Hebrew mss @ CUL: The Whole Megillah

In honor of the upcoming holiday of Purim (March 8), here is a Megilat Esther from Columbia's Smith Collection.  Professor David Eugene Smith, a professor at Columbia's Teacher's College from 1901-1926, was a scholar in the History of Mathematics who went around the world collecting manuscripts and rare books related to his topic.  He spent […]

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Hebrew Mss @ CUL: The Pope, the Sun King, and a Hebrew prayerbook in Southern France

Throughout the centuries leading up to the French Revolution, the Jews of France were alternatively expelled and invited back many times (the 14th and 17th centuries were particularly confusing in this regard).  Throughout this time, however, there were four cities that remained consistently safe for Jews.  Ironically (but perhaps not too surprisingly for those familiar […]

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Hebrew Mss @ CUL: Travels to India

The manuscripts relating to Jewish Studies in the Columbia University Libraries are not limited to those in Hebrew.  This manuscript, written in Spanish in the 17th century, describes one of the far-flung communities of the Jewish diaspora: that of Cochin, India.  The author of the manuscript, Moses Pereyra de Paiva, traveled to Cochin with his […]

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Hebrew mss @ CUL: Pardes Rimonim

Kabbalah, the subject of Jewish mysticism, is one discussed by many but understood by few.  One of the important Kabbalists of the 16th century was Moses Cordovero.  Moses Cordovero was a student of Joseph Caro, and one of the teachers of the famed Isaac Luria in Safed.  His first work, written at the age of […]

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Hebrew mss @ CUL: Notes on Incunabula

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 […]

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‘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 […]

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New “Series”: Hebrew Manuscripts at CUL

In recognition of the amazing work being done by Yoram Bitton, our Hebrew manuscript cataloger, and to let our users know about the wonderful treasures that we have hidden in our collection, Jewish Studies at CUL will be periodically posting an image and/or some information about a manuscript or rare book that we have in […]

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