SELECTIONS. from the MUSEUM COLLECTION. presented by

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1 SELECTIONS from the MUSEUM COLLECTION presented by

2 Cover image: Codex Valmadonna I

3 GC items on loan courtesy of the Green Collection Selections from the Museum Collection Herschel A. Hepler, Exhibition Curator, Associate Curator of Hebrew Manuscripts Herschel A. Hepler and Karen S. York, Authors Stacey L. Douglas, Editor Alex Waldo, Graphic Designer All rights reserved. Museum of the Bible, 2016.

4 CASE 1 Early Jewish Codices and Pro-Jewish Papal Bull

5 CASE 1 Proto-Jewish Prayer Book Facsimile Ink on parchment Middle East 800s MOTB.FAC This 9th-century codex is the earliest example of a siddurlike manuscript. It predates Amram Gaon s and Sa adia Gaon s standardizing of the prayer book. It contains various liturgical texts, including daily prayers, psalms, an allegorical poem of the Song of Songs, and a Passover Seder section that was written upside down. It is likely the oldest, complete Hebrew codex known to exist. MIDDLE EAST

6 Image of the original Proto-Jewish Prayer Book (GC.MS )

7 CASE 1 Codex Valmadonna I Ink on parchment England July 1189 GC.MS Codex Valmadonna I is the only dated Hebrew codex whose English provenance can be verified, making it the sole surviving text from the Jews of Norman England ( ). It contains major portions of the Hebrew Bible Torah, Haftaroth, and Megilloth with various Targumim. The codex survives from a turbulent time in England. It was completed just months before the coronation of Richard The Lionheart in 1189 and the anti-semitic massacres that followed in York, London, and elsewhere in England in Codex Valmadonna I survives as a reminder of this small Jewish community (5,000 at its height) and its brief settlement in England. Emigrated 1070 Expulsed 1290

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9 CASE 1 Pope Sixtus V Papal Bull Ink on parchment Rome (Italy) October 22, 1586 GC.MS This papal bull, issued by Pope Sixtus V, represents a change in Catholic and Jewish relations in Rome. Sixtus V granted Jews full civic rights in this bull, allowing them to establish their own schools and synagogues while reducing their taxes and pardoning many of various crimes. Considering the harsh treatment by many prior Renaissance popes, this bull represents a positive movement in history when a pope stepped out against anti-semitism, and promoted many rights for Jews under Roman Catholicism. Rome

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11 CASE 2 The Samaritan Torah

12 CASE 2 Samaritan Torah Scroll Ink on parchment Israel ca. 1160s GC.SCR For over 2,500 years the Samaritans, a Jewish sect that emerged in the Second Temple period, have venerated the Torah and used Torah scrolls in liturgical worship. Sometimes called the Samaritan Pentateuch, it contains the text of the Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, written in paleo-hebrew script. This scroll has been attributed to the scribe Shalmah Ben Abraham writing in the 1160s. Mt. Gerizim SAMARIA Jerusalem

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14 CASE 3 Jewish Written and Oral Law

15 CASE 3 Ashkenazic Torah Scroll Ink on parchment Northern Europe and Germany 1200s GC.SCR This scroll is one of the few complete Sefer Torah scrolls surviving from the medieval period. Based on its script style and physical features scholars have been able to tentatively determine the scroll s origin. It was likely written in the Jewish Ashkenaz region (Rhine river valley) during the 13th century. ASHKENAZ

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17 CASE 3 Mishnah, with Commentary of Maimonides Paper Naples (Italy) May 8, 1492 GC.INC The Mishnah is a vital collection of rabbinic oral law. Here it is paired with Maimonides Commentary on the Mishnah, the first of his major religious works completed at the age of thirty in This first edition of the Mishnah with Maimonides s Commentary was printed in the late 1400s by Joshua Solomon Soncino, an important Jewish printer in Italy. Naples

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19 Museum of the Bible In the fall of 2017, Museum of the Bible opens its eight floor, 430,000-square-foot museum in Washington, DC. Under construction, it is conveniently located two blocks south of the National Mall and three blocks southwest of the Capitol. Museum of the Bible is a place where people can engage with the Bible its history, narratives, and impact in their own way through in-depth explorations and interactive media and technologies. The museum and its traveling exhibitions display ancient Near Eastern, Jewish, and Christian artifacts and documents from the museum s collection. These irreplaceable historical items help tell various stories involving the Bible as a historical and cultural item as well as a sacred text. The museum seeks to create an atmosphere of wonder and exploration, of reflection and contemplation, inviting all people to look at the Bible anew. As of 2016, Museum of the Bible traveling exhibits have been on display in several U.S. cities and in five other countries: The Vatican, Rome, Italy; Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem, Israel; Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Ulmer Museum, Ulm, Germany; and S.M.I. Catedral de La Habana, Havana, and Catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción, Santiago, Cuba. More traveling exhibits are being planned and new locations sought to increase access to the museum s artifacts and to invite all people to engage with the Bible.

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