A library of Hebraica and Judaica, valued at $50,000,has been presented to New York University by Mitchell M. Kaplan of Newark, N.J., it was announced last night at the fifth anniversary dinner of the NYU Jewish Culture Foundation. A campaign is to be launched to raise funds to house the collection.
Among the manuscripts and rare books included in the collection is a prayer book, written on parchment and illustrated in color 300 years ago in Poland; a 375 year old Sidur, with inscriptions of its former owners; a prayer book written and illustrated by Joseph Luria, father of the Kabbalists, and a 400 year old Hebrew lexicon, written by a Catholic priest, and considered to be the finest study of the Hebrew language and its roots in existence. There are only two copies of this volume left, the other one being in the British museum.
Supreme Court Justice Meir Steinbrink, chairman of the Foundation’s advisory committee, was awarded a gold key for his services to the organization at the dinner.
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