This book is intended for students of religion and others who seek an introduction to Judaism.

The Ḥayei Adam, an abridged code of Jewish law, was written by Rabbi Avraham Danzig (1748-1820) and was first published in 1810. This code spread quickly throughout Europe, and the demand for it required a second publishing which the author printed in 1818. Beyond a Code of Jewish Law attempts to understand the implicit message of its author and discuss various approaches of its writer to both Judaism and Jewish law. While the Ḥayei Adam without any doubt unveils Rabbi Danzig to be a brilliant rabbinic scholar, with a comprehensive knowledge of Jewish law as well as a coherent and concise system of presentation, it also expresses his great concern for the Jewish community and each individual Jew. Aspects of this concern such as Hasidism, musar, kabbalah, are explored.

"Judaism is one of the oldest religions in the world, and it has preserved its distinctive identity despite the extraordinarily diverse forms and beliefs it has embodied over the course of more than three millennia. A History of Judaism provides the first truly comprehensive look in one volume at how this great religion came to be, how it has evolved from one age to the next, and how its various strains, sects, and traditions have related to each other. In this magisterial and elegantly written book, Martin Goodman takes readers from Judaism's origins in the polytheistic world of the second and first millennia BCE to the temple cult at the time of Jesus. He tells the stories of the rabbis, mystics, and messiahs of the medieval and early modern periods and guides us through the many varieties of Judaism today. Goodman's compelling narrative spans the globe, from the Middle East, Europe, and America to North Africa, China, and India. He explains the institutions and ideas on which all forms of Judaism are based, and masterfully weaves together the different threads of doctrinal and philosophical debate that run throughout its history."--

"The Encyclopaedia of Judaism provides a full and reliable account of Judaism, beginning in ancient Israelite times and extending to our own day. About Judaism, the religion, its diverse history, literature, beliefs past and present, observances and practices, and place in the context of society and culture, this is what we know. All principal topics required for the systematic description of Judaism as a religion the world view, way of life, theory of the social entity constituted by the faithful are addressed here. "The Encyclopaedia of Judaism provides a definitive account of contemporary Judaism and a reliable picture of a tradition of nearly four thousand years. A full and detailed index provides ready-reference for facts, and the systematic articles set forth highly readable accounts of the entire range of Judaic systems of belief and behavior put forth over time and in our own time. It is written for people from all backgrounds, scholars and general readers alike. When the editors completed the initial three volumes of "The Encyclopaedia of Judaism, they found satisfaction in having covered the more than one hundred topics. But they also realized that many other important topics remained to be set forth in a systematic way. This led to new inquiries into the history, practices, and theology of the religion, Judaism. Specialists in all these fields were found and the result is more than ninety new studies, of which the first thirty-two are in the present volume. Supplement Two is anticipated for 2003, and Supplement Three, for 2004. Published by Brill Academic Publishers, Leiden & Continuum, New York. Please note that this title is available to customers in North Americaexclusively through Continuum, New York (www.continuumbooks.com) "From the contents of Supplement One: Aggadah in the Halakhah Ancient Judaisms-Modern Syntheses Astrology and Magic in Medieval Jewish Thought Biology and the Law of Judaism China, Practice of Judaism in Cloning Codification of Jewish Law-Medieval Codification of Jewish Law-Modern Conversos in Medieval Spain Dialectics in Judaism Disabilities, Judaism and Diseases in Jewish Sources Ecology in Ancient Judaism Election of Israel Ethiopia, Judaism in Genetic Engineering God, Image of Greece, Practice of Judaism in Josephus, Biblical Figures in Judaism, the Second Half of the Twentieth Century Karaite Judaism Khazars and Judaism Mishnah, Analogical-Contrastive Reasoning in Morocco, Practice of Judaism in Phenomenology of Judaism Rabbinic Judaism, Social Teaching of Rabbinic Literature, Logics of Sermons in Medieval and Early Modern Judaism Superstition in Judaism Surrogate Motherhood Tradition in Judaism Women in the Judaism of the Dual Torah