How might one begin to think about the Jewish book in the modern era? The period is defined by unprecedented proliferation—not only of many new books, but also of an array of new kinds of books, as well as a plethora of new print and other communications technologies, new professions and institutions associated one way or another with books, and new text practices. This burgeoning volume of material, as well as the expansive range of possibilities for books and how they figure in Jewish life, demand that those who would study the place of the book in modern Jewish life (up to and including contemporary phenomena) would do well to begin with reconnaissance, casting the net wide and considering which larger issues this wealth of materials and practices suggests for further study. This survey not only yields an impressive roster of potential subjects of inquiry; the information itself suggests possibilities for understanding Jewish books and book practices as a defining feature of modern Jewish life.

The study of memory and its collaborators (history, narrative, and trauma) has been at the center of both the German- and English-language academic worlds for at least the last fifteen years. While many of the “canonical” texts overlap, the anxieties and implications of recent scholarship have often been quite distinct, particularly in discussions of the memory and history of the Holocaust, and more generally, anti-Semitism, Jews, and Judaism. This phenomenon is played out in the debates about Jan Assmann's work, particularly since the publication of Moses the Egyptian: The Memory of Egypt in Western Monotheism (1997).

Amira Hass, Haaretz's fearless journalist, recently told the following joke, an allegory of sorts, set during the Turco-Russian war. Moishele is about to depart for the front, and so his mother offers some sensible advice. “Please take care of yourself, my son. Pace yourself. Kill a Turk all right, but then make sure you rest afterwards. Eat something. Sleep a little. Then go back if you must, kill another Turk, and take another break. Drink lots of fluids, and make sure you maintain and replenish your strength.” “But Mamele,” retorts Moishele, “What if while I am eating and resting, there comes a Turk to kill me?” “Oy va voy, my son! Why would anyone do such a thing? What could he possibly have against you?”