In short, this is a story of how a Jewish kid from the Bronx left a lasting impression in the hallowed hallways of Harvard and Columbia universities. The book reflects on what it means to be a Jew today. What was unique about Yerushalmi is that while he left traditional observance, he had a deep understanding of the core aspects of traditional Judaism, as he received rabbinical ordination from Lieberman in 1957.
—Jewish Link

Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi (1932-2009) was one of the most eminent Jewish historians of the twentieth century. He was Jacob E. Safra Professor of Jewish History and Sephardic Civilization at Harvard University, and from 1980, Salo W. Baron Professor of Jewish History, Culture and Society at Columbia University. His publications, written in his incomparable literary style, include From Spanish Court to Italian Ghetto (1971); Haggadah and History (1974); The Lisbon Massacre of 1506 and the Royal Image in the Shebet Yehudah (1979); Zakhor: Jewish History and Jewish Memory (1982) and Freud’s Moses: Judaism Terminable and Interminable (1991). Some of his collected essays appear in The Faith of Fallen Jews (2014). Yerushalmi’s broad erudition in all areas of Jewish history and European culture attracted students from all over the world, many of whom now hold leading academic positions.

Sylvie Anne Goldberg is a professor at the Center for Historical Research, L'E´cole des Hautes E´tudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, where she heads the Jewish Studies Program. She is the author of several books, including Crossing the Jabbok: Illness and Death in Ashkenazi Judaism in Sixteenth- through Ninteenth-Century Prague and Clepsydra: Essay on the Plurality of Time in Judaism.

Benjamin Ivry is author of biographies of Francis Poulenc, Arthur Rimbaud, and Maurice Ravel, as well as a poetry collection, Paradise for the Portuguese Queen. He has translated books from the French by André Gide, Jules Verne, Witold Gombrowicz, and Balthus, among others and written about the arts and culture for numerous media.