IADS Library: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization

By Deborah Dash Moore

Jews have a long-standing love affair with anthologies. It started with Tanach, an amazing anthology of narrative, history, poetry, prophecy, and much more. And then it continued across the centuries. Anthologizing allowed Jews to engage with the past--to read what had been written--and then to choose what spoke to them at the moment. Some Jewish anthologies, like the Passover Haggadah, continue to be revised to this day. The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization is an anthology for 21st century Jews. It includes textual and visual material from ancient Israel to 2005, chosen by Jewish studies scholars and translated into English from two-dozen languages ranging from Amharic to Yiddish. It responds to the experience of Felix Posen, who observed that the stories most often taught and circulated in the twentieth century represented only a small percentage of Jewish life and history. Jews have lived all over the world for centuries, from Austria to Morocco to Venezuela, and Jewish culture has been produced across religious, political, and gender spectrums. It's been my honor to serve as editor in chief of the Posen Library (available online as well), since 2016.