Ars Judaica is an annual publication of the Department of Jewish Art at Bar-Ilan University. It showcases the Jewish contribution to the visual arts and architecture from antiquity to the present from a variety of perspectives, including history, iconography, semiotics, psychology, sociology, and folklore. As such it is a valuable resource for art historians, collectors, curators, and all those interested in the visual arts.

Contributors: Matthew Baigell, Rutgers University of New Jersey, Batya Brutin, Beit Berl Academic College, Zofit, Warren Zev Harvey, Department of Jewish Thought, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Moshe Idel, Shalom Hartman Institute, Jerusalem; Department of Jewish Thought, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Sara Offenberg, Department of Jewish Art, Bar-Ilan University, Nils Roemer, University of Texas at Dallas, Debra Higgs Strickland, School of Culture and Creative Arts, University of Glasgow, Annette Weber, Hochschule für Jüdische Studien, Heidelberg

Volumes of Ars Judaica are distributed by the Littman Library of Jewish Civilization throughout the world, except Israel. Orders and enquiries from Israeli customers should be directed to:

Ars Judaica

Department of Jewish Art

Bar-Ilan University

Ramat-Gan 52900

telephone 03 5318413

fax 03 6359241

email ajudaica@mail.biu.ac.il

Bracha Yaniv is Professor Emerita of Jewish Art History at Bar-Ilan University, Israel, and founding editor of Ars Judaica: The Bar-Ilan Journal of Jewish Art. She has published two pioneering books in Hebrew on the history, design, and iconography of ceremonial synagogue objects. Sara Offenberg is Lecturer in the Jewish Art Department at Bar-Ilan University. She published articles and a book on Jewish-Christian relations in art and literature, the image of the Jew in Christian art and literature, Hasidei Ashkenaz, Piyyut Commentary, and Hebrew illuminated prayer books. Mirjam Rajner is Lecturer in the Jewish Art Department at Bar-Ilan University. Her numerous publications deal with the early art of Marc Chagall, the art of Russian, Polish, and South-Eastern artists of Jewish origin in the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, and the art created during and immediately after the Holocaust. Ilia Rodov is Head of the Department of Jewish Art at Bar-Ilan University. He is the author of many works on European synagogue art, focusing on the history, patronage, and meanings of synagogue paintings, sculptures, architectural decoration, and furniture design.