In preparation for the move to its new home, the Israeli National Library acquired a rare and important collection of Kabbalistic manuscripts and illustrations, which join the Kabbalah collection that currently exists on display in the National Library and the Gershom Scholem collection, which is the largest collection of Kabbalah related artifacts and items in the world.
The collection known as the 'Ilanot' collection includes 36 parchment and paper scrolls, some of which are the longest of their kind in the world and reach a length of up to 11 meters. They present Kabbalistic symbols in an unusual and special way through complex tree-like diagrams that include various figures and illustrations. These scrolls, known as "Kabalim Ilans", or "Ilans of the Counts" (Ilan meaning tree in Hebrew), join 25 scrolls of the same type that already exist in the collection of the National Library. In short, these diagrams try and offer a simplified display of what is known in the Jewish world as “The secrets of the Torah.”
Ancient scrolls find new home in Jerusalem library https://t.co/OpD0LEyPHM via @JewishChron #judaica #jewish #israel #kabbalah #mysticism #jewishmysticism #manuscripts
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Following the acquisition of this new collection, the Israeli National Library will now curate the world's largest collection of Kabbalistic verses, with over sixty scrolls dating from 1660 to 1920, created all over Jewish diaspora communities around the world, from Western and Eastern Europe, Yemen, Kurdistan, Morocco, Iraq and more. According to Dr. Chaim Meir Neria, curator of the collection of Judaism named after Chaim and Hanna Solomon at the National Library, the uniqueness of the collection is that it represents all the different types of Kabbalistic genealogies, with the earliest genealogy dating from 1660 and the last one from 1920.
"The collection is considered a diverse, unique collection of historical, research, and aesthetic value, of an original Hebrew work," explains Dr. Neria, "It contains beautiful and rare charts in the form of scrolls, some of which are colored, of varying lengths, from different sources, creating a spiritual experience in the eyes of the observer and aesthetic as well. Our mission as the National Library of the Jewish people includes collecting such unique works and we are sure that the purchase will add light to the library's status as the spiritual center of the Jewish people."
National Library of Israel ventures into a new realm of Jewish creativity https://t.co/wJbNl9W1cU
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"We at the National Library are happy that these rare items will be an integral part of the national memory, preserved on the one hand but also accessible on the other hand, and will receive the status they deserve as part of the rare and unique works of the Jewish people and the rare treasures of the library," added Dr. Raquel Ukeles, the curator of the Islam and Middle East collections of the National Library of Israel.
