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Judaica
Reference and Bibliography Awards, 2006
The Awards Committee of the Research Libraries, Archives and Special
Collections (RAS) Division of AJL is pleased to announce the winners
of the 2006 Reference and Bibliography awards.
These awards, sponsored respectively by Dr. Greta Silver of New York
City and Eric Chaim Kline of Los Angeles, will be presented at the banquet
of the 42nd Annual Convention of the organization, which will take place
on Tuesday evening, June 19, 2007 at the Hilton Scottsdale Resort and
Villas in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Outstanding Judaica Reference Work:
Blau, Joshua, 1919 - Milon le-tektsim Arviyim-Yehudiyim mi-yeme ha-benayim
[Dictionary of mediaeval Judaeo-Arabic texts]. Yerushalayim: ha-Akademyah
la-lashon ha-Ivrit: ha-Akademyah ha-le'umit ha-Yisre'elit le-mada'im,
2006.
This dictionary is arranged according to the regular Arabic alphabet,
followed by the Hebrew script, and the word's meaning in Hebrew and
English. Explanations of forms and usage, and sources of citations are
included. There are often references to classical dictionaries, as well
as to studies on Arabic and Judeo-Arabic. There is a comprehensive multilingual
bibliography. Compiling this kind of dictionary requires, in addition
to expertise in Judeo-Arabic, deep knowledge of classical Arabic and
Hebrew, rabbinical literature, general linguistics, and lexicology.
This work is a great contribution to the field of Judeo-Arabic studies,
that until now has lacked comprehensive, high-quality research tools.
Joshua Blau is an emeritus professor in the Arabic Dept. of the Hebrew
University. Among his many publications are Dikduk ha-Arvit ha-Yehudit
shel yeme ha-benayim (1995) and Studies in Middle Arabic and its Judaeo-Arabic
variety (1988).
Outstanding Judaica Bibliography:
Allony, Nehemya, 1906-1983. ha-Sifriyah ha-Yehudit bi-yeme ha-benayim:
reshimot sefarim mi-Genizat Kahir / ba-arikhat Miryam Frenkel ve-Hagai
Ben-Shamai uve-hishtatfut Mosheh Sokolov. Yerushalayim: Mekhon Ben-Tsevi
le-heker kehilot Yisrael ba-Mizrah: Yad Yitshak Ben-Tsevi veha-Universitah
ha-Ivrit bi-Yerushalayim, 2006.
Prof. Allony spent over two decades collecting the information for
this book. He hoped that it would become a list of "The Jewish
Library in the Middle Ages." Upon Prof. Allony's death, Moshe Sokolow
continued the project, but it was impossible to produce the list with
the information available. As a result, the Ben-Zvi Institute decided
to publish the book in its current format. The book, containing 114
lists, is divided into eleven chapters (such as "Inventories of
Private Libraries," "Cataloging Systems," "Trade
in Books," "Lending of Books." In each chapter there
is a column of sources, with a Hebrew translation, along with detailed
annotations. Prof. Allony was a specialist in medieval Hebrew literature
and linguistics. Among his publications are a scholarly edition of Saadia's
Egron (1969) and Torat ha-mishkalim shel Dunash, Yehudah ha-Levi ve-Avraham
ibn Ezra (1951).
For the second year in a row, we have also awarded an Honorable Mention
in each of the categories.
Honorable Mention for a Judaica Reference Work:
Tagger, Mathilde A and Yitzchak Kerem. Guidebook for Sephardic and Oriental
Genealogical Sources in Israel. Bergenfield, NJ: Avotaynu, 2006
This book contains information about forty countries and geographical
regions. Sources listed include selected Hebrew periodicals, burial
societies, archival items, research institutes, immigrant and other
ethnic associations, agricultural settlements, synagogues, memorials
for Holocaust victims and homes for the aged. There are a large number
of family and institutional photographs, book covers and title pages,
and maps. The book has thirty appendices, containing such information
as a list of Sephardim who were deported to the Bergen Belsen Death
Camp, Jerusalem voters to the Sephardic Community Council (1939), birth
and death dates of rabbis in Libya from 1588 to 1960, Yemenite rite
synagogues in Israel arranged by locality and name, etc. Mathilde A
Tagger was the Chief Librarian of the Atmospheric Sciences Dept of the
Hebrew University for two decades and then served as a scientific counselor
at the Ministry of Science and Development for a decade. For the last
twenty years she has researched and published on Jewish genealogy. She
has produced many indexes and bibliographies, as well as scholarly articles.
Dr. Yitzchak Kerem is a historian and researcher on Greek Jewry. He
is the founder and director of the Institute of Hellenic-Jewish Relations
at the University of Denver, Colorado. Since 1992 he has edited the
monthly e-mail publication Sefard, the Sephardic Newsletter. He was
editor of the Greek section of the new edition of the Encyclopedia Judaica
and co-founder of the International Forum for Tolerance and Peace.
Honorable Mention for Judaica Bibliography:
Otsrot lashon: kitve ha-yad ve-kite ha-Genizah be-hokhmat ha-lashon
me-osef Bet ha-Midrash le-rabanim ba-Amerikah / compiled by Aharon Maman.
Nyu York: Yerushalayim: Bet ha-midrash le-rabanim ba-Amerikah, 2006
[Otzrot lashon: The Hebrew philology manuscripts and Genizah fragments
in the Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America].
A total of 722 manuscripts in Hebrew philology are listed. Included
in the book's two divisions (manuscript catalog and Genizah fragment
catalog) are works on Torah study, grammars, dictionaries and glossaries,
Hebrew proverbs, etc. 140 authors are represented. Maman's careful analyses
and graphs show that the collection contains approximately one third
each of grammars, glossaries and dictionaries. Most of the Genizah material
is in Arabic, and most of the other manuscript material is in Hebrew.
The items are heavily annotated, and there are numerous lists, such
as Biblical references, authors, colophons, manuscript dates, locations,
etc. Aharon Maman is Professor of Hebew at the Hebrew University, specializing
in medieval Hebrew and Arabic language and linguistics. Since 1999 he
is the director of the Jewish Oral Traditions Research Center and of
the Hebrew Linguistic Literature Project. Since 2005 he has been the
head of the Ben-Zvi Institute for the Study of Jewish Communities in
the East. He is the editor of Edah ve-lashon and co-editor of Mehkarim
be-lashon and Massorot. Among his publications is Comparative semitic
philology in the Middle Ages from Saadia Gaon to Ibn Barun (10th-12th
cent.), Leiden: Brill, 2004.
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