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Hebrew manuscripts to be digitized
On Tuesday, the National Library of Israel, located on the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Givat Ram campus, will host the signing of an historic agreement between the Russian State Library in Moscow and the Moscow-based Peri Foundation to digitally preserve and make the Günzburg Collection available worldwide.
The collection includes some of the most important Hebrew manuscripts and books in the world.
While the originals will remain in Russia at the state library, the Peri Foundation will facilitate the digitization of 2,000 manuscripts and thousands of books, which will subsequently be made accessible to researchers and other interested parties around the world, via the NLI’s web site.
This is also quite a feather in the NLI’s hat, as it progresses towards construction of a new state-of-the-art facility near the Knesset, which is due to open its doors to the public in 2020.
One of the construction project’s major funding contributors, Lord Rothschild, will attend today’s ceremony, along with Peri Foundation founder Ziyavudin Magomedov, Minister of Jerusalem Affairs Zeev Elkin, NLI director Oren Weinberg and Russian Ambassador to Israel Alexander Shein, who will read a message from Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
The Günzburg Collection was established in the 19th century by Joseph Günzburg (1812-1878) and continued by his son Horace. The family manuscript repository grew incrementally until the end of the 19th century when Joseph’s grandson, Baron David Günzburg, who died in 1910, acquired over half of the 2,000 manuscript items in the current collection.
The documents in question cover diverse themes and subject matter, including biblical texts and commentaries, works on Halacha and the Talmud, prayer books and Kabbalah, as well as volumes of Jewish and Aristotelian philosophy and texts on astronomy, medicine, and magic.
There are numerous medieval Hebrew manuscripts in the collection, as well as more recent works. Most were produced between the 13th-17th centuries. There are also a number of Karaite works, mainly for synagogue use, including biblical translations in the Judeo-Tatar dialect.
Magomedov, whose foundation invests substantial resources in furthering educational opportunities through the use of cutting edge technology, considers the current venture as “a project of the utmost importance.”
He said that “new technology has the potential to assist in comprehending one’s identity, history and culture, change approaches to education and give access to the exploration of historical heritage.” He added that, “humanitarian collaboration is extremely important for a balanced world.”
Lord Rothschild commended Magomedov’s role in the digitization project and lauded the NLI’s initiative. “For many decades now the National Library has lived in hope of having access to the great Günzburg Collection in Russia,” he noted. “Thanks to the imaginative generosity of Ziyavudin Magomedov and the Peri Foundation, and with the support of the Russian State Library, this will at last happen.“
Rothschild also confessed to having a personal vested interest in the undertaking. “This is of particular sentimental importance to me as I happen to be an executor of the estate of Isaiah Berlin’s widow, born Aline Günzburg, a direct descendant of the Günzburg family.”