Hebrew Studies at Fifty (Hebrew Studies: A Journal Devoted to Hebrew Language and Literature‪)‬

Welcome to the Golden Anniversary Edition of Hebrew Studies: A Journal Devoted to Hebrew Language and Literature! Hebrew Studies is the journal of the National Association of Professors of Hebrew (NAPH). Hebrew Studies publishes scholarly articles and book reviews on all aspects of Hebrew language and literature from antiquity through the present. Hebrew Studies has a rich history of publication beginning with the first volume of the journal, then known as Hebrew Abstracts, in 1954. One of my predecessors as editor of the journal, Keith N. Schoville of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, provided an overview of the history of the journal in the Silver Anniversary Edition from its inception through the publication of Hebrew Studies 25 (1984). (1) Following the founding of the NAPH in 1952 under the leadership of Abraham I. Katsh of New York University, the first issue of Hebrew Abstracts appeared in 1954 in conjunction with The Shane Quarterly of the Butler University School of Religion. The first editor of the journal was Katsh, and he was assisted by Toyozo W. Nakarai as associate editor together with an editorial board of four scholars. The purpose of the initial eighteen-page journal was to provide English-speaking scholars summaries and reviews of books and periodicals published in Modern Hebrew and other languages containing research on "the Hebrew language, literature, philosophy, exegesis, bibliography, and methodology."