New Hanukkah Treasures Revealed by the National Library of Israel

In recent news, the National Library in the State of Israel has decided to welcome Hanukkah this time around by displaying some unique things. It released no less than eight clips showcasing a handful of rare items found in the many collections owned by the Library. Through the clips, the audience is able to see numerous items for the first time ever. Every clip released is around 2 to 3 minutes long, which features the items showcased in eight languages. These languages include Italian, Hebrew, Spanish, Polish, French, German, English, and Russian. All of these short videos will be posted to the Twitter and Facebook pages of the Library as the Hanukkah celebrations progress across the country.

The treasures displayed in the clips consist of a rare printing of text in Medieval French. This is believed to be one of the oldest mention of latkes in written form. Latkes are fried potato pancakes that are commonly eaten at the dinner table during Hanukkah. The treasures further included a special booklet on the occasion, especially prepared for soldiers of Jewish German origin at the time of World War I. The collection also includes another rare booklet, which has verses of Ladino Hanukkah printed on it, from back in 1828 at the time of the Ottoman Empire.

The National Library of the country was founded in the year 1892 in the city of Jerusalem. Their Hanna and Haim Salomon Judaica Collection consists of a large number of Jewish and Hebrew books, as well as magazines and journals published throughout history. The library further houses the largest collections of textual Jewish, Israeli, and Judaica rare books, ancient maps, photographs, music, and more, in the world. Further highlights of the NLI collection consist of significant handwritten works penned by luminaries, like Sir Isaac Newton and Maimonides. 

It also includes a handful of exquisite Islamic manuscripts, which date back to the ninth century. In addition, these belong to the personal archives of some leading intellectual and cultural figures, such as Naomi Shemer and Natan Sharansky. The new campus of NLI is soon going to be opening its doors to the public in the year 2022. As of now, it is under construction, located beside the Knesset in the city of Jerusalem. 

In other news, the commander of the 6th District Driving School, Lt. Col. Dan Sharoni, was taken into custody under suspicion of having committed a slew of sexual offenses against the female soldiers he was supervising. He has also been accused of invading their privacy, amongst other things. One of the female soldiers further pointed out that Sharoni took photographs of some of them, without informing them first. One of his apparent victims took to Instagram to write that the commander had hidden several cameras to spy on the female soldiers, which had been placed in the bathroom, in front of their bed, and in the shower. 

She claimed that other females who had come forward had alleged that he had accessed the private phones of the soldiers and taken pictures of them, while they resided in their accommodations on site.