Many thanks to Lucia Raspe for sharing her work on censorship in early printed Selihot, which was very helpful in writing this post. The Jewish month of Elul, coming right before the High Holidays of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, is a particularly solemn one in Jewish religious life. Special penitential prayers, called Selihot, are […]
Guest post by Marianna Najman-Franks, Barnard ’22. Marianna has done incredible work in the last three years participating in various projects to provide important access to the Judaica collections. Over the past 3 years I’ve been a part of so many incredible projects at the RBML, but by far the most exciting moment I’ve been […]
In 2018, we decided to partner with a developer named Russel Neiss to create an automated Twitter account that randomly selects and posts images from the Hebrew manuscript collection on the Internet Archive. In doing so, we have not only made the manuscripts available to an audience that includes people who could not or would […]
Special Collections: Although many people have been away from campus over the last year, there has been a significant increase of books available in the Judaica collection at the Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Some books are newly arrived on campus, while others, like a work with a list of English cantillation marks and descriptions, […]
This essay was initially published in the Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies‘ Spring 2021 newsletter. It is copied here with permission. Salo Baron’s impact on Jewish Studies in America is widely known. Less well known, however, is the impact he made in building the Judaica collection at Columbia University. Soon after Baron’s arrival at […]
When the Torah is read in the synagogue, there is a distinct tune that is used for the traditional chanting. It is called cantillation in English, trop in Yiddish and te’amim in Hebrew, and is indicated in the Hebrew Bible by various symbols above and below the letters. Medieval manuscripts often included the masorah, a […]
Please join us at the 10th annual Norman E. Alexander Lecture in Jewish Studies! All are welcome, but registration is required. […]
There were many notable Italian Jewish families throughout history. One of the more famous ones was the Luzzatto family, which included many important scholars and rabbis. According to family lore, the Luzzattos originated in the city of Lausitz in Germany before they migrated to Italy in the mid-15th century. Members of the family settled first […]
To download a PDF version with clickable links, click here: Newsletter 2020-2 […]
We are pleased to share the Spring Newsletter for the Norman E. Alexander Library for Jewish Studies. Click to download the PDF (with clickable links): Newsletter 2020-1 […]