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Ben Rothke

Book review: 101 Treasures from the National Library of Israel

https://scalapublishers.com/treasures-from-the-national-library-of-israel/

The National Library of Israel (NLI) is dedicated to collecting the cultural treasures of Israel and of Jewish heritage. Located at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the quantities around its holdings are quite impressive. That includes over 4 million books and 2.5 million photographs, 120,000 hours of recordings, 610,000 manuscripts, and much more.

Now take all that, and try to write a best of book, and it is a most challenging endeavor. But in 101 Treasures from the National LIbrary of Israel, (Scala Arts Publishers), editors from the NLI, Raquel Ukeles, PhD, Head of Collections, Hezi Amiur, PhD, Israel Collection Curator, Yoel Finkelman, PhD, Haim and Hanna Solomon Judaica Collection Curator, Stefan Litt, PhD, Humanities Collection Curator and Samuel Thrope, PhD, Islam and Middle East Collection Curator, have done just that.

Published to celebrate the opening of the NLI new building in 2023, the book is full of fascinating insights and manuscripts. It is akin to a great hits collection from the Jewish world, over the past 1,500 years.

With the exception of three pages of the Elizabethan play Sir Thomas More, which William Shakespeare may have helped write, no manuscripts of Shakespeare’s survive. The only evidence is a handful of his signatures. It’s somewhat ironic that there is little direct written evidence for the greatest English language writer in history.

Contrast that with Maimonides, who lived about half a millennium earlier than Shakespeare, and there is a preponderance of hand-written manuscripts from him. Many hand-written documents from Maimonides were discovered in the Cairo Genizah, amongst roughly 400,000 other documents.

In the book, Daniel Lipson, reference librarian at NLI, shares images of Maimonides Commentary on The Mishnah, written in 1160. Not only that, one can see where Maimonides made corrections and emendations. For those that can’t travel to the NLI to see Maimonides manuscripts, Yeshiva University in New York City currently has an exhibit with many of his manuscripts and rare printed books from collections around the world, exploring specific items within their varied historical, cultural, and Maimonidean contexts.

Also detailed in the book is the Afghan Genizah, where manuscript fragments were found in the caves of Afghanistan. These documents were vital in proving that Jews had actually lived in Afghanistan. In 2013, the NLI purchased a large swath of documents from the Afghan Geniza which made their way into its collections.

Not everything in the book goes back to the medieval period and the book provides a lot of insights into modern Israeli culture. From children’s newspapers during the British Mandate (there were a lot of them), to samples from Kariel Gardosh, an Israeli cartoonist and illustrator better known by his pseudonym Dosh, and more, this is a visually stimulating journey through the greatest items in the NLI.

In the Talmudic story of Honi HaMe’agel, he hibernates for 70 years and awakes to a world he does not understand. In this volume, there are many examples of items, commonplace during the time, that would be foreign now.

As Talmudic Babylonia was a place swarming with demons, no home would be complete without incantation bowls. While these are not mentioned in the Talmud, Yoel Finkelman shows how these bowls were popular and used to trap demons. The bowls, many shown in the book from the 5th century, contained intricate details and images.

Roman Vishniac’s classic work A Vanished World is a pictorial history of Jewish life in Germany in the 1930s. In 101 Treasures, the editors bring to the written page many different worlds that the average reader does not know about.

While not meant to be an inspirational book, the depth and breadth of the collective Jewish contribution to the worlds of religion, art, music, and poetry are highlighted here. After reading this fine book, I really wish the title would have been 1,001 Treasures from the National Library of Israel.

About the Author
I’m a senior information security and risk management professional, based in New York City. I speak at industry conferences, and write on information security, social media, privacy and technology. My book reviews are on information security, privacy, technology, and risk management. My reviews for the Times of Israel focus on Judaism, Talmud, religion and philosophy.
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