The National Library of Israel,
HaSifria HaLeumit, is the library
dedicated to collecting the cultural treasures of Israel and of Jewish heritage.
The library owns the world's largest collections of Hebraica and Judaica, and is
the repository of many rare and unique books, historical newspapers, ancient manuscripts, a unique collection of antique maps, periodicals, posters, photographs, and a very large and important collection of Jewish and Israeli music. In October 2023 it
opened its doors in a new state-of-the-art complex, located in
Jerusalem's Government Quarter, triangulating with the Israel Museum and
the
Knesset, Israel's parliament. The grand opening events planned for the week
of the 22nd October were cancelled due to the Hamas war on Israel. Mister Handmade in Israel and
I joined a tour of the building in June 2024.
The National Library of Israel began in 1892 when
B'nai Brith (a
Jewish organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for people
around the globe) opened the first public library on B'nai Brith street in
Jerusalem.
In 1920, when plans were drawn up for the Hebrew University, the B'nai Brith
collection became the basis for a university library. The books were moved to
Mount Scopus, in
northeast Jerusalem, when the university opened five years later.
In May
1948, as soon as the British pulled out of Palestine, the Arabs managed to
gain complete control of the road to Mount Scopus. The Hebrew University (and
Hadassah Hospital) were effectively cut off from the rest of Jerusalem. Most
of the library's books, which by that time included over one million, were smuggled off campus and preserved among several buildings in the city. In
1960, they were moved again to the new Jewish National and University Library
building in Givat Ram.
In 2007 the library was officially recognized as The National Library of
Israel and in 2014 the project for a new home for the library in Jerusalem was
unveiled. The old library building at Givat Ram continued to be used till
September 2023.
The new 34,000 square metres National Library building was designed by the
Basel-based architecture firm
Herzog & de Meuron, known for international works such as the Tate Modern in London, the
Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and the National Stadium (Bird's Nest) in Beijing.
The building has a distinctive curved roof shaped like an open book, and has
an 11-story structure, with six floors above ground and five below. The
architects, who are not Jewish, invested great energies in learning about
Jerusalem, Israelis, and Jewish culture and traditions before they started
the project.
Workers moved over to the new building some five million
books and many more treasures.
There are 200,000 books inside the main reading hall of the library. Over 2,500 rare manuscripts and books have been scanned and are available on the library's website.
Also in the new building is a 480-seat indoor auditorium, a visitor
centre, an education centre offering activities for school and community
groups, a café and a book shop.The new library was awarded LEED (Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design) Platinum certification, the highest rating of the most
widely used green building rating system. It has solar panels, low
energy/low maintenance lighting, and Israel's first below-ground
"rockstore", a mechanism for storing thermal energy that significantly
lowers the energy required to cool the building.
The library's archival collections include writings by great Jewish and
Israeli writers, including S.Y. Agnon, the poet Rachel, Leah Goldberg,
David Grossman, A.B. Yehoshua, Rabbi A.Y. Kook and others. Unique items
include the
Keter Damesek (
Damascus Crown), a rare 1,000-year-old
Torah volume, one of 12
"Crowns" preserved at the library; a manuscript containing commentaries on
the
Mishnah by
Maimonides with his
handwritten corrections; a first edition of the
Babylonian Talmud; the
Rothschild Haggadah; an almost 1,000-year-old Qur'an; and an 11th century handwritten copy
of the
Book of Healing of Islamic physician and philosopher Abu Ali Ibn Sina (known in
the West as Avicenna).
A permanent exhibition gallery presents rare heritage treasures of the
Jewish people and Israeli society on a rotating display, alongside items
from Islam and the Middle East. We were shown around the exhibition "A
Treasury of Words" and were able to take a close look at the most
ancient, rare, and precious manuscripts in the National Library.
Displayed
items commemorating moments from history include the first draft of
"Jerusalem of Gold" by
Naomi Shemer,
the note found on poet and fighter
Hannah Szenes on the day of her execution by Nazi firing squad, and a letter
sent as a young man by Israel’s first astronaut,
Ilan Ramon, to
Prof. Yeshayahu Leibowitz
and his response.
The climatized warehouse where an additional 50,000 books are stored.
The lowered oxygen level protects against fire. One of four robots can
fetch any pre-ordered book and get it to the reader within 10
minutes.
The library's mission is to secure copies of all material published in
Israel, in any language; all publications on the subject of Israel, the
Land of Israel, Judaism and the Jewish people, published in any
language, in any country in the world; and all material published in
Hebrew or any of the languages spoken in the Jewish Diaspora (such as
Yiddish and
Ladino). By
law, two copies of all printed matter published in Israel must be
deposited in the National Library. In 2001, the law was amended to
include audio and video recordings, and other non-print media.
In November 2023 a new exhibit was put together at the library to help people
around the world realize that the hostages held in Gaza are human beings, not
just numbers and faces on a poster. The exhibit, above, is called "Every
Hostage Has a Story". Many dozens of black chairs have been placed in the
middle of the library's new reading hall. Each chair has a picture of one of
the hostages placed on it. Beside these black chairs is a smaller, colourful
chair for 4-year-old Ariel Bibas and a baby chair for his brother Kfir, who
turned one while being held captive in Gaza. Each chair also has a book placed
on it that was chosen specifically for each hostage, along with a personal
library card, each one marked with a return date - NOW.
The books await
the hostages return.
The library is enhanced by extensive outdoor gardens and artworks
including two works by
Marc Chagall; two works by British artist
Edmund de Waal;
and a monumental stone sculpture, "Letters of Light," by Israel Prize
laureate
Micha Ullman.
Edmund de Waal, a multi-media artist and author of the best-seller,
The Hare with Amber Eyes, arranges his porcelain vessels around mutual themes of literature and
music. Of the two works displayed at the library, Psalm IV, 2019, above,
reflects the form of a page of the
Talmud printed in the
early 16th century by
Daniel Bomberg
of Venice. It is a tribute to the rich Hebrew heritage that emerged in the
Italian diaspora, in parallel with the creation of the first Jewish
ghetto. The title of the work - Psalm - echoes the well-known lamentation
of the biblical exiles: "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down and
wept..." (Psalm 137 of the Book of Psalms). The second work by de Waal graces the entrance of
the library synagogue.
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