Judaic Studies

The following is a selected list of resources for starting research in Judaic studies. For further assistance, contact Paul Frantz, Reference Librarian, at pfrantz@uoregon.edu.

Starting Your Research

• Sacred Texts
  • The Jewish Study Bible [Knight Reference BS 895 .J4 2004]
  • The JPS Hebrew-English Tanakh: the traditional Hebrew text and the new JPS translation, 2nd edition [Knight Reference BS 895 .J4 1999]
  • Talmud Bavli [Knight Reference BM 499 1993; 20 volumes]
  • Midrash Rabbah [Knight Reference BM 517 .M64 1983; 17 volumes]

   

• Encyclopedias
  The articles in scholarly encyclopedias are usually written by experts in the field and often have citations to help you find further relevant information. Here is a select list of some of the more prominent encyclopedias in Judaic Studies:
  • Encyclopedia Judaica, 2nd edition [Knight Reference DS 102.8 .E496 2007]
  • Encyclopedia of Judaism [Knight Reference BM 50.E63 1999]
  • Civilizations of the Ancient Near East [Knight Reference DS 57.C55 1995]
  • Dictionary of Judaism in the Biblical Period [Knight Reference BM 50 .D525 1996]
  • Encyclopedia of the Holocaust [Knight Reference D 804.3 .E53 1990]
  • Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa [Knight Reference DS 43.E53 2004]
  • Encyclopedia of Modern Jewish Culture [Knight Reference DS 102.8 .E56 2005]
  • Jewish Encyclopedia, an online edition of the 12-volume encyclopedia published between 1901 and 1906.

   

• Reference Books
  The following short list of selected sources can offer authoritative answers to everyday questions:
  • Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion [Knight Reference BM 50 .O94 1997]
  • Exploring Jewish Tradition: A Transliterated Guide to Everyday Practice and Observance [Knight Reference BM700.W58]
  • Historical Atlas of the Jewish People [Knight Reference DS 117 .J8513 1992]
  • Complete Hebrew-English, English-Hebrew Dictionary (Alcalay) [Knight Reference PJ 4833 .A42 1996]

   

• Journals
  Browse through the table of contents of recently published Judaic Studies journals to identify a contemporary research topic. Online editions can be accessed through FindText:
  • AJS Review (online)
    
  • Journal of Jewish Studies (Knight BM 1 .J63)
  • Journal for the Study of Judaism ... (online)
  • Jewish Quarterly Review (online)
  • Prooftexts: A Journal of Jewish Literary History (online)

Finding Articles

To look for articles in journals, newspapers, or magazines, start with an index. An index allows you to search in a variety of ways, including by keyword (subject) or by author. Because Judaic Studies is interdisciplinary, there are many subject specific indexes (e.g. history, religion, or literature indices) that may also be helpful.

• Index to Jewish Periodicals (1988-present) covers Jewish religious thought, the Holocaust, Israel and the Middle East, and Jewish literature, culture, and history. Published annually, the database indexes 150 Jewish studies journals published throughout the English-speaking world.
• RAMBI: Index of Articles on Jewish Studies (1985-present)
  "is a selective bibliography of articles in the various fields of Jewish studies and in the study of Eretz Israel. Material listed in RAMBI is compiled from thousands of periodicals and from collections of articles - in Hebrew, Yiddish, and European languages- mainly from the holdings of the Jewish National and University Library ..." (description from RAMBI website)
• ATLA Religion database indexes approximately 600 religious studies periodicals and multi-author books, with coverage back to 1949. The full text of about 40 religious journals is included in the database.
• JSTOR provides full text retrospective coverage of core academic journals.
• Academic Search Premier provides indexing and abstracting of over 8000 core journals in a variety of disciplines and the fulltext for over 4600 journals.

Finding BOOKS

UO WorldCat offers a streamlined interface for search results that combine, into a single merged list, the collections of the UO Libraries, Summit libraries, and hundreds of other libraries worldwide. When searching in UO WorldCat, entries for items owned by the UO Libraries appear at the top of the list and include information about location and availability.

Books on Judaic studies can be found under the following call numbers:

• BM Jewish Religion
• D 804 Holocaust studies
• DS 101-151 Jews and Judaism
• PJ Middle East languages and literatures

Web Resources

• Judaism and Jewish Resources, the work of Andrew Tannenbaum, is an excellent place to start for all matters of Jewish interest on the Web.
• Center for Jewish History houses the libraries and resources of the American Jewish Historical Society, American Sephardi Federation, Leo Baeck Institute, Yeshiva University Museum, and the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research.
• Jerusalem Post, a prominent Israeli newspaper, is useful for current events coverage.