Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

For more than fifteen years I have taught courses in Jewish studies to students at the University of Kent in Canterbury, England. During this time I have frequently directed students to such multi-volume encyclopedias of Judaism as the Jewish Encyclopedia and the Encyclopedia Judaica . These vast repositories of material provide a wealth of information about all aspects of Jewish life and thought. Nonetheless, very often students, particularly those with more general queries, find these works overwhelming (as well as difficult to gain access to if they are much in demand in the library). Aware of these difficulties, I suggested they look at a number of single-volume encyclopedias and dictionaries of Judaism, but many of these works failed to meet their needs, since they tend to be highly selective in their choice of entries. Increasingly I came to see that what was needed was a single-volume comprehensive dictionary which contains basic information about Judaism and the Jewish people. Such a handy reference book would not take the place of the standard multi-volume reference works, but it could serve as first point of entry into the world of Judaica. This volume, The Blackwell Dictionary of Judaica , was thus designed to fill a gap in the types of reference books available to students as well as to teachers and more general readers. The book has approximately 7,000 entries overall, ... log in or subscribe to read full text