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JPS books are substantial works of Jewish scholarship, requiring significant resources.

In return for your support of $1,800 or more, your name will be included in a future title of your choice. JPS also welcomes general gifts of any size.

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Have questions? Please contact:

Director of JPS Rabbi Barry L. Schwartz 215-832-0600

Director of Development Sarah Kroloff Segal 215-832-0609

Upcoming Bible Commentary

• JPS Bible Commentary: Psalms

  By Benjamin Sommer, Marc Brettler, Alan Cooper, Adele Berlin, Yair Zakovitch and Avigdor Shinan

  This new five-volume collection in the celebrated JPS Bible commentary series will reveal the 150 psalms' complexity, their meanings, settings, and importance to all readers. Six preeminent scholars will bring their own insights and perspectives to these verses — a collection of Near Eastern poetry that can be read as theology, literature, ritual, and more.

• The JPS Bible Commentary: Lamentations

  by Edward Greenstein

  Includes the complete book of Lamentations in Hebrew and in English; a critical line-by-line commentary presenting the latest in scholarship and archaeological research; an introduction discussing literary, thematic, and theological issues; essays; and discussion of the influence and use of Lamentations in Jewish and Christian traditions.

• The JPS Bible Commentary: Song of Songs

  by Michael Fishbane

  As with all the JPS Bible Commentaries, this volume provides the original Hebrew biblical text, facing the JPS translation. Unique to this volume are four levels of line-by-line commentary. There is also a scholarly introduction, extensive bibliographic and critical notes, and other explanatory material to enhance the reader's understanding of this beloved book.

JPS Bible-Related Books

• The Lost Matriarch:
  Searching for Leah in the Bible and Midrash

  by Jerry Rabow

  Rabow reveals Leah's full story and invites readers into the delightful, provocative world of creative rabbinic and literary commentary. By experiencing these insights, and techniques for reading "between the lines," readers are introduced to what will be an exciting new method of personally interpreting the Bible.

• Megillat Esther

  by Rabbi David Silber, with Rachel Faust

  Contains the biblical text in both Hebrew and the JPS translation, with commentary; and essays that address a range of thought-provoking issues raised by the megillah itself. Megillat Esther is a work that lends itself to two radically different readings: it can be seen as a comedy or satire as well as a dark and troubling drama. Silber, one of today's most dynamic Torah teachers, delves into both possibilities.

Other Contemporary or Historical JPS Books

• Grandpa's Third Drawer

  by Judy Tal Kopelman

  A colorful picturebook for ages 5-8.

  Of all the places in the world, young Uri loves to stay at his grandparents' house. One day he accidently finds the key to one forbidden place in that house — the third drawer in Grandpa's desk. Here he discovers poignant mementoes from the Holocaust. From that moment on, nothing seems to be the same. Grandpa's Third Drawer won a nationwide contest organized by the Israel Ministry of Education in 2003 and 2012, the Ze'ev Prize of Children's Literature in 2003, and is a frequent subject on Israel's National Children's TV. Illustrated and translated into English by the author.

• Burnt Pearls:
  The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Nazi Jewish Library

  by Mark Glickman

  Burnt Pearls is the dramatic story of how the largest Jewish book collection in the world — four to five million volumes — was looted by the Nazis and recovered by the Allied Forces. It is the story of scoundrels and saints, destruction and redemption, and an ancient people adjusting to life in a world turned upside down.

• The Rise of Reform Judaism:
  A Sourcebook of Its European Origins

  by Rabbi W. Gunther Plaut

  The first of two volumes on the history of the Jewish Reform Movement, originally published by the World Union for Progressive Judaism, to be reissued in paperback with a new introduction by Rabbi Lance Sussman. This volume covers 100 years, from the time of Mendelssohn to the conclusion of the Augsburg synod in 1871. In these pages, the men who established Liberal Judaism speak for themselves through their journals and pamphlets, their books and sermons, their petitions and resolutions, and their public arguments and disputations.

• The Growth of Reform Judaism:
  American and European Sources until 1948

  by Rabbi W. Gunther Plaut

  The second of two volumes on the history of the Jewish Reform Movement, originally published by the World Union for Progressive Judaism, to be reissued in paperback with a new introduction by Rabbi Lance Sussman. Here is the collection of original writings that shaped the second century of organized liberal Judaism (the years 1871 to 1948), with emphasis on the American scene, where the movement had its most notable advances. These selections document the emergence and character, problems and tensions of Reform Judaism as it developed and grew in modern times.

• Akiva, His Life and Legacy

  by Rabbi Reuven Hammer

  An in-depth account of the legendary Akiva ben Yosef, arguably the most important theologian of the Tannaim, and how his life and legacy played a major part in the development of Rabbinic Judaism.

• Secrets of the Guide for the Perplexed

  by Micah Goodman

  With Goodman as our guide, Maimonides' greatest book, The Guide for the Perplexed, can help us to have an enriched and nuanced religious awareness that is also in tune with how we live in the modern world. Goodman organizes the central questions and unpacks Maimonides' thoughts on them and draws together his main philosophical ideas in a way so that we can understand his theology for ourselves.

• A Guide for Today's Perplexed:
  Timeless Questions from the Bible That Gives Meaning to Modern Lives

  by Rabbi Niles Goldstein

  Rabbi Goldstein explores eight important questions from the Bible, ones that illuminate many of the signposts of the human journey, and gives us a framework through which we can find more profound meaning in our lives. He takes us into the depths of such concepts as mortality, sin, responsibility, fear, courage, and the afterlife, drawing not only from the rabbinic and mystical traditions but also from insights in philosophy, psychology, literature, and real experience.

• The Heart of the Matter:
  Studies in Jewish Mysticism and Theology

  by Rabbi Arthur Green

  One of the world's preeminent authorities on Jewish thought and spirituality shares his most popular essays in the 10th volume in the prestigious JPS Scholar of Distinction series.

• Jewish Meaning in a World of Choice

  by Rabbi David Ellenson

  An internationally recognized educator and author shares his most popular essays on Jewish religious thought, ethics, and modern Jewish history in the 11th volume of the JPS Scholar of Distinction series.

JPS eTANAKH

JPS is helping to make the Jewish community the "People of the e-Book" by making our most important texts available in multiple electronic formats. Most excitedly, we are working on "eTANAKH," a digital version of the JPS Bible that is linked to commentaries written by the most influential Jewish thinkers. This modern approach to Bible study enables readers to easily access insights and interpretations from all walks of Judaism.

The Commentators' Bible:
The Rubin JPS Miqra'ot Gedolot

by Michael Carasik

Read Related JPS News: Rubin Family Sponsors The Commentators' Bible: The JPS Miqra'ot Gedolot

Deuteronomy

Genesis

First published 500 years ago as the "Rabbinic Bible," the biblical commentaries known as Miqra'ot Gedolot have inspired and educated generations of Hebrew readers. With this edition, the voices of Rashi, Ibn Ezra, Nachmanides, Rashbam, and other medieval commentators come alive once more, speaking in a contemporary English translation annotated and explicated for lay readers. Each page contains the original Hebrew Bible text, surrounded by the 1917 and 1985 JPS translations, and new English translations of commentaries. There is also an introduction, a glossary of terms, and other study aids.

JPS Folktales of the Jews

Edited by Dan Ben-Amos; Dov Noy, Consulting Editor

Volume 4: Tales from Central Asia

Volume 5: Tales from Other Lands

The tales in this series have been selected from the Israel Folklore Archives (IFA), a treasure house of Jewish lore. Each tale is accompanied by commentary explaining the tale's cultural, historical, and literary background and its similarity to other tales in the IFA collection, and extensive scholarly notes and accompaniments.