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N E W S L E T T E R November/December 2009 Volume XXIX, No Association of Jewish Libraries N E W S L E T T E R November/December 2009 Volume XXIX, No. 2 Judaic Treasures at the University of Toronto BARRY DOV WALFISH , JU D AICA SPECIALIST , UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LI B RARIES This article was first published in the Canadian Jewish News on One of these is a 10th-century copy of Halachot Pesukot by Thursday, 15 October 2009. It is reprinted here with permission. Yehudai Gaon, an important early halachic compendium, in extraordinary condition. We also have a copy of a Pentateuch With all the attention the Dead Sea Scrolls are getting at the written in very large letters in several hands, the earliest sections Royal Ontario Museum these days, it may be an appropriate of which date from the late 10th century. Of the other biblical time to remind the Jewish community of the wonders that are manuscripts, the most significant is a complete Bible from Toledo, with us every day, specifically the treasures that sit in their midst Spain, dated 1307, written by Joseph ibn Merwas, a scribe re- at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library. In pride of place is the nowned for his calligraphic skills and scribal accuracy. The latter Friedberg Collection. two items are part of the ROM’s Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition. In the late 1990s, Albert Friedberg and his wife, Nancy, do- The crowning jewel of the Friedberg collection is a manuscript nated an extraordinary collection of rare books and manuscripts of the Zohar, the major work of Jewish mysticism. Attributed by to the Fisher Li- tradition to the tanna Simeon bar Yohai of the second century, brary, and while modern scholarship has determined that it’s the work of Moses there was a fair bit de León and his circle from the late 13th century. Despite its pre- of publicity about eminence, very few manuscripts of this work exist. it at the time, this The Friedberg collection includes a copy of the Zohar that collection remains has been dated to the beginning of the 15th century and con- one of Toronto’s tains the majority of the text of this mystical masterpiece. There best kept secrets. exist only two manuscripts earlier than this one, and both are Manuscripts are fragmentary. This manuscript is the fullest extant and is indis- the preservers of pensable for scholars editing this text and studying the history the intellectual of its transmission. heritage of the But this is not all. An inscription on the first page of this text by Middle Ages, both a certain Nathan ben Judah Noah states that Elijah the Prophet in- Jewish and non- structed Amira to study it day Jewish. Despite the and night. Amira is the epithet ravages of time, used to refer to Shabtai Zvi, the and the extremely mystical messianic pretender precarious posi- of the 17th century. It goes tion of the Jews in on to say that Amira passed The Thomas Fisher Rare Book Librar y is home to many medieval it on to his student Abraham the University of Toronto’s special collections. communities, some Michael Cardoso, who, on his 80,000 Hebrew deathbed bequeathed it to the manuscripts have survived. The major Hebrew manuscript col- author of the colophon, the lections in the world are in Israel (at the National Library), Europe doctor Nathan Noah. This is (at Oxford University, the British Library, the Vatican Library, certainly an extraordinary Parma, Italy, and many other places), and the United States (at the testimony, one that locates this Jewish Theological Seminary, Hebrew Union College, the Library volume at the centre of one of of Congress, and Yeshiva University). Until the Friedbergs’ dona- the most tempestuous periods tion, there were no significant collections in Canada, so they quite of Jewish history and in the The decorative cover of a com- literally put us on the map in this regard. While the collection is hands of one of Judaism’s most memorative album presented to small (about 40 manuscripts, 40 genizah fragments and about controversial figures. Moses Montefiore in 1884. 240 printed books), it is of outstanding quality. Also of great historical sig- From the time of the Dead Sea Scrolls until the next literary nificance is a commemorative album presented to Montefiore, witnesses to have survived, there is a gap of some 800 years, until the prominent Jewish leader and philanthropist, on his 100th the early 10th century. We are fortunate to have some of these early witnesses in our collection. Continued on page 4 Association of Jewish Libraries P.O. Box 1118 Teaneck, NJ 07666 212-725-5359, [email protected] President’s Message SU S AN DUBIN The AJL Newsletter (Irene Levin- Wixman z”l, founding editor) is This week we read B’reshit in synagogue, and, indeed, it does feel as if we are at published quarterly by the Associa- tion of Jewish Libraries to inform the start of a new cycle. Although we have faced many challenges in our libraries members about association activi- in the past year, we are hoping that this new year will be one of peace and growth ties and issues related to Judaica li- braries. Receipt of the newsletter is and that the hard times will fade away. one of the benefits of membership. Annual dues are $50 for individuals In a recent post on a library electronic list, Stephen Krashen cited the various stud- or institutions. ies that have been conducted that show the importance of libraries to education. He wrote, “Research shows that children become better readers by doing more Please send requests for member- ship and dues information to: self-selected reading (Krashen, 2004), and the library is a major source of books for Laurie Haas children. The powerful role of the library has been confirmed in studies showing P.O. Box 3816 Columbus, OH 43210 that library quality (number of books available or books per student) is related to 614-864-0299 X133 reading achievement at the state level (Lance, 1994), national level (McQuillan, 1998), [email protected] and international level (Elley, 1992; Krashen, Lee and McQuillan, 2008), even when Send adult books for review to: researchers control for the effects of poverty.“ Daniel Scheide S.E. Wimberly Library Florida Atlantic University It is the responsibility of each of us to become a library advocate. At the 2008 con- 777 Glades Road vention in Cleveland, AJL presented a powerful CEU class on library advocacy Boca Raton , FL 33431-6424 561-297-0519 given by Joanne Roukens. Her presentation is available online at www.hrlc.org/ [email protected] valuing_libs/vl-pwrpt-pt.2.ppt. ALA also has some excellent material to help with library advocacy. Adult Review Editor Merrily F. Hart 5090 Oak Tree Court Speaking of presentations, many of the sessions given at the convention are Ann Arbor, MI 48108 [email protected] available on the AJL Web site on the Proceedings and Podcast pages. Thanks to Nancy Sack for mounting them on the Web site, to Heidi Estrin for preparing the Children and YA Review Editors Linda Silver & Anne Dublin podcasts, and to Leah Moskovits for compiling and formatting the presentation [email protected] materials. Do take time to check them out. [email protected] General Editor The association is starting to move ahead with some more of the initiatives Libby White proposed at the convention. We will be hiring a consultant to re-vamp our Web 20 Lamplighter Court Baltimore, MD 21208 site. The company we hire will work with our Technology Committee to make 410-580-1812 AJL’s web presence even more useful to our membership and to provide our [email protected] knowledge of Judaic resources to the wider public. Copy Editing and Page Layout Nancy Sack On November 5, AJL sponsored a workshop in Israel, thanks to the work of [email protected] Ya’akov Aronson. Sessions were recorded and will be available as podcasts in the near future. See p. 28 for more information. This workshop heralded AJL’s Advertising Rates 1 1 new beginning of cooperation and sharing with our fellow librarians in Israel. Full page $200 7 /2 x 9 /2 5 1 Half-page (vert) 110 3 /8 x 9 /2 We are hoping to re-start an AJL chapter there. 1 3 Half-page (horiz) 110 7 /2 x 4 /4 Quarter-page 55 3 5/ x 4 3/ 8 4 Speaking of AJL chapters, we have a new co-chair of the Chapter Relations All ads must be prepaid. Please Committee. Joining Irene Seff this year is Enid Sperber. Enid is the library di- submit all inquiries, finished copy, and checks to: rector at Temple Israel of Hollywood. She is an active AJL member who comes Karen Ulric to conventions regularly. Solomon Schechter Day School 1418 Pleasant Valley Way West Orange, NJ 07052 Please join us in building our organization. Volunteer to serve on a committee. 973-669-8000 x253 [email protected] Think about becoming a member of our council. Active participation in a pro- fessional organization not only gives you recognition, it also gives your library recognition. Library boards and funders like that! AJL Newsletter November/December 2009 Volume XXIX, No. 2 ISSN 0747-6175 2 AJL Newsletter November/December 2009 AJL Scholarship Fund Delights Await You in July ELL E N SHAR E TOB Y HARRI S The great rabbi and sage Maimonides listed eight levels of charity. Recently, a small group from the local Seattle conference plan- The highest level is to prepare a person for gainful employment. ning committee toured the Fairmont Olympic Hotel, site of the You have the unique opportunity to encourage a library student 45th annual conference next summer.
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