The President of the State, who is on an official visit to Russia, visited the State Library this morning (Wednesday). of Russia, where he saw original writings from the 15th and 16th centuries, prayer books, and scriptures.
The President also visited the library's basement, a restricted area to which only a select few are exposed, where the library staff works on maintaining and preserving the books. The President emphasized that Israel is ready to assist in whatever is necessary to cultivate and preserve the collection.
The source of the writings presented to the president is in the Ginzburg Collection, which has been in the Lenin Library since 1919.
The Jewish-Russian aristocratic Ginzburg family acquired its collection over three generations, starting in the mid-1840s. The collection includes 14,000 books, 45 incunabula (books printed in the 15th century at the dawn of the printing era), over 2,000 Hebrew manuscripts and about a thousand Arabic manuscripts - and is considered the second largest in the world of ancient Hebrew literature, after the Bodleian Library at Oxford University.
In May 1917, a contract was signed to purchase the collection between the Russians and the National Library in Jerusalem for half a million rubles, with the help of Zionist activists and funded by donations, but due to World War I, the shipment was delayed.
With the outbreak of the Bolshevik Revolution, the books were nationalized by the Soviet authorities and transferred to the Lenin Library in Moscow.
Since then, many attempts have been made to bring the collection to Israel, including by Albert Einstein and the first president Chaim Weizmann, but all have been met with refusal.
In the 1990s, the Russians photographed a large portion of the manuscripts and books in the collection, allowing researchers to examine them. The Lenin Library even built a magnificent building in Moscow to preserve the collection. Recently, talks have been underway to present the collection in Israel.
"This moving collection," said Rivlin, "is the foundation and basis for many texts and traditions in Judaism. The Russian people understood the untapped treasure contained in the collection, and what I saw here today is just an example of the ways in which, for example, the wisdom of Kabbalah was disseminated. For me, for example, this is the first time I have been privileged to witness this so directly.".
""We would be happy if the Ginsburg collection, like many collections, were loaned to us on a regular basis. They understand the importance of the collection and are in impressive contact with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and I hope we will be able to see the collection in Jerusalem as well.".
""There is no dispute that in the past it was inherited by us, and I am happy to see how the sources are respected here and treated accordingly.".
The president signed the library's guest book, where he wrote: "As the president of the country of the 'people of the book', I am proud to visit and see the Ginzburg family collections and the Schneerson collections in part.".
""I will bless the blessing of the Psalms: "Ask for the peace of Jerusalem, may your lovers be comforted.".
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