Books published by Jewish Publication Society

A definitive historical-critical commentary on the Passover seder. The Passover haggadah enjoys an unrivaled place in Jewish culture, both religious and secular. Joseph Tabory, one of the world's leading authorities on the history of the haggadah, traces the development of the seder and the haggadah through the ages.

Features verses from the pages of "Genesis", "Exodus", "Ecclesiastes", "Jeremiah", "Lamentations", "Proverbs", "Psalms", and many other biblical books, with the JPS English translation.

Presents a holiday book that takes us through the joys, spirit, and meaning of the seasons. This title focuses on our personal connections to each holiday and our home observance. It features readings that teach us about the history of each holiday, as well as its theological, ethical, agricultural, and seasonal importance and interpretation.

A young adult biography that focuses on Einstein as a great Jewish thinker and champion of Israel. It explores the story of Albert Einstein's connection to his Jewish roots and the growth of his commitment to the creation of the State of Israel.

Much more than a history of the Passover story. This title mirrors the last five centuries in Jewish history as reflected in the haggadah itself. It features two hundred facsimile plates to reproduce representative pages from printed haggadot.

What Jewish history and wisdom teach us about coping with worry. This book addresses such questions as: What is worry? Why, when, and how do all of us do it? Is it a Jewish thing? Is it avoidable, and is it all bad? And, how can we turn our tendency to worry into a positive force in our lives?

The Book of Ecclesiastes is part of the ""wisdom literature"" of the Bible. It concerns itself with universal philosophical questions, rather than events in the history of Israel and in the Hebrews' covenant with God. Koheleth, the speaker in this book, ruminates on what - if anything - has lasting value, and how - if at all - God interacts with humankind.

The teachers of Hasidism gave new life to the literary tradition of parable, a story that teaches a spiritual or moral truth. In The Hasidic Parable, acclaimed author Aryeh Wineman takes readers through the great works of the hasidic storytellers. Although these parables date back 200 years or more, they deal with moral and religious themes and issues still relevant today.

Includes translations of eight of the most interesting and developed narratives found in the "Zohar", the central medieval Jewish mystical text. The author's artful translation, together with commentaries and notes, reveals the richness of the "Zohar".

Justice Menachem Elon's classic text surveys the panorama of Jewish law from biblical times to contemporary Israel. The result is the most definitive record to date of a unique legal system that integrates criminal, civil, and religious law to form a unified whole of unprecedented range. This four-volume set is an essential resource for academic, legal, and personal libraries.

Guides readers through the words and ideas of the Torah. Each volume is the work of a scholar who stands at the pinnacle of his field. Every page contains the complete traditional Hebrew text, with cantillation notes, the JPS translation of the Holy Scriptures, aliyot breaks, Masoretic notes, and commentary by a distinguished Hebrew Bible scholar, integrating classical and modern sources.

Presents an entirely original translation of the Holy Scriptures into contemporary English, based on the Masoretic (the traditional Hebrew) text. This book is collaboration by academic scholars and rabbis, representing the three largest branches of organized Judaism in the United States.

The history of modern Israel is a story of ambition, violence, and survival. Return to Zion traces how a scattered and stateless people reconstituted themselves in their traditional homeland, only to face threats by those who, during the many years of the dispersion, had come to regard the land as their home.

This is the story of how a free civilization decides what to do with the material remains of a world torn asunder, and how those remains connect survivors with their past. It is the story of Jews struggling to understand the new realities of their post-Holocaust world and of Western society's gradual realization of the magnitude of devastation wrought by World War II.

The dramatic one-thousand-year history of Jews in Spain comes to life in Exiles in Sepharad. Jeffrey Gorsky vividly relates this colourful period of Jewish history, from the era when Jewish culture was at its height in Muslim Spain to the horrors of the Inquisition and the Expulsion.

Well aware of Jews having once been the victims of Nazi eugenics policies, many Jews today have an ambivalent attitude toward new genetics and are understandably wary of genetic forms of identity and intervention. At the same time, the Jewish tradition is strongly committed to medical research designed to prevent or cure diseases. Jews and Genes explores this tension against the backdrop of various important developments in genetics and bioethics—new advances in stem cell research; genetic mapping, identity, testing, and intervention; and the role of religion and ethics in shaping public policy.  Jews and Genes brings together leaders in their fields, from all walks of Judaism, to explore these most timely and intriguing topics—the intricacies of the genetic code and the wonders of life, along with cutting-edge science and the ethical issues it raises.

JPS's holiday books take us through the joys, spirit, and meaning of the seasons. As we move from season to season, Paul Steinberg shares with us a rich collection of readings from many of the Jewish greats and guides us in discovering for ourselves the many treasures within each text.

JPS's holiday books take us through the joys, spirit, and meaning of the seasons. Blending the old and the new, they ground us in the origins and traditions of each holiday and open up to us ways we can add our own expression to these special days. Although synagogue ritual is touched upon, the real focus here is on our personal connections to each holiday and our home observance.

Of all the places in the world, Uri really loves to be at his grandparents' house. There he can stay up way past his bedtime and eat as many sweets from the chocolate box as he likes. There's only one forbidden place in that house: the third drawer in Grandpa's desk. This drawer is locked. No one ever opens it.

Anne Frank loved to play tennis and swim. She enjoyed being with her friends in school and couldn't resist chattering during class. But, tragically, Anne was growing up in Holland during the Second World War, when all European Jews lived in grave danger. When Dutch Jews were forced to leave their homes, Anne and her family found a hiding place.

Because a welter of details sometimes conceals the Torah 's aura of holiness, Jewish mystics and spiritual teachers have for centuries attempted to reveal that aura through creative interpretation of the Torah text. The Aura of Torah explores these attempts in an effort to bridge the gap between the Torah text and the modern Jewish spiritual quest.

An anthology of writings by the leading thinkers of the Zionist movement, including Theodor Herzl, Ahad Ha-Am, Martin Buber, Louis Brandeis, Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, Judah Magnes, Max Nordau, Mordecai Kaplan, Vladimir Jabotinsky, Chaim Weizmann, and David Ben-Gurion.

Long known only to scholars and specialists, this title is a masterpiece of midrashic literature. It is a collection of discourses for special Sabbaths and festival days compiled and organized during the fifth century. It was well known and studied from the end of fifth century until it disappeared sometime in the sixteenth century.

This first anthology of the most important writings by Danny Siegel, spanning and modernizing fifty years of his insights intersperses soulful Jewish texts with innovative Mitzvah ideas to rouse individuals and communities to transform our lives, communities, and world.

Approaching the Bible in an original way-comparing biblical heroes to heroes in world literature-Elliott Rabin addresses core biblical questions: What is the Bible telling us about what it means to be a hero? Why do we need such heroes, possibly now more than ever?