The word manuscript comes from a combination of two Latin words (manu, meaning "hand"; and script, meaning "writing"). In the literal definition of the word, a manuscript is anything written by hand (as opposed to printed). The manuscript you see in this post would not be found as part of our "Hebrew manuscript collection," but […]
Faculty and doctoral students: Borrow books from NYPL and NYU!
On March 18, 2011, "The New York Public Library and the libraries of Columbia University and New York University have launched a pilot initiative to expand access and use of collections and better serve their users. The collaboration, dubbed the Manhattan Research Library Initiative (MaRLI), will enable NYU and Columbia doctoral students, full-time faculty and librarians, and approved New York […]
New Book: Palaces of Time, by Prof. Elisheva Carlebach
Congratulations to Columbia Professor Elisheva Carlebach on the publication of her newest book, Palaces of Time, by Harvard University Press. From the description: "From one of the leading historians of the Jewish past comes a stunning look into a previously unexamined dimension of Jewish life and culture: the calendar. In the late sixteenth century, Pope […]
Jewish Languages in the Age of the Internet
Jewish Studies resources can be found all over! As noted on H-Judaic this morning, the latest edition of Language and Communication (31:2) is a special issue dedicated to "Jewish Languages in the Age of the Internet." For access to the electronic version of Language and Communication, see the CLIO record here. Be sure to click on […]
Columbia Professor Yinon Cohen in Israel Affairs
The latest issue of Israel Affairs (v.17, no. 1) includes an article co-authored by Columbia University Professor Yinon Cohen entitled: "Who went where? Jewish immigration from the Former Soviet Union to Israel, the USA and Germany, 1990-2000" (p.7). Columbia subscribes to Israel Affairs both in print (call number: DS101 .I873, in Lehman Library) and electronically. […]
‘Ot Ha-berit
In 1824, a mohel and doctor named Yeḥezḳel Trish living in Lipník nad Bečvo (in the Czech Republic) received a gift from a man named Yonah Ḳaṿo. It was a small manuscript book, which contained prayers and exquisitely detailed illustrations relating to his craft, that of circumcision. Two of the spreads are shown here. The […]
The Jewish Book: Past, Present, Future (Symposium at CJH)
What makes a Jewish book? Who are the People of the Book? How have Jewish books changed with changes in technology? The "history of the book" is a lively field of historical scholarship that looks at authorship, publication, and dissemination of texts of all kinds as windows onto culture and society in different […]
Nuremberg Trials Project
"The Harvard Law School Library has approximately one million pages of documents relating to the trial of military and political leaders of Nazi Germany before the International Military Tribunal (IMT) and to the twelve trials of other accused war criminals before the United States Nuremberg Military Tribunals (NMT)." The Law Library has undertaken a tremendous […]
New Database: Bibliography of the Hebrew Book
I am very pleased to announce the addition of a new database to Columbia's Jewish Studies collection, the Bibliography of the Hebrew Book. This exceptional resource is a detailed database of approximately 90% of the books printed in Hebrew letters between 1470 and 1960 (Ladino and Judeo-Arabic books are all included; Yiddish books are not […]
New Database: Jewish Life in America, c1654-1954
I am very pleased to announce a new database available at Columbia, Jewish Life in America, c1654-1954. According to their own description: "Jewish Life in America will enable you to explore the history of Jewish communities in America from the arrival of the first Jews in the 17th century right through to the mid-20th century. […]