Publisher Description

Jewish Book - Christian Book: Hebrew Manuscripts in Transition between Jews and Christians in the Context of German Humanism is intended as a contribution to the history of the production, circulation, and reception of Hebrew materials outside of a Jewish context. An intriguing development in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth-century Christian Hebraism is how and why Christian scholars came to produce their own Hebrew books. Jewish Book - Christian Book: Hebrew Manuscripts in Transition between Jews and Christians in the Context of German Humanism offers a novel examination of this phenomenon in light of nearly unknown Hebrew manuscripts produced by German Hebraists in that period. Anticipating Hebraist printed editions, the Hebraist manuscript copies of Jewish texts represent one of the earliest attempts of Christians to independently form a stock of Jewish literature, which would meet their scholarly needs and interests, and embody a unique encounter of Jewish and Christian views of the Hebrew text and book. How Hebraist copyists coped with the inherent Jewishness of the Hebrew texts and in what ways they transformed and adapted them both textually and materially to serve Christian audience are among the key questions discussed in this study.

After the Bible, the Passover haggadah is the most widely read classic text in the Jewish tradition. More than four thousand editions have been published since the late fifteenth century, but few are as exquisite as the Washington Haggadah, which resides in the Library of Congress. Now, a stunning facsimile edition meticulously reproduced in full color brings this beautiful illuminated manuscript to a new generation. Joel ben Simeon, the creator of this unusually well-preserved codex, was among the most gifted and prolific scribe-artists in the history of the Jewish book. David Stern’s introduction reconstructs his professional biography and situates this masterwork within the historical development of the haggadah, tracing the different forms the text took in the Jewish centers of Europe at the dawn of modernity. Katrin Kogman-Appel shows how ben Simeon, more than just a copyist, was an active agent of cultural exchange. As he traveled between Jewish communities, he brought elements of Ashkenazi haggadah illustration to Italy and returned with stylistic devices acquired during his journeys. In addition to traditional Passover images, realistic illustrations of day-to-day life provide a rare window into the world of late fifteenth-century Europe. This edition faithfully preserves the original text, with the Hebrew facsimile appearing in the original right-to-left orientation. It will be read and treasured by anyone interested in Jewish history, medieval illuminated manuscripts, and the history of the haggadah.

This volume includes contributions presented at two conferences, in Mainz and Jerusalem, and presents new discoveries of binding fragments in several European libraries and archives and abroad. It presents newly discovered texts with unknown Jewish writings from the Middle Ages and analyses fragments of well-known texts, such as textual witnesses of Midrashim. One chapter overviews recent discoveries in certain collections, some of them far beyond the geographical horizon of the original project, but certainly all of European origin. Other chapters study palaeographical and codicological issues of manuscript fragments and Ashkenazic inscriptions. A final article refers to the beginnings of scholarly interest in Hebrew binding fragments in Germany and sheds light on the part played by Christian Hebraists in its development.

For some five hundred years, Hebrew books have been counted among the treasures of the University of Cambridge, and Cambridge University Library's current holdings of Hebrew manuscripts (excluding most of the 140,000 fragments in its Genizah collections) are in excess of a thousand items. A wide range of Hebrew literature is represented, with substantial numbers in Bible, Bible Versions and Commentaries, Talmud, Halakhah, Liturgy, Science, Poetry, Philosophy and Kabbalah. The bulk of the material is late mediaeval but there are also earlier items, among them the famous Nash Papyrus from the second pre-Christian century. Although this collection is among the world's most important, attempts, beginning in the mid-Victorian period, to describe it in detail, and to publish the results, have never met with success. In this volume, Stefan Reif, assisted by Shulamit Reif, has attempted to set the situation right by providing careful descriptions that will guide researchers in codicologial matters and will alert them to data of special scholarly significance, without overwhelming them with the kind of prolix treatment that characterised manuscript study in the nineteenth century. The volume has benefited not only from local Cambridge expertise but also from world-wide scholarly co-operation and includes many references to recent publications, as well as a representative selection of photographed folios. There are essays on the history of Hebraists and Hebraic at Cambridge that will interest historians, as well as extensive indexes that will provide easy access to the rich and varied contents of the descriptions.

Winner of the 2014 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature A thousand years ago, the most perfect copy of the Hebrew Bible was written. It was kept safe through one upheaval after another in the Middle East, and by the 1940s it was housed in a dark grotto in Aleppo, Syria, and had become known around the world as the Aleppo Codex. Journalist Matti Friedman’s true-life detective story traces how this precious manuscript was smuggled from its hiding place in Syria into the newly founded state of Israel and how and why many of its most sacred and valuable pages went missing. It’s a tale that involves grizzled secret agents, pious clergymen, shrewd antiquities collectors, and highly placed national figures who, as it turns out, would do anything to get their hands on an ancient, decaying book. What it reveals are uncomfortable truths about greed, state cover-ups, and the fascinating role of historical treasures in creating a national identity.