Opening Event for Sacred Words: Revealing the Earliest Hebrew Book

Date: Mar 18, 2025

Time: 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm

Sponsor: The Library

Location: JTS

Category: Library Events Visit Library Exhibits

Opening Event: Sacred Words: Revealing the Earliest Hebrew Book

Tuesday, March 18, 2025 at 6:00–7:30 p.m. ET
In Person at JTS 
3080 Broadway (at 122nd Street) 
New York City  

Join us for the opening event of our new Library exhibit, featuring the remarkable story of the earliest Hebrew book. Learn about this extremely rare work from Professor Ruth Langer of Boston College. She will present a special lecture on the manuscript and what it teaches us about the history of the first Jewish book and liturgy.

About the Exhibit

After 1,300 years of untold travels along the Silk Roads, the oldest Hebrew book reveals its unbelievable story. In Sacred Words, guests will behold the oldest-known Hebrew book, containing Sabbath-morning prayers, liturgical poems, and the world’s oldest Haggadah, which was mysteriously written upside down. Learn about the book’s content, its origins on the Silk Roads, and the multicultural cooperation that brought it first to Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC. This sacred book has a story to tell. Come discover it.