September/October 2000 Vol. 32, no. 9-10

Hebraic Treasures Transform the Bibliothèque nationale du Québec

Cheryl Jaffee,
Curator of the Jacob M. Lowy Collection,
Research and Information Services

Mrs. Clara Lowy and Roch Carrier.

For two brief summer weeks, from June 14 to June 27, an extraordinary exhibition was held at the Bibliothèque nationale du Québec (BNQ) in Montreal. Entitled The Sephardic Heritage of North Africa, this exhibition was the centrepiece of Montreal’s Jewish cultural festival, La Quinzaine Sépharade. The festival was sponsored by the city’s Centre communautaire juif.

From left to right: Philippe Sauvageau, President and Director General of the Bibliothèque nationale du Québec; David Bensoussan, President, Quinzaine Sépharade 2000; Roch Carrier, National Librarian.

The exhibition brought together over 100 manuscripts, printed books and artifacts from the collections of Yaer Oliel and various Montreal families. Eighteen old and rare books from the National Library of Canada’s Jacob M. Lowy Collection were selected to highlight the heritage of Sephardic communities in and beyond North Africa. On June 18, Cheryl Jaffee, curator of the Lowy Collection, presented a lecture at the BNQ on the six 15th-century books from Spain and Portugal displayed in the exhibition.

The opening of the exhibition took place on Wednesday evening, June 14, in the BNQ’s beautiful salle Saint-Sulpice. This elegant reading

Moses Nahmanides, 1194-1270 Perush ha-Torah. Lisbon : Eliezer b. Jacob Toledano, 1489

room was filled with guests in a celebratory mood. Philippe Sauvageau, President and Director General of the Bibliothèque nationale du Québec, and Roch Carrier, National Librarian of Canada, were among the evening’s speakers, and Mrs. Clara Lowy, widow of Jacob M. Lowy, was an honoured guest.

It was an evening of firsts of different kinds. Many of the books and documents that had come from family collections were publicly viewed for the first time. Also, the treasures of the Jacob M. Lowy Collection were displayed in Montreal for the first time in 10 years. A milestone of a different kind was realized, however, with the close, three-way collaboration of government and community: the National Library of Canada, the Bibliothèque nationale du Québec and the Jewish community of Montreal.

An excerpt from the exhibition:

Sephardic Treasures from the National Library of Canada’s Jacob M. Lowy Collection of Rare Hebraica and Judaica

Isaac b. Solomon ibn Sahula, born 1244 Meshal ha-Kadmoni. Venice : Meir b. Jacob Parenzo, ca. 1547

The first decades of Hebrew printing, beginning from about 1470, coincide with the last decades of Jewish civilization within Spain and Portugal. Among the great treasures of the Jacob M. Lowy Collection are its incunabula, the first printed books, which date from the 15th century. Of the incunabula, those printed in Spain (up to 1492) and in Portugal (up to 1497) are among the Lowy Collection’s greatest treasures. Printing houses in Híjar (Spain), Lisbon and Leiria (Portugal) are represented by six incunables.

The civilization of Sepharad subsequently spread throughout four continents. A few of Sepharad’s great luminaries  --  among them Maimonides, Nahmanides, Jacob ben Asher and Isaac Abravanel  --  are represented by early and beautiful printings. Also among these treasures are books of the Bible, commentaries and translations, religious law, a prayer book, the Zohar, Hagadot for Passover and a book of fables. The renowned engravings of Bernard Picart grace a Dutch edition of Cérémonies et coutumes religieuses de tous les peuples du monde.

Bible. Hebrew and Spanish. Torah, Nevi’im u-Khetuvim. Amsterdam : en casa y a costa de Joseph, Iacob y Abraham de Salomon Proops, [1762]

Isaac b. Jacob Alfasi, 1013-1103 Sefer Rav Alfas. Riva [de Trente] : [Jacob Marcaria] be-vet Antoni Bruin, 1558

These works offer us a glimpse of the brilliance of Sepharad and the resilience of Sephardic civilization in some of its places of refuge within Italy, Constantinople, Amsterdam, Casablanca, Tunis and Jerusalem.

For further information on the National Library’s Jacob M. Lowy Collection, contact:

Cheryl Jaffee
Curator of the Jacob M. Lowy Collection
Telephone: 613-995-7960
Fax: 819-934-8333
E-mail: lowy@lac-bac.gc.ca