An illuminating exhibit

Pages from the Cairo Geniza, handwritten by Maimonides and Judah HaLevi. The Rothschild Machzor (Jewish holiday prayerbook) from Renaissance Italy. A 1700s-era book of High Holiday prayers from Germany, and a Haggadah from the 1300s. Even the story of Esther, on a manuscript from Persia itself.

These artifacts are among the 100-plus illustrated writings that will be exhibited at Jewish Worlds Illuminated: A Treasury of Hebrew Manuscripts, an exhibition of highlights from the Jewish Theological Seminary Library’s massive collection. The exhibition will be cohosted by the New York’s Grolier Club, America’s oldest and largest book society, from September through December.

Dr. David Kraemer, JTS’s librarian, is the exhibition’s curator. “The premise of the exhibition,” he explained, “is the recognition that- during the Middle Ages, into early modernity, and beyond- the vast majority of Jews lived in various diasporas [whose] remains are… in the literary works that Jews produced. So, the best way to learn about any given Jewry and what they cared about is to see the manuscripts they produced.”

He adds that, while many focus on European Jewish history, half of the works on display will be by Jews living in Arab and Muslim lands. Alongside Hebrew and Yiddish writings are works in Judeo-Arabic, Judeo-Persian-even sheet music.

On display, will be centuries of Jewish wisdom-from the pens of rabbis and philosophers, poets and storytellers, scientists and hymnists, scholars and mystics-many illustrated by dazzling illuminations.

“It was time to bring the two ‘people of the book’ together,” said Shira Buchsbaum, the Susan Jaffe Tane Director of Exhibitions for Grolier. “Our wonderful partners at JTS shared their willingness, time, and interpretation-and their preeminent repository of materials.”

“While they were founded in 1884, this is the first exhibition at the Grolier Club devoted exclusively to Jewish manuscripts,” added Grolier Club member Joan Brodsky, a trustee at Chicago’s Newberry Library who also serves on the Advisory Board of JTS’s Library. “It’s going to be an amazing exhibit.”

Jewish Worlds Illuminated: A Treasury of Hebrew Manuscripts will run from Sept. 16- Dec. 27. The exhibition-which will fill the 1,000-square-foot gallery space at the Grolier Club, E. 60th St., New York- was made possible by support from the David Berg and Dorothy Tapper Goldman foundations. For details, visit grolierclub.org.