Great Jewish Books

The seven distinguished judges compiling the list are: Glenda Abramson of Oxford University; Robert Alter of the University of California at Berkeley; Hillel Halkin of Zichron Ya-akov, Israel; Gershon Shaked of Hebrew University in Jerusalem; Kenneth Turan of The Los Angeles Times; Ilan Stavans of Amherst College; and Ruth Wisse of Harvard University. The project coordinator is Dr. Jeremy Dauber, a former Yiddish Book Center intern, a recent Rhodes Scholar, and assistant professor of Yiddish at Columbia University.

Deliberations began in the spring of 2000 and concluded in December 2001. The Center’s president, Aaron Lansky, describes the results as “a fascinating, challenging, sometimes surprising list with books ranging from Mendele to Maus.” Professor Ruth Wisse, author of The Modern Jewish Canon, says that the final list reflects “a mighty literature.”

For a look at the Project Press Release , click here.

To view the 100 titles and authors, go to The List.

For a complete list with annotations and essays by the judges, see the Fall 2001 issue of Pakn Treger.

To see which of the 100 titles and authors are available for purchase, see Great Jewish Books at our Bookstore.

Funding for the Great Jewish Books project was provided by The Kaplen Foundation, with additional support from Jack and Bernice Hoffinger.