An Important Response to the Article on the Vatican Manuscripts

I received this important comment from Benjamin Richler, the renowned scholar on ancient manuscripts who headed the Institute of Microfilmed Hebrew Manuscripts at the Jewish National and University Library. Richler was the editor of the latest Israeli-Vatican catalogue. I reprint his response here rather than put it in the obscure "comment" section.

Lenny, [Your article had] too much speculation and not enough cold facts.

Fact: The Hebrew manuscripts (mss) in the Vatican were not brought there by the Inquisition or from bookburnings. As Rabbi Moshe David (Umberto) Cassuto has shown in a book in Italian , the Palatine collection (288 of the 800 mss in the Vatican) were actually purchased by a Christian banker from a Jewish Rabbi. The provenance of most of the other mss can also be established and they were not stolen from Jews.

Fact. The mss in the Vatican were among the first to be microfilmed for the Institute of Microfilmed Hebrew MSS in the National Library of Israel and were available for study for over 50 years in Jerusalem.

In response to some requests, here is the title of the catalogue: Hebrew Manuscripts in the Vatican Library. Catalogue. Compiled by the staff of the Institute of microfilmed Hebrew Manuscripts, Jewish National and University Library, Jerusalem. Edited by Benjamin Richler. Palaeographical and Codicological Descriptions: Malachi Beit-Arie in collaboration with Nurit Pasternak. Citta del Vaticano, 2008 (Studi e Testi 438).

In a few weeks the catalogue will be posted on the website of the National Library of Israel. Microfilms of the mss may be read at the Institute (free admittance).

[signed] Benjamin Richler

The late Manfred Lehmann claimed that many of the manuscripts were turned over to the Vatican after pogroms. "The Israel Government, through its Institute of Manuscripts, published a report written by two prominent Professors, Aloni and Loewenberg, showing that the largest part of the 800 works originated in a part of Germany where they were seized after a pogrom. One of the Catholic rulers in Germany presented them to the Vatican."

Lehmann died over a decade ago. He cannot defend his contention, but his goal is still a worthy one. "A spiritual genocide was also attempted [by the Church] over several centuries by confiscating and burning our precious holy books. After thus destroying hundreds of thousands of sacred Jewish books, there is still a residue of some 800 Hebrew manuscripts in the Vatican. For ten years I have led a campaign to recover at least these survivors of spiritual genocide and have campaigned for their return to their legitimate owners, the Jewish people."

Richler's National Library of Israel -- and not Rome -- is indeed the proper location for the manuscripts' display and study.

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