Book Notes

166 American Jewish Life SHOFAR Winter 1999 Vol. 17, No.2 Book Notes The American Jewish Experience, edited by Jonathan D. Sarna. Revised and expanded edition. New York: Holmes & Meier Publishers, 1997. 394 pp. $24.00 (p). ISBN 08419 -1376-5. Spanning American Jewish history from colonial times to the present, the volume focuses on the impact ofthe American Revolution, the influence of German and East European Jewish immigration, antisemitism, conservative Judaism, the Jewish Labor movement, Zionism, and developments since World War II. Each selection is preceded by a discussion of the essay's historical context and contemporary relevance. This revised edition adds several new chapters covering women in American Jewish society and Jews in American popular culture. Annotated bibliographies follow each section. Sports and the American Jew, edited by Steven A. Riess. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1997. 352 pp. $49.95 (c); $24.95 (p). ISBN 0-8156-2754-8 (c); 08156 -2761-0 (p). This book debunks the conventional stereotype that Jews and sports are somehow anathema, and demonstrates that sports has long been a significant institution in Jewish American life. We Were So Beloved: Autobiography of a German Jewish Community, by Gloria DeVidas Kirchheimer and Manfred Kirchheimer. University ofPittsburgh Press, 1997. 367 pp. $34.95. ISBN 0-8229-3997-5. The story of the struggles of the Jews who established a new community in Washington Heights in New York City after fleeing Nazi Germany. Ancient World and Archaeology The Dead Sea Scrolls Jubilee Collection, edited by James C. VanderKam and Peter W. Flint. Leiden: E. 1. Brill, 1997. 700 pp. in 2 vols. $187.50. ISBN 90-04-10858-0. The Jubilee volumes mark the 50th anniversary of the first scroll discoveries in Qumran Cave I. They contain articles on archeological, historical, literary, sociological , and theological topics. Book Notes 167 The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition, by Florentino Garcia Martinez and Eibert Tigchelaar. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1997. 1500 pp. $219.00. ISBN 90-04-10813-0. This study edition contains Hebrew and Aramaic transcriptions and English translations ofthe non-biblical scrolls on facing pages, arranged by serial number from Cave 1 to Cave 11. In addition, it offers a summary of the contents of the biblical scrolls from Qumran. Although unidentified and unclassified fragments have been omitted and no snippets of manuscripts have been reproduced, this edition aims to be complete for the non-biblical scrolls. It is primarily intended for classroom use and for use by specialists from other disciplines who need a reliable compendium to all the materials found. The Jewish People in Classical Antiquityfrom Alexander to Bar Kochba, by John Hayes and Sara R. Mandell. Louisville; KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1998. 272 pp. $28.00. ISBN 0-664-25727-5. The authors provide an exposition of Jewish history from 333 B.C.E. to 135 C.E. The Spirit in First Century Judaism, by John R. Levison. Leiden: E. 1. Brill, 1997. 296 pp. $98.75. ISBN 90-04-10739-8. Conceptions of the divine spirit underwent complex metamorphoses in Jewish biblical interpretation during the Greco-Roman era. This monograph explores those permutations in the writings ofPhilo, Josephus, and Pseudo-Philo. Art, Music, and Film Jewish-American Artists and the Holocaust, by Matthew Baigell. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1997. 140 pp. 45 b&w illustrations. $35.00. ISBN 0-81352404 -0. Matthew Baigell examines how the Holocaust has been explored in the work of Jewish-American artists. He describes how artists initially deflected their responses into abstract forms or invoked biblical and traditional figures and then in more recent decades confronted directly Holocaust imagery and memory. The Torah-Case: Its History and Design, by Bracha Yaniv. Ramat Gan: Bar-Han University Press, 1998. 272 pp. 300 photographs and illustrations. $50.00. This volume traces the history of the Torah-case from its beginnings in the synagogues of the Talmudic period through its development as an ornamental, ritual article. The book explores the art of creating the Torah-case in Yemen and India, Babylon and Persia, Tunisia and Libya, Lebanon and Egypt. A section is devoted to dedicatory inscriptions. (Hebrew) 168 Biblical and Rabbinic Literature SHOFAR Winter 1999 Vol. 17, No.2 Biblical...