Guides and databases: Hebrew &amp; Jewish Studies: Books and E-books

Books and e-books

The Hebrew and Jewish Studies collection is located on the second floor (North end) of the Main Library. It is divided into two sections: Hebrew and Yiddish. The Hebrew section includes: Jewish history; Hebrew and other Jewish languages; Jewish literature, including biblical and rabbinic literature; Judaism; and Arts and Sciences. The Yiddish section includes: Yiddish language, literature and music as well as history, science and geography written in Yiddish.

UCL Explore is the principal tool to find books, journals and other materials (either in print or in electronic format) held in UCL's libraries. In Explore you will find the details with the location of the materials you are looking for: library site, collection and shelfmark. Roman letters are used for Hebrew script in the catalogue using the Library of Congress system. Records added since 2009 also include the original Hebrew and you can search for them using Hebrew characters.

The books are arranged according to the Garside Classification system, here is further information about the organisation in the Hebrew section and the Yiddish section.

How can you tell if a book is available online?

On UCL Explore, you can look at the results of your search to quickly discover if a book is available in print or/and online: View Online means that the book is available electronically, while Available means that the book is available in print. In some cases a book is available both in print and online.

Other collections

History: for history of the Jews worldwide.
Ancient History: for history of the Jews in the ancient world.
Classics: for Judaism in Greek and Roman literature and culture.
Philosophy: for Jewish philosophers.
English, Modern Languages and Comparative Literature for Jewish authors.

Geography: for additional material on Israel/Palestine.

The Institute of Archaeology Library: for archaeology of the Middle East.

The Language & Speech Science (LASS) Library: for books and periodicals on the theory and practice of language study.

School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES) library: for history of the Jews in central and eastern Europe.

Stores service

Stores service
The UCL Library off-site store is a closed access collection which houses important research material not currently in high demand. Users can request store material for delivery to a number of UCL's libraries.

Key online dictionaries and encyclopaedias in Hebrew & Jewish Studies

The Library provides access to many important reference works online:

Hebrew dictionary (Rav-Milim) English-Hebrew/Hebrew-English dictionary. Includes an extensive Hebrew Thesaurus. A dictionary of idioms and phrases, an automatic rhyming dictionary
Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament Online Contains the complete vocabulary of the Hebrew Bible, including texts in Aramaic. Accessibility statement for Brill Primary Sources.
Yiddish Dictionary A comprehensive Yiddish-English Dictionary with a broad coverage of Yiddish words of all origins: Hebrew-Aramaic, Slavic, Romance as well as Germanic.
Encyclopaedia Judaica An exhaustive and organized overview of Jewish life and knowledge from the Second Temple period to the contemporary State of Israel, from Rabbinic to modern Yiddish literature, from Kabbalah to "Americana" and from Zionism to the contribution of Jews to world cultures.

Encyclopedia of Jewish History and Culture Online From Europe to America to the Middle East, North Africa and other non-European Jewish settlement areas the Encyclopedia of Jewish History and Culture covers the recent history of the Jews from 1750 until the 1950s.

Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe (YIVO) Encyclopedia of the history and culture of Jews in Eastern Europe, from the beginnings of their settlement in the region to the present. Covers arts, daily life, places, languages and literature, history and politics, and religion.
Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World Encyclopedia covering the Jews of Muslim lands, particularly in the late medieval, early modern and modern periods. Accessibility statement for Brill Reference Works.
Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics The Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics offers a systematic and comprehensive treatment of all aspects of the history and study of the Hebrew language from its earliest attested form to the present day. Accessibility statement for Brill Reference Works.

Leksikon fun der Nayer Yidisher literatur Comprehensive encyclopedia of Yiddish writers. Searchable in English or Yiddish.
Dictionary of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict Covers the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict from the birth of Zionism at the end of the 19th century. Covers five Arab-Israeli wars, and provides biographies of political personnel in Syria, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, and the occupied territories. The Dictionary provides clear definitions and comprehensive explanations of the history, geography, religion, and demographics of the area.
Reference guide to Holocaust literature Covering the entire spectrum of the literature of the Holocaust era, from the beginnings of Nazism through the concentration camp experience, survivor syndrome and second generation response, this detailed survey includes entries on more than 200 authors and 300 works.

Free e-books

Many e-books are freely available online. One way to find these is the Directory of Open Access Books.

Other sources for free e-books include:

Brill
Open access books and articles in Jewish Studies and related fields.
Brown Judaic Studies
Many titles from this series are freely available.
Hebrewbooks.org
Rabbinic texts and secondary literature.
Open Book Publishers
A leading independent open access publisher in the humanities and social sciences in the UK:
Project Ben-Yehuda
Hebrew poetry, prose, essays, letters, memoirs, and reference works.
Sefaria
Biblical and rabbinic texts, commentaries and reference works in Hebrew and English (mobile app also available).
UCL Press
UCL Press is a leading open access scholarly publisher, publishing mainly scholarly monographs, edited collections, textbooks and journals.
Yiddish Book Center Digital Library & Collections
Yiddish books, audiobooks, recorded lectures, oral history, yizkor books, Yiddish children’s literature.

Finding e-books in Explore

A brief guide to finding and accessing e-books via UCL Explore.

Search Explore

Check out our Explore guide to find out more about how to use Explore for your research.

Explore guide

Suggest a purchase

Suggest a purchase
Is there a book or resource you would like to see in our collection? Perhaps you've noticed something missing on your reading list? Please let us know by filling out our suggest a purchase form.

Latest titles added to the collection

Daybreak in Gaza

In the Beginning

ReadingLists@UCL

ReadingLists @UCL is an online service that gives students easy access to materials on their reading lists wherever they are, and allows academic staff to create and update their own reading lists.

ReadingLists@UCL webpages