At Columbia University Libraries, and at the Norman E. Alexander Library in particular, one of our major goals is to provide access to materials to as broad a user base as possible. With one of the largest Judaica manuscript collections in the United States, a major priority has been to provide access to these unique […]
In honor of Jewish American Heritage Month (May), we’re highlighting unique materials relating to the history of the Jews in the Americas. In the past, of course, we’ve discussed the 18th century history of Hebrew and Jewish materials in the Columbia context, but the vast collections in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library highlight many […]
University calendars tend to operate on a different year than the standard January-December. The academic calendar begins in the fall, and the budget calendar restarts in the summer, and so January 1 is simply the restart after a holiday break. However, the new year is a good time to consider the many new unique and […]
Please join us at the 11th annual Norman E. Alexander Lecture in Jewish Studies! All are welcome to this virtual event, but registration is required. This year’s event focuses on researchers studying space and place using resources from the collections. Francesca Bregoli (Queen’s College) will discuss her research in the archive of a cross-Mediterranean family […]
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 […]
This essay was written for the Insitute for Israel and Jewish Studies’ Spring 2020 Magazine. The full magazine can be downloaded on the IIJS website. In presenting the rare Judaica to students and other visitors to the libraries, I have learned that sometimes basic terms can be confused. For instance, many people think that a […]
From its inception in 1754, the founders of Columbia University felt that the study of Hebrew was critical to understanding the classics. Columbia’s collection includes founder Samuel Johnson’s own copy of a Hebrew-Latin psalms with the Hebrew alphabet written in his own hand. Another professor in the 18th century was Johann Kunze, who taught Hebrew […]
The British Library is working on digitizing their complete (and incredible) collection of Hebrew manuscripts. In the process of doing so, they have been asking scholars, experts in their various fields, to write articles on various aspects of the Hebrew manuscripts. This was the case with a recent article written by noted Kabbalah scholar Yossi […]
In 1733, a man from Firenze, in Italy, named Moise (Moses) Vita (Hayyim) Cafsuto (Cassuto) set off on a journey to the Holy Land. He kept a diary of his travels throughout the Middle East, where he noted interesting sites (specifically Jewish ones, like graves and synagogues) and scenes along his journey. We recently acquired […]
The papers of noted Columbia professor, Yosef Yerushalmi, have now been processed and are mostly (with the exception of some closed correspondence) open for use in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Many thanks go to Jacob Goldwasser and Carrie Hintz for their tremendous work on the archive. More information can be found in the […]