The Jewish Spirit: A Celebration in Stories & Art - Hardcover

Frankel, Ellen

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1556706235 ISBN 13: 9781556706233

Publisher: Harry N. Abrams, 1997

Synopsis

Seventy-five stories from the Hebrew Bible are lovingly illustrated with images from illuminated manuscripts, ancient artifacts, synagogue mosaics, and Renaissance painters.

About this title

Review:

To quote the editor of this noteworthy collection, "a peoples' tales are its memory, its conscience--its imaginative channel to its place in the world." Accordingly, this clothbound, 240-page volume includes ancient stories as well as more contemporary literary narratives by such renowned writers as Grace Paley, Bernard Malamud, and Franz Kafka. Ranging from traditional Hasidic tales to Sephardic folklore, the stories reveal the unique heritage and customs of the Jewish community: they are passionate, inspirational, and often humorous tales that speak of origins, ethical dilemmas, exile, and the passing down of cherished beliefs. Illustrating this vast, remarkable anthology is a brilliant selection of art, featuring more than 120 color plates relating to the Jewish experience by such masters as Marc Chagall, Ben Shahn, Max Weber, and Louise Nevelson.

About the Author:

Dr. Ellen Frankel served for eighteen years as the Editor in Chief and CEO of The Jewish Publication Society, and currently serves as its first Editor Emerita.  She received her B.A. from the University of Michigan and her Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Princeton. 
 
She is the author of ten books, among them The Classic Tales; The Encyclopedia of Jewish Symbols; The Five Books of Miriam, also available in Hebrew as Midrash Miryam; The Jewish Spirit: A Celebration in Stories and Art, and The Illustrated Hebrew Bible. She contributed to the ten-volume commentary series, My People's Prayerbook; to Three Testaments: Torah, Gospel, and Quran, edited by Brian Arthur Brown; and co-edited Mitzvah Stories with Rabbi Goldie Milgram. 
 
Dr. Frankel has also published three books for young people--Choosing To Be Chosen, a collection of stories for Jewish pre-teens, and a sequel, Tell It Like It Is: Tough Choices for Today's Teens. Her JPS Illustrated Children's Bible, won the 2010 National Jewish Book Award.
 
Dr. Frankel travels widely as a storyteller, lecturer, and scholar-in-residence. She has taught literature and writing to undergraduates, gifted students, business professionals, and educators. She has received numerous awards and honors, including Hadassah's Myrtle Wreath Award and Brandeis University's Bernard Reisman Award for Professional Excellence.
 
Several of Ellen Frankel's portraits of biblical women were set to music by composer Andrea Clearfield in her oratorio, Women of Valor, which premiered in Los Angeles in 2000, and she also wrote the libretto for Clearfield's oratorio, "The Golem Psalms," which premiered in Philadelphia in 2006. Dr. Frankel's first opera, Slaying the Dragon, with music by composer Michael Ching, had its world premiere in Philadelphia in 2012. She is currently at work on a new opera with Andrea Clearfield, The Golem at MIT, and "The Esther Diaries," with composer Haralabos Stafylakis.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 1556706235
• ISBN 13: 9781556706233
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 240