New York, NY – The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and The Israel Museum in Jerusalem have jointly acquired a 15th-century handwritten and illuminated Torah, they announced Monday.
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The Mishneh Torah is a rare manuscript with text by the Middle Ages Jewish philosopher Moses Maimonides. It is the second of a two-volume manuscript featuring six large illustrations plus 32 smaller images and marginal decorations. The first volume is housed in the Vatican Library.
The two institutions said they would share the Torah on a rotating basis.
The Torah was created in 1457 in the style of Northern Italian Renaissance miniature painting. It was restored at the conservation lab of the Israel Museum, where it has been on loan since 2007 and on public view since 2010.
“The Mishneh Torah is a rare treasure that unites Jewish literary heritage with some of the finest illuminations from the Italian Renaissance,” said James Snyder, director of the Israel Museum.
“The Mishneh Torah, a document of great historical and literary importance, and a masterpiece of illumination, will be a major addition to the museum’s permanent and encyclopedic collection,” said Met Director and CEO Thomas Campbell.
The Torah was the highlight of an auction Monday at Sotheby’s from the collection of Michael and Judy Steinhardt. The announcement of the joint purchase was made shortly before the auction.
Sotheby’s declined to say how much the two museums paid beyond that it was more than the $2.9 million paid for a Hebrew Bible in 1989 at Sotheby’s London, which set an auction record for Judaica.
The Torah had been estimated to bring $4.5 million to $6 million at the auction.
The Steinhardts began collecting objects of Jewish history and culture three decades ago, eventually amassing a trove of manuscripts, textiles and art worth millions of dollars. The 500-piece Judaica material spans thousands of years, from antiquity to modern times, and contains objects from all over the world.
VIN News conducted a video interview last week Thursday with Sotheby’s about the auction.
Not to put down the auction, but if one opens any Rambam and learns from it he will be an instant millionaire in olam HaEmes.
Three comments:
1) We see that the Medinah is machshiv Torah, that they were willing to spend so much for it.
2) Why don’t we insist the Vatican return Jewish property to Israel? Does anybody believe the Vatican legally bought one volume of this set many years ago? More likely it was plundered during some pogrom.
3) We see the mesirus nefesh of Klal Yisroel that yidden always had a supply of sefarim, even before printing presses, when each had to be written out by hand at great expense and time.
to put down the auction, this article does not do רמב”ם justice
Glaring inaccuracies by the AP as you will find in almost any news article when you are familiar with the subject or event. Refering to it as the Torah is an inexcusable error.
I wonder how the Vatican got their copy since it dates from around the time that the Xians were burning wagonloads of sforim.
We should be expressing great appreciation to the Vatican for having preserved this priceless example of an early edition misneh torah
There is also an extensive collection of kisvay yad at the Bodlean Library in Oxford, England. It is believed that they purchased their collection. Among their collection is an original hand written Rambam. They are open to the public and you can view the Judaica if you find yourself in Oxford with time to browse.
It is further believed that the Vatican has a huge holding of Jewish artifacts which have not been viewed by outsiders since the middle ages. Good luck trying to view it!
The other half in Rome is taken a shverer Rambam….