Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-02-03
EX-JUDGE SULZBERGER
JEWISH ART BENEFACTOR
Jurist Collected Rare Hebrew Lii.
brary and Gave 1t to
Seminary

When the history of the Jews OF America,
shall be written the name of former Judge
Mayer sulzberger, OF Philadelphia, will stand
foremost among those OF the founders Of
Hebrew culture in this country.
This was the opinion expressed today by
Professor Alexander Marx, Of the Jewish
Theological Seminary of New York, conceded
to be one of the worlds foremost librarians
Professor Marks is now in this city.
Before 1890" said Professor Marx, Judge
Sulzberfger started collecting rare Hebrew
books, at a time when no other person In this
country thought of It. American students Of
the great collections OF Jewish literature at
oxford, London, Paris and Leipsic for
precious books and manuscripts. II occurred
to Judge Sulzberger first TO make America
Independent of Europe in this most important
matter. the preservation of Hebrew learning
With remarkable judgment Judge Sulzberger
bought books and manuscripts searching all
corners of Europe for them, and by 1903 had
assembled 5000 volumes and 400 manuscripts
of Hebraca and Judaca, constituting a lib
rary of learning that was priceless and
wonderfully rare.
This collection became the pride Of our
library when he presented 1t to the Jewish
Theological Seminary in 1893.
I'm the same year he acquired the Halber-
STAN collection in Austria of 5000 volumes
and $50 manuscripts, also impossible to
duplicate. He gave this to us. He has con-
tinued to help us and interested others
Jacob Schiff, for instance-and our library
Is now by far the greatest in this country
and inferior only to that of the British
Museum and the Bodleian, in oxford. We
possess more than $4,000 volumes and 1900
manuscripts
Some of these gems have a most interest
ing history for instance, our Talmud treatise
on ldolatry,' written in Spain in 1920.
Throughout the prosecutions in Spain for 500
years this remained in tho possession of a
family of Maranos as the secret Jews we're
called, until acquired by Judge Suzberger.
In his first great gift to us were forty books
printed before 1900.
THE Talmud literature forms the corner
stone of our library as of every Hebrew COL
lection. For next to the Bible itself IT is tho
most precious possession of the Jewish people
And during the Middle Ages, when education
tho world over was very low, when princes
sometimes could not sign their Names the
book that kept tho Jewish mind alive was
the Talmud.
Every Jew was expected to study it. and
most did. Like the Jew himself the Talmud
was prosecuted. 1t was frequently confiscated
and burned. But it was recognized as the
main intellectual and moral support of the
jewish people. However. It found many
among the learned Christians of the Middle
Ages. and the conflicts 1t thereby caused in
the world of Christian learning awoke the
public consciousness from its lethargy and
thereby greatly helped the Reformation"
The Tamud has come to the United States
Tor shelter The Russians on their retreat
from wilma, and the Germans when they
captured warsaw, melted up for war mate
rial the machinery and the plates used in the
printing of the Talmud To save the Talmud
from extinction the Union of Orthodox. Rab-
bis OF America has arranged to print 1t in
this country, and within the next eighteen
months an edition of 5000 copies, consisting
or twenty volumes each, will be published.
They Will use the Romm text Of the wilma
edition. As the plates were destroyed photo
graphs CO each of the 1900 pages will be made
for new plates. A page measures 10 by 15
inches.
FORMER Judge Suzberger was the founder
OF the Jewish Publication Society of America.