On the Word of a Jew: Religion, Reliability, and the Dynamics of Trust

Review
"Highly readable and compelling, this volume marks a broadly significant contribution to Jewish studies through the underexplored dynamic of trust."―Rebekah Klein-Pejšová, author of Mapping Jewish Loyalties in Interwar Slovakia
"An exemplary compendium on how to engage with a major concept―trust―while providing load of gripping new information, new theorization of otherwise well-covered material, and meticulous attention to textual and sociological sources."―Gil Anidjar, author of Blood: A Critique of Christianity
"The book is scrupulously documented allowing the reader to follow up with further information on any given aspect of this topic. Highly recommended for all adult and secondary school Judaica collections"―AJL Reviews
"At a time when questions of Jewish "(dis)loyalty" are once again appearing in the headlines, this timely volume offers directions to begin untangling the historial roots and trajectories of the dynamics of trust"―Noam Sienna, Church History
What, if anything, does religion have to do with how reliable we perceive one another to be? When and how did religious difference matter in the past when it came to trusting the word of another? In today's world, we take for granted that being Jewish should not matter when it comes to acting or engaging in the public realm, but this was not always the case. The essays in this volume look at how and when Jews were recognized as reliable and trustworthy in the areas of jurisprudence, medicine, politics, academia, culture, business, and finance. As they explore issues of trust and mistrust, the authors reveal how caricatures of Jews move through religious, political, and legal systems. While the volume is framed as an exploration of Jewish and Christian relations, it grapples with perceptions of Jews and Jewishness from the biblical period to today, from the Middle East to North America, and in Ashkenazi and Sephardi traditions. Taken together these essays reflect on the mechanics of trust, and sometimes mistrust, in everyday interactions involving Jews.