National Library of Israel

The Passover playbook: Jerusalem activities the whole family can rally around during war

This year, everything will be operating according to the instructions from the Home Front Command. Things may be subject to last-minute changes.

Kol HaOt Passover Festival.
‘A Ma’apilim Ship,’ painting  by Marcel Janco (see Friday).

Jerusalem highlights: March 27-April 2

Life on the Line is a digital archive designed to document resesrvists' experiences.

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

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


Hanukkah events and family activities at the National Library

Performances, children’s shows, and family tours are among the highlights of the National Library’s Hanukkah activities.

Education and fun at the National Library.

National Library unveils rare 14th century Mishneh Torah manuscript

The National Library of Israel has added a rare 14th century Mishneh Torah manuscript to its exhibition, alongside newly displayed medieval Jewish texts from Europe, North Africa, and Persia.

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

Older folks, use your new time wisely: It’s a special present, make it magical - opinion

'The laughter of the past is the melody that carries us forward,' has challenged me when I have been hesitant to fill my days with newness Similarly, 'If not now, when?' has real potential.

 An illustrative image of elderly Israelis.

Grapevine, December 7, 2025: Multiple compositions

Movers and shakers in Israeli society.

From left, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, Ecuador Ambassador Maria Cristina Coralios Calero, and Prof. Tamir Shaefer, president of the Hebrew University.

What makes Jerusalem tick? Simon Sebag Montefiore, Matti Friedman talk past, present, future

Simon Sebag Montefiore and acclaimed journalist Matti Friedman delved into how Jerusalem – both city and symbol – functions as a stage for sweeping historical narratives.

Historian Simon Sebag Montefiore in conversation with journalist Matti Friedman at the National Library of Israel, in Jerusalem on Sunday, November 16, 2025.

Grapevine October 5, 2025: When comparisons should not be made

Movers and shakers in Israeli society.

PRESIDENT ISAAC HERZOG and his wife, Michal, look at the memorial wall in the National Library.

Jerusalem highlights: September 26 – October 2

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

Maureen Nehedar (see Sunday).

National Library reunites 15th-century Portuguese mahzor ahead of Rosh Hashanah

Known as the Lisbon mahzor, the manuscript was most likely written in the eponymous city of Lisbon, Portugal, during the second half of the 1400s.

The Lisbon mahzor

David Blumberg built Israel’s greatest library, then politics destroyed him - opinion

MIDDLE ISRAEL: David Blumberg’s dream library stands tall in Jerusalem, but his life ended in tragedy, overshadowed by scandal and political strife.

DAVID BLUMBERG – Short and bespectacled, but authoritative and full of energy, he turned the National Library into a cultural center.

From New York to the National Library of Israel: Naomi Schacter's journey

'The home of the book for the People of the Book.’

NAOMI SCHACHTER; from New York City to Jerusalem, 1983.