The Jewish Theological Seminary Library is one of the largest Jewish libraries in the world. Founded in 1893, it is located at the

Jewish Theological Seminary of America The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) is a Conservative Jewish education organization in New York City, New York. It is one of the academic and spiritual centers of Conservative Judaism and a major center for academic scholarship in Jewish studi ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, and holds over 400,000 volumes, as well as extensive rare materials collections, including the world's largest collection of Hebrew manuscripts. Its holdings have been described as "the most impressive compilation of Jewish historical materials outside of Jerusalem." The library is an affiliate of the

Columbia University Libraries Columbia University Libraries is the library system of Columbia University and one of the largest academic library systems in North America. With 15.0 million volumes and over 160,000 journals and serials, as well as extensive electronic resource ...

History

The library of the Jewish Theological Seminary was founded in 1893 through donations from private individuals including

Cyrus Adler Cyrus Adler (September 13, 1863 – April 7, 1940) was an American educator, Jewish religious leader and scholar. Early years Adler was born to merchant and planter Samuel Adler and Sarah Sulzberger in Van Buren, Arkansas on September 13, 186 ...

Mortimer L. Schiff Mortimer Loeb Schiff (June 5, 1877 – June 4, 1931), sometimes Mortimer Leo Schiff, was an American banker and notable early Boy Scouts of America (BSA) leader. His son, John Mortimer Schiff, was also involved with the BSA. He was also the fath ...

Felix M. Warburg Felix Moritz Warburg (January 14, 1871October 20, 1937) was a German-born American banker. He was a member of the Warburg banking family of Hamburg, Germany. Early life Warburg was born in Hamburg, Germany, on January 14, 1871. He was a grandso ...

Louis Marshall Louis Marshall (December 14, 1856 – September 11, 1929) was an American corporate, constitutional and civil rights lawyer as well as a mediator and Jewish community leader who worked to secure religious, political, and cultural freedom for ...

Mayer Sulzberger Mayer Sulzberger (June 22, 1843 – April 20, 1923) was an American judge and Jewish communal leader. Biography Mayer Sulzberger was born at Heidelsheim, Bruchsal, Baden on June 22, 1843. He went to Philadelphia with his parents in 1848, and wa ...

, and

Elkan Nathan Adler Elkan Nathan Adler (24 July 1861 in St Luke's, London – 15 September 1946 in London) was an English author, lawyer, historian, and collector of Jewish books and manuscripts. Adler's father was Nathan Marcus Adler, Chief Rabbi of the British ...

. The

Jewish Museum A Jewish museum is a museum which focuses upon Jews and may refer seek to explore and share the Jewish experience in a given area. List of Jewish museums Notable Jewish museums include: *Albania ** Solomon Museum, Berat *Australia ** Jewish Muse ...

was founded at the library in 1904 through a gift from Sulzberger of over 400 pieces of

Jewish ceremonial art Jewish ceremonial art, also known as Judaica (), refers to an array of objects used by Jews for ritual purposes. Because enhancing a mitzvah by performing it with an especially beautiful object is considered a praiseworthy way of honoring God's ...

, and it would stay at the seminary for more than four decades.

Alexander Marx Alexander Marx (1878–1953) was an American historian, bibliographer and librarian. Biography Born in Elberfeld, Germany, son of George Marx, a banker, and Gertrud Marx-Simon, a published poet. Alexander Marx grew up in Königsberg (East Prussia ...

served as its librarian from 1903 to 1953. On his arrival the library contained 5,000 and three manuscripts; under his direction it would grow into one of the most significant collections of Judaica in North America, coming to hold 165,000 books and over 9,000 Hebrew, Samaritan, Aramaic, and Yiddish manuscripts by the time of his death. On April 18, 1966, the library caught fire, destroying some 70,000 volumes, including forty

Torahs The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the sa ...

. The library's rare books and manuscripts collection was kept in a separate area and so was unharmed. The library was moved to a temporary location and reopened in September of that year, and would stay there until a new building for the library was completed in 1983. The library was once named the Ivan F. and Seema Boesky Family Library, after stockbroker

Ivan Boesky Ivan Frederick Boesky (born March 6, 1937) is a former American stock trader who became infamous for his prominent role in an insider trading scandal that occurred in the United States during the mid-1980s. He was charged and pled guilty to insid ...

, who had attended classes at the Jewish Theological Seminary and been a major donor to the institution. Following his indictment for insider trading in 1986, his name was stripped from the library. The library's practice of

deaccessioning Deaccessioning is the process by which a work of art or other object is permanently removed from a museum's collection to sell it or otherwise dispose of it.Report from the AAMD Task Force on Deaccessioning. 2010. ''AAMD Policy on Deaccessioning' ...

duplicate items and rare items that are not deemed as necessary for the Jewish Theological Seminary's "core mission"—e.g., Latin

incunabula In the history of printing, an incunable or incunabulum (plural incunables or incunabula, respectively), is a book, pamphlet, or broadside that was printed in the earliest stages of printing in Europe, up to the year 1500. Incunabula were pro ...

—has garnered controversy. One of its rarer possessions—a ''pinkas'', or journal, which belonged to a rabbi from

Tiberias Tiberias ( ; he, טְבֶרְיָה, ; ar, طبريا, Ṭabariyyā) is an Israeli city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. A major Jewish center during Late Antiquity, it has been considered since the 16th century one of Judaism's F ...

who had toured Europe around the early 19th century—was discovered at an auction in 2021, raising concerns around the "lack of transparency around the sale of the manuscript" among Judaica librarians and consultants.

Collection

The Jewish Theological Seminary Library holds over 11,000 Hebrew manuscripts, making it the largest such collection in the world. Additionally, it has 43,000 fragments from the

Cairo Geniza The Cairo Geniza, alternatively spelled Genizah, is a collection of some 400,000 Jewish manuscript fragments and Fatimid administrative documents that were kept in the ''genizah'' or storeroom of the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Fustat or Old Cairo, Egy ...

, over 500 ''ketubahs'', and 4,000 rare and significant broadsides published from the 16th to 20th centuries.

References

{{coord, 40.81170, -73.95971, type:landmark_globe:earth_region:US-NY, display=title Jewish Theological Seminary of America Columbia University Libraries Libraries in Manhattan University and college academic libraries in the United States Jewish libraries 1893 establishments in New York (state)