THE OPEN UNIVERSITY OF ISRAEL

WE ARE OPEN FOR TRANSLATION

The Open University of Israel, Israels leading academic publisher, has published over 1500 textbooks in all major disciplines. Written by leading scholars and experts from the Open University and from all other Israeli universities, these books are known for their outstanding academic quality, and are used by students and faculty in Israels colleges and universities. This catalog presents the Open Universitys latest publications, a collection of true gems and treasures. We are pleased to offer our books on Middle East history, religions (Islam and Early Christianity) Biblical studies (Genesis), Jewish history, religion and culture, Israeli politics and art, genocide studies and social sciences. Unique in scope and length, our books can easily be adopted as textbooks for students, and also be of interest to scholars and the general public. The Open University welcomes collaboration and joint projects with publishers interested in pooling together world knowledge, culture and heritage to produce high-quality, aesthetic, state-of-the-art publications of broad interest.

Contact Details Mrs. Nava Segal Rights and Permissions Manager navase@openu.ac.il The Open University of Israel 1 University Road, P.O. Box 808, Raanana 43107, Israel Tel. 972-9-7781811, Fax 972-9-7780664 http://www-e.openu.ac.il/

Adia Mendelson-Maoz, Nurith Gertz*

Amos Oz and A.B. Yehoshua are both world renowned Israeli novelists, who single-handedly influenced a new generation of writers, virtually changing the shape and contour of Israeli literature. Up until Amos Ozs publication of his first stories in the quarterly Keshet at the end of the 1950s, Israeli literature was largely designed to promote and encourage a Socialist-Zionist agenda. Amos Ozs portrayal of real life struggles on Kibbutz, shattered this magic mirror and helped to pave the way for a new generation of Israeli writers whose agendas and writing styles radically differ from those writers during the early days of the Israeli state. It was not only characters and the portrayal of ideals where Oz and Yehoshua chose to deviate from their predecessors, there were also stylistic and literary differences. Excerpts from a wide range of the authors writings provide readers with opportunities to delve deeply into both writers mindsets and learn from their skillful writing styles. One of the things I wanted to introduce in The Same Sea beyond transcending the conflict, is the fact that deep down below all our secrets are the same. seminal importance of their writings -- in literary circles, within Israeli society and on the national and international stage. Volume 1 (2010, 163 pp.) Part 1: Change of generations in Israeli literature Part 2: Moshe Shamirs He Walked in the Fields Volume 2 Amos Oz (2010, 278 pp.) Part 1: Where the Jackals Howl Part 2: My Michael Part 3: Late Love Part 4: Unto Death Volume 3 A.B. Yehoshua (2010, 264 pp.) Part 1: The Yatir Evening Express Part 2: Facing the Forests Part 3: The Continuing Silence of a Poet and Early in the Summer of 1970 Part 4: The Lover
* Adia Mendelson-Maoz is a member of the Department of Literature, Language and the Arts at the Open University of Israel. * Nurith Gertz is professor emeritus of the Department of Literature, Language and the Arts at the Open University of Israel. She is an expert on Israeli cinema and literature and the author of Myths in Israeli Culture: Captives of a Dream (Vallentine Mitchell, 2000) and co-author of Palestinian Cinema: Landscape, trauma and memory (Edinburgh University Press, 2008).

Amos Oz

This three volume series places Oz and Yehoshua in a cultural-social-historical context, enabling readers to gain a profound understanding of the

Editors: Ilana Kaufman, Mustafa Kabha*

Volume 1 (Forthcoming) Part 1: The Arab-Palestinian community as a national minority in Israel (Ilana Kaufman) Part 2: The Arab-Palestinian community during the British Mandate (Mustafa Kabha) Part 3: In the shadow of military rule: The first twenty years (Sara Ozacky-Lazar, Yair Baumel) Volume 2 (Forthcoming) Part 1: The ethnic mosaic (Ilana Kaufman) Part 2: The Palestinian family in Israel (Khawla AbuBaker) Part 3: Gender and relations between the sexes in Palestinian cociety (Amalia Saar) Volume 3 (2010, 415 pp.) Part 1: One man one vote: Parties and elections (Benyamin Neuberger) Part 2: Leadership: Transformation and transition (Reuven Aharoni) Part 3: The media: From printed to online press (Mustafa Kabha)

Since the establishment of the State of Israel, there has been an ongoing struggle between the Jewish society and Arab society living together, ostensibly under one roof. This struggle -- ideological, political, territorial and societal -- finds expression in nearly every aspect of Arab-Israeli life, and like the ArabIsraeli society itself, has undergone change over time. Arab society has not lived in isolation, but rather has been impacted by its neighboring Jewish society, as well as external Arab states, globalization, and its own internal issues and changes.

A multidisciplinary team of scholars worked together to produce this detailed, welldocumented four volume series. The series tracks Volume 4 (Forthcoming) the multi-faceted aspects of Arab society in Israel, Part 1: The Arab-Palestinian education system viewing its evolution, development and struggles I vote, therefore I am. (Ismael Abu Saad) Slogan used by Communist youth in by examining a wide range of issues: family and Haifa during 2009 election campaign Part 2: Territorial relations: Demographic aspects gender relations, becoming a minority after being and social change (Rassem Khamaisy) a majority, ethnicity, legal claims, etc. Gaining a deeper historical understanding of the evolution of Israeli-Arab society, may provide new insight for political resolutions to the ongoing conflict.

* Ilana Kaufman is a scholar of Arab-Palestinians, civil society and political participation in Israel at the Open University and author of Arab National Communism in the Jewish State (University Press of Florida, 1997). * Mustafa Kabha is a senior lecturer at the Open University and a researcher in the areas of modern Middle Eastern history, the history of the Palestinian national movement, and Arab mass media. He is the author of numerous books and articles in Arabic, English and Hebrew.

Haggai Erlich*, Steven Kaplan, Hagar Salamon

Ethiopia is one of the worlds most ancient civilizations. A monarchy for most of its history, the Ethiopian dynasty traces its roots to the 2nd century BCE. The uniqueness of Ethiopia is that it constitutes a culture which built up a political system, a state and even an empire that lasted some two millennia. It managed to withstand the strongest forces in history -- the Islamic empire and European imperialism -- and still retain its sovereignty. Its geographic location in the Horn of Africa, history of political stability, cultural and religious tolerance alongside its nationalistic tendency to also identify with the Middle Eastern countries as much as with African countries, led to Ethiopia becoming a crossroads, meeting place for the three monotheistic religions. It was here that Christianity, Judaism and Islam first met and learned to live together. Ethiopias image as a multi-cultural country replete with contradictions holds true today. Its secret for maintaining its independence and sovereignty may hold some answers for modern day society. 2003, 384 pp.

[Ethiopia] One of the strangest, most wonderful phenomena in history.

Arnold Toynbee
* Haggai Erlich is professor emeritus of Middle Eastern and African History at Tel Aviv University and head of Middle East and African Studies at the Open University of Israel. He is author of numerous books, among them The Cross and the River Ethiopia, Egypt and the Nile (Lynne Rienner, 2002) and co-editor of The Nile Histories, Cultures, Myths (Lynne Rienner, 2000). His latest book is Islam & Christianity in the Horn of Africa: Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan (Lynne Rienner, 2010).

Moshe Negbi*
Does Israeli media promote its own agenda? Do personal beliefs of Israeli journalists cloud their journalistic integrity? Does Israeli press play an influential role in government policy? Is there balanced coverage on issues of national interest? In light of the states ongoing wars, does Israeli media have to abide by different ethical standards? No doubt, Israeli media is on the front lines both literally and figuratively. One of Israels leading legal commentators and analysts, who regularly appears on Israel Radio and national televisions Channel One network, Moshe Negbis new book, Freedom of the Journalist and Freedom of the Press maps the life line of mass media in Israel since the establishment of the state to today. The book offers an in-depth perspective of the legal and ethical issues that Israels mass media must confront in times of peace and in times of war, and considers the mine field of legal, security, political, religious and cultural issues so endemic to the countrys unique geopolitical situation. This book is more than a description of the institutional aspects of mass media. It also acts as a two-way mirror, examining the impact of mass media -- radio, television, printed press and the new media -- in Israeli society. Forthcoming

What is the purpose of allowing

freedom of speech and press? Why should a government that regards its own actions as proper and justified expose itself to criticism? Obviously, that same government would not conceive of allowing the use of firearms against it, and all would agree that ideas are mightier than any gun.

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin

* Moshe Negbi is a leading Israeli legal analyst and legal

commentator for the Israel Broadcasting Authority.

Uriel Rappaport*
For a period of some two hundred years -- from the Babylonian exile following the destruction of the First Temple (586 BCE) until 330-334 BCE when the Greeks conquered the eastern empire -- the Jews lived under the Persian empire, the last of the ancient empires. What makes this period so fascinating in terms of Jewish history is that this was the first time in history that the Jewish nation was no longer an independent sovereignty and was forced to administer its own lives from various, dispersed political centers. The most important of these centers were Babylonia and Judea. The Jewish nations dispersal within the Persian empire influenced their cultural, religious and communal lives. The Babylonian Talmud was written during this time, Aramaic, the Persian empires spoken tongue was incorporated into Jewish life, a number of the nations greatest prophets held center stage, and the concept of Return to Zion was born. The first year of Cyrus monarchy, King Cyrus commanded: The House of Gd in Jerusalem will be rebuilt... and all the vessels of gold and silver that Nebuchadnezzer removed from Jerusalem and were transported to Babylonia will be returned...
(Ezra: 6; 3-5)

culturally, communally or religiously as those who were sent into exile. The Persian period left an indelible imprimatur on their lives, traces of which are evident today. Prof. Uriel Rappaports research of this period provides some fascinating insights into the dynamics that helped to shape the Jewish nation. 2004, 256 pp.

The Jewish people who returned to rebuild their Temple in Jerusalem, were not the same ones,

* Uriel Rappaport is professor emeritus of Jewish History at the

University of Haifa. He is co-editor of Dead Sea Scrolls: Forty Years of Research (Eisenbrauns, 1992).

The Jewish Community in Palestine between the World Wars

Aviva Halamish*
Many have referred to Israel as a modern-day miracle. At the outbreak of the first world war, there were 60,000 Jews living in the Jewish Yishuv. They were a heterogeneous group, most living in dire circumstances in various communities throughout the land. The land was desolate and ruled by a dying, largely ambivalent empire. There were no national institutions, and virtually no political or national leadership. Then within a period of two decades, now under the rule of a new, sometimes antagonistic empire, the population grew by nine-fold, national institutions were established and a political-national leadership arose. At the center of this three volume series, Prof. Aviva Halamish, a noted historian and recipient of the prestigious 2010 Yitzhak Ben Zvi Award for historical research, offers an indepth examination of how a tiny group of people, an almost invisible minority, laid the foundations for the establishment of a State, with few resources and little international support. The series examines not only what happened within the confines of the Jewish Yishuv, but also the influences from outside, which played a crucial role in the state in the making. Volume 1 (2004, 360 pages) Part 1: Historiography and historical background Part 2: The Palestine triangle in the 1920s: British, Jews and Arabs, 1917-1929 Part 3: A volunteer society: Institutions, political parties and organizations Part 4: Foundations of the national home: Immigration, economy and settlement in the 1920s Volume 2 (2004, 274 pages) Part 1: Consensus and conflict in the 1920s Part 2: From crisis to growth: 1929-1932 Part 3: The Palestine triangle in the 1930s: British, Jews and Arabs, 1931-1939 In the 1920s, aliyah and settlement increased the demographic weight and the territorial presence of the Yishuv (i.e. Jewish), but this change was in numbers rather than in substance... [this was a time] when the foundations of the national home were laid. Volume 3 (Forthcoming) Part 1: Creating a critical mass: immigration and settlement during the 1930s Part 2: Consensus and conflict in the 1930s Part 3: A race against time: The Yishuv on the eve of World War II
* Aviva Halamish is a professor of History at the Open University
of Israel. She is the author of numerous articles and several books, among them The Exodus Affair: Holocaust Survivors and the Struggle for Palestine (Syracuse University Press and Vallentine Mitchell, 1998) and a biography (in Hebrew) of Meir Yaari (Am Oved / Ofakim Series, 2009).

Editor: Yair Auron*

Prof. Yair Aurons Genocide series is a monumental work motivated by the great need to ensure that society remains neither apathetic nor ignorant about genocides and considers its own responsibility for the cause and the solution. The Genocide series is more than an historical accounting. It is a journey through a moral minefield. Interestingly, the word Genocide (based on Greek and Latin words) was coined after World War II by Raphael Lemkin, a Polish Jew whose family was killed in the Holocaust and later found refuge in the United States. Lemkin used the word to describe the extermination of the Jews by the Nazis, but in the broader sense the word is used to describe mass killings of any people, motivated by religious or nationalistic reasons. The Genocide series, a unique, outstanding multidisiplinary effort by various Israeli scholars, psychologists and historians covers a broad range of time periods -- from Biblical times to modern day times, over an equally broad range of continents -Europe (Armenia), Africa (Rwanda), Southeast Asia (Cambodia), and the Americas.

Volume 1

Reflections on the Inconceivable: Theoretical Aspects of Genocide Research (Yair Auron, 2006, 183 pp.) Genocide and Racism (Yair Auron, Isaac Lubelski (Eds.), Forthcoming) Genocide in the Land of the Free: The Indians of North America 17761890 (Arnon Gutfeld, 2006, 230 pp.) Conflictual Encounter: The Destruction of the Indian Peoples of Spanish America (Eitan Ginsberg, 2009, 280 pp.) The Armenian Genocide: Forgetting and Denial (Yair Auron, 2007, 183 pp.) Hurban: The Annihilation of the Jews by Nazi Germany (Ariel Horowitz, 2010, 183 pp.) Nazi Germany and the Gypsies (Gilad Margalit, 2006, 165 pp.) Rwanda 1994: Genocide in the Land of Thousand Hills (Benyamin Neuberger, 2005, 208 pp.)

Volume 2 Volume 3

Volume 4

Volume 5 To ask questions, to think about, to consider what could have been done to prevent genocide or at least to limit it and to ask where I am in this picture when the genocide is taking place...so that I will not be among those who remained silent. Volume 6

Volume 7 Volume 8

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Volume 9

Tibet 1950-2000: Destroying a Civilization (Lydia Aran, 2007, 192 pp.)

Volume 10 Political and Ethnic Cleansings in the Soviet Union, 1918-1953 (Alek Epstein, 2007, 238 pp.) Volume 11 So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee - The Holocaust and Genocide as Wrought by Human Beings (Israel Charny, Forthcoming) Volume 12 So that I wouldnt be among the Silent (Yair Auron, 2010, pp. 287)
* Yair Auron is a professor in the Department of Sociology, Political Science and
Communication at the Open University of Israel. A specialist on Holocaust and Genocide studies, he is the author of The Banality of Indefference: Zionism and the Armenian Genocide (Transaction, 2000) and The Banality of Denial: Israel and the Armenian Genocide (Transaction, 2003).

When we heard, for the first time that our friends had been gradually slaughtered, a great cry rose among us. Then a hundred had been slaughtered. But when 1000 had been slaughtered, and the slaughter had not ceased, silence reigned...
Bertolt Brecht

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Shulamit Elizur*

On the Iberian peninsula, on Spanish soil, over a period of 200 years -- from the 10th to the 12th centuries, under Muslim rule rose a prolific, lyrically rich, and diverse community of Hebrew poets. This three volume series provides the reader with a comprehensive, detailed analysis of the Jewish community of poets, many learned Rabbis, who were guided by their deep religious conviction and were similarly influenced by their Muslim counterparts. It was a time when Hebrew poetry and song flourished, producing hundreds of enchanting, deeply moving works, many of which are still chanted or read today. Readers will be touched by the mysticism and beauty of the works, as much as they will gain a deeper understanding of the layers of meaning beneath the simple words. One after another humankind will be diluted Little by little they will perish, until all is gone Cease, one journey after Death approaches, until there is the grave
Moshe Ibn Ezra

Volume 1 (2004, 288 pp.) Part 1: The literary, historical and social background of Hebrew poetry in Spain Part 2: Methodological introduction Volume 2 (2004, 524 pp.) Part 1: Conventions in the Hebrew poetry of Spain: Entertainment poems Part 2: Types and conventions in the Hebrew poetry of Spain: Philosophical and moral poems Part 3: Types and conventions in the Hebrew poetry of Spain: Praise and friendship poems Part 4: Personal poems Volume 3 (2004, 534 pp.) Part 1: Prose elements Part 2: The rhetoric of poetry: Tone, syntax and lexicon, picturesque language Part 3: Biblical allusion and integration Part 4: Composition

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* Shulamit Elizur is a Professor of Hebrew Literature at the Hebrew

University of Jerusalem.

Editor: Raphael Nir*

The History of the Hebrew Language traces and explicates the evolution of the Hebrew language. This unique eight volume series offers an extensive review of a language that served as the basis for dialogue between Gd and Moses and inspired exquisite literature, intricate commentaries on Biblical passages and prayer. It is the only language in the annals of history which has been extant for two millennia. Each section in the series covers a particular period of time, and has been written by language experts of that time period. The extensive appendices provide valuable insights for those interested in understanding the Hebrew languages unique ability to evolve, adapt and expand. An ideal study compendium for students, scholars, linguists, and anyone who would love to learn more about Hebrew. The Biblical Period: The first four volumes deal with Biblical and Mishnaic Hebrew. They discuss various linguistic aspects: lexical, morphological and syntactic.

Volume 1 Introduction (Menachem Zevi Kadari, 2003, 170 pp.) Volume 2 Biblical Language (Rivka Yarkoni, 2003, 171 pp.) Volume 3 Hebrew of the Second Temple Period (Elisha Qimron, 2003, 243 pp.) Volume 4 Language of the Sages (Shimon Sharvit, 2003, 275 pp.) The Medieval Period: These 4 volumes survey a period of about seventeen centuries during which the Hebrew language served only for literary and liturgical purposes, and was not used for everyday communication. And Gd said let their be light, and there was light...He called the light day and the darkness night
(Genesis1: 3, 5)

Volume 5 Language of Hebrew Liturgical Hymns (Joseph Yahalom, 2003, 183 pp.) Volume 6 Language of the Translators (Gad BenAmi Zarfati, 2003, 215 pp.) Volume 7 Language of the Hebrew Poetry of Spain (Ephraim Chazan, 2003, 188 pp.) Volume 8 Rabbinic Hebrew (Zvi Betzer, 2001, 181 pp.)
* Raphael Nir is professor emeritus in the Department of
Communication and Journalism at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

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Nurith Gertz*
Early Zionist ideology, intent on establishing a national homeland for the Jewish people, was equally intent on redefining what characteristics a real Israeli was to possess. The cinema and literature from the early to mid 20th century used to portray the new Israeli, dispensed with any characteristics that were easily identified with European Jewry -what they considered the Diaspora. These films and novels casted Holocaust survivors as the other or the alien in the new State of Israel. This definition pitted the survivors along with other Diaspora Jews, soon joined by women and Arabs on the one side vs. the true Israeli-Hebrew Sabra man on the other. Upon the stages of the theater, within the pages of literature, and in the cinema houses across the country, peoples, living under one roof within the confines of the state, were either identified as us or them. The consequences were manifold, playing off one group against another, launching a race among sectors of society to prefer one alien group over another, suppressing and/or reshaping Holocaust survivors memories, and eventually creating a situation where people learned to recognize the others rights and integrate them within the tapestry of Israeli society. 2004, 213 pp. Am Oved / The Open University of Israel

I have never read a book whereby the literary elegance encounters the personal truth, in such moving, unforgettable totality. This is a book that must not be missed.
Shimon Peres

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* Nurith Gertz is professor emeritus of the Department of Literature, Language and the Arts at the Open University of Israel. She is an expert on Israeli cinema and literature and the author of Myths in Israeli Culture: Captives of a Dream (Vallentine Mitchell, 2000) and co-author of Palestinian Cinema: Landscape, trauma and memory (Edinburgh University Press, 2008).

Editor: Daphna Ephrat*

While todays bookshelves may be overflowing with newly published, or reprinted editions of books on Islam, this series of four volumes is one of the only efforts to cover the entire history of Islam -from its birth in the 7th century until modern-day fundamentalism. Also, while most other publications may deal with the rise, development and spread of Islam in specific countries, few provide such an extensive and comprehensive look at Islam throughout the world and by country to country as does this series. Furthermore, most other publications divide Islam into two distinct periods: classical Islam which developed in the 11th century and modern day Islam which evolved in the 19th and 20th centuries. However, this publication also places great emphasis on the golden era of Islam in the Middle Ages, when much of Islamic science, art and literature developed. Volume 1 (Nehemia Levtzion, Daniela TalmonHeller, Daphna Ephrat, 1998, 272 pages) Part 1: The birth of a religion Part 2: Sects in Islam Part 3: From Arabization to Islamization Volume 2 (Nehemia Levtzion, Daniela TalmonHeller, Daphna Ephrat, 1998, 208 pp.) Part 1: The development of Islamic law Part 2: Theological debates and their political impact Part 3: Islamic mysticism Volume 3 (Nehemia Levtzion, Daniela TalmonHeller, Daphna Ephrat, 1998, 252 pp.) Part 1: The Ulama and secular rulers in the late Middle Ages Part 2: The institutionalization of Islam: Law, education and mysticism Part 3: The expansion of Islam into Asia and Africa Islam crystallized as a religion which secluded itself from the pre-Islamic system on the one hand, and from the JudeoChristian system on the other hand, and within this process of disengagement there is a kind of crystallization. Volume 4 (2008, 300 pp.) Part 1: Islamic revivalist and reform movements in the 18th century (Atallah Copty) Part 2: Modernism and secularism: Islamic response to the Western challenge (Daphna Ephrat) Part 3: Islamic fundamentalism (Meir Hatina)
* Daphna Ephrat, a professor of History at the Open University, is an
expert on medieval Muslim societies. She is the author of A Learned Society in a Period of Transition: The Sunni Ulama of Eleventh-Century Baghdad (SUNY, 2000) and Spiritual Wayfarers, Leaders in Piety: Sufis and the Dissemination of Islam in Medieval Palestine (Harvard University Press, 2008).

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Eliezer Ben-Rafael, Lior Ben-Chaim*

Who can be defined as a Jew? A question that has been asked throughout the ages, and continues to be asked and never ceases to spark conflict. Is there a difference in how secular Jews from Argentina define themselves in comparison to their peers in France? What is the underlying meaning of the Hebrew word for Diaspora and Immigrant? And does that impact on how other Jews regard Israeli Jews and themselves? What does it mean to have been identified as a Jew from the former Soviet Union? How does American Jewry define and distinguish itself? What defines an Israeli Jew? Jewish Identities in an Era of Multiple Modernities examines the evolution of the collective identity of the Jewish people and the manner in which it expresses itself from country to country, and community to community. The differences and similarities among Jews around the world, and in Israel, are explored and examined, focusing sociologically on todays multiple modernities and multiple cultures.

Is it possible to still talk about Jews as a single entity considering their multiple Jewish identities?

* Eliezer Ben-Rafael is professor emeritus of Sociology at Tel-Aviv

University. He has published on ethnicity and language in Israel, the transformation of the kibbutz, Jewish identities and aspects of contemporary globalization. He is co-author of Ethnicity, Religion and Class in Israel (Cambridge University Press, 2007) and coeditor of World Religions and Multiculturalism: A Dialectic Relation (Brill, 2010). various aspects of Jewish identities and multiple modernities in Israel.

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* Lior Ben-Chaim, a sociologist at Tel-Aviv University, studies

2006, 376 pp.

Raphael Jospe*
The Middle Ages was a time when Jewish philosophy took shape and flourished. It was a time when the Jewish peoples greatest thinkers, dispersed among the nations, embarked on a journey of discovery, influencing and being influenced by their nonJewish contemporaries and cultures. More than a millennia has passed, yet, the writings of these great thinkers continue to serve as enlightened road maps for the encounters of the Jewish nation with the world around them. These three volumes examine the earliest Jewish philosophers both within the context of their multilingual, Muslim, and Christian environments, and among themselves. Readers will delve into Christian and Islamic philosophy to better understand how Jewish philosophy evolved. Volume 1 Jewish Philosophy in the Middle Ages: Foundations (2005, 575 pp.) Part 1: What is Jewish philosophy? Part 2: Saadiah Gaon and the Kalam Part 3: Jewish Neo-Platonism: Isaac Israeli and Solomon ibn-Gabirol Part 4: Bahya ibn-Paquda Volume 2 Jewish Philosophy in the Middle Ages: Transitions (2006, 482 pp.) Part 1: Philosophical exegesis of the Bible: Abraham ibn-Ezra Part 2: Judah Ha-Levi and critique of philosophy Part 3: The transition to Aristotelianism: Abraham ibn-Daud
Knowledge has two faces, truth and falsehood, true knowledge is when one knows the thing as it is, square is square, minimal is minimal, black is black, white is white, reality is reality, missing is missing. False knowledge is knowledge of a thing that is not as it is...

Volume 3 Jewish Philosophy in the Middle Ages: Maimonides (2006, 503 pp.) Part 1: Maimonides: Principles of Judaism Part 2: Guide of the Perplexed God Part 3: Guide of the Perplexed The world and the human being

* Raphael Jospe, a specialist in medieval Jewish philosophy,

teaches in the Department of Jewish Philosophy at Bar Ilan University, and also in the Hebrew University of JerusalemInternational School. He is the author or editor of several books, among them Jewish Philosophy (2 volumes, Rowman & Littlefield, 2008) and Jewish Philosophy in the Middle Ages (Academic, 2009).

Beliefs and Opinions, Rabbi Saadiah Gaon

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Editor: Ora Limor*

What binds Christianity and Judaism? What divides them? How did their interrelationships play out in Western Europe? Are these two beliefs compatible? Since the birth of Christianity some two millennia ago, Jews and Christians have been intertwined with each other, in one way or another. At first, the Jews were a majority in Israel, but this lasted but a few decades. With the rapid spread of Christianity and the loss of Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel, the pendulum swung and the Jews became the minority. Nevertheless, for hundreds of years, the Jews and Christians lived alongside one another interacting in nearly every aspect of their lives. Their respective credos, religious beliefs, philosophies, value systems, political, social and cultural necessities drove their encounters in varying directions. This series of five volumes traces the relationship between Jews and Christians in Western Europe during the Middle Ages and Renaissance -- a period of 700 years. Esau is the older brother, the evil one... He was deprived of his first born status in order to fulfill the divine plan, for Esau did not deserve to be the chosen one in the eyes of the Lord. In Jewish literature, Esau...represents Christianity. In Christian literature, he represents the Jews.

Volume 1 Jacob and Esau (Ora Limor, 1993, 125 pp.) Volume 2 (1993, 378 pp.) Part 1: Majority and minority (Amnon RazKrakotzkin, Ora Limor) Part 2: Similarity and difference (Ora Limor) Part 3: Jews before the Christian courts of justice: the Jewish oath (Joseph Ziegler) Volume 3 The Jewish-Christian Debate (Ora Limor, 1993, 256 pp.) Volume 4 (1997, 432 pp.) Part 1: Hebraica veritas (Amnon Raz-Krakotzkin, Ora Limor) Part 2: Faith and reason (Joseph Ziegler) Part 3: Images of the past (Ora Limor, Israel Yuval) Volume 5 (1998, 440 pp.) Part 1: The blood libel (Ora Limor) Part 2: The Conversos (Yosef Kaplan) Part 3: Jews and Christians during the reformation (Amos Hofman)
* Ora Limor is a Professor of History at the Open University of
Israel. She has written numerous articles in scholarly journals and is co-editor of Contra Iudaeos: Ancient Medieval Polemics between Christians and Jews (Texts and Studies in Medieval and Early Modern Judaism) (J.C.B. Mohr, 1996)

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Nurith Gertz, George Khleifi*

True, the Jews and Palestinians may share the same landscape, but their cinematic voices are radically diverse. Searching for the voice and back story of Palestinian cinema brought together two scholars, one a Palestinian lecturer from Ramallah University and the other a Jewish professor from the Open University. The result is a detailed, thought provoking look at Palestinian cinema and the integral role the national movements ideology played in cinematic productions, oftentimes usurping other messages. Readers will review how earlier Palestinian filmmakers -- such as Michel Khlefi, Rashid Masharawi, Ali Nassar, Elia Suleiman and others -- were able to express the national movements message through individual personal stories. Readers will also learn about the struggle of filmmakers creating genre films during and between the Intifadas, known as Roadblock movies. The extensive filmography included in the book is an excellent guide for readers, scholars or researchers who wish to explore the subject in greater depth. 2006, 230 pp. Am Oved / The Open University of Israel
Rights sold: English: Scotland, UK, Edinburgh University Press.

We are a nation that history has forgotten

Sayigh, 1998

* Nurith Gertz is professor emeritus of the Department of

We are a nation that forgot its history

Emil Habibi, 1969

Literature, Language and the Arts at the Open University of Israel. She is an expert on Israeli cinema and literature and the author of Myths in Israeli Culture: Captives of a Dream (Vallentine Mitchell, 2000) and co-author of Palestinian Cinema: Landscape, trauma and memory (Edinburgh University Press, 2008).

* George Khleifi is a Palestinian scholar and film director.

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Malka Muchnik*

Language, the principal means of communication in society, is also the engine which drives a societys culture. Every language reflects the unique values and way of life of the society for which that language is the mother tongue. Language is also a dynamic entity, developing and evolving alongside its native society and culture. The Hebrew language is no less. But perhaps more, in some ways. Hebrew is the only ancient language which is still spoken today. And, while it did fall out of daily usage among the Jewish people dispersed in various countries, it continued to be used in prayer and learning for more than a millennia. Tracing the development of the language from a socio-linguistic point of view, Dr. Malka Muchnik details the impact of the Hebrew language on modern day society, and modern day societys impact on an ancient language that sought to re-adapt to the demands of a nascent sate and continues to modernize itself in light of the internet, global village and its yearning to be expressive and part of a pluralistic, democratic society.
Hebrew has no clear boundaries for how to address individuals, except for perhaps those holding high government, court or Rabbinic positions... This phenomenon reflects the view of the general population and is probably the result of the ideology of the early pioneers who had a great yearning for equality...

Volume 1 (2002, 200 pp.) Part 1: Language as a social activity Part 2: Linguistic diversity: Dialects and sociolects Part 3: Language in circumstantial context: Register Volume 2 (2002, 240 pp.) Part 1: Language and gender Part 2: Language: Ideology and attitudes Part 3: Language in mass communication Volume 3 (2003, 182 pp.) Part 1: Language norms and language planning Part 2: Language change and development Volume 4 (2006, 205 pp.) Part 1: Ethnography: Culture and language Part 2: Cultural differences in oral communication

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* Malka Muchnik is a senior lecturer in the Department of Hebrew

and Semitic Languages, Bar Ilan University, Israel.

Onn Winckler*

What does the word populations symbolize to you? For some, populations are merely statistics, numbers of people living in a specific area during a specific period of time. Others view populations as potential targets for marketing goods and services. What is common between both these points of view is the fact that they view populations as static entities. Not the demographer, however. For the demographer, populations are dynamic entities, changing every moment. The demographers research focuses on the causes and outcomes of these movements and changes, in order to gain a better understanding of political, national and economic dynamics. Onn Wincklers book, Political Demography in the Arab States takes a look at the changes in the Arab populations particularly during the latter half of the 20th century, when the chains of the colonial powers were thrown off, and the countries became independent, sovereign states. These changes, radical in their time, impacted on the economy, which left its own imprimatur on the newly established, independent nations internal
Only in the second half of the 1980s, after the collapse of oil prices in international markets and the decline for Arab workers in the oil industry, did Egypt begin to institute reforms in the economy and with family planning.

politics, inter-Arab relations and Arab relations on the global stage. Chapters: Rapid population growth in Arab countries in the 20th century; The economic consequences of high birth rates in Arab countries in the second half of the 20th century; Movement of labor workers between Arab countries; The effects of immigration on the large labor exporters: Egypt, Jordan, Yemen and Syria; Policy regarding reproduction in Arab countries in the second half of the 20th century. 2008, 365 pp.

* Onn Winckler, a professor of Middle Eastern History at the University of Haifa, is an expert on demographic and economic history of the modern Arab world. He is the author of Arab Political Demography: Population Growth, Labor Migration and Natalist Policies (Sussex Academic Press, 2009).

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Editor: Hanina Ben-Menahem*

What is Jewish Law? It is a modern day moniker for halacha, an ancient system of laws for day-to-day individual and public dealings. This system was developed long before there was any legal or court system in the world. And, over the years it has gained in strength, in spite of the fact that technically, this system of laws could only be adjudicated by the Great Court of Jerusalem, which has not been in existence for two millennia. The laws have their basis in the Talmud and Torah, and have served as a normative system for some 2,000 years, wherever Jews have lived. Jewish law is not only about ritual religious practices. It is also concerned with inter-family relationships, day-to-day business practices, punishment and compensation. Within the framework of the public forum, Jewish law sets guidelines for the establishment of courts, enacting tax laws, defining communal responsibilities and practices, and commercial dealings.

Volume 1 (2006, 784 pp.) Part 1: Legal formalism in the Jewish law (Hanina Ben Menahem) Part 2: Exigency authority of courts (Hanina Ben Menahem) Part 3: Law and equity in Jewish law (Hanina Ben Menahem) Part 4: Legal controversy in Jewish law (Hanina Ben Menahem) Part 5: Self-help in Jewish law (Shimshon Ettinger) Volume 2 (2006, 454 pp.) Part 1: Market overt (Uri Shtruzman) Part 2: Unjust enrichment (Itamar Warhaftig) Part 3: Abortion (Daniel Sinclair) Part 4: Euthanasia - treating the critically ill (Daniel Sinclair)

A Sanhedrin (Jewish court comprised of 70 wise men) which imposed the death sentence on even one individual once in 7 years was called a death-dealing Sanhedrin.
Mishnah Masechet Makot

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In this two volume series, the authors present an indepth analysis of the laws and trace their evolution from ancient until modern day times.

* Hanina Ben-Menahem, a professor of Law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, is a scholar of Jewish law and legal theory. He is author of Controversy and Dialogue in Halakhic Sources (The Institute of Jewish Law, Boston University School of Law, 1991) and Judicial Deviation in Talmudic Law: Governed by Men, Not by Rules (Haywood Academic Publishers, 1991).

Shamai Gelander*

What is The Book of Genesis? What is its purpose? A scientific description of the stages of the worlds creation? A guidebook for ancient customs? An interesting tale? The Book of Genesis is a most unique book among the five books of the Torah. Genesis, according to Dr. Shamai Gelander, is not written as a history book or a guide for ancient customs. It is also not a scientific description of the creation of the world, or of the beginnings of mankind or the Jewish forefathers. The different topics covered in the Book of Genesis, written with a unique literary format, are primarily designed to offer a system of values for future generations as Genesis describes monotheisms confrontation with the ancient world. Studies in the Book of Genesis offers a new, original holistic, systematic framework to help readers extract the beauty of this literary work by using accepted scientific research tools. And Gd said to Cain, where is Abel your brother, and he answered I dont know, am I my brothers keeper, and Gd answered, what have you done, the blood of your brother cries out to me from the ground.

Volume 1 (2009, 419 pp.) Part 1: The book of Genesis structure, content and composition Part 2: Biblical and ancient Near Eastern creation stories Part 3: Creation stories in Genesis Part 4: Genealogies and the tables of nations Part 5: Literary analysis of the history of nations and the history of Israel Part 6: The patriarchs and historical reality Volume 2 (2009, 492 pp.) Part 1: The faith of the patriarchs Part 2: The Abraham cycle Part 3: The Isaac cycle Part 4: The Jacob cycle Part 5: The Joseph novella Part 6: The art of storytelling in Genesis

(Genesis 4:9-10) * Shamai Gelander of the Department of Biblical Studies at the

University of Haifa is the author of The Good Creator: Literature and Theology in Genesis 1-11 (Scholars Press, 1997).

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Dan Urian*

Israeli society is a mosaic of diverse cultures. Secular and religious, Jews from western lands and Jews from Arab lands, new immigrants and veteran citizens. Is Israeli society a lively mosaic or a raucous melting pot? Over a five decade period, Israeli theatre provided a picture image of the conflicts within this new and emerging society struggling to create an identity. Yet, was this an accurate picture or was the stage used to promote an ideological agenda? And, did Israeli theatre reflect societys ills or create stereotypes? Dan Urians research of modern Israeli theatres evolution, and his analysis of leading productions for each decade, offers a fascinating in depth portrait of a world where the Israeli stage underwent its own evolution, alongside the country -- sometimes in tandem and sometimes not. Urian focuses on the stereotype of the Jew from North African and Arab countries and how he was portrayed on stage, which often exemplified or embodied the other conflicts. The book also includes a comprehensive index of all Israeli theatre productions.
* Dan Urian is a professor of Theatre Arts at Tel-Aviv University. He
is the author of several books, among them, The Arab in Israeli Drama and Theatre (Routledge, 1997) and The Judaic Nature of Israeli Theatre (Routledge, 2000), and co-editor of In Search of Identity: Jewish Aspects in Israeli Culture (Routledge, 1998).

As if you could draw a line, and say below this line is poverty... When I was a little boy they called our house a shack We called it a transit camp The only line I saw was the horizon and everything below it looked like poverty to me...
Ronnie Somek, born in Baghdad, brought to Israel at a young age, excerpts from a song he wrote in the 1980s, The Poverty Line

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Editor: Bustenay Oded*

This series of four volumes covers the First Temple Period, a half millennia period, dating from the 11th through the 6th century BCE. A time of kings and prophets. A time when the nation of Israel, surrounded by the great Eastern empires of Babylonia, Egypt and Assyria, found its political, ethnographic, economic, social and cultural voice for the first time. Yet, throughout the centuries, there have been voices who have claimed that this is not true. King Solomon and King David: were they real or mythological personae? Was there, in fact, a powerful, united Israelite Kingdom that stretched from Egypt to Lebanon? These and many more questions are examined through the lens of a wide breadth of modern-day archaeological and research sources, and Jewish texts. Readers will gain a deeper understanding of the ancient Middle East, and learn about the cultural and social mores of the surrounding countries and how they impacted on the Jewish nation. I have built a house of luxury for you, a place to house your glory for ever
(Kings I, 7:13)

Volume 1 (Bustenay Oded, 2006, 519 pp.) Part 1: From judges to monarchy Part 2: The era of Saul and David Part 3: The kingdom of Solomon Volume 2 (Bustenay Oded, 2007, 516 pp.) Part 1: The burden of monarchy Part 2: The House of Omri and the House of Jehu Part 3: The fall of the kingdom of Israel Volume 3 (Forthcoming) Part 1: The prophets of the First Temple and their calling (Zeev Weisman, Eli Baruch) Part 2: Society and economy in the kingdoms of Israel and Judah (Hanoch Reviv, Michael Kochman, Gershon Galil, Haya Katz) Part 3: Daily life during the period of the monarchy (Avraham Faust) Volume 4 (Bustenay Oded, 2008, 509 pp.) Part 1: Judah and Assyria Part 2: Josiah and his times Part 3: The end of the kingdom of Judah
* Bustenay Oded, professor emeritus of Jewish History at the University of Haifa, is a scholar of ancient Near Eastern civilizations. He is the author of War, Peace and Empire: Justifications for War in Assyrian Royal Inscriptions (Reichert Verlag, 1991).

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Bat-Zion Eraqi Klorman*

Yemenite Jews, who trace their community back to the First Temple Period, lived continuously in Yemen from as early as the second century CE. Then between the years 1949-1950, with the establishment of the State of Israel, most emigrated. Today, there are maybe a few hundred Jews remaining in Yemen. Until 1962, Jews were not eligible for equal rights under the law, nor did they have any political rights in Yemen. Yet, in spite of their second class status, Yemen serves as a unique paradigm for coexistence between Muslim and Jew -- developing a kind of symbiotic relationship. They did borrow from each other, but by the same token, remained fiercely distinct. These two volumes discuss the Jewish community in Yemen, from a wide array of perspectives: social, historical, political, religious and cultural. The books offer a chronological explication of the complex intertwining of the Muslims and Jews, and closes with the experience of the Yemenite Jews upon emigrating to Israel.
You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I bore you on wings of eagles, and brought you to Myself.

Volume 1 (2004, 516 pp.) Part 1: Settlement, society and economy Part 2: Cultural and family life Part 3: Messianism and the messianic movements Volume 2 (2008, 435 pp.) Part 1: Changes during Ottoman rule 1872-1918 Part 2: Emigration to Palestine up to the end of World War II Part 3: Emigration to Israel between World War II and the end of the 20th century

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During the course of Operation Magic Carpet(1949-1950), 47,000 Yemen Jews, the overwhelming majority of the Jewish community * in Yemen, were airlifted to Israel. Most had never seen an aircraft before.

(Exodus, 19;4)

Bat-Zion Eraqi Klorman is a professor in the Department of History, Philosophy and Judaic Studies at the Open University of Israel. She is an expert on the history and culture of Yemeni Jews and the author of The Jews of Yemen in the Nineteenth Century: A Portrait of a Messianic Community (Brill, 1993).

Editor: Haggai Erlich*

This ten volume series is an extraordinary compendium surveying the history of Middle Eastern Arab states vis a vis internal as well as regional developments. The six decade period covered is divided into three key periods in the lives of these states. The first is the end of the old elite hegemony which was shaped during the 19th century and came to an end around the 1960s. The second is the era of Nasserism and the emergence of a secular, socialist pan-Arab ideology which is dated from the 1960s through 70s . The third is the modern day period with the re-establishment of political Islamic movements yearning towards the revival of a regional-religious unity. Each book is authored by a leading historian specializing in the designated country. The series is edited by Prof. Haggai Erlich, an internationally renowned scholar specializing in Middle Eastern and African studies. The series offers readers a detailed perspective on the Arab, Iranian and Turkish players in the Middle East, providing new insight on many of their decisions, motivations, policies and internal and external relations.
* Haggai Erlich is professor emeritus of Middle Eastern and African History at Tel Aviv University and head of Middle East and African Studies at the Open University of Israel. He is author of numerous books, among them The Cross and the River Ethiopia, Egypt and the Nile (Lynne Rienner, 2002) and co-editor of The Nile Histories, Cultures, Myths (Lynne Rienner, 2000). His latest book is Islam & Christianity in the Horn of Africa: Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan (Lynne Rienner, 2010).

Haggai Erlich is one of the very few scholars, who regularly cross the African/Middle Eastern and the Africanist/Middle Easternist divide... Primarly a specialist on Ethiopia, he has also done original research on Egypt and published extensively on Ethiopian/ Egyptian (and Middle Eastern) relations.
The American Historical Review

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Volume 1 Volume 2 Volume 3 Volume 4 Volume 5 Volume 6 Volume 7 Volume 8 Volume 9

Egypt: The Older Sister (Haggai Erlich, 2004, 344 pp.) Iraq: Monarchy, Republic, Tyranny (Michael Eppel, 2005, 320 pp.) Jordan: In Search of an Identity (Joseph Nevo, 2005, 336 pp.) Syria: To Pan-Arabism and Back (Moshe Maoz, Forthcoming) Lebanon: The Challenge of Diversity (Kais Firro, Forthcoming) The Palestinians: A People Dispersed (Mustafa Kabha, 2010, 320 pp.) Saudi Arabia: An Oil Kingdom in a Labyrinth of Religion and Politics (Uzi Rabi, 2007, 232 pp.) Turkey: Nationalism and its Counter Dimensions (Anat Lapidot, Forthcoming) Iran: From an Empire to Islamic Revolution (Moshe Aharonov, Meir Litvak, Forthcoming)

Volume 10 Yemen: From the Era of Revolution to Unification (Uzi Rabi, Forthcoming)

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Mustafa Kahba*

Unlike the other nine books in The Middle East in Our Times series, this is the only book which does not cover a specific country, but rather a people. Indeed, the very title: The Palestinians: A People Dispersed highlights the distinct difference between this book and the others in the compendium. Yet, while distinctly different, The Palestinians could not have been written without consideration of the nine others books in the series. The Palestinian people were divided and dispersed throughout the Arab world and their story cannot be viewed in isolation of the surrounding Arab countries. Diplomatic, economic, cultural, linguistic, geographic and demographic ties brought them in contact with and integrally intertwined them with their Arab neighbors and brothers. Dr. Mustafa Kahba uses both his unique standing as an Arab-Palestinian citizen of Israel, and his professional training as a world renowned historian and scholar to unravel the complex story of the Palestinian people, beginning with the Arab revolts in Palestine between 1936-39 until the rise of Hamas. 2010, 320 pp.

* Mustafa Kabha is a senior lecturer at the Open University and a researcher in the areas of modern Middle Eastern history, the history of the Palestinian national movement, and Arab mass media. He is the author of numerous books and articles in Arabic, English and Hebrew.

Like other Arab societies, the Palestinians, too, deliberate between their desire to realize their modern, national aspirations and the fulfillment of the political Islamic way of life.
Prof. Haggai Erlich, Introduction

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Yair Auron*
Abusing the rights of man and remaining apathetic to the suffering of others, in effect, endangers the existence of the human race. How do societies educate about genocides? What occurs within a society when it does not teach about genocide? This book focuses on genocide through an educational perspective. The author, a renown scholar and historian, agrees the subject is a difficult one to teach. Yet, by not doing so, Prof. Auron posits, societies are endangering their humanity.
* Rights sold: English: USA, Transaction Publishers; German:
Germany, AV Edition Verlag

* Yair Auron is a professor in the Department of Sociology, Political

Science and Communication at the Open University of Israel. A

There are no definitive answers. The book presents specialist on Holocaust and Genocide studies, he is the author of The Banality of Indefference: Zionism and the Armenian Genocide a diversity of perspectives, providing detailed (Transaction, 2000) and The Banality of Denial: Israel and the descriptions of how various countries, including Armenian Genocide (Transaction, 2003). Israel, commemorate the Holocaust and how the subject of genocide is taught. The books goal is to enable readers to design educational Article 1: The Contracting Parties confirm that genocide, whether committed in time programs imbued with sensitivity, understanding of peace or in time of war, is a crime under international law which they undertake to and profound insight. prevent and to punish.

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2003, 248 pp.

Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Adopted by Resolution 260 (III) A of the United Nations General Assembly on December 9, 1948.

Moshe Garsiel*
The two books of Samuel describe in great detail the rise of the first monarchy in Israel, which helped shape the twelve tribes of Israel into a single, united nation. Sauls monarchy, as Davids, was plagued with internal and external problems, and Prof. Moshe Garsiel examines each of these monarchies through a multi-focal lens. The Rise of the Monarchy in Israel: Studies in the Book of Samuel, a four volume series, provides a comprehensive study of Samuel I and II using actual Jewish texts, other historical sources, the results from archaeological finds and extensive geographical data. This series integrates historical and literary analysis, distilling the best from both disciplines and providing the reader with an in-depth perspective of one of the most colorful times in the life of the Jewish nation.
* Moshe Garsiel is professor emeritus of Bible in the Faculty of Jewish Studies at Bar-Ilan University. He has written numerous studies on the use of vocabulary items in biblical narratives, including Biblical Names: A Literary Study of Midrashic Derivations and Puns (Bar-Ilan University Press, 1991).

Volume 1 (2008, 284 pp.) Part 1: Introduction to the Book of Samuel Part 2: The end of the period of the Judges Eli and Samuel Part 3: The foundation of the monarchy Volume 2 (2008, 404 pp.) Part 1: Sauls wars against the Philistines and Amalek Part 2: The rise of David at Sauls court Part 3: The decline of Sauls kingdom Volume 3 (2008, 300, pp.) Part1: The ascension of David to kingship Part 2: Davids army and his battles Part 3: The development of Davids kingdom and its organization Volume 4 (2008, 352, pp.) Part 1: Crime and punishment The story of David and Bathsheba Part 2: Revolts and discord in the latter days of Davids reign Part 3: The ascension of Solomon to kingship

When Samuel saw Saul, Gd said to him: Here is the man I told you about. He will rule over my people.

(Samuel I 9:17)

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 THE OPEN UNIVERSITY OF ISRAEL 1 University Road, P.O.Box 808, Raanana 43107, Israel Tel. 972-9-7781811, Fax 972-9-7780664 http://www-e.openu.ac.il/

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