The Jewish Bible: A JPS Guide

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments T his volume began with a simple idea: to create a concise companion to the Bible. But that led to a not-so-simple question: How does one develop a guide that is worthy of accompanying such a complex book and keep it short and uncomplicated? A book based on scholarship without being “scholarly”? For JPS, which prides itself on publishing scholarly books, especially ones about the Bible, this was a challenge. Fortunately, we had some excellent resources right at JPS, and some fine people to call on to help. We invited scholars—those who wrote for the JPS Bible commentaries and for Etz Hayim, who advised on the JPS TANAKH, and who contributed to The Contemporary Torah—as well as educators and librarians, to tell us what they thought should be in such a guide. Some of these people also contributed chapters to complement the new pieces we commissioned. And we had a first-rate advisory board whose members read every word and made invaluable suggestions throughout the manuscript’s development. With such excellent help, The Jewish Bible: A JPS Guide is what it set out to be: an introduction and compact reference to the most fascinating and influential book of all time. We very much want to thank JPS CEO and editor-in-chief Ellen Frankel, for supporting us each step of the way; she has been our cheerleader and guide, encouraging us to turn a promising idea into a real book and setting high standards for it. And it was our three advisers who helped us strive to meet these standards. Thank you senior adviser Shalom Paul, and advisers Frederick Greenspahn and Ziony Zevit for your wise counsel and for generously giving us so much of your time in reviewing outlines and drafts, final manuscripts, map sketches, and more. We are indebted to Marc Brettler, for giving us access to material from his book How to Read the Bible. And to all the others who contributed their knowledge and writings: Adele Berlin, Joyce Eisenberg, Michael Fishbane, Michael Fox, Leonard Greenspoon, Jill Hammer, Nahum Sarna, Stuart Kelman, Adriane Leveen, David Mandel, Lionel Moses, Adele Reinhartz, Benjamin Scolnic, Ellen Scolnic, David Stein, Jeffrey Tigay, Barry Walfish, and Andrea Weiss. Thank you Cullen Schippe, Chuck Stetson, and the Pflaum Publishing Group, for permission to excerpt from The Bible and Its Influence; Don Kraus and Oxford University Press, for an excerpt from The Jewish Study Bible; and Keter Publishing House, for permission to adapt from “Poetry” in Encyclopaedia Judaica. vii The Jewish Bible We are grateful to Sharon Liberman Mintz, the curator of Jewish art of the library of the Jewish Theological Seminary, for opening up JTS’s extensive archives to us; to Paul LoBue and his design team for creating our maps; and to series designer Lisa Weinberger for her stylish layout and color scheme. At the outset Julie Pelc helped us get this project jump-started, poring through her personal library and that of the American Jewish University, making suggestions, and writing early drafts. Julia Oestreich picked up where Julie left off, researching so many topics, preparing boxes, finalizing charts and tables, directing map work, gathering art, and doing with great competence dozens of other tasks to prepare for production. JPS interns Robyn Weiss, Rachel Maimin, and Miriam Newman devoted part of their summer to this project. And Karen Schnitker took time out of her other JPS work to do research and writing as well. Many thanks, too, to copyeditor Debra Corman, whose keen knowledge of judaica was such an asset; to sharp-eyed proofreader Candace Levy; and indexer Mark Lautman. And of course, to production manager Robin Norman and managing editor Janet Liss, who together oversaw the final, critical stages of quality control and kept us all on track and in good humor. Carol Hupping viii ...