ANT KATZ

A nearly 200-year-old book found at the residence of the Israeli president, was returned to National Library Chairman David Blumberg, on Monday evening, at the closing event of the first day of the Global Forum of the Israel National Library.

Blumberg was thrilled with the return of the book, which was borrowed from the library by Former President Zalman Shazar (1889-1974), but never returned. “We thank President (Reuven) Rivlin for returning this important treasure to its rightful home. This historical masterpiece, entitled “Migdal Oz” (Tower of Strength), published by Rabbi Ya’akov Emden (aka The Ya’avetz) in 1836, will be preserved at the National Library for generations to come.”

RIGHT: The Migdal Oz book. PICTURE: Hanan Cohen – National Library of Israel

The book was found in the synagogue at the president’s residence and is a collection of notes and comments on the fundamental laws of the Torah laid out by Maimonides.

Rabbi Emden (full name: Jacob Emden Ben Zvi Ashkenazi), lived in the 18th century and was the community rabbi of the city of Emden, Germany (hence his name) for a time, before returning to his hometown of Altona and opening a Hebrew printing shop.

During his lifetime, he wrote about 40 different books dealing with various aspects of the Bible and Jewish law.

President Shazar was born Shneur Zalman Rubashov, to a Hasidic family of the Chabad-Lubavitch denomination in Mir, near Minsk, in the Russian Empire (today in Hrodna Voblast, Belarus).

LEFT: Former President Zalman Shazar

In his teenage years he became involved in the Poale Zion Movement. Shazar immigrated to the British Mandate of Palestine in 1924, and became a member of the secretariat of the Histadrut. He served as the editor-in-chief of the Israeli newspaper Davar from 1944 to 1949.

He remained involved with Chabad for the rest of his life, assisting Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn, the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, in founding the village of Kfar Chabad, and at his behest, allowed the religious community in Israel to set up their own educational system. He later carried on an extensive correspondence with the Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, and visited him on multiple occasions.

He was elected to the first Knesset in 1949 as a member of Mapai, and was appointed Minister of Education in David Ben-Gurion’s first government. He was not a member of Ben-Gurion’s second Cabinet, but retained his seat in the 1951 and 1955 elections. He also became a member of the Jewish Agency executive in 1952. He resigned from the Knesset in 1956, and from 1956 to 1960 was acting chairman of the Jewish Agency’s Jerusalem executive.

Shazar died on October 5, 1974. He is buried on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.

Shazar served as president from May 21 1963 to May 24 1973 – overlapping with three prime ministers, David Ben-Gurion, Levi Eshkol and Golda Meir. He was preceded as president by Yitzhak Ben-Zvi and succeeded by Ephraim Katzir.

STORY CONTINUES BELOW PICTURE…

ABOVE (L-R): Lord Alliance, Lord Rothschild, President Rivlin and David Blumberg – chairman of the National Library. PICTURE: Hanan Cohen – National Library of Israel

About the Global Forum:

The Global Forum of the National Library is part of the comprehensive renewal process the library has undertaken. The process is designed to strengthen the ties between “The People of the Book” and it’s cultural assets.

The Global Forum will meet every other year and bring together thinkers and creators from around the world. Forums discussions focus on current events while looking to the written word in Israel and the entire Jewish world as a source of inspiration as well as a relevant, challenging and influential resource for the contemporary agenda.