Judaica / Israel

Israel is the name of:

1. The monotheistic people who have lived in the Levant for over 3,000 years,
2. The descendants of that people worldwide, and
3. A modern state in the land.

The article, Jew, on Wikipedia is a good introduction.

Hebrew date:

This page:
Judaica, generally | Judaism | Jewish Culture | Israel | Jews in America | Jewish Politics | Judaica Beyond Cyberspace

Judaica, generally

Directories and Search Engines:

• Academic Jewish Studies Web Directory
• Aish.com - "Wisdom for living"
• HaReshima - "The Jewish Internet Portal"
• Jewish Community Online - Thousands of links (Jewish.com)
• Jewish Guide to the Internet [JewishInternetGuide.com]
• JewishNet
• Judaism (Internet Public Library)
• Machers - Extensive directory
• Maven
• My Jewish Learning - Excellent lessons on all aspects of Judaism
• Shamash - "The Jewish network"
• Soc.culture.Jewish Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) and Answers and Readings Lists
• Virtual Jerusalem - A portal with news and lots of links ("the place where Jews click")
• Web Sites for Jewish Studies (Princeton)
• More Judaica resouces (Yahoo)

Reference Sources:

• Jewish Encyclopedia - Online version of a reference work published 1901-1906
• Jewish University in Cyberspace (JUICE)
• Jewish Virtual Library - A large collection of Judaica; also fosters connections between Israel and the U.S. (us-israel.org)
• Judaism 101 - Excellent summary of beliefs and practices for Jews and non-Jews [jewfaq.org]

Jewish Indexes:

• BIP Database - Index of book reviews in the Israeli press (in Hebrew)
• RAMBI: The Index of Articles on Jewish Studies
• Swedish Jewish Bibliography (Judaica)
• Tel Aviv University databases - Bibliography of Zionism and full text of the Palestine Post (published 1932-1950)
• Index to Jewish Periodicals - Not available free online, but your library may offer it in print, on CD-ROM, or through its Web site

History:

• Internet Jewish History Sourcebook - Original documents (Paul Halsall)
• Jewish History Resource Center (Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel)
• JewishGen - "The Home of Jewish Genealogy"
• Zachor: Faith During the Holocaust

Jewish News:

See also

• Israel news below.
• Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) - "Global news service of the Jewish people"
• Jewschool is a nice Jewish blog: pro-Israel, pro-peace, anti-anti-Semitic
• Tablet - Daily Web magazine on Jewish life

Judaism

Jewish Holy Books

• Navigating the Bible - Study the weekly Torah and Haftarah portions; prepare for bar/bat mitzvah (includes Hebrew audio files)
• Temple Emanu-El Torah Commentary - From the big Reform synagogue in New York
• Torah.org - Commentary on the weekly Torah portion, current and upcoming holidays, and other aspects of Jewish life from an Orthodox perspective
• Mechon Mamre - Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) in Hebrew and English and Maimonides' Mishneh Torah in Hebrew only so far
• A Page of the Babylonian Talmud
• Dead Sea Scrolls

Holidays:

• Jewish Holidays at Aish
• The Jewish Year (Virtual Jerusalem)

Shabbat:

• Shabbat Candle Lighting Times (HebCal)

Passover (Pesach):

• Passover Through Archaeology and Rare Documents [passoversite.org]

Omer:

• The Homer Calendar - Count the days of the Omer with Simpsons characters

Jewish Calendar:

• Hebcal.com: Jewish Calendar Tools - Calculate dates, holidays, Shabbat candle lighting times, Torah portions, yahrzeits — even export a calendar to popular calendar programs! Available RSS feed for today's Hebrew date (What's this?)
• Kaluach - Get a Hebrew calendar (with holidays, Torah portions, etc.), have reminders of Hebrew dates e-mailed to you, download calendar conversion software
• Perpetual Jewish/Civil Calendar - Another program calculates the Torah portions for each week. (Alan Corré, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee)
• Jewish Birthday Calendar - Take a secular date in the past and find out when that Hebrew date will fall in the next few years. Works for yahrzeits as well as birthdays. (Akhlah.com)

Kabbalah:

• Kabbalah FAQ
• The Ten Sefirot of Kabbalah by Eliezer Segal. Also, notes from his class, Jewish Mysticism
• The Wisdom of Kabbalah - Loads of information and help for beginners. Takes the Orthodox view (e.g., that the Zohar is an ancient, rather than a medieval, book). (Bnei Baruch World Center for Kabbalah Studies) [kabbalah.info]
• Soc.culture.Jewish FAQ:
• What is Kabbalah and how can I learn about it?
• Who is allowed to study Kabbalah?
• Mysticism Reading List (Click "next subsection" at the bottom to go through the list)
• What is the Sefer Yetzirah?
• What is the Sefer ha-Bahir?
• What is the Zohar?

Mitzvot:

Jewish good causes. "You might as well be a mensch" — Calvin Trillin's father

• American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) - Helping non-Jews as well as Jews around the world
• American Jewish World Service - Working for global change and fighting hunger, disease, and poverty in the developing world
• Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger
• Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism - Working for social justice causes

Jewish Culture

• DataJEM: Database of Jewish Educational Materials (Jewish Agency)
• JewishFilm.com - The online Jewish film archive
• Jewish Heritage Video Collection - Films available to rent at locations around the U.S.
• Jewish Language Research Website - Hebrew, Yiddish, and many more
• Jewtastic - News about famous Jews
• New Jewish ValuesFinder - Reviews of children's books teaching Jewish values (Association of Jewish Libraries)
• Sholom Aleichem Network
• Steven Spielberg Jewish Film Archive

Jewish Songs:

• Hebrew Songs.com
• Project Z'mirot - Songs from United Synagogue Youth
• Tot Shabbat - Audio files and lyrics of favorite songs
• Zemerl - Database of Jewish songs in Hebrew, Yiddish, and Ladino

Yiddishkeit:

• National Yiddish Book Center
• Great Jewish Books - A list of the 100 best
• Virtual Shtetl

Israel

Jewish Publishers:

• Aronson
• Behrman House
• Bloch Publishing
• Feldheim Publishers
• Jewish Lights
• Jewish Publication Society
• Jossey-Bass Judaism titles
• Judaica Press
• Kar-Ben Publishing - Jewish children's books
• Keter Publishing House
• KTAV
• Mesorah Publications - Publishers of the Artscroll editions of holy texts
• Schocken
• Soncino Press
• SUNY Press Jewish studies books
• SUNY Series in Israeli Studies
• Weiser Books
• Web Directory: Association of Jewish Book Publishers

Jewish Libraries:

See also

• Libraries in Israel
• American Jewish Archives, Cincinnati
• Jewish Public Library, Montreal
• Center for Jewish History - A partnership of the American Jewish Historical Society, American Sephardi Federation, Leo Baeck Institute, Yeshiva University Museum, and YIVO

Web Directories of Jewish Libraries

• Association of Jewish Libraries
• Selected Library Links
• Jewish History Resource Center: Libraries (Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel)
• Jewish Libraries and Catalogs (JewishNet)
• Judaica Libraries and Archives on the Web (Bibliomaven)
• American Judaica Collections, parts 1-2, part 3, part 4 - A series of articles by librarian Daniel D. Stuhlman

Classification for Jewish Libraries

• Elazar's Classification System for Libraries of Judaica - About the system; if you want to use it, you'll probably need to buy the book

Jewish Booksellers:

• Henry Hollander Books - Specializing in Judaica, antiquarian, and scholarly books
• Web Directory: Hebraica and Judaica Booksellers in the United Kingdom, abroad, and on the Internet - Also includes links to sites on Jewish languages and literature

Jewish Museums:

• Beth HaTefutsoth, Museum of the Jewish People, Tel Aviv
• Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco
• Israel Museum, Jerusalem
• Jewish Museum London
• The Jewish Museum, New York
• Judah L. Magnes Museum, Berkeley, California
• National Museum of American Jewish History, Philadelphia
• Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles

Web Directories of Jewish Museums:

• Global Directory of Jewish Museums
• Jewish Museums and Museum Resources Worldwide (National Museum of American Jewish History)

Advanced Study:

See also

• Seminaries of the major Jewish movements
• American Jewish University, Los Angeles
• Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies, Chicago
• Yeshiva University
• YIVO Institute for Jewish Research