In February of 1988, the Library Columns, the publication of the Columbia University Libraries, had a note about a donation from Mr. and Mrs. Schaefler. The donation described, among other items, "…fourteenth-century documents pertaining to commercial transactions of the Jewish community at Apt in Provence, France." Six of these manuscripts have been digitized, and are […]
Two new digital manuscript sites: Dead Sea Scrolls and Maimonides
In 1947, a Bedouin shepherd exploring a cave in the Judean desert came across a fantastic treasure trove of Hebrew documents from the third to the first centuries BCE. The Dead Sea Scrolls, as we now know them, are now the oldest known Biblical manuscripts in existence. While they can be viewed today at the […]
RAMBI: The Index to Articles in Jewish Studies
One of the first things to do before embarking on any research is to check the current work on the topic being studied. In many cases, this can be very daunting: How do I find what has already been done? Sure, I can check CLIO to see if there are books published in my area of […]
General Grant and the Jews: The Election of 1868 and the Origins of Jewish Politics in the United States
Please join us for the very first Norman E. Alexander Lecture in Jewish Studies on October 3. Jonathan Sarna was named the "Official Historian" of the 350th Anniversary of Jews in America, and we are very excited to be hosting him at Columbia. We are very grateful for the generous gift of the Norman E. […]
Hebrew Mss @ CUL: New Acquisitions in History and Literature
CUL is proud to announce the recent acquisition of two new manuscripts, both dealing with Sephardic Jewry, which were sold at a recent Kestenbaum and Company sale as part of the Alfonso Cassuto collection. The first manuscript, from 1506 (left), is critical for the history of the Jews in Portugal. The manuscript contains a register of […]
Hebrew Mss @ CUL: Travels to India
The manuscripts relating to Jewish Studies in the Columbia University Libraries are not limited to those in Hebrew. This manuscript, written in Spanish in the 17th century, describes one of the far-flung communities of the Jewish diaspora: that of Cochin, India. The author of the manuscript, Moses Pereyra de Paiva, traveled to Cochin with his […]
New Resource: Confidential Print, Middle East (1839-1969)
We are proud to announce a new database containing primary sources relating to the history of Israel and the Middle East: The Confidential Print collection includes documents relating to Middle Eastern history from the years 1839-1969. The series originated out of a need for the British Government to preserve all of the most important papers […]
Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees: The West’s Response to Jewish Emigration
As part of a purchase of a major database collection, Columbia now has access to "Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees: The West’s Response to Jewish Emigration." According to the site’s description: The Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees (IGCR) was organized in London in August 1938 as a result of the Evian Conference of July 1938. The Evian […]
“New” old books at CUL
While Columbia’s collection of Jewish Studies materials in its Rare Book and Manuscript Library is already extensive, we are still actively collecting "new" materials for our collection. Two recent purchases were made with the help of the Rabbi Nathan Stern fund for Semitic Studies: 1) A manuscript "Commonplace book" from America, c.1825, which includes "the […]
Hebrew mss @ CUL: Pardes Rimonim
Kabbalah, the subject of Jewish mysticism, is one discussed by many but understood by few. One of the important Kabbalists of the 16th century was Moses Cordovero. Moses Cordovero was a student of Joseph Caro, and one of the teachers of the famed Isaac Luria in Safed. His first work, written at the age of […]