Historic Collection of Pamphlets from Rebbe’s Library Made Public

A collection of over 1,000 leaflets, pamphlets and bulletins published over the years 5411 (1650) through 5720 (1960) that had been collected over decades for the Rebbe’s library were made public for the first time and published online.

By Anash.org reporter

A collection of over 1,000 leaflets, pamphlets and bulletins published over the years 5411 (1650) through 5720 (1960) that had been collected over decades for the Rebbe’s library were made public for the first time and published online.

The Central Chabad Library is home to hundreds of thousands of books in Hebrew, English, German, French, Italian, Russian, Spanish, Portuguese, and other languages. The library also boasts a collection of priceless manuscripts and artifacts from the 7 Chabad Rebbes, and other Chassidic masters, Halachic authorities, mekubolim, and others.

Built over decades by the Rebbeim, and with contributions from authors, librarians and chassidim pouring in every year, the library is among the most prominent Judaica libraries in the world.

Among the many collections housed in the library is a collection of bulletins, pamphlets and broadsheets. What makes the connection unique, is that these publications, often a single page that had been printed to hang up or distribute, give a unique window into the happenings on the Jewish street in a particular time and place.

“The collection in the library contains more than one thousand pamphlets and flyers, printed in various countries over three centuries,” Chief Librarian Rabbi Sholom Ber Levine told Anash.org. “Some of the flyers are large wall posters, others are standard-sized hand-outs. Some where printed as ads, others might have been sent out as a sent as a letter to the public.

Amassed and carefully guarded for decades, the pamphlets and bulletins were scanned and uploaded online for the first time by the Library administration in honor of Gimmel Tammuz.

“The files were scanned, edited and uploaded to the library’s website for the benefit of researchers and students of Jewish history, as well as anyone else who might find benefit in them,” Rabbi Levine said.

Rabbi Levine pointed out that the newest project is another step in a wide-reaching operation to open access to as much as the library as possible. It follows on the heels of previous projects, including scanning and uploading thousands of seforim from the library’s vast collection; scanning and uploading the collection of cards with chassidim’s personal information, known as ‘Sefer Chassidim’; scanning and uploading the collection of the tens of thousands of photographs and artifacts in the library; and most recently, scanning and uploading thousands of volumes of priceless manuscripts from the library’s collection.

“There are many more such projects planned for the future, some similar to the above, as well as others,” Rabbi Levine said.

At the moment, he said, the library is busy unloading and cataloging tens of thousands of books that have come to the library in recent years. Due to the lack of space in the existing areas, there was no place to unload the books, and they were stored in boxes in nooks and crannies wherever an empty space was found.

Earlier this year, the library completed the construction of a new wing, and it was dedicated on Hei Teves in a historic ceremony. The new space, with the many new bookshelves contained within, allowed the library administration to finally begin to properly store and catalog the books.

“As soon as we finish with the unloading and cataloging, we will begin working on coming projects,” Rabbi Levine said.

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To see the catalog of the pamphlets and a scan of each, go to the library catalog at chabadlibrary.org/catalog. In the box ‘Select a Field – בחר שדה’, select ‘Section – מדור’, and then type in קנא or קנב and click ‘Search – חפש’. A full list of the pamphlets will show up, and after clicking on each, one can choose to see the scan.