Sunday, October 06, 2013

Some good news from the world of Hebrew manuscripts. The National Library of Israel in Jerusalem is digitizing and will be posting online 1600 manuscripts from the Palatina Library in Parma, Italy.
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's National Library says it has signed an agreement with a leading Italian collection to display online some of the world's most important Hebrew manuscripts, making them accessible to the public for the first time. 
National Library Judaica curator Aviad Stollman says it will be digitizing the Palatina Library's collection of about 1,600 documents dating to the Middle Ages. He says the collection includes rare illuminated manuscripts and one of the oldest existing copies of the Mishna, a central Jewish text. 
Stollman said Thursday the manuscripts are on par with Vatican and Oxford collections. He says Israel's library is also negotiating with those institutions to scan their manuscripts 
Stollman said Israel's National Library is seeking to digitize and post online all of the world's Hebrew manuscripts.
Folio from a 13th century Hebrew Bible written in Toledo, Spain.

5 comments:

  1. Do you know what the image of the gold lizard on the left hand page is about? Why has it lost its tail?

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  2. I don't think it's a lizard. The images on the two pages are of various objects used in the Jerusalem Temple. I'm not sure exactly what that image is, but on the right hand side there is the menorah used in the Temple, the table of the showbread, and the Ark of the Covenant with the two cherubim on top of it. On the left hand side there are two altars, the two trumpets, the shofar, and a few other unidentified objects.

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  3. Apologies - I have lizards on the brain because of my daughter's pet gekko!

    I see now - it's a kind of jar with a stopper or lid standing on legs, and what looked to me like a detached tail is the shofar - thanks!

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