Except for microforms and some digitized items, nearly all materials in Hebrew, Yiddish, Judeo-Arabic, Ladino, and other Jewish languages can be searched by typing your keywords and queries in Hebrew characters into the search bar of Quicksearch and all other Yale University Library search engines.
☞ If you are looking for microforms and digitizations of Hebraic items in Yale collections, best contact the Joseph and Ceil Mazer Librarian for Judaic Studies or try follow the Romanization rules of the Library of Congress as indicated in this chart.
☞ You can learn about searching Quicksearch and general research strategies here.
If you want to do a comprehensive search for scholarly Jewish studies articles published globally in periodicals, books, conference proceedings, Festschriften, et cetera in multiple languages, you have to go to:
RAMBI—The Index of Articles on Jewish Studies, a selective but rather comprehensive bibliography of academic articles covering all of the fields of Jewish studies as well as the study of Eretz Israel and the State of Israel. It generally covers the time between 1966 and the present. It is hosted by the National Library of Israel and updated daily.
☞ RAMBI can be searched in Hebrew and Latin characters with a Hebrew or English interface.
☞ Look for a globe 
at the top of the page to change the interface language.
☞ If you click on the subject headings below (as listed in RAMBI) you are directed to the RAMBI record of the newest article(s) within the respective Jewish studies subject area that is indexed by RAMBI.
☞ Contact the Joseph and Ceil Mazer Librarian for Judaic Studies for any questions concerning RAMBI or a personal tutorial.
More Useful Jewish Studies-Related Catalogs Beyond Yale
Different editions of Shlomo Shunami's Bibliography of Jewish Bibliographies, published between 1936 and 1969 by Magnes Press in Jerusalem. For advanced research, the Bibliography of Jewish Bibliographies is still very useful.
Jewish Studies—Oxford Bibliographies offers you annotated bibliographies created by experts on over 225 specific topics in Jewish studies, such as Buczacz, Emancipation, Ethiopian Jews, Israeli Film, Queer Jewish Texts in the Americas, Women and Gender Relations, Yiddish Avant-garde Theater and much, much more…
☞ Even if you cannot find a bibliography on the exact topic in which you are interested, you will probably find one related to this topic. It is always worthwhile to search in Jewish Studies—Oxford Bibliographies.
Judaic Studies Reading and Reference Room, 335B Sterling Memorial Library
You can search for scholarly, newspaper, and magazine articles as well as e-encyclopedia entries and e-book chapters via Quicksearch or Articles+ . These search engines perform a combined search through all the databases connected to the Yale University Library catalog.
☞ You can also compartmentalize your searches and go through specific databases or browse through single journals. Important for Jewish studies are:
☞ Please remember that not everything is online or connected to the Yale catalog. In order to systematically discover Jewish studies articles and book chapters beyond Quicksearch or Articles+ and the Yale connected databases, you have to consult other online and printed resources. The most important online resource is RAMBI—The Index of Articles on Jewish Studies, which is described to the left of this box.
☞ Please connect to Yale VPN if you are off campus in order to browse through the sources linked below.
☞ It is always smart to consult academic encyclopedias at the beginning and during your research since their articles are written by experts in the field, and they provide you with a short bibliography on the topic at the end of each entry. Depending on the publication date of the encyclopedia, the bibliography is usually not up to date. Moreover, the language in some entries and the presentation of some topics can be outdated and sometimes even offensive. Yet, thoughtfully used, encyclopedias, are often of great help.
Comprehensive English encyclopedias on Jewish cultures and histories:
Encyclopaedia Judaica . 2nd ed. Online version of the 22-volume original which was published in 2006. A partial update to the first 1972 Encyclopaedia Judaica (available in print in the Judaic Studies Reading Room) which contains more illustrations and may contain information not present in the updated edition.
Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World covers the Jews of Muslim lands. In contrast to the 2010 published 5 volume print edition, the online edition is—according to the publisher–updated with newly commissioned articles, illustrations, multimedia, and primary source material.
Enzyklopädie jüdischer Geschichte und Kultur Online = Encyclopedia of Jewish history and culture online; covers the recent history of the Jews from 1750 until the 1950s. 800 keywords present the current state of international research and depict a complex portrait of Jewish life - illustrated by many maps and image
The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe. Open-access online version of the 2009 published 2-volume print edition. The online version is linked to the vast resources of the YIVO Institute of Jewish Research.
The Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women. Open access; continuously updated.
Jewish Encyclopedia. Published between 1901 and 1906, the JE does not cover the twentieth century. The factual information and the language can be outdated; yet, it is still a valuable resource.
Yiddish Leksikon. Josh Fogel’s monumental translation (open access) of Niger, Samuel and Shatzky, Jacob, eds. Leḳsiḳon fun der nayer Yidisher liṭeraṭur. 8 vols. New York, N.Y.: Alṿelṭlekhn Yidishn ḳulṭur-ḳongres, 1956–1981 and Kagan, Berl. Leḳsiḳon fun Yidish-shraybers : miṭ hesofes̀ un tiḳunim tsum Leḳsiḳon fun der nayer Yidisher liṭeraṭur, un 5,800 pseṿdonimen. New York: R. Ilman-Kohen, 1986, with some information from Beyder, Khayim and Ėstraĭkh, Gennadiĭ. Leḳsiḳon fun Yidishe shrayber in Raṭn-Farband. New York: Alṿelṭlekhn Yidishn ḳulṭur-ḳongres, 2011.
Encyclopedia of Jewish Book Cultures Online. Started in 2021, this Brill encyclopedia is still growing and far from finished.
☞ You can find more Jewish studies encyclopedias and dictionaries of all sizes in print and online if you click on the following subject headings:
☞ You can also browse through many print editions of reference works in the Judaic Studies Reading and Reference Room at Sterling.
Good sites to discover (digitized) Jewish (historical) periodicals are:
Yale University Library provides you with access to more than 14 million tangible and digital items, but it does not hold everything.
The interface of WorldCat that you can access through Yale’s subscription is a fantastic and under-used tool, which allows you to discover materials beyond Yale Library.
WorldCat not only allows you to search materials held in more than 10,000 academic, public, special, and national libraries around the world but also to search very precisely through digital texts platforms, such as:
…. and much, much more…
☞ You can search most of the listed digital platforms via WorldCat much easier and more precisely than through the interface of the platforms themselves.
☞ Materials that are held by Yale University Library are marked with this icon 
in WorldCat.
☞ Order materials that are not held by Yale University Library via BorrowDirect or Interlibrary Loan (ILL).
☞ Contact the Joseph and Ceil Mazer Librarian for Judaic Studies for any questions concerning WorldCat or a personal tutorial.
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