Michelangelo, the great Renaissance artist, left an incredible cultural legacy behind, along with a fascinating mystery: Why did he choose to add horns to his famous sculpture of Moses?
Abraham Shalom Yahuda’s Extraordinary Tabernacle Model
Among the thousands of documents, letters, rare books and manuscripts in the Yahuda collection at the National Library of Israel, there is a unique and unusual object: a precise three-dimensional model of the Tabernacle and its vessels down to the last detail of its golden rings and scarlet threads. What was the impetus behind Prof. Abraham Shalom Yahuda’s extraordinary model?
Who Are the Jews Depicted in These Holocaust-Era Portraits?
“These were powerful images I saw – to give form to all that misery – to show it to the world – this was always my intent”. The artist David Friedmann produced hundreds of portraits during the time of the Nazi occupation in Prague. Surviving are only ninety-four portraits of members of the Prague Jewish Community from the years 1940-1941. Yet numerous subjects depicted in these artworks remain unidentified to this day. Can you help us solve this mystery?
The Hebrew Manuscript That Dared to Depict God
We decided to examine the manuscript that boldly violated the explicit commandment: “You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness”
The Opera That Survived the Ghetto: The Story of “The Kaiser of Atlantis”
Under a perpetual shadow of death, as train after train was sent to Auschwitz, Viktor Ullmann and Peter Kien, imprisoned in the Theresienstadt Ghetto, composed a searing opera satirizing the awful reality in Europe. Both were murdered, but a suitcase filled with Ullmann’s works survived to tell the story of the human spirit’s triumph over death
Who Wrote These Magical Ancient Jewish Bowls?
Were they men or women, rabbis or sorcerers, legal experts or ignoramuses?
Ruth the Moabite: The Most Beautiful Woman You’ve Never Seen
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
Out of the Vault: Incredible Torah Scrolls Revealed
Check out these clips featuring four of the most stunning and interesting Torah scrolls from the National Library of Israel collection
Haircuts on Lag BaOmer: The First Printed Documentation!
A beautiful illustration from a book printed in 1601 for the Jewish community in Venice contains the first-ever printed documentation of the Lag BaOmer holiday haircut tradition
A Haggadic Sister: New Acquisition Illuminates Artist’s Journey
In 2012, artist Maty Grünberg decided to revisit his 1984 work, The Bezalel Haggadah – ranked among the finest modern illustrated Haggadot. The resulting volume, The Sister of the Bezalel Haggadah, reveals the artist’s creative process, from concept to final print.
