Rare Books and Manuscripts Collection

The Rare Books and Manuscripts Collection comprises approximately 20,000 rare volumes and more than 1,200 manuscripts. Judaica forms the core of the collection, including: the Bible, Halakhah, Kabbalah, liturgical poetry, Jewish art, Passover Haggadot, Hasidic literature, travel books to the Land of Israel, and more.

The collection serves numerous researchers and our students, and we regard it as an important source for Jewish Studies research. Each year, exhibitions are presented that feature items from the collection, as well as entire exhibitions dedicated to rare books on selected themes.

The collection is housed in the Herbert Berman Rare Books and Manuscripts Room, where the items are preserved under optimal conditions of temperature, humidity, and security control.

Researchers and students of Bar-Ilan University may request rare books and manuscripts for consultation via a form. Orders are collected Sunday through Thursday at 13:00 and 15:00. The requested items are brought to the Judaica Reading Room approximately 20 minutes after the forms are collected. Before ordering a rare book or manuscript, it is recommended to consult digitized book repositories.

The curator of the collection, Mr. David Ben-Naim, initiates lectures for students and groups interested in the subject. Faculty members wishing to arrange a lecture for their course may request instruction through the teaching reservation system. Consultation regarding rare books is also available, and donations of books that may assist researchers and help preserve family heritage are welcome.

For inquiries, please contact Mr. David Ben-Naim.

• 
  Mr. David Benayem

  Curator of the Manuscripts, Rare Books and Judaica Collection

  Phone: 03-5318225 5317763 ; 03-5317065

  Email: David.Benayem@biu.ac.il

Among the manuscript collections are:

• A collection of hundreds of Oriental manuscripts, originating from the holdings of the late Prof. Mordechai Margaliot.
• An important collection for the study of Kabbalah, comprising approximately 220 manuscripts, known as the Moussaieff Manuscript Collection. These were donated by the late Dr. Shlomo Moussaieff, grandson of the collection’s founder, Rabbi Shlomo Moussaieff.

The collection includes dozens of travel books to the Holy Land and descriptions of the Land of Israel, dating from the seventeenth century to the present.

Travel literature to the Holy Land is very ancient, originating already in the early centuries CE. This genre reached its peak in nineteenth-century England. Selected volumes are displayed in the Judaica Reading Room under closed vitrines. Many of these books feature ornate bindings, numerous illustrations, and maps. To consult the books, requests must be submitted through the Book Requests form for rare books.

The collection includes hundreds of maps and engravings depicting the Land of Israel and the Middle East, ranging from the earliest printed maps of the fifteenth century through the twentieth century. The collection was generously donated by the Kaplan family and is known as the Kaplan Family Map Collection.

The maps have been digitized, and cataloging work is currently underway to make them accessible to the wider public.