This volume highlights the role of Jewish scholars within the field of Oriental studies in the 19th and 20th century. It discusses their views of Islam and the "Orient" in the context of concepts such as orientalism, colonialism, and modernity. The analysis shows that Jewish oriental research provides a way of understanding some of the particularities of the boundaries between European frameworks of thought.
After World War II, Ernst Ludwig Ehrlich (1921 2007) published works in English and German by eminent Israeli scholars, in this way introducing them to a wider audience in Europe and North America. The series he founded for that purpose, Studia Judaica, continues to offer a platform for scholarly studies and editions that cover all eras in the history of the Jewish religion.