All rights reserved – The National Library of Israel 2017 ©
Diaspora
A recently discovered manuscript documents the first 130 years of the Portuguese Inquisition’s tribunals, mainly in Lisbon. Recorded on the pages are trials conducted by inquisitors and others against newly converted Christians accused of continuing to practice Judaism in secret…
Get our stories directly to your inbox
The name Judith Montefiore is probably not famous enough in Israel. A brief search of the National Library archives revealed that not only was she an equal partner in her husband’s charitable endeavors, but she was also likely the anonymous editor of the first Jewish cookbook published in England…
Walther Rathenau, one of Germany’s wealthiest and most powerful men, was gunned down by radicals in 1922 and mourned by millions. A moving and timeless letter from his mother was read at the murderer’s trial.
Judaism
On a few occasions, the illustrious Rabbi Yosef Hayim of Baghdad cited a mysterious source whose name and work had never appeared anywhere else…
Land of Israel
Why was Mandatory Palestine changed to the imaginary “Emirate of Khemed” in “Land of Black Gold”, the 15th volume in the comic series, “The Adventures of Tintin”?
How Ol’ Blue Eyes managed to trick the FBI, make a special delivery down at the docks and help the Jewish state-in-the-making…
The Book of Ruth is an extraordinary biblical story. At its center is the brave friendship between two women that leads to the founding of the Davidic dynasty, and a heroine whose character traits made her an everlasting symbol of beauty
Check out these clips featuring four of the most stunning and interesting Torah scrolls from the National Library of Israel collection
If not for a crucial lunchtime intervention by General Edmund Allenby, who apparently had his mouth full, half of Jerusalem could have come under French control. In fact, had Allenby remained silent, there might never have been a British Mandate in Palestine, not to mention a State of Israel…
Even a mass murderer can have a personal library. Some of the books from Heinrich Himmler’s private collection, containing his signature, can be found today at the National Library of Israel. How did they get here?
Nowadays, people identify the keffiyeh as the unequivocal symbol of the Palestinian national movement. However, going back a few decades, we find documentation of senior members of the Zionist movement wearing the traditional headdress as well as members of the Palmach and even soldiers in the IDF. What changed along the way?
Sender
Email address
Enter your e-mail below to receive the most interesting, quality content about the treasures preserved in the National Library!
Just write the the next story
Your e-mail has been submitted
