Praise
The New York Times
“[Scheindlin’s translation] is mellifluous and eloquent, yet contemporary in tone.”
Religious Studies Review
“[A] well-written, handy little textbook….The book is well supplied with excellent maps, boxes that explore allusions in the text itself in greater depth, and a thorough index. It will be of great use as the first text in introductory surveys of the history of the Jews or the history of Judaism.”
Journal of the American Oriental Society
“Writing with characteristic elegance, Scheindlin brings to bear all of his scholarly gifts: graceful literary translation; incisive analysis; and an imposing command of classical Jewish sources, medieval Jewish history, and Jewish and Islamic religious thought.”
Special thanks to the Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary for the image of the illuminated manuscript. The manuscript is the opening of Keter Malkhut, a very famous poem by Solomon Ibn Gabirol, from the Rothschild Mahzor, a lavishly illuminated manuscript from Florence, Italy, dated 1490.