Jews Treas of Art -OS -Op/116

Amos Oz, Bernard Malamud, Emma Lazarus, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Moses Maimonides, Baruch Spinoza, Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud are among the voices in this rich repository of Jewish culture. Opening with selections from the Hebrew Bible as well as from post-biblical literature, the book explores Jews' shared sense of destiny and evokes the texture of Jewish life from Moses' time through Diaspora communities to modern Israel. The magnificent illustrations (140 color, 100 b & w) range from third-century Syrian synagogue frescoes to works by Rembrandt, Chagall, Ben Shahn, Raphael Soyer and Larry Rivers. There are seminal historical documents such as Menasseh ben Israel's petition urging Oliver Cromwell to readmit Jews into England and Theodor Herzl's call for a Jewish national homeland. Holocaust writings by Anne Frank, Primo Levi and Elie Wiesel are particularly moving. This is an anthology to refer to again and again. Keller is a Bible and classics scholar at Hebrew Union College, New York City, and at New York University. (Nov.)