National Library of Israel

'My family will finally hear my story': New IDF reservist archive launches

The project, known in Hebrew as “Chaim al Hakav” (Life on the Line), described itself as a national digital archive designed to document reservists’ experiences.

Life on the Line is a digital archive designed to document resesrvists' experiences.
From right: 2025 Sapir Prize debut winner Roni Partchek, honored for her novel “Sitara,” with Mifal HaPais CEO Adv. Beni Dreyfus, judging committee chair Dr. Ruth Calderon, Mifal HaPais board chair Itzik Lari, and 2025 Sapir Prize winner Amir Harash, awarded for “Bereavement and Failure and Zombies.

Amir Harash wins Sapir Prize for 2025; Roni Partchek takes debut award

Education and fun at the National Library.

Hanukkah events and family activities at the National Library

Or Yesha Meusharim from Machzor Worms (13th c.)

National Library unveils rare 14th century Mishneh Torah manuscript


TARBOOT contest announces startup winners

TARBOOT is an international technology innovation competition dealing with the digital use of heritage and cultural content.

 Finalists and judges of the TARBOOT competition at the National Library of Israel.

National Library of Israel set to open in March

What will the National Library of Israel's new complex look like? CEO Oren Weinberg releases details of the new Jerusalem landmark.

 An architectural rendering of the new National Library of Israel building designed by the prestigious Swiss firm, Herzog & de Meuron. (© Herzog & de Meuron; Mann-Shinar Architects, Executive Architect)

Grapevine: ‘Nachas’ and nosh

Movers and shakers in Israeli society.

Simulation of the new David Geffen Auditorium

Manuscript discovered detailing Inquisition trials against Jews in Portugal

The 60-page document lists the dates and locations of autos-da-fé along with the number of victims at each trial. 

  18th century manuscript, found in the Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People at the National Library of Israel, includes details from the first 130 years of the Portuguese Inquisition in Lisbon, including numbers of the victims, charges and sentences

Jerusalem highlights April 29-May 5

What's new to do in Israel's capital?

 JERUSALEM SYMPHONY Orchestra.

This week in Jerusalem: Load a car

A weekly round-up of city affairs.

 THE FIRST 100 car-charging stations have been set up all over the city.

Grapevine: Meet the Meridors

Movers and shakers in Israeli society.

Former ambassador Sallai Meridor 390 (R)

Passover: Centuries-old haggadahs now available for download

The book disappeared for many years but was eventually returned to the Rothschild family, who later donated it to the National Library of Israel.

 These centuries-old haggadahs are now available for download to use at your Passover seder.

Why did medieval haggadot include pictures of men pointing at their wives?

This long-forgotten Passover custom was dealt a bitter blow by a sharp wife in a 15th-century Haggadah.

 The wife in the 14th century "Brother Haggadah" doesn't look too pleased with her husband's custom.

Poems and stories by the Jewish children of Kharkiv, Ukraine

A booklet labeled “The Lives of Children,” preserved at the National Library of Israel, contains Hebrew stories and poems written a century ago by Jewish high school students in Ukraine.

 Cover page of the booklet “The Lives of Children” composed by students at the Tarbut high school in Kharkiv