Religion Resources: Jewish Studies

Many of the resources listed under General Resources, especially databases, will be useful to students and faculty working in the area of Jewish Studies. This page lists some of the resources available specifically in that area.

Yad Vashem Isreal's official memorial to the Holocaust. The website contains an immense amount of archival and educational material.

Yiddish Sources Maintained by the European University Institute. A online portal to research on the Yiddish language and culture. Contains some open-access articles, mostly older ones.

Internetarchiv jüdisher Periodika Digital archive of 118 German-language Jewish newspapers and periodicals published circa 1806 to 1938 in German, Austria and elsewhere in Central Europe. PDF's of scanned papers. The interface is entirely in German.

Jewish Survivors of the Holocaust Oral history interviews with survivors of the Holocaust. Maintained by the British Library as part of its collection of recordings.

Recorded Sound Archives: Judaic Collection  Hosted open-access material maintained by Florida Atlantic University. Sound recordings with an emphasis on music.

DigiBaeck The digitized portions of the collection of the Leo Baeck Institute which is devoted to the study of German Jewish heritage. Contains manuscripts, memoirs, images, some books and periodicals, and recordings, including oral histories of the Holocaust.

Jewish Book Council Promoting books about the Jewish experience.

Pittsburgh Jewish Newspaper Project Maintained by Carnegie Mellon University this is a digital archival collection of four Jewish newspapers. Some of the material dates to the 1890s.

A Portrait of Jewish Americans A part of the Pew Research Religion & Public Life Project. Report of the results of a 2013 survey.

YIVO Digital Archive on Jewish Life in Poland Maintained by the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. Not a great deal of text, but photographs, some manuscripts, music and other primary sources.

National Library of Israel The page opens to the Digital Library which has freely accessible materials. They include newspapers, audio files, art work, and other resources.

Jewish Pamphlets These are part of an on-going project by University College London to digitize the Mocatta and De Sola Collections. Excellent source of primary materials on the Jewish community in Great Britain. Much Sephardic material.

Footprints: Jewish Books Through Time and Space   Traces the movement of Jewish books since the inception of print.

Index of Articles on Jewish Studies (RAMBI) This is a free database provided by the Jewish National and University Library. This is an index which does not interact with Journal Finder. A two-step process of checking Journal Finder must be used. The material is compiled from thousands of periodicals and collections of articles, in Hebrew, Yiddish, and European languages, primarily from the holdings of the Jewish National and University Library.

An online archive the American Jewish Year Book from 1899 is available on the AJC webpage at American Jewish Year Book.

The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day. Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1901-06. Online at Jewish Encyclopedia.

The Encyclopedia of Jewish Women Maintained online by the Jewish Women's Archive. It was originally published in CD-Rom form by Shalvi Publishing and was edited by Paula Hyman of Yale and Dalia Offer of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. The Search drop-down menu can be changed to search within the Encyclopedia only.

Jewish Women's Archive Founded in 1995 and located in Brookline, MA. It publishes an online encyclopedia, provides lesson plans, film reviews, and archival material about, and by, Jewish women in North America.

YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe Maintained by the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. A comprehensive encyclopedia.

Women in Judaism: A Multidisciplinary Journal A refereed electronic journal.

Sacred Texts Maintained by the University of Calgary. Search under specific religion.

Ref  DS102.8 E496 2007  Encyclopaedia Judaica. Macmillan Reference USA in association with the Keter Pub. House, c2007.  This is an up-to-date encyclopedia of Jewish life and experience. See below, in Resources to Which Hofstra Subscribes, for an online version.

Ref  DS102. 8 J6  The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day. Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1901-06. This is an old, but classic, encyclopedia of Jewish life and experience. There is a link to an online version above.

D805. A2 U55 2009 The United States Holocaust Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933-1945. Indiana University Press.

D805.A2 Y33 2009 The Yad Vashem Encyclopedia of Ghettos During the Holocaust. Yad Vashem.

PN56. H55 H66 2003 Holocaust Literature: An Encyclopedia of Writers and Their Work. Routledge. See below for an online verison held by Hofstra University.

Ref E184.J5 A6 American Jewish Year Book. American Jewish Committee

Hofstra holds print copies from 1927 onward. It is a useful resource for anyone working on the cultural history of the American Jewish community. See above for an online open-access repository.

Ref DS115.2 .J49 1997 Jewish Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia. Routledge, 1997. The contents of this encyclopedia, retained here in print, has been incorporated in the online resource Encyclopedia of Jewish Women.

Anti-Defamation League Largest Jewish organization working in the United States to counter antisemitism and to advocate for civil rights for Jewish Americans. Was founded in 1913.

Orthodox Union (Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations in America) Founded in 1898 and serves approximately 1,000 congregations.

United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism The largest organization for Conservative, or Masorti, Judaism in the United States.

Union for Reform Judaism Largest network of Reform congregations in the United States.

Jewish Reconstructionist Communities The umbrella group for Reconstructionist Judaism in the United States.

Jewish Museum 1109 Fifth Avenue at 91 & 92 Streets, New York City.

Center for Jewish History 15 West 16 Street, New York City.