Judaica Europeana Provides a Unified Digital Presence for Judaica Collections

Nothing beats visiting a museum in person, as these visitors to Manchester's Jewish museum learn firsthand, but someday soon Judaica Europeana might be the next best thing. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber

Judaica Europeana Provides a Unified Digital Presence for Judaica Collections

Judaica Europeana is a growing network of Jewish museums, libraries and archives which have joined to present a unified digital presences to highlight the strengths of their collections. So far twenty-three institutions in 17 cities have joined forces to provide integrated online access to Jewish collections. These include the Jewish museums of Amsterdam, Berlin, Frankurt and Toledo as well as London’s Ben Uri Gallery. The National Library of Israel will strengthen Judaica’s technical expertise and provide access to its collections. The Center for Jewish History in New York, which includes outstanding collections on Jewish life in Europe such as those of YIVO and Leo Baeck Institute, will complement the content held in Europe.

I hope I'll be able to use Judaica Europeana to getter better images than this one, which I took a few years ago without flash at the Budapest Jewish Museum. photograph: Samuel Gruber.

The Paris Yiddish Centre-Medem Library which has been associated with the project from an early stage, will provide among other things, a remarkable collection of Yiddish music. The Steinheim Institute in Duisburg has a very large database of Jewish tombstones and important photographic archives. The Spanish Ministry of Culture and the Sefardi Museum in Toledo will provide valuable content from their collections. See a full list of Partners at www.judaica-europeana.eu/partners.html

Judaica Europeana is one of a series of initiatives supported by the European Commission’s eContentplus programme that harvest and aggregate content for EUROPEANA, Europe's museums, libraries and archives online. A prototype which features 14 million items online can be accessed on www.europeana.eu. A fully operational version will become available later in 2011. Judaica Europeana is co-funded by the European Commission under the eContentplus programme, as part of the i2010 policy.

The project is just the latest in an still-evolving pan-European community of Jewish culture. In the past decade we have the slow but still struggling efforts of the Association of European Jewish Museums and also the highly popular annual Day of Jewish Culture. Judaica Europeana aims to create the most visible type of product from such international culture efforts - namely to show shared collections of Judaica to everyone, all the time, online. If successful the project will trample those last remaining cultural borders in Europe - recognizing that historically and now in contemporary terms, the Jewish people and Jewish culture are trans-national. The great strength of the site appears to be its intent and ability to house thousands of images. The weakness will be one shared with many websites - that there will be limited depth of information and analysis. For web-designers, seeing is often believing. Still, having such a big image library handy will be a boon to many.

Budapest, Hungary. Jewish Museum. Photo: Samuel Gruber

The project, however, dramatically demonstrates again the great divide that still exists in vision, organization, and technical resources between institutions in the old "West" - may of which receive state aid - and the struggling institutions in the former Soviet block. Twenty years after Communism only a few institutions such as the Prague Jewish Museum and the Jewish Historical Institute have been able to compete in competence with the old centers of London, Paris, and Berlin. A few centers, such as Budapest are also now emerging as major exhibition and research centers (on Budapest link to the JE newsletter below). Sadly, there are still many "orphaned" institutions in former "East" that most need to catalog, digitize and publish their collections. I hope that Judaica Europeana will extend a helping hand to institutions large and small.

Two views form the Amsterdam Jewish Historical Museum. Video can be watch online at home, but old synagogues are best understood in the spaces, moving around, turning this way and that, and experiencing passing time and shifting light. Ah, but how many musuem goers work that hard? Photos: Samuel Gruber.

According to Judaica Europeana, its strength "lies in the diversity and richness of its cross-domain offerings. Users will find at their fingertips ― only a few clicks away ― books, documents and manuscripts along with images, film and sound recordings on almost any subject. Everyone will be able to integrate this material in virtual exhibitions or in learning resources. The APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) developed by Europeana will allow the distribution of these resources directly into the workflow of the users, on PCs and mobile devices. This vast Jewish content resource will become progressively available online during 2011 and will continue to grow in the coming years."

The new Judaica Europeana illustrated newsletter is out and presents highlights from the collections of Frankfurt University and the Jewish Historical Museum, Amsterdam, two virtual exhibits from Budapest and Athens and some papers given at the EAJS Congress in Ravenna. It can be viewed here.

USA: New Haven's Orchard Street Shul (1925)

New Haven, CT, Orchard Street Shul (1925). Facade and Interior.
Photos: Samuel D. Gruber, 2009

USA: New Haven's Orchard Street Shul (1925)
by Samuel D. Gruber

(ISJM) In a previous blogpost I described the former Temple Mishkan Israel building in New Haven, Connecticut, designed by Brunner & Tryon in 1896, and now used as a performing arts center. On a visit last week to New Haven, I had the opportunity of spending the morning at The Orchard Street Shul (Congregation Beth Israel) another important New Haven Jewish landmark and the region’s oldest intact and in use purpose built Orthodox synagogue. While all of Beth Israel’s physical features are intact, its congregation has dwindled. Today, there is only a small occasional minyan, and all those who still profess membership also belong to other synagogues in the areas. The future of the building is in question (for more photos click here).

Congregation president Sam Teitelman remains active at age 87 – but he knows that hard decisions about the fate of the building need to be made soon. He doesn’t want the building, which in the past few years has received some assistance for window repairs and other limited restoration work, to fall victim to a “last one out the door turn off the light” scenario that has been common for older congregations. Teitelman and others in the congregation are reaching out to others in the Jewish and non-Jewish community for ideas and support about how to save the building and its history, even if the future use is different from that the building now (just barely) enjoys.

New Haven, CT, Orchard Street Shul, Interior details.
Photos: Samuel D. Gruber, 2009

Teitelman has been looking at what’s been done at Boston’s Vilna Shul and New York Eldridge Street Synagogue to see if aspects of those solutions would be applicable – and affordable – at Orchard Street. He and other congregation members have also been supportive of a effort by local and national artists - the Orchard Street Shul Cultural Heritage Artists Project - to use the synagogue and its history for inspiration for art projects – some of which will be exhibited for the first time in a group exhibition opening at New Haven’s John Slade Ely House Center for Contemporary Art on December 6th. While the art doesn’t directly impact the future preservation of either the building or its congregation, it is aimed in part to raise awareness of the synagogue’s existence as an historic and cultural site in New Haven. According to New Haven-based digital artist Cynthia Rubin, one of the prime organizers of the exhibition, “included in the Project are presentations by researchers from Yale University who have developed innovative ways to document the building, including virtual reconstructions exploring new digital methods, ground-breaking research by computer scientists that promises to change the ways that cultural heritage sites will be documented in the future.”

Cynthia Rubin and Sam Teitelman at Orchard Street Shul, New Haven.

Photo: Samuel D. Gruber, 2009

Beth Israel Synagogue was erected in 1925 at 232 Orchard Street, on designs by local Jewish architect Jacob Weinstein, who had offices on State Street (more information is needed on this architect). The area was then heavily Jewish, though other immigrant groups lived there, too. Much of what was once Jewish housing, as well as several important Jewish buildings, was demolished in the 1960s. Beth Israel draws architectural inspiration from both Temple Mishkan Israel, but also from the impressive Beth Jacob synagogue on George Street, built in 1912 (and demolished in 1962). Like Mishkan Israel, the Orchard Street Shul is brick, has two (small) tower features flanking the façade, and is articulated with Colonial revival details. The exterior is noteworthy for its two rows of windows, indicating the men’s sanctuary and the raised women’s gallery. The windows are large and filled with clear glass, and the upper windows are round arched. Both Mishkan Israel and Beth Jacob had tall, narrow double height windows serving main floor and gallery together, and both those congregation used stained glass.

Yale University art historian Walter Cahn, who has written a short essay about the synagogue for the catalogue of the upcoming exhibition, suggests a link with Amsterdam’s Esnoga (Portuguese Synagogue), especially since that building was so known in the early 20th century from graphic representations.

The interior arrangement of ark, bimah and seating follows the traditional Eastern European Orthodox arrangement, very common in American immigrant synagogues from the 1880s through the 1920s, but Orchard Street is a late example. It is noteworthy that there are two aisles dividing the seats in to three sections, with the bimah and the projecting Ark platform (duhan) occupying much of the space of the central section. The marvelous Ark with its carved lions and a eagle recall the the Ark carved by craftsmen such as Samuel Katz, represented by Murray Zimilas in his Gilded Lions and Jeweled Horses exhibition last year. The ark is adorned with light bulbs in a manner similar to the arks at Chevra T’helim in Portsmouth and at Eldridge Street (among others).

New Haven, CT, Orchard Street Shul. Windows have been repaired and the roof no longer leaks, but restoration of the wall finishes, as well of many or other parts of the building, is still needed. Photos: Samuel D. Gruber, 2009

For more information about pre-World War II synagogues in Connecticut see the excellent and still essential survey by David F. Ransom, "One Hundred Years of Jewish Congregations in Connecticut: An Architectural Survey," Connecticut Jewish History, Vol 2: 1 (Fall 1991). 1-147 (entire issue).

This Passover Spend Time with Two 15th Century Haggadot Online

This Passover Spend Time with Two 15th Century Haggadot Online

(ISJM) The National Library of Israel, David and Fela Shapell Family Digitization Project, has produced a digitized version of the Library's "Rothschild Haggadah" for public access. The Haggadah, also known as the "Murphy Haggadah," was until 1939 owned by the Rothschild family, but during World War II it was looted by the Nazis. Later, it was acquired by a Yale alumnus Dr. Fred Towsley Murphy who bequeathed it to the Yale University Library in 1948. In 1980 it was identified as a Rothschild manuscript and returned to its former owners who donated it to the Jewish National and University Library (now the National Library of Israel). The manuscript was written in Northern Italy ca. 1450, copied and illuminated by (or in the workshop of) the famous scribe-illuminator Joel ben Simeon.

According to Elhanan Adler of the National Library "The manuscript was missing three leaves, probably detached before it was acquired by the Rothschilds. Recently two of the missing illuminated leaves were offered for sale and were purchased for the Library through the generosity of two anonymous donors." The digitized version includes the two recently acquired leaves.

The Rothschild Haggadah can be accessed here.

For a description in Hebrew click here.

The Rothschild Haggadah joins another 15th century Hagaddah form South Germany available in digitized form from the National Library website. The "Second Nuremberg Haggadah" is an illuminated manuscript haggadah, apparently from the mid-15th century, and now owned by Mr. David Sofer of London.

According to the Library: "It's name derives from its being held by the Stadtbibliothek Of Nuremberg from the mid-19th century until 1957. Its previous provenance is not known. In 1957 the Haggadah was acquired by the Schocken Collection in Jerusalem and in 2004 was purchased by Mr. David Sofer of London. It is known as the "Second Nuremberg Haggadah" to distinguish it from another illuminated haggadah "the "First Nuremberg Haggada" currently found at the Israel Museum.

The Haggadah contains beautiful illustrations on Passover motifs as well as three cycles of Biblical illustrations related to the story of the Exodus, the lives of the patriarchs, and various later Biblical figures. Many of these illustrations are based on Midrashic stories. The illustrator of this haggada is not known but researchers identify him as identical with the illustrator of another anonymous haggada known as the "Yahuda Haggada" which is found today in the Israel Museum."

For a full description of the manuscript illuminations and the themes they represent prepared by the Center for Jewish art (Hebrew University), together with a bibliography click here.

Happy Pesach!

Germany: Three on-line databases for Judaic Studies to be introduced at Frankfurt Book Fair, October 16, 2008.

Germany: Three on-line databases for Judaic Studies to be introduced at Frankfurt Book Fair, October 16, 2008.


The International Library Centre in cooperation with Judaica Department at the Frankfurt am Main University Library, introducing three online databases in the field of Judaic Studies at the Frankfurt Book Fair.

The exhibition Noah’s Ark of Remembrance will demonstrate the availability to the international academic community of direct access to digitization projects in Jewish studies in the German-speaking world. According to Dr. Rachel Heuberger of the Judaica Department of the University Library Frankfurt am Main, “the exhibition shows how libraries are using new media to even further expand their sphere of influence.” At the Book Fair exhibition the digitalization process will be demonstrated first hand by specialists.

Worldwide access to these materials should greatly accelerate research on a wide variety of Jewish topics, including art, architecture and other cultural pursuits. As these databases come into use, ISJM will welcome feedback from users about the types of material available and new research questions that can be posed. Additionally, ISJM welcomes informal or official updates and reports from researchers about new observations and discoveries in regard to Jewish monuments.

With this digitalization project Germany is taking the lead in expanding research opportunities in some aspects of Judaic Studies. According to Dr. Heuberger, “combined, these magazines and newspapers represent a uniquely comprehensive source of information in the field of Jewish studies on the Internet. Scholars, and indeed anyone in the world who is interested, can have direct access to this research materials at any time.” By comparison, digitalization of American Jewish periodicals lags far behind. Readers are encouraged to send in links to newly digitized research materials.

According to information provided by the Frankfurt Book Fair to ISJM, the Frankfurt Library databases present the following classes of information:

Editions in Yiddish

The wide-ranging database makes Yiddish literature available on the internet free of charge. The collection comprises around 800 valuable books held by the library. The works reflect the diversity of Yiddish literature from the 16th to the beginning of the 20th century in Western, Central and Eastern Europe - from translations of the scriptures for women, to everyday and utility literature such as educational introductions and medical manuals, and also including the classics of national Jewish fiction and poetry.

Printed in Hebrew characters, the texts include many extremely rare books as well as some unique specimens. The oldest book in this collection dates back to 1560 and is from Cremona, followed by a printing from Basel from 1583. The illustrations in some of the works, the so-called Minhagim books, have served over the centuries as depictions of Jewish customs.

Compact memory - Jewish periodicals in the German-speaking world

The internet archive provides online access at no charge to the most important Jewish periodicals and newspapers from the 19th and 20th century through to 1938. The publications cover all religious, cultural and political aspects of Jewish life in Central Europe, making this a significant reservoir of sources for research into the Judaism of modern times.

The online database has achieved international recognition with its inclusion in the UNESCO archives portal whose quality seal is displayed on the homepage.

Virtual collection of Judaica

With its development now under way since 2007, this database will make available on the internet in full text versions a total of 18,000 predominantly German-language books on Judaism with approx. 2 million pages dating from the 17th century to 1932. At the present time, the database already includes 3,000 volumes with approx. 400,000 pages. As a result of the Third Reich and the Second World War, the Frankfurt University Library’s historic collection of Judaica - known internationally as the Freimann Collection after its former curator - is no longer complete. The aim of the DFG-funded project is to record and digitize all parts of the collection which, as a “virtual Judaica collection” is to be made available worldwide to all those who are interested. The virtual reconstruction of the historic collection provides a resource that in its completeness will be an indispensable tool for research.

With three digitization projects, the Frankfurt am Main Jewish Museum will present “Jewish Life in Frankfurt am Main - Online”:

Infobank Judengasse online - detailed information on the history of the Frankfurt street, the Judengasse, the people who lived there, its houses and life in the ghetto.
Ostend - the east district – an overview of a Jewish quarter – the history of a Frankfurt district and its Jewish inhabitants
Frankfurt am Main 1933 - 1945 - an account of the Nazi years
in Frankfurt.

For further information, see:
Rachel Heuberger: Die Bestände der Judaica- Sammlung auf dem Weg ins Internet