The text for this class is Settings of Silver, by Stephen M. Wylen. Copies will be available for sale in class, but if you prefer there are also used copies available on book sale sites around the Internet. Settings has a good index and a decent short history of Judaism; it can serve as a nice Basic Judaism reference book.
Every Jewish household should have a copy of the Tanakh, the Jewish Bible. Why a Jewish Bible, and not, say, a King James Bible? First of all, Jews arrange the Bible in a particular way: Torah, then Nevi’im [Prophets] then Ketuvim [Writings]. Christian bibles are organized differently. Secondly, a Jewish scholar often translates the Hebrew differently than does a Christian translator. We’ll talk more about this in class.
Over time, I will recommend other books. For now, these are enough!
