The Encyclopaedia Judaica is a 26-volume English-language encyclopedia of the Jewish people and of Judaism. It covers diverse areas of the Jewish world and civilization, including Jewish history of all eras, culture, holidays, language, scripture, and religious teachings. As of 2010 it had been published in two editions accompanied by a few revisions.
The English-language Judaica was also published on CD-ROM. The CD-ROM version has been enhanced by at least 100,000 hyperlinks and several other features, including videos, slide shows, maps, music and Hebrew pronunciations. While the CD-ROM version is still available, the publisher has discontinued it.
The encyclopedia was written by Israeli, American and European professional subject specialists.
The English-language Encyclopaedia Judaica was first published from 1971–1972 in sixteen volumes, in Jerusalem by Keter Publishing House, and in New York City by the Macmillan Company. Between 1973 and 1991 eight "Yearbooks" were published (dated 1973, 1974, 1975–76, 1977–78, 1983–85, 1986–87, 1988–89, and 1990–91) along with two "Decennial" volumes dated 1973–1982 (also published as "Volume 17") and 1983–1992. Together these volumes contained more than 15 million words in over 25,000 articles.
Its general editors were, successively, Cecil Roth and Geoffrey Wigoder. Advertisers describe it as the result of about three decades of study and research by about 2,200 contributors and 250 editors around the world.
A Shorter Jewish Encyclopedia in Russian, launched in the early 1970s as an abridged translation of the Encyclopaedia Judaica, evolved into a largely independent publication that by late 2005 included eleven volumes and three supplements. A number of editions of a version of the English Encyclopaedia for youth were also published.