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Join us for a journey through the Hebrew calendar via the peerless collections of the National Library of Israel and the Jewish people worldwide!
The materials below are free to use and we welcome your feedback.
Over the ages, the Jewish calendar has undergone many transformations. Follow this fascinating journey through rare items from the National Library of Israel!
Join the National Library of Israel in celebrating Hanukkah this year with eight stories, eight historical treasures, eight languages, and eight candles; part of the National Library’s “A Look at the Jewish Year” series.
Dr. Yoel Finkelman, curator of the world-leading Haim and Hanna Salomon Judaica Collection, wishes you and yours a Happy Hanukkah from the National Library of Israel:
In the video below, join Dr. Aliza Moreno-Goldschmidt, head of the Israel and Judaica Reading Room, as she explores a small, rare booklet of Ladino Hanukkah verses, printed in the Ottoman Empire...
Memories from my Sephardic Grandparents
Also check out our world-leading collection of digitized, fully searchable historic Jewish press, including numerous titles in Ladino and Spanish.
Join Ariel Viterbo, an archivist in the National Library’s Archives, for a look at a late 19th century Tuscan Hanukkah flyer, including texts in Hebrew and Italian.
Did a Woman Really Read from the Torah in the 15th century?
The Disappearing Headstones from the Jewish Cemetery of Ferrara
Meet Emilia Morpurgo: A Female Ritual Slaughterer from Italy
Read about “I-Tal-Ya Books”, an exciting new initiative to create a unified listing of all Hebrew books in Italy for the first time ever.
Join Tadeusz Woleński, a project manager in the Culture Department, for a look at two Polish Hanukkah treasures, one from just before the Holocaust and one from just after...
Also, check out these stories about Polish Jewish culture and heritage:
A Moment Before Desolation: Rare Photographs of Polish Jewry
Not Traveling? Visit Stunning Jewish Sites Across Poland from Home
The Feminist Revival of Tu B’Av, the Jewish Festival of Love
In addition, check out our world-leading collection of digitized, fully searchable historic Jewish press, including dozens of titles in Polish and Yiddish.
Join Dr. Amalia Kedem of the Music Collection and Sound Archive for a listen to the official candle lighting ceremony at the Israeli president’s residence in 1957...
And discover more on this subject below:
Hanukkah Songs and Sounds From Across the Globe
Bringing Darkness to Light: Singing Hanukkah Songs Through the Holocaust
Diverse musical treasures from the NLI collections
Listen to the full recording of the ceremony described in the video
In the video below, join Emmanuel Fulop, R&D Manager and Architect, for a look at a rare French Jewish text that mentions latkes before potatoes had even made their way to Europe!
Latkes, Hanukkah Donuts and the Head of Holofernes
How the Anti-Semitic Dreyfus Affair Led to the Creation of the Tour de France
Also check out our world-leading collection of digitized, fully searchable historic Jewish press, including dozens of titles in French.
Join Chaya Meier-Herr, head of the Edelstein Collection, for a look at a 1914 Hanukkah publication for German Jewish soldiers...
Join Alexander Gordin, coordinator of the Special Collections Reading Room, for a look at a rare Hanukkah text from the Bukharian Jewish community in the video below.
Join Daniel Lipson, expert reference librarian, for a look at rare Hanukkah posters printed in India...
For the New Year of Trees, Tu Bishvat, we explore the botanical wonders of the NLI's Islam, Israel, and Humanities collections and meet four botanists from different ages.
To learn more about the holiday of Tu Bishvat, head to the dedicated content page on our website.
For educational materials and primary sources, look no further than our Education section.
Explore Tu Bishvat songs and music from our Music Collection and Sound Archive.
The National Library of Israel's collections include some items that are "dressed up" to appear as something they are not. Watch the video to see them unmasked.
More sources on the topic of Purim on our dedicated page.
Purim learning sheet by the National Library of Israel on Sefaria.
Purim materials for educators.
Purim stories on The Librarians blog.
Our “A Look at the Jewish Year” series continues with an exploration of the festival of Pesach, Passover, featuring some unusual guests as well as a number of unique items from the National Library of Israel collections.
Learn more about the items featured in the film:
View and download some beautiful rare Haggadot from the National Library collections.
Explore more Haggadot and stories around the theme of Passover.
Find educational resources to use in your own Passover activities.
For Shavuot, the holiday when the Torah was revealed to the Jewish people, we have showcased four unique Torah scrolls from our collections. Discover these four very different treasures whose journeys have led them to the National Library of Israel.
To learn more about Shavuot and find educational resources for the holiday, head to our Education page.
Find Shavuot music, pictures, and other sources on this dedicated page.
This Torah scroll was used at the Kahal Shalom Synagogue in Rhodes for centuries. The local mufti is said to have hidden it from the Nazis under the pulpit of a local mosque, where it subsequently survived the war, even though the vast majority of the Rhodes Jewish community did not.
This may not be the world’s smallest legible Torah scroll, but at just 6 centimeters (2 1/3 inches) in height, it’s certainly one of them.
These fragments from an approximately 1,000 year-old Yemenite Torah scroll were discovered in a bookbinding, for which they were used as raw material long after the scroll was originally written.