National Library of Israel

Yom Kippur through the centuries: The prayer books that preserve centuries of Jewish history

In an interview with The Jerusalem Post, NLI’s curator Dr. Chaim Neria explains how the NLI came to house thousands of prayer books, noting that “it fits into the overall mission of the library.”

|ByHOWARD BLAS
Dr. Chaim Meir Neria, curator of the Haim and Hanna Salomon Judaica Collection at the National Library of Israel, with one of the two volumes of the Lisbon Mahzor recently received by the Library.
New National Library of Israel building in Jerusalem, exterior.

National Library of Israel launches memorial book initiative ahead of Oct. 7 anniversary

The initiative will preserve memorial books and personal works created in memory of those killed in combat and those murdered, while making their stories accessible to future generations.

|ByYOAV ETIEL
Aharon Bar-Oz deposits Naomi Shemer’s leter of response with the National Library of Israel, August 31, 2026.

Author of postcard sent to Naomi Shemer praising 'Jerusalem of Gold' identified after 59 years

“Now the time has come for it to be at the National Library," Bar-Oz said to Ynet. "It must be there, especially for the grandchildren and for those who say, ‘We'd rather die than enlist.’”

|ByMIRIAM SELA-EITAM
‘THE SIXTEENTH SHEEP’ reunion shows (from left) Yoni Rechter, Gidi Gov, Yehudit Ravitz, and David Broza.

‘The Sixteenth Sheep’ documentary celebrates reunion of a musical supergroup

If I have one quibble with the documentary, it’s that it does not give a full sense of the album, that the songs are a journey through the mind of a child who can’t fall asleep.

|ByHANNAH BROWN

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.

OCTOBER 15, 2022ByGIL ZOHAR
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.

SEPTEMBER 14, 2022ByGREER FAY CASHMAN
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. 

JULY 7, 2022ByALDEN TABAC
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?

APRIL 28, 2022ByHAGAY HACOHEN
JERUSALEM SYMPHONY Orchestra.

This week in Jerusalem: Load a car

A weekly round-up of city affairs.

APRIL 28, 2022ByPEGGY CIDOR
THE FIRST 100 car-charging stations have been set up all over the city.

Grapevine: Meet the Meridors

Movers and shakers in Israeli society.

APRIL 20, 2022ByGREER FAY CASHMAN
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.

APRIL 16, 2022ByJACKIE HAJDENBERG/JTA
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.

APRIL 14, 2022ByLEOR JACOBI
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.

APRIL 13, 2022ByCHEN MALUL/NATIONAL LIBRARY OF ISRAEL
Cover page of the booklet “The Lives of Children” composed by students at the Tarbut high school in Kharkiv

World’s largest kabbalah collection to move to Israel's National Library

Leaving the Hebrew University’s Givat Ram campus after 40 years, it will relocate two kilometers to the northeast to its permanent home at the new NLI on Ruppin Boulevard.

APRIL 7, 2022ByGIL ZOHAR
GERSHOM SCHOLEM Reading Room, relocating after 40 years at Givat Ram.