At the National Library

The National Library continues to surprise its regulars and reach out to the wider public by running interesting events. I got an email about some upcoming events - since it doesn't seem to be on the library website I'll post it here.

There are two events that interest me. On November 14th there will be an evening event to mark the acquisition of a kabbalistic manuscript copied by Menahem de Lonzano. Lonzano is best known as a scholar of the Biblical masorah, but he studied and copied manuscripts in a variety of fields, and he played an important role in the transmission of Lurianic kabbalah. Many of the manuscripts that he describes in his works are not known from other sources, including several references to Provencal works. So that evening should be interesting - the speakers include an expert on Masora, a scholar of Kabbalah and a historian specializing in 16th century Ottoman Jewish history.

The other event is on November 28th. Dr Rami Reiner of Ben Gurion University will speak about Rabenu Tam, the grandson of Rashi, and some of his relatives. Reiner wrote his MA and his PhD on Rabenu Tam, who remains one of the most creative and fascinating personalities in the history of Halakhah. The lecture, scheduled for half an hour before the famous minchah minyan at the library, will also be an opportunity to see the manuscript of Sefer ha-Yashar - Rabeinu Tam's Sefer ha-Yashar, not the others - held by the National Library. There are only two manuscripts of this book, the other held by the Bodleian Library in Oxford. Rami is a great speaker, and this is a topic he's passionate about.