Association of Jewish Libraries 2024 Conference San Diego

Reading and Printing of Psalms in the 16th Century: A Case Study of Socio-Cultural History--Yoram Bitton
Jews all over the world recite Tehillim (Psalms) in times of need or for a spiritual-religious purpose. Jews across the religious spectrum and even secular jews read Psalms for spiritual and religious purposes. You can see people reading Psalms on the bus on the train, or even walking on the street. They recite Tehillim from a miniature book or from a cell phone. This is a spiritual-cultural phenomenon is not part of a religious obligation. In this lecture Yoram Bitton will ask when this tradition started and discuss its context with respect to the beginning of Hebrew book printing.

Grappling with Nazi-Era Books in the Collection: What are our Colleagues Doing?---Diane Mizrachi
At the June 2023 AJL Conference it became apparent that several private and academic institutions were independently grappling with Nazi-era books of questionable provenance in their collections, some gifted and others purchased. This is a relatively unexplored topic in North America with no professional literature to use as a guide. An ad hoc committee therefore was formed to pool resources and expertise. This presentation will share results of the committee’s survey of relevant projects being performed by colleagues in North America, Europe, and Israel. The goal is to raise attendees’ awareness of the scope of these projects and be encouraged to collaborate and engage further in projects of their own.

Holocaust-era Looted Books in the Thomas Fisher Library’s Abraham A. Price Collection--Nadav Sharon
Rabbi Abraham A. Price (1900–1994) was born and ordained in Poland, but moved to Toronto Canada before the War and soon became a prominent rabbinic leader there. Being a bibliophile, he compiled a library of thousands of mostly rabbinic books, many of which were quite rare. After his death, his library was donated to the University of Toronto’s Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library. Examination of the provenance of some of these books, reveals that a number of them were owned by Jewish institutions or individuals prior to the Holocaust and were thus likely looted by the Nazis. This presentation will present these books and focus on their pre and post-Holocaust histories and will consider possible practical steps to bring those histories to light.