mesa College Library, San Diego
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* The new edition of Encyclopaedia Judaica brings a monumental reference work into the twenty-first century. In 1928 Nahum Goldman, head of Eshkol Publishing, in Berlin, began work on a comprehensive reference work about the history and culture of the Jewish people. That work was never completed, and the 10 finished volumes remain as both a witness to European Jewish scholarship and a reminder of Hitler's destruction of that tradition. Goldman survived the Holocaust, and in 1966, he used his reparation money to revive work on the encyclopedia at Keter Publishing House, in Jerusalem. In 1972, more than 45 years after the work began, the first edition was completed. Keter Publishing House and Macmillan Reference USA, its American partner, released Hebrew and English-language versions of the work. Like the original work, it was a thorough, organized overview of Jewish life and knowledge. Updating a large resource is difficult. The publishers issued yearbooks and two supplements cumulating the 1973–1982 and 1983–1992 volumes as well as an updated CD-ROM version in 1997, but the Jewish world has changed a great deal since then. The second edition is also a collaboration of Keter Publishing House and Macmillan Reference, which is now a Thomson Gale imprint. Editors Berenbaum and Skolnik gathered an international team of more than 50 divisional editors and 1,200 scholars to produce the work. They have created 22 volumes with approximately 22,000 entries. Some 2,600 entries are new, and 12,000 have been substantially revised. As they did in Encyclopedia of Religion (2004), the publishers left the original articles intact and added updated material in an appended article that follows. This edition has 150 pages of color inserts appearing as centerfolds in each volume as well as 600 maps, tables, and illustrations. There are also 30,000 new biographical entries. Why is this edition different? Building on the scholarship of the first edition, the editors have added material that documents today's Jewish communities. Since the publication of the first edition, Israel has been through two wars and two intifadas, the role of women in Jewish life has greatly expanded, and the Soviet Union has disappeared. The most rapidly growing Jewish communities in the U.S. are in Las Vegas and Phoenix, but the actual number of Jews in the country is declining due to low birth rates. A whole new generation of scholarship has emerged, with new information about everything from the Bible and the Talmud to women's studies and the Holocaust. The contributors to this edition used the material of the great scholars such as Salo Baron, Cecil Roth, and Gershom Scholem as a foundation for their new insights, giving users greater depth and a modern perspective. Volume 1 has a list of the editors and contributors. They include Yehuda Bauer (Hebrew University), David Ellenson (Hebrew Union College), Deborah E. Lipstadt (University of California, Los Angeles), and Xun Zhou (University of London). The encyclopedia features entries such as an article on Jewish law (Mishpat Ivri) written by Justice Menachem Elon, deputy president of the Supreme Court of Israel. He examines ancient religious law as reflected in the courts of a modern, sovereign Jewish state. Entries about the Bible include both the great medieval commentators such as Rashi and Maimonides and modern critical literary studies of the Bible as an integrated work. Contributors examine the sources of the Bible, its composition, and its authors. The Talmud receives similar treatment, with more than 100 biographies of the greater and lesser rabbinic figures and more accessible material, reflecting the increased participation of the public in Talmudic study. The women's perspective appears throughout the encyclopedia, with articles about biblical stereotypes, their views about the mikveh (ritual bath), and biographies of women both ancient and modern (Beruryah, a second-century Talmud scholar; Bella Abzug). Agunah (Orthodox women who cannot remarry because their husbands refuse to grant them religious divorces) and coverage of the bat mitzvah and the Women of the Wall case are other examples of the increased emphasis on women's issues in this edition. Extensive articles document the contributions of Jews to the arts, sciences, sports, politics, and entertainment. Albert Einstein, Rita Levi-Montalcini, Amos Oz, and Philip Roth appear along with Victor Borge, Jascha Heifetz, and Sandy Koufax. Each of the 50 states and the countries of the world, as well as major cities, have entries, as do museums, cultural institutions, and organizations. The Holocaust and Israel occupy the major part of volumes 9 and 10, respectively, reflecting their important roles in Jewish history and culture. Several thematic outlines (for articles on history, religion, language and literature, Jews in world culture, and women) and a detailed index help users pinpoint specific information. The e-book version uses the standard Gale interface and is available as part of the Gale Virtual Reference Center. One nice feature for users who print or download is the option of getting the text in PDF format if desired. The second edition of Encyclopaedia Judaica is a welcome addition to reference collections. By documenting the modern Jewish experience while retaining links with its rich past, it provides users with information about all aspects of Jewish religion and culture. This work received the 2006 Dartmouth Medal, a well-deserved award. Bibel, Barbara
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Hardcover: 17000 pages
• Publisher: Macmillan Reference USA; 2 edition (December 12, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0028659287
• ISBN-13: 978-0028659282
• Product Dimensions: 20.9 x 14.2 x 9.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 60.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,849,347 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Fred Skolnik was born in New York City and has lived in Israel since 1963,
working mostly as an editor and translator. He is best known as the editor
in chief of the 22-volume second edition of the Encyclopaedia Judaica, winner of the 2007 Dartmouth Medal and hailed as a landmark achievement by the
Library Journal. Other award-winning projects with which he has been
associated include the New Encyclopedia of Judaism and the Student's Encyclopedia of Judaism (co-editor) and the 3-volume Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust (senior editor). Now writing full time, he has published two novellas, "Like Soldiers Everywhere" (Cantarabooks) and "Defeat" (in Burnt Bridge #2) as well as dozens of stories (in TriQuarterly, Gargoyle, The MacGuffin, Minnetonka Review, Los Angeles Review, Prism Review, Underground Voices, etc.). His novel The Other Shore appeared in June 2011 (Aqueous Books).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Series of Disappointments, April 10, 2007

By 

Werner Cohn (Brooklyn, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Encyclopedia Judaica 22 Volume Set (Hardcover)

My first disappointment: The wealth of illustration of the first edition is virtually gone. You can still find a treatment of Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, of course, but you will not see the great picture of him with his wife Hemdah, taken in 1912. Nor will you find the many other similar pictorial treasures of the first edition. If you must buy this edition, be sure to find a place on your shelves for the old one as well.

My second disappointment: The shoddy treatment of bibliographies. There are, to be sure, lists of books that are appended to the various articles. But there is no annotation. A bibliography without annotation, as it has been said so well, is like a body without a soul. These lists of books will not make it easy for anyone in search of knowledge to find the more helpful sources. But here the new editors have an excuse, if that is what you would call it: the first edition was just as bad in this regard.

My third disappointment: The new knowledge of the last 35 years, insofar as it finds its way into this new work, is often just appended as additions to the old articles. Even where new knowledge revolutionizes the old, the old is still accorded honor of precedent. What was obviously called for is a complete reworking, but this is not what the editors have done.

My fourth disappointment: At least some of the newer material is so superficial that it is useless for any scholarly purpose. I looked up "Exodus," hoping to find what archaeologists and historians have to say about the Biblical account. The article says, flatly, that it is the scholarly consensus that the Biblical Exodus is "unhistorical," meaning, I suppose, that it never happened. The article gives no reference to any archaeologist or historian, nor to any book or other article that would throw light on the subject. What can a student make of this ? Simply take on faith the word of the EJ II ? This is no way to write a work of reference. The writer of this article would receive a failing grade, easily, if he presented it for credit at a university.

There are of course many good things in this new work, and I am sure that with more time and perhaps more inclination I could have found many more than I did.

One good set of articles is about the Ethiopian Jews, even though it is not easy to find it unless you happen to know that the group is now called Beta Israel. The articles are by Steven Kaplan and his associates. Kaplan undoubtedly knows more about the subject than almost anyone else. But even here the EJ II's sloppy method of documentation gets in the way. As it happens, there is a small number of other scholars who have made seminal contributions to this subject, notably Kay Shelemay and James Quirin. Neither of these is mentioned by EJ II.

This work is serious enough - just - to constitute a required purchase for any general research library. If it was the aim of the editors to achieve this minimum, they have succeeded. But it does not seem that they will win any warm admiration of scholars. That, in my book, makes the work a failure, a squandered opportunity.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A preliminary report on a vital reference work for all those who take interest in the Jewish world, February 20, 2007

By 

Shalom Freedman "Shalom Freedman" (Jerusalem,Israel) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Encyclopedia Judaica 22 Volume Set (Hardcover)

I am writing this preliminary review of 'Judaica' in the hope that it can be of some help to potential purchasers and future readers of the work. No one asked me to write this review but the readers of it should know that I wrote five relatively small entries for the Encyclopedia, and am not thus a wholly unbiased reviewer.
Primarily though I do not so much intend to present my opinion but rather to report on one of the Encyclopedia's principal editors, Michael Berenbaum has to say about the Encyclopedia. I will I hope accurately paraphrase remarks he made about the 'Encyclopedia' in a talk given at the 'Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs' on February 19, 2007.
Michael Berenbaum says that the editors aimed to preserve the quality of the original Judaica while accurately reflecting the major changes that have taken place in the past thirty- five years in the Jewish world. In this regard one full- volume of the Encyclopedia is dedicated solely to dynamic and rapidly developing Israel. Berenbaum stressed that the Encyclopedia strongly reflects the changes that Feminism have brought in the past thirty- five years. There are three hundred new entries devoted to Jewish women. Many major entries such as the Gershom Scholem entry on 'Jewish Mysticism' were republished but augmented by a report on the work that has occurred since. In the 'Jewish Mysticism ' area Scholem's work was complemented by the work of a leading figure in the field. Prof. Moshe Idel.
Berenbaum said that the world of Jewish learning has vastly expanded in the past thirty - five years. In 1972 there were only a few universities which had Jewish Studies programs. Now there are hundreds of scholars in the area. This means new work is being done in many different areas.
Berenbaum stresses the vastness of the world of Jewish learning, the impossibilty of any single scholar comprehending it. He is however filled with admiration for the creativity in all areas of life displayed by the Jewish people and believes this is reflected within the 'Encyclopedia' itself.
Berenbaum compliments the chief - editor of the work Fred Skolnik who he calls a Renaissance Man of Jewish studies. He notes that this update was done in two years but that it could have taken twenty. The relative speed is in part attributable to the new technologies ( Internet, E-mail, Fax) which did not exist thirty- five years ago
I cannot at this point honestly vouch for the quality of the work which has been done.I expect however that in months and years ahead I will be turning to the New Judaica. As one interested in the 'Jewish world' I cannot count the number of times the 1972 Edition provided vital information for my own work. I expect the new Judaica will do the same for many thousands of researchers, and readers.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars UNIQUE AND MONUMENTAL WITH ONE CAVEAT, March 29, 2007

By 

I. W. Gittleman (Long Beach, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Encyclopedia Judaica 22 Volume Set (Hardcover)

I bought EJ #1 when it was published about 30 years ago, and have now already bought #2.

My problem with giving away (which I will probably soon donate to a large local university which just recently formed a Jewish Studies program), is the reason for witholding the last star:

IT HAS NO ILLUSTRATIONS! The brochure for EJ 1 stated 'over 2000 photos, maps, diagrams and illustrations', while the description of EJ 2 states '600 maps and diagrams'. This is a tremendous loss -- just look up 'illustrated manuscripts' or 'incunabula' in the older and see what you are missing in the newer. [Even Pinsk (now Belarus), my father's birthplace, has four photos (two showing the interior and exterior of its [previously] largest synagogue
while #2 shows none.

The project is better organized and has its basis in three parts: (1) Exact duplication from #2 where no update is needed; (2) Reproduction of #1 plus updates (even the bibligraphy makes the distinction between the older and newer references; and (3) Totally new subject matter.

Each of these three types of entries are clearly indicated.

I paid almost $500 for the older one in the late 70s, and if you look hard you can find this set for $1850 plus $8 (!!) shipping.

Contrary, for what is worth, the present edition took four years, not two as mentioned in the earlier ?analysis. However, it is as thorough as if it was written yesterday, which can be evidenced by its very current bibliography.

It is an outstanding contribution in all aspects relative to Jews/Judaism, and at a reasonable price.

Buy it, by all means, if this degree of information interests you and if you can afford its reasonable price.