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ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 620

The National Library of Israel

The 'Codex Sassoon' bible is displayed at Sotheby's in New York on February 15, 2023. (Ed Jones/AFP)
June 2, 2025, 2:01 pm
Daily Briefing June 2: Day 605 – Ancient Bibles receive new homes for Torah holiday
Religions reporter Rossella Tercatin on Anu’s Codex, converts’ issues and Messianic traditions of slain Yaron Lischinsky; arts editor Jessica Steinberg reviews kibbutz art on Shavuot
By Jessica Steinberg and Rossella Tercatin
The Codex Sassoon, the world’s oldest nearly complete Hebrew Bible, on permanent display for the first time at ANU Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv in May 2025. (Rossella Tercatin/Times of Israel)
May 30, 2025, 4:32 am
Codex Sassoon, oldest near-complete Hebrew Bible, displayed in Israel after Oct. 7 delay
In time for Shavuot, the country also welcomes another centuries-old unique manuscript, the Shem Tov Bible, which too was once part of David Solomon Sassoon’s collection
By Rossella Tercatin
Left to right: A photo from the exhibition 'Habyta' (Back Home) – The North Returns to Life' at Hula Lake Park during Passover 2025 (Credit Gil Eliyaho); Allancastria deyrollei, a butterfly of the family Papilionidae, being tracked in The Great Butterfly Count, held during Passover 2025 (Credit Moshe Lowdon)
April 10, 2025, 9:54 am
This Passover, count butterflies or see portraits of northerners who are finally back home
Ideas of places to go during the springtime holiday, with plenty that’s free and open to the public
By Jessica Steinberg
Moss Haggadah presented to the National Library of Israel, August 2024. Shown (L to R): National Library chairman Sallai Meridor, artist David Moss, with donors Trudy Elbaum Gottesman and Bob Gottesman. (Dor Pazuelo)
April 9, 2025, 8:04 am
Iconic gold-encrusted Haggadah goes on display in Jerusalem for the first time
Original manuscript of the renowned Passover text created by artist David Moss is exhibited at the National Library of Israel
By Rossella Tercatin
Visitors on a tour at the new National Library of Israel in 2024 (Courtesy)
March 7, 2025, 9:37 am
After Oct. 7, Israel’s new National Library helps a resilient nation turn the page
The $225 million building opened to the public just days after the Hamas atrocities – and has become an unexpected source of unity for a diverse society craving culture in wartime
By Jessica Steinberg
Rachel Neiman, a spokesperson at the National Library of Israel, examines a 15th-century manuscript featuring Mezukak Shivatayim ('Distilled Sevenfold'), a previously lost commentary on Maimonines’s Misheh Torah is on display at the National Library of Israel in February 2025. (Rossella Tercatin/Times of Israel)
February 27, 2025, 11:10 am
Lost & found: Early commentary on Maimonides’s Mishneh Torah on display in Jerusalem
Now housed at the National Library, 15th-cent. Mezukak Shivatayim extensively quotes Jewish sages whose works are unknown to scholars, opening the way to recover thinkers’ lost wisdom
By Rossella Tercatin
From 'One Kafka, One Hundred Times' by illustrator Michel Kichka, for the National Library exhibit 'Kafka: Metamorphosis of an Author,' December 2024-June 2025 (Jessica Steinberg/Times of Israel)
December 3, 2024, 5:06 pm
Franz Kafka’s papers metamorphose into National Library exhibit
Wide-ranging exhibition ‘Kafka: Metamorphosis of an Author’ features the institution’s singular archives and marks 100 years since the Czech author’s death
By Jessica Steinberg
Israeli author meir Shalev speaks at the 25th Jerusalem National Book Festival held at the International Conference Center in Jerusalem. February 22, 2011. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
October 14, 2024, 5:24 pm
National Library gets Meir Shalev archive, will restrict access per author’s wish
Institution set to comply with literary icon’s request to keep much of his archive out of public sight for up to 10 years, while making other items accessible in 2025
By ToI Staff
Liqa Kahenat Chief Kes Berko Tegegne reading from The Orit, at the National LIbrary of Israel, in a photgraph released on October 8, 2024. (Michael Zekri/NLI)
October 9, 2024, 5:42 pm
National Library announces digitization project of Beta Israel sacred manuscripts
Dozens of rare texts in Ge’ez, the ancient Semitic liturgical language used in Ethiopia, to be made available online to the public for the first time
By Gavriel Fiske
Destroyed houses from the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on southern Israel, in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, September 19, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
October 7, 2024, 1:31 am
After reaching Israel days after Oct. 7, USC Shoah Foundation is now helping record it
The organization’s researchers gathered hundreds of witness testimonies after the massacre and is sharing them with Israel’s National Library while advising on forming a collection
By Matt Lebovic
Interior view of the new National Library of Israel, 2023. (Iwan Baan)
October 1, 2024, 10:07 am
National Library counts 169 publications so far about Oct. 7
Annual survey updated to show effects of ongoing war and hostage situation on writing process
By Jessica Steinberg
A still from 'We Will Dance Again,' a documentary about the Supernova desert rave, showing October 7, 2023 Supernova victim Keshet Casarotti-Kalfa. (Courtesy: Shax Photography and the production)
August 8, 2024, 11:52 pm
Docu festival at National Library to feature film on Nova rave massacre
Event brings more than 20 documentary films to the indoor and outdoor spaces of the new library complex, including ‘We Will Dance Again’
By Jessica Steinberg
A giant bean bag cushion in Poof Sipur at the National Library of Israel, inspired by the children's story, 'The Emperor's New Clothes,' as imagined by textile artist Naama Ben Moshe (Courtesy Roni Cnaani)
July 30, 2024, 9:10 am
At National Library, kids curl up on bean bags inspired by books
Poof Sipur is library’s summer attraction for children, bringing textile artists to design giant cushions for comfy reading
By Jessica Steinberg
Textile artist Yael Cnaani channeled piles of books and the exterior walls of the building in creating her artwork for the National Library of Israel, inaugurated June 4, 2024 (Jessica Steinberg/Times of Israel)
June 10, 2024, 3:18 pm
Massive wall tapestry mimics piles of books at new National Library
Yael Cnaani’s pillow-like wall covers some 598 square yards, echoing building’s exterior stone walls
By Jessica Steinberg
Composite image of the late Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon against a backdrop of one of his diary pages, recovered and restored after the fatal 2003 explosion of the space shuttle Columbia. (courtesy NLI)
May 29, 2024, 6:05 pm
Ilan Ramon’s space diary moved to National Library
Late Israeli astronaut’s handwritten pages survived the 2003 explosion that destroyed the Space Shuttle Columbia during reentry, killing all aboard
By Gavriel Fiske
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