Menachem Mendel

Watch this short video (Hebrew) on illustrated Haggadot. (HT to LJ on FB)

Posted on March 20th, 2013 under Haggadot, Manuscripts, Middle Ages, Passover. Comments Off

Ynet is reporting (Hebrew) about a conference today at the National Library of Israel on censorship of Jewish texts. In the past the NLI has posted videos of conferences online an hopefully this one will find its way to Youtube soon.

Posted on February 28th, 2013 under Hebrew Literature, Hebrew Printing, Manuscripts. Comments: 1

Oxford and Cambridge are teaming up and hoping to purchase the Geniza collection found at Westminster College. (HT) The fragments were brought back from Cairo by the intrepid twin sisters Agnes Smith Lewis and Margaret Dunlop Gibson in 1896 and deposited at Westminster College. Treasures of the collection include the earliest known example of a Jewish [...]

Posted on February 8th, 2013 under Manuscripts. Comments Off

Mauro Perani, an expert on Hebrew manuscripts and the person most responsible for the discovery and dissemination of the “European Genizah,” is reporting on Facebook the discovery of a possibly very early and rare Sefer Torah. Here are some of Perani’s comments: On the nature and date of this Sefer Torah there is now an [...]

Posted on January 27th, 2013 under Manuscripts. Comments: 2

As a follow up to my previous post, the National Library of Israel has posted a pre-publication text of the entire Hebrew version of Malachi Beit-Arié’s book, Hebrew Codicology: Historical and Comparative Typology of Hebrew Medieval Codices based on the Documentation of the Extant Dated Manuscripts in Quantitative Approach online. A pre-publication summary of the [...]

Posted on January 21st, 2013 under Hebrew Literature, Manuscripts. Comments Off

The Institute for Historical Research, which is associated with the University of London, is offering a free online course in Palaeography. (HT: PhiloBiblos) Medievalists have always found it difficult to interact with primary sources from their period of study due to a lack of training in palaeography (and manuscript studies), that is to say, the [...]

Posted on January 20th, 2013 under Academic Research, Manuscripts, Middle Ages. Comments: 1

Kol Israel just had an interview with Aviad Stollman, Judaica Collections Curator at the National Library of Israel. The interview (Hebrew, app. 12 minutes in two parts) addressed a number of questions about the Afghan Geniza, the Judaica collection of the NLI, digitization, etc.

Posted on January 10th, 2013 under Hebrew Literature, Hebrew Printing, Manuscripts. Comments Off

VIN is reporting on the recent unveiling of documents from the “Afghan Genizah.” On Thursday Israel’s National Library unveiled the cache of recently purchased documents that run the gamut of life experiences, including biblical commentaries, personal letters and financial records. Researchers say the “Afghan Genizah” marks the greatest such archive found since the “Cairo Genizah” [...]

Posted on January 3rd, 2013 under Manuscripts. Comments Off

Posted on December 18th, 2012 under JTS, Manuscripts, Middle Ages, Public Events. Comments Off