“Jewish Worlds Illuminated” features over 100 manuscripts and books offering a world tour of Jewish literary creativity across many centuries and thousands of miles. The exhibition explores the diversity of cultures in the lands in which Jews resided, including Egypt, the Ottoman Empire, Yemen, Iraq and Iran, Italy, France, Spain, and Germany. Curated by Professor David Kraemer, Sharon Liberman Mintz, and Dr. Marcus Mordecai Schwartz, and drawn from the important rare book collection of The Library of The Jewish Theological Seminary, exhibition highlights include a fund-raising letter signed by the great rabbi and philosopher, Moses Maimonides; a monumental decorated prayer book for the Jewish High Holidays, created in Germany in 1290, which opens with an elaborate Gothic portal inviting the reader to enter and engage in the prayers; a richly illustrated Passover Haggadah from Renaissance Italy by the master scribe-artist Joel Ben Simeon; and a 1875 Haggadah from Baghdad, written in Hebrew and Judeo-Arabic.

On view through December 27 at The Grolier Club, open Monday-Saturday, 10am-5pm, in addition to select Sundays on October 10, November 2, November 16, and December 14. Open to the public free of charge.

This exhibition is made possible by support from the David Berg Foundation, the Dorothy Tapper Goldman Foundation, the Pine Tree Foundation, The Artists Against Antisemitism, and generous anonymous donors.