We open this issue with a tribute to a former member of Contemporary Jewry’s Editorial Board, a recipient of the 2009 Marshall Sklare Award for scholarly achievement in the field of the social scientific study of contemporary Jewry, and a serious, thoughtful, and thought-provoking colleague: Professor Charles Kadushin z’l. Leonard Saxe has written a moving, comprehensive, and personal tribute to Kadushin, with whom Saxe had a long-standing personal and professional relationship. May his memory be a blessing and inspiration to us all.

It is fitting that we move on from this tribute to honor our current, 2022 Marshall Sklare Awardee, Debra Renee Kaufman, professor emerita and Matthews Distinguished University Professor at Northeastern University, where she began as a faculty member in 1975. A founding director of the Women’s Studies Program and Director of Jewish Studies 1997–2004, with numerous accolades for her research and scholarly endeavors, Debby (as she is affectionately known by her colleagues and friends) has made unforgettable contributions to the social scientific study of contemporary Jewry. The Marshall Sklare Award is awarded annually by the Association for the Social Scientific Study of Jewry (ASSJ) to honor a scholar (or scholars) who has made a significant scholarly contribution to the social scientific study of Jewry, in the tradition of the foundational scholar, Marshall Sklare, primarily through the publication of a body of research in books and articles and/or through public sociology. Debby has made us all aware of the challenges of studying “the world with us in it” (the title of her Sklare address published in this issue), highlighting in her contributions the important role of our personal and professional narratives for our own research, as well as how the subjects in her various research projects make sense of the world in their own words and frameworks. Her work speaks for itself, and she reviews her professional trajectory in her address. The colleagues who commented on her address and the honor bestowed upon her focus on contributions she has made particularly to their field of research or their own trajectories as professionals in this field. It is noteworthy that her influence spans across continents and disciplines, as is evident by those who paid special tribute to her career at the AJS 2022 Sklare session, and whose remarks are reproduced in this volume: Judith Bokser Liwerant, President of ASSJ, introduced her at the Association of Jewish Studies last December, presenting her major accomplishments; Sergio DellaPergola, Bethamie Horowitz, and Ariela Keysar followed her address with their particular foci on her contributions to their own subfields of study. It is my pleasure as a colleague and personal friend of Professor Kaufman to edit the issue in which her work is recognized, lauded, and presented for your own inspiration.

It is also fitting that her honor is followed by current research that presents a remarkable array of ways of seeing the world with us as researchers in it. This section opens with an unusual methodological focus on translated works, and how the choice of what work is translated, what within the work is translated, and to whom the translated work is disseminated shapes the audiences for the translated work both historically and conceptually. Many of us read translated work without thinking twice about the work that has gone into its selection and the care regarding what parts of the work are translated for particular audiences and what terminology is used in that translation. Omri Asscher does not let us gloss over that process, suggesting that how the Diaspora thinks of itself and sees itself reflected by Religious Zionists in Israel is very much colored by the translation process of various works (e.g., of Rabbi Israel Isaac Kook), which has moved toward less negativity and more acceptance if not outright appreciation between the Diaspora and Israel.

Amir Goldstein also shows how the world we inhabit and our collective memories are shaped by public media and its changing perceptions, which reconstruct how we value and label those who have been instrumental in our history. “News” can take on new meanings and salience depending on who interprets it and how they use it to perpetuate their world view. This has pertinence especially to the political field in this case, as well as the critical role media plays in shaping our meaning-making, politically and more broadly by extension.

Amir Segal follows a passion of his to trace the development of Israeli baseball and its importance in American transnationalism and migratory patterns. Using our analytical frameworks to recognize meaning in the lifestyle patterns and passions we observe is part of studying our worlds with us in it, as Amir shows us regarding this sport. Moshe Sharabi and Avi Kay hone their sights onto the values that Israeli women bring to their experiences in the labor force, comparing Haredi, traditional, and secular women. They show how work values vary with the lifestyles and values of the women and the Israeli subcultures within which they live, and that even the meaning of a particular work value may vary depending on the communal context within which the women live outside of the labor force. Again, their research makes us realize how much the worlds we inhabit influence us and our perceptions of experiences that are similar to others who are different from us.

Kobi Cohen-Hattab focuses on a burial site familiar to those who inhabit or visit Jerusalem, Har HaMenuchot, illuminating how historical processes can set the stage for perpetuation of settings that, on the one hand, may seem chaotic in comparison to other contemporary organizational set-ups but, on the other hand, provide opportunities for the flourishing of multiple spin-offs, as is the case for contemporary burial societies and their activities at the cemetery. Cohen-Hattab’s research on sites that have symbolic meaning for much of the Israeli population allows us to appreciate how collective memory and its reconstruction shape our experiences wherever we live.

These original articles are followed by Research Updates, thanks to our research editor, Helen Kim, and then five book reviews, reflecting fruits of the efforts of Daniel Ross Goodman—to whom we owe thanks as our outgoing book review editor—and of Ephraim Tabory—who assumes his new role as book review editor with this issue. As with the articles in this issue, the book reviews span many perspectives across our various worlds, including paid employment of Jews in the labor force (Barry Chiswick’s edited volume), politics (Dalin’s essays); dancing at celebrations (Gollance’s work on “Mixed-Sex Dancing” and modernity), the ethnic enclave of Kiryas Yoel (Nomi Stolzenberg and David Myers’ case study), and children’s perspectives on Israel (Sivan Zakai’s research on children’s perspectives, rarely told in their own words).

We welcome your comments and contributions, and hope, as always, this issue provides provoking food for thought and inspired learning.