education

This year, 2008, marks the 120th anniversary of the founding of The Jewish Publication Society, making the Society the oldest non-profit Jewish publisher in North America. JPS is also the only non-partisan, multi-denominational, non-profit publisher of Jewish books in English in the world. We have had a glorious history, producing significant Jewish books for the broad spectrum of the Jewish community—and for a much wider audience as well. And we have every intention of carrying on this tradition far into the future.

However, something has changed. Book publishing is now an industry in turmoil. The internet has challenged the way that publishers acquire, produce, market, and distribute books. Books themselves find themselves competing for attention, especially from young people. People nowadays learn and amuse themselves in many ways—e-books, audio books, movies, TV, distance learning, video games. A printed volume between two covers is no longer a slam-dunk for a leisure activity of choice.

That’s why JPS has embarked on its most ambitious project since 1985, when the JPS English translation of the Tanakh, NJPS, was completed after 30 years of scholarly collaboration. YAVNET is an altogether different kind of translation project, designed to lead to the creation of the DIGITAL TORAH, a community collaboration involving scholars and lay people, the rich legacy of the written and oral Torahs, the vast textual resources of Jewish tradition from the Bible to the present day, and the pooled wisdom of the community. All this is possible only now, as the technologies of the Internet, Web 2.0, and Web 3.0 radically transform the way we learn and know.

Why are we undertaking this grand experiment?

Because JPS is uniquely qualified to launch and manage this project. JPS is

—Non-partisan and multi-denominational. We develop and distribute Jewish works in English for the entire Jewish community.
—Text-based and text-centered in our publishing program. The focus of our list continues to be the Hebrew Bible, the foundational text of Jewish culture and learning. We also publish classic texts in translation with scholarly annotation.
—Committed to the Jewish interpretive tradition. As Hillel famously told a would-be convert to Judaism 2,000 years ago: “All the rest is commentary. Go and learn it.” The JPS list includes contemporary critical scholarship, classical rabbinic meforshim (commentators), hasidic commentaries, feminist readings, as well as visual midrash.
—Committed to providing educational tools and resources for text study. Because our books serve a broad constituency of readers and learners, ranging from experts (scholars, rabbis, teachers, day school graduates, and serious adult learners) to novices (children, newcomers to Jewish text study, newcomers to Judaism, and non-Jews), we provide learning tools at various levels of education.
—Experienced at editing and gate-keeping. The Internet is still the Wild West. As exciting as it is to democratize access to Jewish texts, it is also risky. After 2,000 years of guardianship by learned rabbis and scholars, the Torah should not be undermined by ignorance, malice, or partisan agendas. That’s why JPS will curate YAVNET, winnowing the wisdom of crowds from the folly of the mixed multitude.

We invite you to join us on our exciting journey!