(The following is a post by Ann Brener, Hebraic Specialist in the African and Middle Eastern Division.) The time is April, 1879; the place, some town or city within the vast Russian empire. Perhaps there is a chill in the air for in Russia the winters are long, and on a night like this it …
(The following is a post by Ann Brener, Hebraic Specialist in the African and Middle Eastern Division.) In the world of rare books, unicorns are frequently sighted on the pages of older works printed in the European countries, in languages such as Latin or French or English. There, in the guise of what is known …
(The following post is by Ann Brener, Hebraic area specialist in the Library’s African and Middle Eastern Division.) The year is 1547; the place a synagogue in Constantinople, crossroads of Europe and Asia and capital of the burgeoning Ottoman Empire. Constantinople in this period is a vibrant, bustling metropolis, newly revitalized by the conquests of …
(The following is a post by Sharon Horowitz, reference librarian in the Hebraic Section of the African and Middle Eastern Division.) Micrography is minute script written into abstract patterns or formed into figurative designs such as the shape of animals, flowers or human figures. This is a Jewish form of embellishment of Biblical texts, developed …
(The following post is by Ann Brener, Hebraic area specialist in the Library’s African and Middle Eastern Division.) Philadelphia, look out! You may be the official “City of Brotherly Love,” but Ouargla, a town deep in the Algerian desert, is about to give you a run for the money. And all because of a book: …
(The following is a post by Ann Brener, Hebraic Area Specialist in the Library’s African and Middle Eastern Division.) They probably didn’t seem like treasures at the time. They were for the most part in fact rather ordinary: books for study, or for reading to children; posters about upcoming protests, hastily printed; newspaper articles and …
(The following is a repost from the Library of Congress Blog.) The Library’s collection of Yiddish American sheet music is an unusual one for the Library of Congress, mostly because of the way it came together: It started not with acquisition of materials that were then cataloged, but with a catalog. Lawrence Marwick retired as head …
(The following is a repost of an interview conducted by Wendi Maloney, Office of Communications. This interview originally appeared on the Library of Congress Blog.) Joan Nathan is the author of 11 cookbooks, including “King Solomon’s Table: A Culinary Exploration of Jewish Cooking from Around the World,” published in April. Her previous cookbook, “Quiches, Kugels …
(The following is a cross-post by Sharon Horowitz, reference librarian in the Hebraic Section of the African and Middle Eastern Division. It originally appeared on the Library of Congress blog.) Exodus 23:15 tells us that Passover should be celebrated in the spring. The rabbis understood this to mean it was their job to maintain the …
