A Life of Psalms in Jewish Late Antiquity by A.J. Berkovitz
Exemplifying the academic excellence of HUC-JIR faculty, Associate Professor of Ancient Judaism A.J. Berkovitz‘s 2023 book A Life of Psalms in Jewish Late Antiquity received the Honorable Mention in the American Academy for Jewish Research’s (AAJR) Salo Baron Prize, an annual award given to the best first book in Jewish Studies.
In a letter announcing its selection, the committee noted, “Your book was selected by a committee chaired by Professor James Loeffler of John Hopkins University. In its praise of your book, the committee noted that it helps transform our understanding of a canonical Jewish liturgical text and poses thoughtful questions that invite deep reflection on reading, liturgy, and the material form of the text itself.”
The Baron Prize honors the memory of the distinguished historian Salo W. Baron, a long-time president of the AAJR, the oldest professional organization of Judaica scholars in North America. It is considered one of the signal honors that can be bestowed on a young scholar in Jewish Studies. This is an additional honor for A Life of Psalms in Jewish Late Antiquity which previously received the Jordan Schnitzer First Book Publication Award from the Association for Jewish Studies.
A Life of Psalms in Jewish Late Antiquity asks a seemingly simple set of questions: Where did late ancient Jews encounter the Psalms? How did they engage with the work? And what meanings did they produce? Professor Berkovitz answers these queries by reconstructing and contextualizing a diverse set of religious practices performed with and on the Psalms, such as handling a physical copy, reading from it, interpreting it exegetically, singing it as liturgy, invoking it as magic, and reciting it as an act of piety. The approach has contributed to the understanding of the early history of the Psalms, the interplay between religion and technology, the history of reading in the ancient world, and the story of how Jews lived in sacred literature.
World-renowned Professor Marc Z. Brettler of Duke University praised the book as “An erudite and wide-ranging, but easy to read, exploration of the variety of uses of Psalms in Late Antiquity, highlighting their use in scrolls, art, inscriptions, and amulets—and more.”
Professor Berkovitz says about his book, “I wrote this book to understand ancient religion as something that humans did, something that ran woof and warp through the daily lives of those who lived in the distant past. The story of the book of Psalms in Late Antiquity—how it was held, read, and used in liturgy, magic, and piety—illustrates a set of simple facts: History is alive. Religion is vital. And the quotidian is the sublime.”
A Life of Psalms in Jewish Late Antiquity is published by the University of Pennsylvania Press, and may be purchased through the publisher, on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other booksellers.