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Jewish Studies 77
A Social History of Hebrew
Its Origins Through the Rabbinic Period
William M. Schniedewind
More than simply a method of communication shared by a
common people, the Hebrew language was always an integral
part of the Jewish cultural system and, as such, tightly
interwoven into the lives of the prophets, poets, scribes and
priests who used it. In this unique social history, William
Schniedewind examines classical Hebrew from its origins in
the second millennium BCE until the Rabbinic period, when
the principles of Judaism as we know it today were
formulated, to view the story of the Israelites through the lens
of their language.
Considering classical Hebrew from the standpoint of a writing
system as opposed to vernacular speech, Schniedewind
demonstrates how the Israelites’ long history of migration, war,
exile and other momentous events, is reflected in Hebrew’s
linguistic evolution. An excellent addition to the fields of
biblical and Middle Eastern studies, this fascinating work
brings linguistics and social history together for the first time
to explore an ancient culture.
William M. Schniedewind is Kershaw Chair of Ancient Eastern
Mediterranean Studies, Professor of Biblical Studies and
Northwest Semitic Languages, and chair of the Department of
Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at UCLA.
The Anchor Yale Bible Reference Library
January 288 pp. 234x156mm.
HB ISBN 978-0-300-17668-1 £25.00
Lillian Hellman
An Audacious Life
Dorothy Gallagher
Glamorous, talented, audacious –
Lillian Hellman knew everyone, did
everything, had been everywhere.
By the age of 29 she had written
The Children’s Hour, the first of four
hit Broadway plays, and soon she
was considered a member of
America’s first rank of dramatists.
Apart from her work, Hellman lived a rich life filled with
notable friendships, political activity and controversy, travel and
love affairs, most importantly with Dashiell Hammett. But by
the time she died, the truth about her life and accomplishments
had been called into question. Scandals attached to her name to
do with sex, money and with her own veracity.
Dorothy Gallagher confronts the conundrum that was Lillian
Hellman – a woman with a capacity to inspire outrage as often
as admiration. Exploring Hellman’s leftist politics, her Jewish
and Southern background and her famous testimony before
the House Un-American Activities Committee, Gallagher also
undertakes a new reading of Hellman’s carefully crafted
memoirs and plays, in which she is both revealed and hidden.
Dorothy Gallagher’s books include Hannah’s Daughters, All the
Right Enemies and The Life and Murder of Carlo Trasca.
January 224 pp. 210x140mm.
HB ISBN 978-0-300-16497-8 £18.99*
The Formation of the Jewish Canon
Timothy H. Lim
The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls provides unprecedented
insight into the nature of the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament
before its fixation. Timothy Lim here presents a complete
account of the formation of the canon in Ancient Judaism
from the emergence of the Torah in the Persian period to the
final acceptance of the list of twenty-two/twenty-four books in
the Rabbinic period.
Using the Hebrew Bible, the Scrolls, the Apocrypha, the Letter
of Aristeas, the writings of Philo, Josephus, the New
Testament and Rabbinic literature as primary evidence he
argues that throughout the post-exilic period up to around
100 CE there was not one official ‘canon’ accepted by all Jews;
rather, there existed a plurality of collections of scriptures that
were authoritative for different communities. Examining the
literary sources and historical circumstances that led to the
emergence of authoritative scriptures in ancient Judaism, Lim
proposes a theory of the majority canon that posits that the
Pharisaic canon became the canon of Rabbinic Judaism in the
centuries after the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple.
Timothy H. Lim is Professor of Hebrew Bible & Second
Temple Judaism at the School of Divinity, University of
Edinburgh.
The Anchor Yale Bible Reference Library
November 288 pp. 234x156mm.
HB ISBN 978-0-300-16434-3 £30.00
Bernard Berenson
A Life in the Picture Trade
Rachel Cohen
Few would have predicted that
Bernard Berenson, from a poor
Lithuanian Jewish immigrant
family, would rise above poverty.
Yet Berenson left his crowded home
near Boston’s railyards and
transformed himself into the
world’s most renowned expert on
Italian Renaissance paintings. The explosion of the Gilded Age
art market, and Berenson’s work for dealer Joseph Duveen,
supported a luxurious life, but came with painful costs:
Berenson hid his origins, and, though his attributions remain
foundational, he felt that he had betrayed his gifts as a critic
and interpreter of paintings.
This portrait of Berenson, the first biography devoted to him in
a quarter century, draws on new archival materials that bring
out the significance of his business dealings and the importance
of several women in his life and work: his sister Senda Berenson,
his wife Mary Berenson, his patroness Isabella Stewart Gardner,
his lover Belle da Costa Greene, his dear friend Edith Wharton,
and the companion of his last forty years, Nicky Mariano.
Rachel Cohen is the author of A Chance Meeting: Intertwined
Lives of American Writers and Artists.
November 288 pp. 210x140mm. 23 b/w illus.
HB ISBN 978-0-300-14942-5 £18.99*
Jewish Lives Series, see also page 26