Essays on Human Rights: Contemporary Issues and Jewish Perspectives

Human rights has emerged as one of the dominant concerns of the day, prompting an increasing number of individuals and groups to examine the issue. The present volume, and outgrowth of an international conference on human rights, held at McGill University, is a significant contribution to this effort. It brings together a body of informed comment on the subject by a group of experts who, collectively, scrutinize the recent record of human-rights achievements and vicissitudes, explore various historical and theoretical ramifications, and assess matters of practical policy.The twenty-one essays in the volume cluster around two focal points of human-rights interest – contemporary issues and Jewish perspectives. The two themes, as David Sidorsky observes in his Introduction, are “related in many different ways and on many different levels. Historically, this relationship can be traced back to the earliest phases of the idea of human rights since the concept has roots in both Hebraic and Hellenic thought. In modern times, the interaction between the Jewish community and movements for human rights has been intense and complex”.