Acknowledgments

      Work on this book has extended over much of the present decade, and I gratefully acknowledge my indebtedness to the many individuals who have helped me bring the project to its conclusion. Martin Goodman, Ora Limor, Ivan Marcus, Marc Raphael, Michael Signer, David Stern, and Kenneth Stow graciously agreed to read portions of the manuscript in various stages of its evolution and provided me with invaluable constructive criticism. Many others responded graciously to my variegated calls for assistance, including Ram Ben-Shalom, Martin Bertram, Naomi Cohen, Sander Gilman, Thomas Hahn, Colum Hourihane, Aryeh Kasher, Joel Kraemer, Sara Lipton, Joseph Lynch, Robert Markus, Aharon Oppenheimer, Alexander Patschovsky, Kenneth Pennington, Judith Rosen, Shlomo Simonsohn, Michael Toch, and John Van Engen; I remain appreciatively in their debt.

      Fellowships at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, at the Hebrew University's Institute for Advanced Studies, and from the National Endowment for the Humanities allowed me precious time for pursuing this project; and grants from the Melton Center for Jewish Studies and the College of Humanities at The Ohio State University, the State of Israel's Ministry of Absorption, and the Diaspora Research Institute at Tel Aviv University helped to offset the expenses of my research. I am similarly grateful to the directors and staffs of the Escuela de Estudios Hispano-Americanos in Seville, where I profited from several fruitful and pleasant weeks of research, and the Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbüttel, Germany, which allowed me to organize an international symposium on the subject of this book in 1993. The characteristically good nature and dedication of librarians too numerous to mention here have consistently served me well.

      Finally, my wife and children have never wavered in their support for my work. In the appreciation that we share for the powerful impact of ideas and symbols on our lives, the bustle of our busy household and my historian's vocation have blended to imbue my life with meaning and with satisfaction.