Brandeis University Press Wins National Jewish Book Award

National Jewish Book Awards Logo

It’s our honor to share that five Brandeis University Press titles have been recognized by the National Jewish Book Awards this year, including one winner. 

Holy Rebellion: Religious Feminism and the Transformation of Judaism and Women’s Rights in Israel, by Ronit Irshai and Tanya Zion-Waldoks, won this year’s Women’s Studies Barbara Dobkin Award. In Holy Rebellion, Irshai and Zion-Waldoks examine social change in Israel through a rigorous analysis of the shifting entanglements of religion, gender, and law in times of cultural transformation. As religious feminisms emerge around the world, this book sheds light on how they create enduring and radical change in the face of rising illiberal backlash. 

Two Brandeis University Press titles were finalists in the Visual Arts category. Books Like Sapphires: From the Library of Congress Judaica Collection, by Ann Brener, traces the history of Judaica collecting in the twentieth century United States through the Library of Congress’s storied Hebraic collection; and The Beauty of the Hebrew Letter: From Sacred Scrolls to Graffiti, by Izzy Pludwinski, celebrates the Hebrew aleph-bet by visually chronicling its earliest appearance in ancient inscriptions and tracks its subsequent reception and representation by scribes and artists over the last three millennia. Like the artifacts they showcase, both of these shortlisted titles are works of art in their own right and deserve a place of honor on your coffee table or in your library.

Chaim Weizmann: A Biography, by historians Jehuda Reinharz and Motti Golani, was shortlisted in the Biography category. This magisterial account of the life of the first president of Israel is a “scrupulously detailed work” (Kirkus Starred Review) and “a major achievement in biography and Jewish history that illuminates the birth of the modern Middle East” (The Wall Street Journal).

And finally, Mazaltob: A Novel, by Blanche Bendahan (translated by Yaëlle Azagury and Frances Malino) was a finalist for the Sephardic Culture award. Azagury and Malino provide the first English translation of this modern coming-of-age tale, and analyze the ways in which Mazaltob is the first of its genre — that of the feminist Sephardi novel. 

Congratulations to our wonderful authors. It’s a privilege to work with such distinguished and dedicated scholars and writers.