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Jewish Chronicle July 1 1988

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Jewish Chronicle July 1 1988 JEWISH CHRONICLE JULY 1 1988 JUDAISM EDITED BY MEIR PERSOFF Bodleian's unbroken Hebraica tradition THE ORIGINS of the great collec- The Prince of Wales is guest of honour at a dinner at When the Oxford Centre for tions of the world, in Hebraica just Postgraduate Hebrew Studies was as in other subjects, usually lie in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, next Tuesday to launch founded in 1972, the founders the efforts of individual collectors. a £12 million appeal to renovate and modernise the hoped that the Centre would facili- After a lifetime of single-minded library and endow new appointments to its research tate and co-ordinate the essential collecting, the individual decides staff. Presiding over the dinner will be Lord Jenkins, research on the collection, 'which to place his treasurers in an institu- also contains a vast amount of tion so that they can be preserved Chancellor of Oxford University. rabbinic writing, particularly intact. Or sometimes, after his responsa, some of it by Oppenhei- death, his family present the collec- A second Maimonides manu- his early youth, he went on long mer himself and much of it still tion so that it can be named after script, this one in his own hand- journeys to obtain rare manuscripts unpublished. him. writing throughout, came as number or books. The situation described in the The Bodleian Library in Oxford 295 of the 420 manuscripts bought Oppenheimer visited the fairs at "Annals of the Bodleian Library" has received benefactions in many from Professor Edward Pococke, Leipzig, was in close touch with for 1829 still applies — that the subjects through such channels, the Regius Professor of Hebrew. It printers and dealers and spent library is "never without several but its Hebraica collection is unique is the "Commentary on the lavishly from his great wealth foreign visitors engaged in its exam- in that it was a principal constituent Mishna," containing the tractates (inherited and received from his ination." of the library from the outset. Nezikin and Kiddushin. wives). He collected manuscripts Subsequently, the Bodleian has At first sight, it may seem odd It is impossible to exaggerate the with a view to subsidising their been continuously active in acquiring that such a substantial collection importance of these manuscripts publication. Hebrew material. It had the good of Jewish books should have been for establishing the correct text, After his death, however, the fortune to have on its staff two of started in 1600, when officially particularly since autographs of collection was the subject of liti- the greatest Hebraists of all time — there were no Jews in England. But any medieval Jewish scholar are gation, being held in storage in 28 Dr Moritz Steinschneider (1816- Sir Thomas Bodley, who refounded exceedingly scarce. It is sobering to crates in a Hamburg warehouse. 1907) and Dr Adolf Neubauer the university library in 1598, was a reflect that, for both collections„ This deeply concerned the scholars (1831-1907). Their great catalogues, type of man now almost, though comprising 1,020 manuscripts in of the Wissenschaft des Judentums, of respectively Hebrew printed not entirely, extinct. all, the university paid only £1,300. particularly Leopold Zunz, but no books and manuscripts in the A fervent Protestant, he was an One of the most sumptuous one could be found who was Bodleian, will remain standard works accomplished linguist who knew Hebrew illuminated manuscripts willing to donate the collection to a for the study of Hebraica. the classical and modern languages, in existence, and a masterpiece of library. Further significant collections "but Hebrew particularly, the parent medieval Sephardic art, came to Although Moses Mendelssohn of Hebrew manuscripts were added of all the others." the library in bizarre circumstances had valued it at between 50,000 and in 1848, 1890 and 1981, while many It is astonishing how many in 1771. 60,000 thalers, it was finally sold incunabula — books printed in the Hebrew books arc listed in the first A young gentleman, Patrick for the ridiculously low sum of 9,000 fifteenth century — were acquired catalogue of the library, printed in Chalmers, entered the library car- thalers (the £2,080 in question) to in Victorian times. 1605; they arc overwhelmingly from rying a Hebrew Bible written in the Bodleian Library. Even today, the library selects' Venice, where Hebrew printing 1476. Dr Benjamin Kennicott imme- This collection, of over 5,000 and acquires hundreds of the latest was then in its prime. diately recognised its importance books and manuscripts, contains Hebrew books from Israel every Bodley took a detailed personal and bought it for £52.10s. the best library in the world of Old year, so that there is an unbroken interest in these books, and one The Bible had been copied by Yiddish books from the 1530s (the tradition of collecting Hebrew books can still see at the end of the Moses Ibn Zabarah and lavishly beginning of Yiddish printing) on- from Bodley to the present. catalogue a page largely in Latin illustrated by Joseph Ibn Hayyim wards; in a number of cases, it RICHARD JUDD where he indignantly corrects some on behalf of their patron, Isaac di includes the only surviving copy. Assistant librarian, Bodleian misprints in Hebrew. Braga. It was truly an exquisite The continued policy of collecting production, an exact facsimile of Hebrew material bore sensational which was published in London in fruit in 1693, when the library 1985. No one has any idea where purchased two different collections the original lay between 1492 and which still attract a continuous 1771. stream of Jewish readers. In 1829 an event occurred which Item 80 in the collection of was to turn the Bodleian Library manuscripts bought from Dr Robert into a depository for the most Huntingdon is Maimonides' "Mish- important and magnificant Hebraica neh Torah," with the author's collection ever accumulated. This signature, attesting that the text was the purchase of the famous had been corrected. against his Oppenheimer Library for £2,080, a original. price later described as "the best This manuscript is supremely bargain in the history of booksel- important both for historical reasons ling." and for the accuracy of its text; it is Rabbi David ben Abraham treated with great reverence by Oppenheimer (1664-1736) was the scholarly readers. Huntington Chief Rabbi of Prague, who devoted bought it while acting as chaplain more than half a century to building to English merchants in Aleppo. up his library. A bibliophile from This article has been reproduced for your information and pleasure. For copyright reasons we have to reduce the quality of the images. We hope this does not detract too much from your enjoyment of the article. Facsimile Editions Limited 40 Hamilton Terrace London NW8 9UJ United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0) 20 7286 0071 Fax: +44 (0) 20 7266 3927 www.facsimile-editions.com .
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