In this article, we introduce an innovative methodology that applies concepts of geographic dialectology to the realm of corpus texts. As a case study, this methodology is applied to the diverse array of presentative particles found in Algerian Judaeo-Arabic, based on a substantial textual corpus from 19th and 20th century Constantine, Algeria. This corpus encompasses texts categorized into four distinct groups: Judaeo-Arabic translations of the Bible, post-biblical texts, non-canonical Hebrew texts, and original writings. We identify six primary presentative forms, each with distinct usage patterns across text groups. Analyzing these patterns, we calculate text similarity and construct a ‘geographical-like’ map of the corpus. This map serves as a visual representation upon which we delineate lexical isoglosses corresponding to specific presentative particles. This analytical approach illuminates the utilization of presentative particles throughout the textual corpus, revealing underlying relationships and idiosyncrasies that might otherwise evade detection.

The traditional Sovietological paradigm of Stalin’s nationalities policy—presented as an anti-national policy geared toward the assimilation of non-Russian ethnic groups in the supernational entity of the “Soviet people” and its Russian culture—has, in recent decades, given way to a more complex approach that has identified strong tendencies in the ideology and practice of Stalinist Bolshevism to foster “primordial” ethnic identities. Most of the historiography on Soviet Jews, however, has found it hard to break free of Cold-War Sovietological assumptions and continues to view the policies of the Stalinist regime toward the Jews as seeking their assimilation and eventual disappearance. The present article attempts to re-examine this view and point to the ambivalent and even negative attitude of Stalin and his acolytes to the issue of Jewish assimilation—this based on a closer reading of Stalin’s relevant writings and archival sources pertaining to the Birobidzhan project and the period of anti-Jewish persecution, some of which have never been studied before, and on the critical insights of recent studies on the subject of Stalin’s nationalities policy.

These last three books of Josephus’s Antiquities detail Jewish history between the establishment of direct Roman rule in Judea in 6 CE and the outbreak of the Judean rebellion against Rome in 66 – a rebellion that culminated in 70 with the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple. Along the way, these books also constitute the main source for the context in which Christianity was born. This volume offers a translation of Josephus’s Greek text, along with a commentary that aims to clarify the history to which Josephus testifies and also its meaning for him as an exiled Jerusalemite and rebel-turned-historian.

Migration is a salient characteristic of Jews.1 From the end of World War II through today, some 5 million Jews moved between major continents and countries. Of the Jewish population, which ranged from a minimum of 11 million to a maximum of 15.7 million during this period, this was an unprecedented number. The direction of Jewish migration attests to Jews’ desire to leave undemocratic regimes where they often suffered discrimination and persecution, especially in Eastern Europe and Muslim countries, for Western societies that granted them freedom and equal rights. The main destination of Jewish migration was Israel, which became a home for approximately two-thirds of all Jewish migrants; another one-fifth moved from countries in distress to North America, Western Europe, and Oceania; and the remaining 15 percent were Israelis who favored another country (DellaPergola 2009, 2011a, 2019, 2023).

Studies of slavery in the Sasanian Empire have focused mainly on the legal status of slaves, based primarily on Middle Persian legal compilations. While these studies have advanced our understanding of Sasanian institutions of slavery, the social history and daily experiences of enslaved individuals remain largely unknown. An overlooked source for reconstructing the social history of enslaved individuals is magical texts and artifacts, in particular the Aramaic incantation bowls. This article therefore focuses on three analyses of the Aramaic bowl texts: occurrences of slaves in lists, magic spells to retrieve runaway slaves, and persistent textual and pictorial connections between slaves and demons. These analyses not only enrich our picture of slavery in the Sasanian Empire but also demonstrate the usefulness of studying magical artifacts for reconstructing the social and cultural history of societies in Late Antiquity.

Mordechai Narkiss (1897–1957), the first and long-serving curator of the Bezalel Museum in Jerusalem, was a pioneering scholar in Jewish art history. His significant contributions to the field are epitomized by his insightful critiques, written in Hebrew, of the leading scholars in his era. Narkiss’s rigorous reviews, reinforced by his deep immersion in Jewish tradition and extensive knowledge of the visual arts across various cultures, adeptly identified errors, unfounded assumptions, and methodological shortcomings. He underscored the importance of a solid foundation in both Judaism and art history. This article explores six of Narkiss’s critical reviews of seminal works in the field: Karl Schwarz, Die Juden in der Kunst (1928), Cecil Roth, The Casale Pilgrim (1929), Ernst Cohn-Wiener, Die jüdische Kunst (1929), Rachel Wischnitzer, Symbole und Gestalten der Jüdischen Kunst (1935), Franz Landsberger, Einführung in die Jüdische Kunst (1935), and Jacob Pinkerfeld, Synagogues of Italy (1954). It elucidates the complexities and debates within Jewish art historiography, highlighting Narkiss’s pivotal role in both critiquing and shaping scholarly discourse and emphasizing the ongoing relevance of meticulous research in Jewish art history.

The Crown and the Courts: Separation of Powers in the Early Jewish Legal Imagination (Harvard University Press, 2020) draws on multiple disciplines and aspires to appeal to scholars across several fields, including Jewish thought, rabbinics, and jurisprudence. As such, it is gratifying to have this work be engaged by prominent scholars from these range of fields.

The book is comprised of an introduction, three parts that subdivide into nine chapters, and a conclusion. Part I (chapters 1–4) is dedicated to early postbiblical and Second Temple literature; Part II (chapters 5–7) is dedicated to early rabbinic literature; and Part III (chapters 8–9) offers broader historical and conceptual analyses of these materials. The responses of Warren Zev Harvey and Alon Harel focus on chapter 9, a comparative constitutional excursus juxtaposing rabbinic and modern law, while the response of Haim Shapira addresses chapter 7, concerning the Patriarch and the rabbinic judiciary, but raises methodological issues that are also pertinent to other sections of Part II.

This article examines the personal diary of Dr. Michael Simon, the first chief of protocol for Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, that he wrote in April 1955 during his visit to Morocco. The diary raises questions about the beliefs, perceptions, stances, and images that prevailed among European Jews in Israel vis-à-vis Middle Eastern and North African Jews during the first decade of the State of Israel's existence. I propose that Simon's outlook on Moroccan Jewry was complex, integrative, and free of stereotypes. Analyzing Simon's case enables an exploration of the conditions that informed his views of Morocco's Jews, conditions that were manifested in different ways by most of the Israelis of European heritage whose writings dealt with Middle East and North Africa Jews and their descendants in Israel.