Separated at Birth:

How Berkeley acquired a rare copy of an unusual text 

In addition to acquiring the best and most important new imprints in the field of Jewish Studies, I am always on the lookout for books which will fill in the gaps of out of print materials. One of my best sources is Chaim Dzialowski, a charming book dealer who lives in the Ge’ula neighborhood of Jerusalem.  In 2005, on my first buying trip to Israel, Mr. Dzialowski met me in the lobby of my hotel for a conversation. A member of the ultra-orthodox community, he wears a black caftan and large black skullcap and a white beard covers most of his face.  Speaking with the British accent retained from his English childhood, he presented copies of his catalogues which are now ubiquitous in my office. Every three or four months I receive two pamphlets, one of his offerings of religious texts and the other devoted to Jewish History.  Both catalogues list hundreds of out-of-print items. Mr. Dzialowski does not use the internet or email and all orders are communicated by fax, though he is considering using a CD ROM to disseminate his lists rather than print.

Mr. Dzialowski is well known among scholars and bibliophiles. Chaim Seidler-Feller, the Hillel Rabbi at UCLA, is one who regularly sings Dzialowski’s praises.  When I met him during my most recent trip to Jerusalem, he showed me his newly acquired copy of an 18^th century volume he had discovered during a visit to the bookseller’s home.  Mr. Dzialowski has an entire room filled floor to ceiling and wall to wall with books, organized by place of publication.  When I visit Israel, I regularly visit him in his apartment in Ge’ula and he has always been a gracious host. Over the years, we have collaborated in acquiring many wonderful volumes that have enhanced and expanded our collection.

In his last catalog, I found listed a volume entitled “Hirhure Torah.”  The word “hirhur” can be translated as “passing thoughts” or “contemplations.” According to the record in the GLADIS catalogue, Berkeley has three volumes of this work.  The catalogue record was an antiquated one which used an outdated Romanization system. By using the Library’s online resource The Bibliography of the Hebrew Book, we learned more about “Hirhure Torah.” Four volumes were published in Breslau in the late 19^th century. Even though we were missing one volume, we were the only library in the United States to have this title.

The Bibliography also pointed us to another online resource, the Otzar ha-Hokhmah or Treasury of Wisdom, which contains scanned copies of over 28,000 religious texts. When we looked at the scanned copy of “Hirhure Torah”, it immediately caught my eye as it was a woodcut printing which mimicked an elaborate Hebrew cursive script instead of a more conventional printing in block letters. It made perfect sense to acquire the fourth and final volume.

When the volume arrived, I was surprised to find it unbound and recalled the existing volumes from NRLF. On opening the volume, I was astonished to learn an additional fact about the history of this book. It had been acquisitioned to the collection in 1897 as part of one of the first volumes of Judaica added to the library as the gift of Louis Sloss. Sloss was a well known San Franciscan who served as a UC Regent and was an early supporter of the university. It is clear that somehow our newly acquired fourth volume of “Hirhure Torah” was separated from its three companion volumes.  Now, over one hundred years later, they have been reunited.

The Case of the Erased Approbation

The Judaica Collection regularly receives shipments of new books from our vendor in Israel, Jerusalem Books. Any particular shipment includes a range of titles—new Israeli novels, scholarly monographs, reports from government agencies and university institutes as well as books from various religious communities. We make every effort to catalogue and process new acquisitions as quickly as possible in order to make them available on the shelves.

In the process of cataloging one title, “Sefer Me’ir Tefilah,” Bob Talbott our Hebrew cataloger noticed two anomalies.  For one, the title page did not list the author’s name or that of the publisher.  But more unusually, the name of the author seemed to have been whited-out on the four letters of approbation which preceded the text. It is customary in the ultra-orthodox community to accompany texts with letters of support from well known rabbis. These letters testify to the importance of the new text as well as the author’s qualifications.  Both Mr. Talbott and I found it strange the find the author’s name erased from these letters.

My curiosity whetted, I began asking questions.  I sent a query to the local rabbi and posted an email on Hasafran, the Judaica librarians’ listserve; Safran means “librarian” in Hebrew. In short order, I received several replies.  Some librarians though this was a matter of modesty while others suspected some kind of vandalism. Another curious fact was that on the verso of the title page I had discovered a phone number. Those interested in inquiring about the book were invited to contact the author at the number; a statement in the preface encouraged such communication. I called the number, but found that it had been changed, and when I left a message at the new number I received no reply.

My next step was to alert a librarian at the Jewish National and University Library in Jerusalem.  The JNUL serves as the national repository of books published in Israel. It is customary for the library to deposit two copies of every new book. However, self-published books often fall through the cracks. The librarian called the phone number and spoke to the author. He continued to request anonymity but promised to send two copies of his book to the JNUL collection.

The title of the book gave a hint to the author’s identity.  Many religious books include the name of the author in the title, in this case, the name Meir.  In addition to being a common first name for men, Meir can be translated as “lighting-up” or “enlightening” and Tefilah means “prayer.”  The truth was still to come.

This week, through the Government Documents Reference Service, I received an email from the author.  He was curious how UC Berkeley had acquired his book. In my response, I told him how we acquire new titles. I also praised his work, which I had begun reading. I found it unusually open and sensitive to the complexities and problems of prayer. He responded to my email explaining that the name of the book honors his father, but that it was his wish to publish the book anonymously. Nevertheless, he signed the email with his own name. 

At this stage, I have decided to respect his request for anonymity and not reveal his name to others. I have learned several interesting lessons from this case. A mere ten days separated my first posting on Hasafran and the solution of these anomalies. Through the library listserve, other Judaica librarians took the time to contribute their knowledge and connections.  As a result, the JNUL will receive its two copies of this very interesting book.  I hope that other libraries will acquire it as well. 

More interestingly, I learned something about the ultra-orthodox community in Israel and their use of the internet.  It is often thought that members of this community do not bring computers into their homes, just as they refrain from watching television.  There are many reasons for this, among them their perception of the moral ambiguities of the invasiveness of both television and the internet into their community.  However, recent research has shown (link) that the internet is making headway into this often reclusive community, as a result of the increasing importance of internet commerce.  The fact that our author found me testifies to his willingness to use the internet and email.

My life as a librarian-detective awaits the next case.  

This site has now been enhanced with a detailed Hebrew study of the texts of the mahzor by Jonah and Avraham Fraenkel: "Tefilah u-fiyut be-mahzor Nirnberg" (Prayer and Piyyut in the Mahzor Nuremberg) This 139 page study is freely accessible as a pdf file at the Mahzor site under the 'About the Ms.' [mevo'ot] section, or directly at: http://jnul.huji.ac.il/dl/mss-pr/mahzor-nuremberg/pdf/fraenkel_j_a.pdf

The Digital Repository of the Jewish National & University Library can be found at: http://www.jnul.huji.ac.il/eng/digibook.html

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Paul