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“The dynamic of the Diaspora will, undoubtedly, continue to be debated until the Messiah comes. Until then, participants in this crucial conversation can gain much historical insight into its complexities from Simkovich’s learned and engaging Letters from Home.”

—Rabbi Dr. Stuart Halpern The Jewish Journal

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“An excellent and thought-provoking analysis of Hellenistic period Jewish literature.”

—Daniel L. Smith-Christopher Catholic Books Review

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“A brilliant study of how Second Temple letter-writers and authors constructed diaspora and shaped their own identities, which resonate with our own times as well.”

—Adele Reinhartz, author of Cast Out of the Covenant: Jews and Anti-Judaism in the Gospel of John

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“Letters from Home is a brilliant and innovative exploration of ancient Jewish identity-construction that successfully overcomes the biases pervading earlier scholarship. The book’s insightful literary and rhetorical analyses show how Jewish ‘letter-writers’ from both Hellenistic-era Judea and Egypt negotiated the historical and theological meaning of the demographic dispersion of their community, while dialogically shaping their respective identities.”

—Christine Hayes, author of What’s Divine about Divine Law? Early Perspectives

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