Preserving the Past in Service of the Future: A History of The JTS Library
Date: Dec 14, 2026
Time: 1:00 pm - 2:10 pm
Location: Online
Category: Back to the Future: Jewish Perspectives on What Comes Next Online Learning
Preserving the Past in Service of the Future: A History of The JTS Library
Part of Our Fall 2026 Learning Series, Back to the Future: Jewish Perspectives on What Comes Next
December 14, 2026
Online
1:00–2:10 p.m. ET
Dr. Yitz Landes, Assistant Professor of Rabbinic Literatures and Cultures, JTS
The JTS Library was founded to preserve the Jewish textual tradition and to build a resource for generations to come. Dr. Yitz Landes traces this vision from The Library’s founding and the growth of its extraordinary collection through the devastating fire of 1966—the subject of an exhibition he curated, currently on view at JTS—and the decades of rebuilding that followed. Looking at the Library today, from teaching with its collections to making its treasures accessible online, he explores how preservation serves both as an act of memory and an investment in the future.
If you have previously registered for another session in this series, your registration admits you to all sessions in the series, and you may attend as many as you’d like.
About the Speaker
Dr. Yitz Landes is Assistant Professor of Rabbinic Literatures and Cultures and curated The JTS Library Exhibit, And the Bush Was Not Consumed”—The JTS Library Fire of 1966: Loss, Recovery & Renewal, which is on display through March 18, 2027.
About the Series
Preoccupation with what comes next, especially in periods of uncertainty, is hardly a new phenomenon. Looking ahead—to what might change, what might endure, and what might be possible—runs throughout Jewish text and tradition.
In this series, JTS scholars and alumni look backward and forward, exploring how Jews across centuries have imagined what comes next, prepared for the unknown, and established what they hoped would endure. From biblical visions and rabbinic ideas about the world to come to preservation, artificial intelligence, and the future of Jewish life, we’ll ask not only what the future might hold, but how we can help shape it.
