Judaism and Human Geography

"A thesis of the book is that the diverse ways communities adapted to different geographical areas and adhered to traditions, customs, and habits give the Jewish community landscape unique hermeneutic resonance, and reflects how Judaism shaped it… The book demonstrates that Jewish geography is often shaped by the requirements of Judaism, thus making for a unique Jewish geography reflective of halakhah, customs, and folkways of Jews. The book pioneers the way for further research for geographers of religious landscapes… The [diverse chapters] shed light on better understanding Jewish cultural landscapes, and offer insights into human geography across the globe. Recommended."

—David B Levy, Touro College LCW, NYC, AJL Reviews

“In this insightful anthology, Yossi Katz… is specifically interested in… dipping into the relationships between particular Jewish communities and their physical surroundings. The author, one of the Jewish state’s leading geographers with respect to the study of how Jewish communities, both in Israel and in the Diaspora, have shaped and been shaped by their surroundings, focusses here on the human–environment relationship as it has played itself out amongst various urban and rural Orthodox Jewish communities in the Jewish state, in the United States and in Canada… [T]he author’s anthology clearly represents a very informative and important introduction to the field of human geography in the Jewish state, as well as in the Diaspora.”

—David Rodman, Israel Affairs