Judaic, Yiddish and Israel Studies

Jewish Studies at Berkeley is notable for both its chronological and disciplinary scope. Fields range from Hebrew Bible and Talmud and Midrash through medieval Jewish history to modern Jewish history, modern Hebrew and Yiddish literature and modern Jewish thought. Graduate training in various fields of Jewish Studies is conducted in the Departments of History, Comparative Literature, Near Eastern Studies, and in the Joint Doctoral Program with the Graduate Theological Union.

The UC Berkeley Judaica collection supports the research and instructional activities of faculty and students in a number of interdisciplinary fields, as well as the joint Ph.D. program in Judaic Studies with the Graduate Theological Union. The relevant fields include Near Eastern languages and literature; Talmudic studies, including the Babylonian and Palestinian Talmuds and subsequent texts and commentaries; rabbinic, medieval, and modern Jewish history throughout the world; modern Jewish thought; and comparative literature, including works in Hebrew, Yiddish, English, and other languages.

The Library welcomes gifts in all forms. Many private donors have made contributions toward the acquisition of research materials for the use of Berkeley faculty and students. This support is very important in sustaining the excellence of our collections and services.

The following types of gifts may be considered:

Memorial and Honorific Gifts
Contributions given in memory or in honor of a person are welcomed. Commemorative gifts are welcome to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries and other significant events.

Named Endowment
Endowment funds may be established with a gift of $50,000 or more. These funds provide the library with an annual income in perpetuity and have a lasting impact on maintaining world class collections. The University invests its endowments carefully to achieve a healthy rate of return that provides for both current needs and long-term growth. If desired, a special book plate can be created and placed in each book.

Cash Gifts for Book Purchases
Contributions of any amount are welcomed and can be made directly to the Library using the online form. In the special instructions or designations for this gift section, you may specify a particular collection.

Book Donations
Gifts of scholarly materials and the results of research have historically represented a significant element in the development of Berkeley's outstanding research collections. We welcome individual gifts, but due to space and staff limitations, we must be judicious in accepting large contributions. Donations of recently published books are welcomed. New book purchases will be checked to ensure titles aren’t already on order.

Please contact Frank Carothers to discuss your donation of books.

For more information on gifts to the Library, please visit http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/give/makeagift.html.

You can suggest items that the Library should consider purchasing. Use the Purchase Recommendation form to submit your suggestion.

Doe Library, North Reading Room

Otsar ha-Hokhmah
Contains more than 50,045 Judaic books, scanned page after page in their original format. UCB access only

Hebrewbooks.org
Over 23,000 out-of-print classical religious Hebrew and Yiddish texts and periodicals. Freely available both for study and downloading. All searching is in Hebrew characters and a keyboard for input is provided.
Responsa Project
Online collection of Jewish texts. Includes rabbinic case-law rulings, and the Bible, the Talumd and their principal commentaries; works about Jewish law, codes of Jewish law, such as Maimonides' Mishneh Torah and the Shulchan Aruch; Midrashim, Zohar, Responsa, etc. Access to the Talmudic Encyclopedia also included. Requires Adobe Flash player. In Hebrew.

Bibliography of the Hebrew Book
Contains about 141,000 documents, and more than 15,000 biographies of authors, covering more than 90% of all books published in Hebrew languages from the years 1470-1960 Features a complete list of books in Hebrew and books with text in Ladino and Yiddish, as well lesser-known Jewish languages such as Judeo-Arabic, Bucharit, Judeo-Greek, Judeo-Afrikaans and Judeo-Kurdish. Also freely accessible at JUNL -- http://aleph.nli.org.il/F?func=find-b-0&local_base=mbi01

Use OskiCat to locate materials related to your topic, including books, government publications, and audio and video recordings, in the libraries of UC Berkeley. OskiCat will show you the location and availability of the items that we own.

Use Melvyl to locate materials related to your topic located at other campuses in the UC system. Next Generation Melvyl also allows you to expand your search to libraries worldwide. Clicking on the REQUEST button in the detailed view of a catalog record prompt you to fill out a form to request the item through our Interlibrary Loan office.

Index to Hebrew Periodicals
Indexes over 300 journals and newsletters covering a variety of subjects with an emphasis on Judaica, literature, education, arts, law and current Israel affairs (politics and society). (In Hebrew)
Index to Jewish Periodicals
English-language articles, book reviews, and feature stories in more than 230 journals devoted to Jewish affairs
RAMBI (Index to Articles on Jewish Studies)
Selective bibliography of articles in Jewish Studies and the study of Eretz Israel. Compiled from thousands of periodicals and from collections of articles in Hebrew, Yiddish, and European languages from the holdings of the Jewish National and University Library

Jastrow – Dictionary of Targumim, Talmudim and Midrashic Literature
An essential tool for the study of Rabbinic literature

Dictionary of Abbreviations and Acronyms
Abbreviations in 24 categories from classical and contemporary sources

Otsar Rashe Tevot
Over 16,000 abbreviations from Judaic sources and commentaries

Encyclopedia Judaica
Online version of the 22-volume Encyclopedia Judaica. Includes more than 21,000 entries on Jewish life, culture, history and religion, written by Israeli, American and European subject specialists.
Jewish Encyclopedia
Contains the complete unedited contents of the 12-volume Jewish Encyclopedia, which was originally published between 1901-1906. Contains over 15,000 articles and illustrations. Since the original work was completed almost 100 years ago, it does not cover a significant portion of modern Jewish History (e.g., the creation of Israel, the Holocaust, etc.).
YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe
Provides acomplete picture of the history and culture of Jews in Eastern Europe from the beginnings of their settlement in the region to the present.
Historical Dictionary of the Hebrew Language (Ma'agarim)
Encompasses the entire Hebrew lexicon throughout its history; presenting Hebrew words in their morphological, semantical, and contextual development from first appearance in written texts to the present. The HDP has two lexicographical sections: the Ancient Literature Section and the Modern Literature Section . (In Hebrew.)
Rav-milim
Hebrew-English-Hebrew Dictionary. Entries include translations, etymologies, usage examples, rhyming dictionary, and thesaurus. Link to Morphix 2.0 for morphological entries. A pop-up Hebrew keyboard is available. In Hebrew.

Links to Resources for the study of Hebrew Language and Literature

The Academy of the Hebrew Language
Resources for the History of the Hebrew Language
Modern Hebrew Literature - a Bio-Bibliographical Lexicon
Encyclopedia for the study of Modern Hebrew Literature

The National Library of Israel (formerly The Jewish National and University Library/JNUL)

American Jewish Archives

American Jewish Historical Society

National Museum of American Jewish History

American Jewish Year Book

North American Jewish Databank
A repository of both national and community level social scientific studies of the North American Jewish population. The collection includes both contemporary and historical data. (Access is free but users must register with a username and password.)