The images displayed capture candid moments, such as Senesh on horseback at Kfar Baruch, playing table tennis, and working with cows at the Nahalal Agricultural School.

By Jewish Breaking News

The National Library of Israel has unveiled an extensive collection of photographs chronicling the life of a Jewish war heroine.

Born in Budapest in 1921, Hannah Senesh received an Agfa Box-Spezial Camera at a young age, which became her constant companion.

Her photographs span from her early life in Budapest through family vacations, and later document her pioneering days in British Mandatory Palestine.

Senesh’s life took a dramatic turn in 1943 when she enlisted in the British army and volunteered for a dangerous paratrooper mission into Nazi-occupied Europe.

She was tasked to assist downed Allied pilots in escaping and to aid Jewish communities under Nazi occupation.

In March 1944, she parachuted into Slovenia with three fellow paratroopers. Tragically, on June 9, 1944, Hungarian police captured her in Budapest.

Despite enduring months of torture and the arrest of her mother, Senesh refused to divulge information to her captors.

She was ultimately charged with spying and treason, leading to her execution on November 7, 1944, at just 23 years old.

In 1945, Jewish Brigade soldier Moshe Braslavsky discovered a suitcase under her bed at Kibbutz Sdot Yam containing letters, diaries, and photo albums.

Later, a notebook of poetry, entrusted to a friend before her final mission, emerged to further cement her cultural impact.

In recognition of her sacrifice, Senesh was reinterred in 1950 at Israel’s national military cemetery on Mt. Herzl in Jerusalem.

The archive contains a treasure trove of her personal effects, including manuscripts, notebooks, photographs, documents, and personal items.

In her own words, preserved in letters to her mother, Senesh humorously noted, “Everyone wants me to photograph them, as if they’ve appointed me the court photographer.”

Her photographic legacy includes carefully curated albums with typewritten captions and personal annotations on the backs of photos, many of which were sent to her family in Hungary.

The images displayed capture candid moments, such as Senesh on horseback at Kfar Baruch, playing table tennis, and working with cows at the Nahalal Agricultural School.

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The 16th century letter includes “a major discovery about the influence Ha’Ari had, not only in the field of Kabbalah but also worldly matters.”

By David Hellerman, World Israel News

Rabbi Isaac Luria, a renown 16th century Kabbalist who had immense influence on Jewish thought and customs, left behind no personal writings on Jewish mysticism. What’s known of his teachings were transmitted to future generations through summaries written by his students.

However, the National Library of Israel has revealed the existence of a letter which sheds new light on Jewish life in the Holy Land and in Egypt.

According to Israel Hayom, the letter, written by a man named David, was sent to Rabbi Luria — also known as “The Arizal” or “Ha’Ari” — while he was living in Egypt. The letter discusses everyday matters and requests the Arizal’s support for a certain Jewish emissary sent to collect charity in the Diaspora to help poor Jews living in the Holy Land.

“The letter was preserved because it had been used to bind another book, a common practice before the invention of cardboard. Bookbinders would take paper or vellum pages from worn-out volumes and stick them together into dense stacks that would serve as stiff enough material for book covers,” Israel Hayom reported.

Rabbi Luria was born in 1534 in Jerusalem but raised in Cairo by an uncle after his father passed away. The Arizal began engrossing himself in the study of the Zohar, the foundational teachings of Kabbalah or Jewish mysticism. He moved to back to Holy Land in 1569, eventually settling down in the Galilee city of Safed (Tsfat), where he studied with Rabbi Moshe Cordavero, then regarded as the world’s leading Kabbalist.

When Rabbi Cordavero died in 1570, the community turned to the Arizal for rabbinic leadership. Rabbi Luria was very particular about his kabblalistic teachings not being published. But after the Arizal’s death in 1572, his leading student, Rabbi Chaim Vital, began organizing his notes into what became several books — most prominently among them the eight-volume Etz Chaim, or “Tree of Life.”

The Arizal’s teachings became a cornerstone of the Hasidic movement, and his grave in Safed remains a popular pilgrimage site to this day.

“The letter, which was preserved in an unusual manner in the binding of old books, is a major discovery about the influence Ha’Ari had, not only in the field of Kabbala but also worldly matters,” said Dr. Yoel Finkelman, curator of the library’s Judaica collection.

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Each clip is about two to three minutes long with items presented in Spanish, Italian, Polish, Hebrew, German, French, Russian and English.

By JNS.org

In honor of the eight nights of Chanukah this year, the National Library of Israel has produced eight clips featuring rare items from the library’s collections, presented in eight different languages, all with English subtitles.

A number of the items appear publicly for the first time. Each clip is about two to three minutes long with items presented in Spanish, Italian, Polish, Hebrew, German, French, Russian and English. Each day of the eight-day festival, a new clip will go up on the National Library’s Facebook and Twitter pages.

Treasures showcased in the films include a rare printing of a Medieval French text that includes what is believed to be the oldest written mention of latkes (fried potato pancakes traditionally eaten during Chanukah); a special Chanukah booklet prepared for Jewish German soldiers during World War I and a stunning late 18th-century “Book of Antiochus” manuscript from the Bukharian Jewish community.

Also highlighted is a rare booklet of Ladino Chanukah verses printed around 1828 in the Ottoman Empire; a traditional holiday recipe printed in Polish and Yiddish in Warsaw just before the Holocaust; and late 19th-century Chanukah flyers from Italy and India.

The Hebrew clip features a recording of legendary Moroccan-Israeli performer Jo Amar singing the traditional holiday blessings at the Israeli president’s official candle-lighting ceremony in 1957.

The National Library of Israel’s Haim and Hanna Salomon Judaica Collection includes the vast majority of Hebrew and Jewish books, journals and magazines ever published; thousands of Hebrew-letter manuscripts; the world’s largest collection of Jewish music and sound; hundreds of personal archives of leading figures; and much more.

Some highlights of the collection include Maimonides’s commentary on the Mishna in his own handwriting; some of the earliest Talmudic manuscripts and fragments; the world’s largest collections of ketubahs and Haggadahs; Hebrew books dating to the advent of the printing press; archival collections of leading rabbinic figures; and the Gershom Scholem Library—the world’s foremost resource for the study of Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism and Chassidism.

The clips were produced as part of the library’s “A Look at the Jewish Year” series, which provides insights into the Jewish calendar and holidays through the lens of the National Library of Israel’s world-leading collection of Jewish manuscripts, books, printed materials and more.

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Jaber, a 26-year-old resident of east Jerusalem, accepted a plea bargain in exchange for the lenient prison sentence.

By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News

An Israeli court sentenced a former Jerusalem librarian to 2.5 years in prison for her role as a spy aiding and abetting the Lebanon-based Hezbollah terror group.

On Sunday, the Jerusalem District Court found Yasmin Jaber guilty on charges of attempting to recruit Arab Israelis to a network of Hezbollah operatives in the Jewish State, as well as being a member of a terrorist organization and contacting an enemy agent in a foreign country.

Jaber, a 26-year-old resident of east Jerusalem, accepted a plea bargain in exchange for the lenient prison sentence.

According to the indictment, Jaber traveled to Lebanon and Turkey several times between 2015 and 2018, where she “knowingly had contact with foreign [terror] agents…was a member of the terrorist organization, took part in the organization’s activities and carried out…operations to help…fund terrorist organization activities.”

Because women generally fall under less scrutiny than men, Jaber’s role was to recruit Israeli Arab women as Hezbollah spies to provide information for the planning and execution of terror attacks.

Jaber used social media posts on Instagram to communicate with her handlers, sending coded messages via the captions, prosecutors said.

She was arrested in September 2020 after a year-long Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) investigation into an Iranian-Hezbollah recruitment network operating in Israel.

News of Jaber’s arrest shocked her employer, the National Library of Israel.

In a statement, the institution said it came as a “great surprise” that their diligent employee was accused of “such grave offenses.”

Initially, Jaber proclaimed her innocence. Her attorney said that she had been interrogated for 20 hours a day with no legal counsel present.

“My sister could never have done anything that harms herself or us,” Jaber’s sister Shorouq told Arabic-language media.

A Hebrew University student group which Jaber co-founded also defended her.

“We believe Yasmin’s story… because it is a thousand times closer to the person we knew,” the organization wrote on Facebook.

“This Shin Bet investigation is the product of a lengthy intelligence operation to locate those suspected of being recruited by Hezbollah. It is another step in the counterterrorism efforts carried out in the past year against Quds Force and Hezbollah’s attempts to recruit Israeli Arabs,” a senior Shin Bet official said in a statement.

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Some seven months into the “Abraham Accords,” this MOU represents the most significant institutional agreement in the field of cultural heritage.

By World Israel News Staff

The National Archives (NA) of the United Arab Emirates in Abu Dhabi and the National Library of Israel (NLI) in Jerusalem have signed an historic memorandum of understanding.

The agreement “commits the two organizations to work together in support of mutual and separate goals and for the benefit of the international cultural and documentary heritage sector,” according to the agreement signed by the institutions’ directors, Dr. Abdulla M. Alraisi and Oren Weinberg.

Some seven months into the “Abraham Accords,” this MOU represents the most significant institutional agreement in the field of cultural heritage. Both the NA and the NLI serve as central institutions of national memory for their respective countries and broader publics.

In recent years, both have launched expansive and diverse efforts to serve scholars and wider audiences domestically and internationally.

The document, which is valid for an initial three-year period, lays out a number of areas for collaboration, including digitization and digital sharing of holdings and research materials; professional knowledge sharing; cultural exchange such as conferences, workshops, trainings, study tours, exhibitions, and more.

A number of specific collaborative initiatives are already under discussion, specifically in the digital realm.

The NA is one of the oldest cultural institutions in the UAE and the largest documentation organization in the Arabian Gulf region. It collects historical material relating to the United Arab Emirates in particular and the Arabian Gulf states in general, and also documents, indexes and translates the materials collected; publishes specialized historical research; and hosts and organizes conferences, symposiums, and exhibitions domestically and internationally.

The NLI is the dynamic institution of national memory for the Jewish people worldwide and Israelis of all backgrounds and faiths, serving as Israel’s leading research library while offering a range of educational, cultural and digital initiatives.

It holds the world’s largest collection of textual Judaica, as well as a significant collection of Islamic manuscripts and Arabic materials and one of the region’s leading research collections on the Middle East.

The landmark new NLI campus – with state-of-the-art facilities for research, as well as cultural and educational programming – is on schedule to open in Jerusalem in 2022.

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The ‘Damascus Crowns,’ illuminated Bibles smuggled out of Damascus, will remain under the Israeli National Library’s custodianship.

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Wikimedia says it is “so sorry” for taking historical photos from Israeli archives without permission.

By Tofi Stoler, Calcalist

Wikimedia Israel will collaborate with the Association of Israeli Archivists (AIA) and the National Library of Israel to make copyright-free historic materials publicly available on Wikimedia’s server, the three organizations announced Monday.

The local branch of San Francisco-headquartered nonprofit The Wikimedia Foundation Inc., which also operates Wikipedia, stirred controversy in November when it uploaded 28,000 public-domain photos extracted from public and private archives in Israel to its openly available online media archive Wikimedia Commons.

In a letter sent one week later, AIA claimed that Wikimedia acted “like thieves in the night,” calling its actions a “sting operation.” The archivists were especially outraged by Wikimedia’s removal of watermarks from the photos and went as far as accusing the nonprofit of several legal offenses, including copyright infringement and image manipulation.

In the joint statement published Monday, the organizations stated they regret their previous quarrels over the matter, which were the result of “lack of communication” and “differences in worldview and organizational culture that damaged the dialogue and distorted the intentions of both the archives and Wikimedia Israel.”

The parties stated they are looking to turn over a new leaf in their relationship and are committed to expanding the selection of freely available historic images by increasing awareness, actively contacting private archives, and assisting them in digitizing and cataloging their collections.

The images that caused the original spat were all taken before 1948 in the territories that later became the State of Israel, putting them in the public domain, according to Israeli law. Among the subjects depicted in the photos are day to day life in the early days of Tel Aviv, the kibbutzim and other urban and rural areas, military training by British soldiers, social events, and landscapes.

For its partisan project, Wikimedia created automatic tools to scan through both public and private online archives in Israel, detecting the images for which copyright does not apply.

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Feel like listening to a good old Arik Einstein song or discovering music from the next superstar? Shiri offers everything from Sasha Argov to Zohar Argov.

By Rachel Neiman, ISRAEL21c

Sing out! In the same spirit that only a few weeks ago launched a thousand images documenting Israel’s history for free use, the National Library of Israel, in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and Sport, and the Digital Finjan project have announced the release of Shiri, a mobile phone app for Israeli music.

Music lovers can access some 40,000 songs crossing all Israeli music genres, featuring artists from decades past through the present day.

Shiri, (“my song” in Hebrew) offers music by beloved Israeli musicians like Arik Einstein, Aviv Geffen, Berry Sakharof, Chava Alberstein, Dana International, HaDag Nahash, Hanan Ben Ari, Itzik Kala, Marina Maximilian Blumin, Netta Barzilai, Rita, Ronit Shachar, Shalom Hanoch, Shlomo Artzi, Shoshana Damari, Tea-Packs (Tippex), Yaffa Yarkoni, Yehudit Ravitz, Yonatan Razel and Zohar Argov, along with hundreds of others.

There are also old-timey tracks salvaged from the dustbins of Israeli audio history: kibbutz choirs, army entertainment troupes, musical numbers, children’s songs and more.

An immediate success

Since its February 4 release, the free and ad-free app had already been downloaded 100,000 times and ranked first on both Google Play and App Store, ahead of music app titans Spotify, Shazam and SoundCloud.

The app also boasts an artificial intelligence component that analyzes user feedback–likes, dislikes and a sliding “Surprise Me This Much” scale that lets users determine how often they want to hear unfamiliar tunes – to learn the user’s personal tastes and generate tailored playlists.

Shiri’s smart algorithm is not driven by industry music charts but by guidance musicians and cultural leaders whose goal is to expose listeners to both new music and old favorites. The app streams a constant flow of songs the user already knows and, based on listening habits and feedback, offers others the user might enjoy.

According to youth entertainment website Frogi,  “The State of Israel is actually trying to preserve Israeli music among the younger generation and not let it sink into the sea of foreign music. You can hear the artists you already know, and sometimes even new and young artists, to expand your horizons in Israeli music.”

The app is the brainchild of musician and producer Ariel Horowitz, who heads the Digital Finjan project. He also happens to be the son of celebrated national songwriter Naomi Shemer.

Three and a half years ago, Horowitz became concerned that her legacy, along with others of that founding generation, could be forgotten. The solution would be an app for Israeli music.

As luck would have it, a historic agreement had recently been signed between Israel’s record companies and the National Library, allowing the library to use the companies’ Israeli repertoire for preservation and accessibility purposes in return for a symbolic royalty fee on copyright-protected content.

These rich catalogues of Israeli music were added to the library’s National Music Collection and Sound Archive,  the world’s largest collection of ethnographic and commercial recordings of Israeli and Jewish music (developed in partnership with the Legacy Heritage Fund), and the Bella and Harry Wexner Libraries of Sound and Song, for the rescue, preservation and digitization of audio recordings, music manuscripts, printed material and ephemera, as well as personal archives of composers and performers.

In 2016, an idea was floated at a Knesset committee hearing on a bill for the extension of the period of copyright on recordings from 50 to 70 years. A publicly available music app would be part of a “win-win proposal” covering preservation and accessibility; promotion of Hebrew music; and disbursement of royalties. The first part was being handled by the National Music Collection, the second part would be Digital Finjan’s task. The third part was the topic under discussion.

Preserving Israeli culture

At that meeting, Horowitz said, “I’m a musician who, along with my sister, had the good fortune to be the heir of my mother, the late Naomi Shemer, so I’m also interested in how we can preserve the culture that preceded our generation, and I’ve also founded an initiative together with the best Israeli artists from across the musical spectrum… for free access to Israeli music in anyone’s pocket via an app… It is not for profit because we are very, very worried about the fate of this sector.”

In 2017, the Knesset plenum approved the bill extending the period of copyright, adopting mechanisms to ensure public access to past treasures of Israeli music while at the same time ensuring proper remuneration for performers on past repertoires.

The matter of royalties now resolved, Horowitz’s dream became reality at the beginning of February 2019 with a launch that exceeded all expectations. Israel’s Ministry of Culture and Sport sponsored the successful promotional campaign.

The National Library stated that the app sets two global precedents. “For the first time, a country has entered the digital music market to protect and promote its local culture and unique language [and] for the first time in digital media, royalties are distributed equally to creators, record companies and performers.”

It was also emphasized that the artists will earn a higher fee on each song played on Shiri than on other music apps.

Shiri (currently only in Hebrew) is available for both Android  and iOS devices.

A few other Israeli music sites are available online, including the National Library’s own House of Hebrew Songs that provides not only music but also documentation – posters, programs, sheet music, photographs, etc.– relating to each artist.

Zemereshet  is a project focused exclusively on Hebrew songs from the early Zionist period and up until the establishment of the State of Israel, while Radio Nostalgia, a production of the wonderful Israel Nostalgia site, plays songs dating from establishment of the State on through to the 1980s. For those who like to sing along, lyrics to Israeli songs can be found on Shironet.

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A rare miniature Washington ‘thumb bible’, one of less than a dozen existing copies, is now accessible to the public. 

By: World Israel News Staff

A rare miniature bible with a dedication to President George Washington was recently digitized and displayed online by the National Library of Israel.

Some two centuries after it was published, a rare miniature bible dedicated to “His Excellency G. Washington” arrived in Jerusalem, where the National Library of Israel has made it freely accessible online for the first time.

According to experts, fewer than a dozen copies of this edition remain in public hands.

The book, measuring about 51mm by 35mm (2″ x 1 3/8″), includes both the Old and New Testaments written in a paraphrased form.

“The term ‘thumb bible’ refers to abbreviated bibles, which were popular in early-19th^–century America, where they were used to educate children,” said Dr. Aviad Stollman, head of Collections at the National Library of Israel.

The paraphrased biblical text appearing in this edition was originally written by John Taylor, a well-known 16th-17th century English poet. The book includes a number of early American woodcuts depicting biblical scenes and figures. It was printed in Rutland, Vermont, some time between 1813 and 1815.

The full dedication reads: “To his Excellency G. Washington, President of the United States of America. Most hopeful George, into thy hands we give, The sum of that which makes us ever live. And tho’ the volume and the work be small, Yet it contains the sum of all in all.”

The George Washington Thumb Bible came to the National Library of Israel as part of the famed Valmadonna Trust Library, the finest private collection of Hebrew books and manuscripts in the world, which was purchased jointly by NLI and collectors Dr. David and Jemima Jeselsohn through a private sale arranged by Sotheby’s.

The Valmadonna collection is currently being digitized and will be showcased at the National Library of Israel’s landmark new building, currently under construction in Jerusalem.

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The National Library of Israel has added the Günzburg Collection, which includes some of the most important Hebrew manuscripts and books in the world, to its new digitized platform.  

By: World Israel News Staff

An historic agreement was signed in Jerusalem on Tuesday between the National Library of Israel (NLI), the Russian State Library in Moscow and the Moscow-based Peri Foundation, which will enable the public to access the Günzburg Collection, which contains some of the most important Hebrew manuscripts and books in the world.

Through the support of the Peri Foundation, 2,000 manuscripts and thousands of books in the collection will be digitized, making these significant works accessible online. The originals will remain in Russia.

The Günzburg Collection was started in the 19th century by Joseph Günzburg and continued by his son Horace. The family manuscript collection grew significantly towards the end of the century when Joseph’s grandson, Baron David Günzburg, acquired over half of the manuscripts in the current collection.

The manuscripts include a mosaic of topics and spheres of interest, including biblical texts and commentaries, works on Jewish law and the Talmud, prayer books and Kabbalah, as well as volumes of philosophy and texts on astronomy, medicine and magic.

‘A Significant Milestone’

“The addition of the digitized Günzburg Collection marks a significant milestone in the renewal process of the National Library of Israel, the home of greatest collection of Hebrew books and manuscripts in the world, and advances its key aim to preserve the national memory of the Jewish people,” the NLI stated.

Images of the ancient Hebrew manuscripts will be integrated with NLI’s new and comprehensive digital platform: Ktiv, which will eventually include images of all known Hebrew manuscripts.

The archive contains nearly 4.5 million images from 45,000 manuscripts — slightly more than half of all known volumes. They include prayer books, biblical texts and commentary, philosophy, literature and scientific writings in Hebrew, Yiddish, Ladino, Judeo-Arabic and more.

Adapting to the 21st Century

The NLI is currently undergoing an extensive process of regeneration, aiming to develop and adapt the institution to the 21st century.

Lord Jacob Rothschild, supporter of the NLI, said that “for many decades now the National Library has lived in hope of having access to the great Günzberg Collection in Russia. Thanks to the imaginative generosity of  Ziyavudin Magomedov and the Peri Foundation and with the support of the Russian State Library, this will at last happen.”

“This is of particular sentimental importance to me as I happen to be an Executor of the estate of Isaiah Berlin’s widow, born Aline Günzberg, a direct descendant of the Günzberg family,” Rothschild noted.

Ziyavudin Magomedov, founder of the Peri Foundation, said he personally considers this “a project of the utmost importance.”

“New technology has the potential to assist in comprehending one’s identity, history and culture, change approaches to education, and give access to the exploration of historical heritage. Humanitarian collaboration is extremely important for a balanced world,” Magomedov said.

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The National Library of Israel launched the most comprehensive online digitized library of manuscripts in the world.  

Israel’s National Library (NLI) launched an online database on Wednesday aggregating tens of thousands of digitized Jewish manuscripts belonging to 43 collections from across the globe.

Scholars and laypersons can access almost half of the known handwritten Jewish texts from Spain to Afghanistan, which have been digitized and catalogued online. In some cases, parts of a manuscript that have been long divided between collections will be reunited – digitally – for the first time in centuries.

The archive contains nearly 4.5 million images from 45,000 manuscripts — slightly more than half of all known volumes. They include prayer books, biblical texts and commentary, philosophy, literature and scientific writings, in Hebrew, Yiddish, Ladino, Judeo-Arabic and more.

The database, called Ktiv, Hebrew for “written word,” is the culmination of a project conceived by Israel’s founding Prime Minister David Ben Gurion. In 1950, Ben Gurion launched the initiative to gather Jewish texts scattered in libraries and collections around the world and bring them to the fledgling state in the form of microfilms.

The new database, a joint venture with the Friedberg Jewish Manuscript Society, takes that endeavor into the 21^st century, with multispectral and high-definition images and an internet search engine.

The NLI partnered with some of the world’s largest collections of Jewish manuscripts, including the British Library, Parma’s Palatina Library and the Vatican Library, in an effort to bring all the known texts under one digital roof.

“To the best of my knowledge, this is unprecedented not only for Jewish studies and Judaica,” NLI director Aviad Stollman said. “There is no project with this scope that aggregated so many manuscripts from so many places in the world.”

Stollman said the project will continue to amass additional images of Jewish manuscripts held by other collections that haven’t yet partnered with the library, and that their work is expected to continue for years to come.

The library is also working to make the texts within the manuscripts searchable to users online.

By: AP

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The close ties between Nazi Germany and the Arabs is highlighted in a newly exposed telegram. 

By: Aryeh Savir, World Israel News

A rare document further confirming the close ties between Nazi Germany and the Arab population in the land of Israel, then British-Mandate Palestine, has been exposed by the National Library of Israel (NLI).

On Wednesday, the NLI published a telegram from leading Nazi commander Heinrich Himmler to Jerusalem’s Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini, sending “best wishes in your continued battle” against the “Jewish invaders” until “the great victory.”

In the telegram, written in 1943, Himmler underscores how Nazism is warring against “global Judaism” and, therefore, closely monitoring the battle of “the freedom-seeking Arabs,” especially in Palestine, “against the Jewish invaders.”

“The mutual recognition of the enemy and the shared conflict against it is what creates the strong foundation between Germany and the freedom-seeking Muslims around the world,” he stated.

“In this spirit, I am pleased to congratulate you on the anniversary of the unfortunate Balfour declaration, best wishes in your continued battle until the great victory.”

Al-Husseini had fled the British and ended up in Germany, where he met Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. The Mufti encouraged Hitler, Himmler and other Nazi officials to exterminate European Jewry.

After World War II, during the Nuremberg trials, a deputy of Adolf Eichmann who had carried out Jewish genocide testified that the Mufti was instrumental in the decision to exterminate the Jews of Europe, having considered it a suitable solution to the so-called Palestinian question.

Eichmann’s deputy stressed that the Mufti was one of the instigators of the systematic extermination of European Jewry. He was a partner and adviser to Eichmann and Hitler.

In 1945, Yugoslavia sought to indict the Mufti for war crimes for his role in recruiting 20,000 Muslim volunteers for the SS, who participated in the killing of Jews in Croatia and Hungary. The Mufti escaped from French detention in 1946 and continued his fight against the Jews from Cairo and later Beirut, where he died in 1974.

Al-Husseini is still a revered figure in Palestinian society, where children are taught that he is one of the founding fathers of the “nation.”

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Israel’s national library has enriched its collection with one of the world’s largest collections of Hebrew texts. 

The National Library of Israel (NLI) has acquired the world’s greatest private collection of rare Hebrew books and manuscripts.

The National Library announced Thursday that it acquired the Valmadonna Trust Library, which includes rare manuscripts, over 500 posters spanning from the 16th to the 19th century, and incunabula of the Pentateuch from 1491.

“The acquisition of the Valmadonna and its arrival in Jerusalem present a tremendous opportunity for the National Library of Israel to further realize the vision of its renewal, as we will open access to these exquisite cultural treasures for researchers and the general public in Israel and across the globe,” announced National Library director Oren Weinberg.

The renowned Valmadonna Trust Library was acquired by the National Library through a private sale arranged by Sotheby’s. The acquisition was made jointly with Archaeology, Books, and Judaica collectors Dr. David and Jemima Jeselsohn.

The acquisition was made possible by a generous gift from the Haim and Hana Solomon Fund.

The Valmadonna Trust Library was assembled over a period of more than six decades by visionary collector Jack Lunzer. It comprises a wide-ranging group of more than 10,000 works that chart the spread of Hebrew printing and the global dissemination of Jewish culture.

Among the highlights of the collection are an incunabula of the Pentateuch, printed in Lisbon in 1491; one of only two surviving copies of a Passover Haggadah printed in Prague in 1556; An Ashkenaz siddur printed in Venice on parchment in 1549; The Plantin Polyglot or “King’s Bible,” printed in Antwerp between 1568 and 1573; and more than 550 broadsheets dating from the 16th to the 20th centuries.

“The acquisition is an important and exciting addition to the NLI’s collection,” the library stated. “The printed works in the collection are in superb condition and the acquisition has enabled NLI to gain in one acquisition what would have taken decades to collect.”

“The National Library of Israel is currently in the midst of a comprehensive renewal process. In this context, the Library continues to expand its collections tremendously, acquiring cultural and intellectual treasures ranging from ancient Jewish and Islamic manuscripts to contemporary music. The Valmadonna Trust Library represents an historic addition to our leading collection of Jewish manuscripts, prints and books, which reflect and embody the cultures of the Jewish people around the world and across the ages,” said David Blumberg, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Library of Israel.

By: Aryeh Savir, World Israel News

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The National Library of Israel has recently acquired an unrivaled collection of rare ancient Jewish-Afghan documents, providing a glimpse into the Silk Road’s vanished Jewish community.

The collection is the largest of its kind, consisting of about 250 documents from the 11^th-13^th centuries and representing virtually the only evidence of a once-thriving community.

The documents provide unprecedented access to the day-to-day life, society, and economy of Jews along the Silk Road, the ancient highway which once linked Europe and China. The texts also provide new information about the region’s ancient Islamic and Persian cultures prior to Mongol destruction of the region.

The collection, written in Persian, Arabic, Aramaic, and Judeo-Persian also includes legal documents, liturgy, poetry, texts of Jewish law, a historical chronicle and Biblical passages.

The exciting and historic discovery was made a few years ago in the area of present-day Afghanistan.

In 2013, the National Library procured 29 pages from the rare treasure. Now, after great efforts to preserve the “Afghan Genizah” collection for future generations, the library purchased close to 250 more manuscripts.

Discovery of Immense Historic Significance

“This discovery will keep the Library and researchers busy for years to come and enables a rare view of the Jewish-Afghan community and the rich Muslim cultures that lived in that region,” the library stated.

Prof. Haggai Ben Shammai, world-renowned expert on Jews of the Islamic world, explained that the collection is of exceptional importance due to the previous dearth of first-hand accounts and evidence of Jewish life under local dynastic rule. Literary source materials had also been severely lacking until this discovery.

Many items in the collection had been part of a local administrator’s archive, and contain administrative documents and fragments of religious and literary works, mainly in Persian. This material provides an unparalleled view onto the workings of local government administration, politics, and law in this far-flung region.

NLI will digitize the material and make it available to the international community of scholars and the general public. As the collection has never previously been made available to the public nor the academic community, the full richness and significance of its contents have yet to be revealed.

By: Aryeh Savir, World Israel News

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