An indispensable and timely publication on the life and work of the great Polish-Jewish-American artist-activist Arthur Szyk.

A collection of twentieth century political cartoonist, Szyk.

Best known among Jews for his illustrated Haggadah, Arthur Szyk was also a political artist whose work went beyond a narrow definition of the Jewish cause. In the early twentieth century he worked tirelessly to strengthen the Jews’ position in Poland; later, in the United States, he put his art at the service of the war effort, and then on behalf of the Zionist cause. A singular contribution to the history of Polish-Jewish relations and of Jewish art.

Arthur Szyk (pronounced “Shick”) created his magnificent Haggadah in !--?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /--Lodz, on the eve of the Nazi occupation of his native Poland. There is no Haggadah like it, before or since, filled with sumptuous paintings of Jewish heroes and stunning calligraphy.!--?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /-- This edition, the first since 1940 to be reproduced from Szyk’s original art, boasts a newly commissioned and extremely practical English text by Rabbi Byron L. Sherwin, ideal for use at any family Seder, and a special commentary section by Rabbi Sherwin and Irvin Ungar gives insight into both the rituals of the Seder and Szyk’s rich illustrations. The Szyk Haggadah will transform the Seder, bringing the story of the Exodus from Egypt into a more contemporary light.

A groundbreaking reexamination of the Holocaust and how Germans understood their genocidal project: “Insightful [and] chilling.” —Kirkus Reviews Why exactly did the Nazis burn the Hebrew Bible everywhere in Germany on November 9, 1938? The perplexing event has not been adequately accounted for by historians in their large-scale assessments of how and why the Holocaust occurred. In this gripping new analysis, Alon Confino draws on an array of archives across three continents to propose a penetrating new assessment of one of the central moral problems of the twentieth century. To a surprising extent, Confino demonstrates, the mass murder of Jews during the war years was powerfully anticipated in the culture of the prewar years. The author shifts his focus away from the debates over what the Germans did or did not know about the Holocaust and explores instead how Germans came to conceive of the idea of a Germany without Jews. He traces the stories the Nazis told themselves—where they came from and where they were heading—and how those stories led to the conclusion that Jews must be eradicated in order for the new Nazi civilization to arise. The creation of this new empire required that Jews and Judaism be erased from Christian history, and this was the inspiration—and justification—for Kristallnacht. As Germans entertained the idea of a future world without Jews, the unimaginable became imaginable, and the unthinkable became real. “At once so disturbing and so hypnotic to read . . . Deserves the widest possible audience.” —Open Letters Monthly

A collection of essays by an international cadre of theater scholars, which addresses Jewish theater practitioners, playwrights, critics, financiers and audiences roles in the development of the European and American theater.

A superbly illustrated history of five centuries of Jewish manuscripts The love of books in the Jewish tradition extends back over many centuries, and the ways of interpreting those books are as myriad as the traditions themselves. Skies of Parchment, Seas of Ink offers the first full survey of Jewish illuminated manuscripts, ranging from their origins in the Middle Ages to the present day. Featuring some of the most beautiful examples of Jewish art of all time—including hand-illustrated versions of the Bible, the Haggadah, the prayer book, marriage documents, and other beloved Jewish texts—the book introduces readers to the history of these manuscripts and their interpretation. Edited by Marc Michael Epstein with contributions from leading experts, this sumptuous volume features a lively and informative text, showing how Jewish aesthetic tastes and iconography overlapped with and diverged from those of Christianity, Islam, and other traditions. Featured manuscripts were commissioned by Jews and produced by Jews and non-Jews over many centuries, and represent Eastern and Western perspectives and the views of both pietistic and liberal communities across the Diaspora, including Europe, Israel, the Middle East, and Africa. Magnificently illustrated with pages from hundreds of manuscripts, many previously unpublished or rarely seen, Skies of Parchment, Seas of Ink offers surprising new perspectives on Jewish life, presenting the books of the People of the Book as never before.