The Jewish Quarterly Review

ICYMI!

Today!

Did you catch Sunny S. Yudkoff's 2024 JQR essay "Yankev Glatshteyn and the Threat of Yiddish Joy"?
muse.jhu.edu/pub/56/artic...

If you're in the Philly area, check out her talk at Penn next week!
figs.sas.upenn.edu/events/2025/....

A Gift from JQR and the Katz Center A century and a third of Jewish scholarship goes open access

We are thrilled to announce that beginning with our winter issue in January 2026, the Jewish Quarterly Review will become fully open access, including future issues and our whole 136-year back catalog!

Learn more about this exciting change on the blog:
katz.sas.upenn.edu/resources/bl...

Demystifying Peer Review JQR editor Natalie Dohrmann walks you through the peer evaluation process in a video from AJRS.

(5/5) Finally, you can watch Natalie speak on "Demystifying Peer Review" for a panel organized by the Ancient Judaism Regional Seminar in 2021. (It's free!)

katz.sas.upenn.edu/resources/bl...

The Peaks, Valleys, Perils, and Rewards of Peer Review: Part II. How to Read Peer Evaluations

(4/5) You’ve submitted an article, and now the editors have returned with a decision and peer evaluations. How do you incorporate the reviews productively? How do you handle criticism or contradictory feedback?

Advice for authors in another JQR blog post:
katz.sas.upenn.edu/resources/bl...

The Peaks, Valleys, Perils, and Rewards of Peer Review: Part I. How to Write Peer Evaluations

(3/5) Wondering what JQR looks for in a quality peer review? Check out our 2019 blog post on best practices for reviewers.

katz.sas.upenn.edu/resources/bl...

Peer Review Week: Interview with Jewish Quarterly Review editor Natalie B. Dohrmann - University of Pennsylvania Press It’s Peer Review Week! This annual week-long event aims to celebrate the value of peer review among academic publishers, associations, institutions,

(2/5) First up: in an interview for Peer Review Week 2023, JQR editor Natalie Dohrmann touched on the challenges of peer review, including gender equity and overtaxed readers.

www.pennpress.org/blog/peer-re...

(1/5) It's peer review week! #PRW2025 Thank you to those who have reviewed for JQR over the years. We would not be here without you.

Check out this thread for insights and reflections from the JQR editors on the peer review process, including advice for authors and reviewers. 🧵

Fabulative Friends: An Essay Leslie Ribovich and Cara Rock-Singer set two great twentieth-century cultural critics into dialogue

In our current issue, Leslie Ribovich and Cara Rock-Singer stage a conversation with 20th century cultural critics James Baldwin and Rabbi Louis Finkelstein.

Learn more on the blog!
katz.sas.upenn.edu/resources/bl...

These essays are free to access without a subscription thru 9/5. Get them now!

Simcha Gross, "From Togas to Turbans: Jewish Male Head Coverings between the Roman and Sasanian Worlds"

Edwin Seroussi, "Gossip, Rumors, Rehabilitation: Israel Najara's Shaming Revisited"

muse.jhu.edu/issue/55233

In a short note in JQR 115.3, Jonathan Howard examines the 12th c. MS that seems to evidence the origin of the Palestinian vocalization signs. He argues that it actually refers to cantillation signs, leaving the origin of the vocalization signs uncertain.

Take a look:
muse.jhu.edu/pub/56/artic...

This summer Shai Secunda returned to JQR with his essay "The Babylonian Talmud, the Aramaic Incantation Bowls, and Babylonian Jewish Textuality."
muse.jhu.edu/pub/56/artic...

You can revisit his earlier JQR essays on the Bavli here:
muse.jhu.edu/pub/56/artic...
muse.jhu.edu/pub/56/artic...

In our current issue, Tsiona Lida explores the concept of hope in the work of Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi and Walter Benjamin, and shows how their differing approaches illustrate the affective qualities of historical writing.

Don't miss her essay:
muse.jhu.edu/pub/56/artic...

Why Do Jews Cover Their Heads? In JQR 115.3, Simcha Gross looks at norms of Jewish male head covering as a proxy for cultural assimilation and difference in rabbinic Rome and Sasania

Why do Jews cover their heads?

In JQR 115.3, @simchagross.bsky.social looks at norms of Jewish male head covering as a proxy for cultural assimilation and difference in rabbinic Rome and Sasania.

Learn more on the blog and read his essay FREE thru September 5!
katz.sas.upenn.edu/resources/bl...

Our summer issue is out and two essays are free for a limited time. Don't forget to peruse the TOC! 🌻

muse.jhu.edu/issue/55233

Pssst ... Have You Heard about Israel Najara? In JQR 115.3, Edwin Seroussi finds deeper meanings threaded through the long history of slanderous gossip attached to the famous poet and composer

Pssst... have you heard?

Edwin Seroussi's essay in our current issue, "Gossip, Rumors, Rehabilitation: Israel Najara's Shaming Revisited," is free to read and download through September 5! Learn more on the blog.

katz.sas.upenn.edu/resources/bl...

JQR 115.3 is here! We've got:
-Early Jewish head coverings
-The Talmud & the Aramaic incantation bowls
-Israel Naraja
-The Palestinian vocalization signs
-Yosef Yerushalmi & Walter Benjamin
-James Baldwin & Louis Finkelstein

Read the TOC +2 free essays!👇
katz.sas.upenn.edu/resources/bl...