On May 8, experience the vibrant intercultural tapestry of Jewish and Islamic musical traditions from Spain and North Africa. From the eighth century onward, Southern Spain—known as al-Andalus—became a vibrant crossroads of faith and culture. Jews, Muslims, and Christians cultivated rich traditions in the arts, sciences, and music under the rule of Muslim caliphs.
Using AMED’s unparalleled research resources on African, Jewish and Middle Eastern studies, this post showcases a reading room display that offers a taste of diversity reflected in the religions and cultures of Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia.
The Library of Congress African and Middle Eastern Division (AMED) displays a sampling of its collection on agricultural harvesting, cultural and religious practices in Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia.
The Library of Congress African and Middle Eastern Division released recordings of the symposium, “Religious Practices, Transmission and Literacy in Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia,” for online public viewing.
The Library of Congress African and Middle Eastern Division launched a story map, "Prayer Traditions in Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia: a Journey through the Library of Congress Collections."
The Library of Congress' Hebraic Section recently acquired a Ketubah (Jewish marriage contract), handwritten in 1722 in Ancona, Italy. Because the Ketubah is displayed during the ceremony, the tradition evolved to decorate the Ketubah. This Italian Ketubah from 1722 shows how the decoration adds beauty and meaning to a dry legal document.
The Hebraic Section of the Library of Congress African and Middle Eastern Division acquired the Second Rabbinic Bible, the Hebrew Bible printed by Daniel Bomberg in Venice, 1525. This is the Bible which preserved for all time the ancient legacy of the Masorah, the great mass of rabbinic tradition that safeguarded the sacred Hebrew text through the millennia.
(The following is a post by Ann Brener, Hebraic Specialist, African and Middle Eastern Division.) It was apparently a case of love at first sight. How else to describe those first encounters between the earliest Hebrew printers and that newfangled technology that was spreading across Europe? Already in the first dated Hebrew book, printed in …
The Hebraic Section announces that its collection of Rare Children’s Books and Periodical in Hebrew and Yiddish, 1900-1929 has now been digitized. While some of the titles in this collection are fully accessible online, the greater part is still under copyright and may therefore be viewed only at the library’s campus in Washington, D.C.
