14,000-Item Guenzburg Trove Of Hebrew Manuscripts Goes Online After Deal With Russia
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
One of the most treasured collections of ancient Hebrew manuscripts and books will be digitized and available for public view online under an agreement by the state libraries of Russia and Israel announced on Tuesday.
Israel has long sought the transfer to its national library of the 14,000-item Guenzburg collection in the Russian State Library in Moscow, and the digitisation compromise effectively shelves a century-old ownership dispute.
The collection includes medieval books, rare works of Jewish ritual law and mysticism, prayer books and biblical commentaries amassed by three generations of the Russian-Jewish Guenzburg family.
It was purchased by Zionist activists in 1917 for shipment to Jerusalem that was delayed by fighting during World War One and was ultimately seized by Soviet authorities after the Russian Revolution.
Under what the National Library of Israel described in a statement as “an historic agreement” with the Russian State Library, thousands of “new high quality images” of the ancient Hebrew texts will be integrated into the Israeli institution’s online Ktiv manuscript site.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
