WITH MORE THAN 100 BLACK-AND-WHITE ILLUSTRATIONSTHROUGHOUT Who are “the Jews”? Scattered over much of the world throughoutmost of their three-thousand-year-old history, are they one peopleor many? How do they resemble and how do they differ from Jews inother places and times? What have their relationships been to thecultures of their neighbors? To address these and similar questions, twenty-three of thefinest scholars of our day—archaeologists, cultural historians,literary critics, art historians , folklorists, and historians ofrelation, all affiliated with major academic institutions in theUnited States, Israel, and France—have contributed their insight toCultures of the Jews. The premise of their endeavor is thatalthough Jews have always had their own autonomous traditions,Jewish identity cannot be considered immutable, the fixed productof either ancient ethnic or religious origins. Rather, it hasshifted and assumed new forms in response to the culturalenvironment in
