“There is something magical about being in the presence of a historically significant object, the oldest Hebrew book ever discovered,” David Kraemer, director of the JTS Library told JNS.
A Hebrew manuscript, which experts have dated to the eighth century making it the earliest known such object, is on view in New York City after being the centerpiece of an exhibition in Washington, D.C., at the Museum of the Bible.
The Afghan Liturgical Quire, which is part of the Washington museum’s collection but which has uncertainty in its provenance history, is part of the show “Sacred Words: Revealing the Earliest Hebrew Book,” which opened on March 19 at the Jewish Theological Seminary Library in Manhattan.
Herschel Hepler, associate curator of Hebrew manuscripts at the Museum of the Bible, told JNS that the New York exhibition has some opportunities that were unavailable during the Washington installation. (Hepler was deeply involved in tracing the manuscript’s provenance and in a forthcoming scholarly volume about the object’s significance.)