The National Library of Israel

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.

* This post has been shared on The Good. The Random. The Fun., Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday) and My Corner of the World.

A Return Visit to Be'ersheva

I've blogged about Be'ersheva before. Mister Handmade in Israel and I made an impromptu visit there back in 2016. This time I took my dad. Be'ersheva is a very old city, having been in existence for more than 6,000 years, though the city as we know it today is relatively new and was only established at the beginning of the 20th century under the Ottoman Turkish rule. There were a few places I wanted to show Dad in Be'ersheva's Old City, which still retains many of its historic Ottoman buildings and buildings built during the British rule. We started with the ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) Memorial Centre.

The ANZAC Memorial Centre, which was dedicated on the 100th anniversary of the liberation of Be'ersheva in 2017, stands adjacent to the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery in Be'ersheva. The centre tells the story of the ANZAC conquest of Be'ersheva and puts the visitor in the shoes of the young soldiers who fought there 100 years ago, thousands of kilometres away from home.
The ANZAC was a military force of Australian and New Zealand soldiers under the command of the British, who fought in the First World War in the Middle East, including the liberation of Be'ersheva from Ottoman rule. Though the ANZAC cavalry had never trained for such an assault, Lt. Gen. Harry Chauvel, who led the ANZAC forces to victory, ordered his forces to charge the Ottoman forces fortified in trenches. They galloped so fast that the Ottoman marksmen couldn’t adjust their range quickly enough to effectively aim at the advancing cavalry. After crossing the plain, the soldiers dismounted and fought the Ottomans hand to hand in the trenches. By nightfall of 31st October 1917, Be'ersheva was under British control.
Our guided visit to the centre was an informative and moving experience. We learnt about the ANZAC horsemen and the historical developments of the First World War in the Land of Israel. The centre contains archaic items, testimonies from the Battle of Be'ersheva, personal diaries of the famous cavalry that participated in the battles, historical findings and more. The impressive viewing point of the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery very much added to the whole experience.

The Old City of Be'ersheva is currently being transformed into a hub of tourism and culture and, as the development progresses, the area is becoming a cool place to hang out. The Be'ersheva municipality has begun to develop and maintain the streets, and in addition, many of the historic buildings in the area have signs posted by the Council for Conservation of Heritage Sites, making it easier for visitors to the city.
My dad and I stayed at The Ottoman House, gorgeous boutique holiday apartments located in the heart of the Old City and we enjoyed a delicious vegan meal in a lovely cafe located on one the newly renovated pedestrianised streets. The beautifully styled apartments of The Ottoman House, so different from the surrounding rundown area, were a great choice. I have high hopes for tourism in Be'ersheva!

The following morning we took a walk around the Old City, stopping at Allenby Park, named after the English General Edmund Allenby. The park that was constructed in 1902 included trees, an orchard and garden shrubs, and it served as a leisure site for those who came to the Ottoman government building in the city. The park was constructed without a surrounding wall, and within a short time it was destroyed by animals, such as goats and sheep, which ate the vegetation.
In 1915 the park was restored by the Ottoman military governor, Djemal Pasha. Trees and shrubs were planted in order to create a pretty, green area. In the middle of the park, a marble column was erected, which was engraved with an inscription lauding the victory of the Ottoman Empire.
After Be'ersheva was conquered by the British, the new rulers installed a statue of General Allenby, who had conquered the area from the Ottomans. During riots that began in 1938, Arabs shattered the statue and the British decided not to restore the image of the general on the column. In recent years a statue of the legendary General was restored in the park at a ceremony attended by his relatives. Work will soon begin on rehabilitating Allenby Park, which has been somewhat neglected, in order to restore it to its original state from about a hundred years ago.

Our next stop, and a return visit for me, was at Abraham's Well International Visitor Centre. According to the bible, the story in Genesis 21 tells of a well which Abraham dug and Abimelech's servants seized. Abraham gave seven lambs to Abimelech as witness that he dug the well himself. Abimelech accepted the lambs and the two men swore an oath in the place named Be'ersheva. In 1838 the well was identified by the American biblical scholar Edward Robinson and in 1897 a local sheikh built a modern structure above it. To this day many believe that this well is the well that was dug by Abraham and provided the name for the city of Be'ersheva (Be'ersheva means "Well of Seven" or "Well of the Oath").

The new centre, designed as a tent, showcases the life of Abraham, the spiritual father of three monotheistic religions. The well is in the centre of the courtyard. It is 3 metres in diameter and 26 metres deep. The top part of the well is lined with stones, probably from the Byzantine period, and the bottom part is cut into the bedrock.
When Egyptian President Anwar Sadat visited Be'ersheva with Prime Minister Menachem Begin more than 40 years ago, he wanted to visit Abraham's Well, the site where a peace treaty had been signed between Abraham and the Philistine King Abimelech thousands of years ago.

Our last stop of the day was also a place I had visited before but I was so blown away by the design back then, I wanted to see if dad shared my thoughts. The Monument to the Negev Brigade, known locally as the Andarta, is situated on a mountain top north of the city. Designed by sculptor Dani Karavan and built between 1963 and 1968, the memorial's futuristic sculptures symbolise the sacrifice of 324 soldiers of the Palmach Negev Brigade who died defending the region against advancing Egyptian forces during the War of Independence.
The memorial, which has won many architectural awards, is made up of 18 raw concrete objects that symbolise and reflect the events of the War of Independence and of the Palmach. The perforated tower alludes to a watchtower shelled with gunfire and the pipeline tunnel is reminiscent of the channel of water in the Negev defended by the soldiers. Engraved in the concrete are the names of the soldiers who died in the war, the badge of the Palmach, diary passages from the soldiers, the battle registry, verses and songs.
Though the memorial does need a bit of tender loving care, the place is very moving and architecturally very interesting. Walking over and through the sculpture really gives you time to reflect on the events that occurred there over 70 years ago and to appreciate the now quiet beauty of the desert.

* This post has been shared on The Good. The Random. The Fun., Creative Mondays, Sharon's Souvenirs, Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday), Our World Tuesday, Tuesday's Treasures, Travel Tuesday, My Corner of the World