موسوعة اليهود والصهيونيه

Encyclopedia of Jews, Judaism and Zionism - Abdul Wahab Al-Mesiri

This brief version of the Encyclopedia of Jews, Judaism, and Zionism is issued to address a segment of readers who may have found something preventing them from communicating with the full text that was published years ago in eight volumes. Although this edition is published in only two volumes, it addresses all the theoretical issues and intellectual concepts that were crystallized in the encyclopedia in the expanded edition. The first volume, which included the theoretical framework in the expanded version, has been shortened at the beginning of this edition, where the reader finds evidence of the concepts and terminology on which the new interpretive model is based, which forms the core of the author’s intellectual narrative. Perhaps it is necessary for the reader of this encyclopedia to begin reading the terms and concepts because they constitute the keys. The intellectual framework on which this work was built.

The encyclopedia was divided into two volumes, the first of which includes, in addition to terms and concepts, a part that deals with theoretical problems related to the vision of Jewish groups as human beings, Judaism and religion, in addition to a part about the cultures of the Jewish groups, and a third about their histories. As for the second volume, it includes a part on the subject of Jewish concepts and sects, another on the subject of Zionism in thought and history, and a third: on the subject of the Zionist state (Israel). A number of researchers and editors participated in the completion of this short version, who were credited with producing it in this form, which we see as satisfactory and capable of expanding the circle. The spread of this work among circles that, for various reasons, may not be able to read the expanded version.

This brief encyclopedia is divided into two volumes, each containing three parts as follows: Volume One: Problems related to the outlook on Jewish groups, Part Two: Cultures of Jewish groups. Part Three: Histories of Jewish groups.

Volume Two: Part One: Judaism - Concepts and Differences, Part Two: Zionism, Part Three: Israel.

At the beginning of each volume there is a subject index with parts, files, and entries, and the materials of the two volumes are arranged in a logical order so that the encyclopedia can be read as a book.

Each part includes several files, and each file in turn includes a number of articles revolving around a specific topic. The first part of the second volume, for example, includes thirty-one files, the fifth of which is entitled “Sacred and Religious Books” and includes the following entries: Holy and Religious Books - The Pentateuch - The Ten Commandments - Interpretation of the Old Testament - Criticism of the Old Testament - Prophets and Prophecy - Prophets Jews.

There is also an alphabetical index of all entries in the encyclopedia at the end of the second volume. At the beginning of the first volume there is a list of basic concepts and terms arranged thematically according to their logical sequence. This evidence constitutes the theoretical framework for all entries in the encyclopedia. Therefore, we invite the reader to read it carefully before starting to read or use the encyclopedia.

We also mentioned before the objective proof an alphabetical list with all the concepts and terms, and after each concept or term we mentioned its number, so that it is easy for the reader to refer to the term or concept based on the number. If the reader is searching, for example, for the meaning of the term “nature/matter,” he will find it under the letter ta in the alphabetical script, and next to it is the number (13), so he goes to entry No. (13) in the objective script.