Book excerpt: "This book is an authoritative reference work for a twenty-first century audience. Its entries, written by eminent scholars, define the spiritual and intellectual concepts and movements that distinguish Judaism and the Jewish experience. The book discusses central figures and literary works, formative historical events, Jewish rituals and practices, and it illuminates the lives of ordinary Jewish men and women. But what makes this dictionary different is its broad exploration of the Jewish experience beyond Judaism, including literature, art, music, theater, dance, film, broadcasting, sports, and ecology, among many other topics from the Bible to the internet"--