Carefully arguing that many common assumptions about the traditional Jewish family are mistaken, this outstanding collection of essays--many previously unpublished--by thirteen leading scholars, explores the subject both in its historical reality and as it has been perceived and imagined byJews over the centuries. Writing for a conference held at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America the contributors, including Robert Alter, Mordecai Friedman, Paula Hyman, and Moshe Idel, reveal the Jewish family to be a variegated, rich, and complicated institution that has adapted andresponded to the many different cultures in which Jews have made their homes. Individual essays examine Jewish marriage in rabbinic, medieval, and modern times; marriage as a literary and artistic metaphor; childhood and adolescence in Judaism and the role of the mother as ethical instructor; andthe Jewish family in the community, where different Jewish cultures have preserved central elements of the tradition while developing unique expressions of family life.