The evolving image of the Black in the history of Jewish culture is being traced here in the conceptual framework of recent post-modern theories of the 'other'. The study focuses on the mechanisms by which an ethno-religious minority group considered by the dominant majority to be the inferior 'other' identifies its own inferior other. While until recently most scholarly attention has been devoted to the attitudes towards the Jews as 'other', this is the first comprehensive discussion of the attitudes of the Jews to their own 'others'.

Dr Abraham Melamed is a Professor in the Department of Jewish History and Thought at the University of Haifa, Israel. His expertise is medieval and early Modern Jewish philosophy, especially political thought and intellectual history. In recent years, Dr Melamed has been working on issues of gender and the attitudes towards the 'other' in the history of Jewish culture. Dr Melamed has published and lectured widely in these fields.

Acknowledgements, Note on the translated quotations, Introduction, 1 Dream and interpretation: 'Two blacks, hideous to see', 2 Sources of the symbol: 'I am black but comely', 3 In the Bible: 'The children of Cush', 4 In the literature of the Sages: 'Ugly and black', 5 In the cultural world of Islam: 'Speech in its least developed form', 6 In the Latin-Christian cultural world: 'Beasts in all their ways', 7 In the wake of exploration: 'Naked and awash in lust', Afterword, Notes, Bibliography, Index of sources, Subject index