• Home
  • About
    • About
    • Policies
  • Submissions
    • Op-eds
    • News / Announcements
  • Contact
  • Donate
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

eJewish Philanthropy

Your Jewish Philanthropy Resource

  • News Bits
  • Jewish Education
  • Readers Forum
  • Research
  • Show Search
Hide Search
You are here: Home / Inside Israel / Steinhardts Loan Rare Manuscript to Israel Museum

Steinhardts Loan Rare Manuscript to Israel Museum

April 25, 2010 By eJP

The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, has announced the long-term loan of an extraordinary 15th-century illuminated manuscript – a handwritten copy of the Mishneh Torah by Maimonides – from Judy and Michael Steinhardt. The manuscript has undergone full restoration in the Israel Museum’s Paper Conservation Laboratory and will be presented in the reinstalled galleries of its new Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Wing for Jewish Art and Life, in conjunction with the opening of the Museum’s renewed campus on July 26, 2010.

Created in Italy in ca.1457-1460, this beautifully illustrated Hebrew text includes the final eight books of the Mishneh Torah, the monumental and first systematic codification of Jewish law. The manuscript features six large painted panels decorated in precious pigments and gold leaf, as well as forty-one smaller illustrations with gold lettering adorning the opening words of each chapter. These detailed illustrations, executed in the style of Northern Italian Renaissance miniature painting, along with the manuscript’s elegant script, make it one of the finest extant illuminated copies of this important compendium and of Maimonides’ works in general. The first volume of this work, comprising its initial chapters, is in the Rossi Collection of the Vatican Library in Rome and was displayed at the Israel Museum in 2005, on special loan in honor of the Museum’s 40th anniversary.

“The Mishneh Torah adds importantly to our extensive collection of illuminated Hebrew manuscripts and greatly enhances the display of unique items presented in the renewed galleries of our new Jewish Art and Life Wing, with its emphasis on the richness of sacred and secular life among the world’s Jewish communities,” said James S. Snyder, Anne and Jerome Fisher Director of the Israel Museum. “We are deeply grateful to Judy and Michael Steinhardt for their ongoing and exemplary commitment to the Museum and for the unprecedented opportunity to present this rare treasure to our public.”

The two volumes of the Mishneh Torah became separated between 1838 and 1854, when the first part was purchased by a non-Jewish collector, whose manuscript holdings were later acquired by the Vatican Library. The second volume reached Germany as part of the collection of Avraham Merzbacher of Munich and was later presented to the Frankfurt Municipal Library. In 1950, a Frankfurt family acquired the manuscript, along with seven others, in exchange for property that the city wished to acquire for municipal development. It remained in the family until its 2007 purchase by Judy and Michael Steinhardt, who entrusted it to the Israel Museum for restoration and long-term loan for display.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

Filed Under: Inside Israel, Jewish Culture, Philanthropy in Israel Tagged With: Jewish Culture

Click here to Email This Post Email This Post to friends or colleagues!

Primary Sidebar

Join The Conversation

What's the best way to follow important issues affecting the Jewish philanthropic world? Our Daily Update keeps you on top of the latest news, trends and opinions shaping the landscape, providing an invaluable source for inspiration and learning.
Sign Up Now
For Email Marketing you can trust.

Continue The Conversation

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Recent Comments

  • Bruce Powell on An Invitation To Transparency: Reflections on an Open Salary Spreadsheet
  • Sara Rigler on Announcement: Catherine Reed named CEO of American Friends of Magen David Adom
  • Donna Burkat on The Blessings in 2020’s Losses
  • swindmueller on Where Do We Go From Here?
    Reflections On 2021
    A Jewish Response to These Uncertain Times
  • Alan Henkin on Where Do We Go From Here?
    Reflections On 2021
    A Jewish Response to These Uncertain Times

Most Read Recent Posts

  • What Title for Henrietta Szold?
  • Jewish Agency Accuses Evangelical Contractors of “Numerous Violations” but Denies They Evangelized New Immigrants
  • An Invitation To Transparency: Reflections on an Open Salary Spreadsheet
  • Why One Zoom Class Has Generated a Following
  • The Blessings in 2020’s Losses

Categories

The Way Back Machine

Footer

What We Do

eJewish Philanthropy highlights news, resources and thought pieces on issues facing our Jewish philanthropic world in order to create dialogue and advance the conversation. Learn more.

Top 40 Philanthropy Blogs, Websites & Influencers in 2020

Copyright © 2021 · eJewish Philanthropy · All Rights Reserved