Published: 17 October 2023
Last updated: 5 March 2024
Priceless manuscripts from the British Library are the centrepiece of Luminous, an exhibition of Hebrew texts opening this week in Melbourne. Curator DEBORAH RECHTER gives readers a sneak preview.
On the first day of Sukkot and AFL Grand Final Day, as many gathered to celebrate those cultural milestones, another event of significance for the Jewish community quietly unfolded at the State Library Victoria.
In preparation for display, 37 priceless and rare manuscripts produced from the 10th century onward arrived from the British Library, without the same ceremony but with great care.
Luminous: A thousand years of Hebrew manuscripts, which opens on October 17, displays manuscripts that are the remnants and evidence of Jewish practice and culture worldwide for a millennium. They trace the journeys of Jews from 10th century Egypt, through Europe, to India, China and Australia. They are extraordinary treasures, intriguing not just to Jewish scholars and historians but to anyone curious about books and writing, art, science, music, and magic.
Among the treasures are a 1000-year-old Torah, the answer to a question of religious law by the great sage Moses Maimonides bearing his signature, a play written in India in Judeo-Urdu, a legal document from England just before the expulsion in 1290 signed by a woman, Miriam, permitting the sale of her home, Jewish spells from the Middle Ages. Some are of exquisite beauty, others humble, but all have weighty significance.
Each intricately, gloriously illuminated manuscript has a history and significance beyond its aesthetic value. The exhibition helps visitors understand the context, purpose and importance of each object on display. It includes local material to explain Jewish practice and highlights Australian Jewish experience.
