The new National Library of Israel (opened 2023) is an architectural masterpiece, a fitting tribute to a people of the book. Its architecture references a variety of Jewish textual traditions from placing notes in the Kotel (Western Wall) to the ancient practice of scribes writing on ostracon (potsherd). At the same time, it is intended to be the people’s library, the collection of written works that belong to the entire Jewish people. Whereas the National Library was previously located inside of the Hebrew University, suggesting a research center for academics, its new, stand-alone location, as well as design features, aim to invite all people to enter and use the library.
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Currently on display is the Shem Tov Bible (produces in 1312), a Bomberg Talmud (1520-23) which established Rashi script and the layout of talmudic folios still in use today, a copy of the Shulchan Aruch (1565, before the commentary of the Rema was added), and the Worms Mahzor (1280) which is considered the oldest known mahzor and contains the Ashkenazi rite.
The library also houses a synagogue which can be transformed to accommodate both ultra-Orthodox and egalitarian prayer. They even offer a bnei mitzvah program with a great in-house caterer!
My guide concluded by saying that the library’s vision is that every Israeli and every visitor to Israel will visit the National Library, in the same vein as people visit Yad Vashem, The World Holocaust Remembrance Center. He said, “Just as Yad Vashem documents what was done to the Jews, the National Library documents what the Jews gave to the world.”
I spent the evening with my friends, the Shmuelis, in Shoham (near Ben Gurion airport). We went to the local performance hall for a concert with Shlomo Ydov, a veteran Israeli singer, guitarist, and composer, who was accompanied by students of the local youth conservatory. The concert concluded with Idov’s “White Days,” whose lyrics are a Leah Goldberg poem by the same name. Although the poem has its own meaning, in the context of this moment, the song’s title “White Days,” in contrast to the common phrase “dark days,” is a courageous choice to live, to have hope, to shun despair.
