A detailed guide to materials and supplies needed, techniques that must be mastered, design and layout, and ideas for marketing. The author is a designer who specializes in Judaica. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Mastering Hebrew Calligraphy is a comprehensive and beautiful guide to the art of Hebrew letter-making. Developed and designed by the leading Jerusalem calligrapher, Izzy Pludwinski, it teaches the how-to¿s of writing Hebrew scripts and principles of design and layout to enable you to create your own, beautiful Hebrew texts. Mastering Hebrew Calligraphy is the essential guidebook that addresses every nuance of the art of Hebrew calligraphic writing, from needed tools ¿ pens to computers ¿ to correct posture and effective letter spacing. It is also a celebration of the Hebrew letter, with dozens of images of calligraphic works of art that will inspire you to develop your artistic imagination through the Aleph Bet. A magnificent and informative book to own whether you plan on becoming a professional calligrapher or simply find joy in Hebrew letters. With 200 illustrations.

A detailed guide to materials and supplies needed, techniques that must be mastered, design and layout, and ideas for marketing. The author is a designer who specializes in Judaica. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

As historical analyses of Diaspora Jewish visual culture blossom in quantity and sophistication, this book analyzes 19th-20th-century developments in Jewish Palestine and later the State of Israel. In the course of these approximately one hundred years, Zionist Israelis developed a visual corpus and artistic lexicon of Jewish-Israeli icons as an anchor for the emerging “civil religion.” Bridging internal tensions and even paradoxes, artists dynamically adopted, responded to, and adapted significant Diaspora influences for Jewish-Israeli purposes, as well as Jewish religious themes for secular goals, all in the name of creating a new state with its own paradoxes, simultaneously styled on the Enlightenment nation-state and Jewish peoplehood.

In this detailed overview of the history of the handmade book, Avrin looks at the development of scripts and styles of illumination, the making of manuscripts, and the technological processes involved in paper-making and book-binding. Readers will have a greater understanding of ancient books and texts with More than 300 plates and illustrations Examples of the different forms of writing from ancient times to the printing press Coverage of cultural and religious books Full bibliography Reference librarians and educators will find this resource indispensable.

Whether you are studying the Bible for the first time or you're simply curious about its history and contents, you will find everything you need in this "accessible, well-written handbook to Jewish belief as set forth in the Torah" (The Jerusalem Post). George Robinson, author of the acclaimed Essential Judaism, begins by recounting the various theories of the origins of the Torah and goes on to explain its importance as the core element in Jewish belief and practice. He discusses the basics of Jewish theology and Jewish history as they are derived from the Torah, and he outlines how the Dead Sea Scrolls and other archaeological discoveries have enhanced our understanding of the Bible. He introduces us to the vast literature of biblical commentary, chronicles the evolution of the Torah’s place in the synagogue service, offers an illuminating discussion of women and the Bible, and provides a study guide as a companion for individual or group Bible study. In the book’s centerpiece, Robinson summarizes all fifty-four portions that make up the Torah and gives us a brilliant distillation of two thousand years of biblical commentaries—from the rabbis of the Mishnah and the Talmud to medieval commentators such as Rashi, Maimonides, and ibn Ezra to contemporary scholars such as Nahum Sarna, Nechama Leibowitz, Robert Alter, and Everett Fox. This extraordinary volume—which includes a listing of the Torah reading cycles, a Bible time line, glossaries of terms and biblical commentators, and a bibliography—will stand as the essential sourcebook on the Torah for years to come.