The Bloomsbury Companion to Jewish Studies is a comprehensive reference guide, providing an overview of Jewish Studies as it has developed as an academic sub-discipline. This volume surveys the development and current state of research in the broad field of Jewish Studies - focusing on central themes, methodologies, and varieties of source materials available. It includes 11 core essays from internationally-renowned scholars and teachers that provide an important and useful overview of Jewish history and the development of Judaism, while exploring central issues in Jewish Studies that cut across historical periods and offer important opportunities to track significant themes throughout the diversity of Jewish experiences. In addition to a bibliography to help orient students and researchers, the volume includes a series of indispensable research tools, including a chronology, maps, and a glossary of key terms and concepts. This is the essential reference guide for anyone working in or exploring the rich and dynamic field of Jewish Studies. The Bloomsbury Companion to Jewish Studies brings together some of the world's leading authorities on Jewish history, society, and culture to provide a rigorous, yet readable, resource for any student, whether in a traditional academic setting or in informal education. Particularly refreshing is the project's focus on the rise of Jewish Studies as a global phenomenon. The Companion's emphasis on the global reminds students that Jews in the past maintained a creative tension between the local culture of the places they lived and global Jewish connection through texts and language, and that Jewish Studies in the present appears around the world, but in each place manifests itself differently. The book is also particularly useful for its helpful maps, timelines, glossary, and bibliography.