The biblical figure of Abraham is marked by paradox and contradiction. In this upcoming lecture, we will examine the story of the first Jew as presented in Anthony Julius’s latest book. Julius depicts Abraham’s life as two distinct and seemingly opposing chapters: his youth as a skeptical young man who challenges the idol worship of his city, and later, as a leader who accepts divine authority without question - culminating in the dramatic moment of the Binding of Isaac.

Focusing on this pivotal scene, Julius argues that beyond its narrative importance, the Binding represents a deep internal crisis, both personal and collective, that continues to shape the story of the Jewish people to this day.

The lecture will be held in English. Tickets are free of charge.

Part of the Afternoon Scholar series

Jerusalem is one of the oldest cities in the world, and is considered holy to the three major Abrahamic religions — Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

“The value of Jerusalem cannot be measured, weighed, or quantified. For if the land has a soul, then Jerusalem is the soul of the Land of Israel,” declared David Ben-Gurion, capturing the essence of the city at the heart of Jewish history.

Imagine the pilgrims, merchants, scholars and adventurers who crossed continents and seas, enduring countless hardships to reach Jerusalem. Some encountered the city as it had been described in stories, maps, and paintings, while others saw an imagined, utopian Jerusalem, the place they had always longed for and dreamed of - their hope for redemption.  

At the National Library, located in the heart of Jerusalem, countless items tell the stories of these pilgrims and highlight the central role and sanctity of the Land of Israel and Jerusalem in their eyes. Personal diaries, ancient maps, manuscripts, and illustrations of the Holy City offer a window into their cultural and spiritual worlds. Discover the treasures that accompanied their journeys and explore the unique connection between the Library and Jerusalem.

9:00 - 9:30    Gathering and Registration 
9:30 - 10:45   Pilgrims in the Map Collection at the National Library – Ayelet Rubin,Cataloger, researcher, and reference librarian, specializing in maps and special collections
10:45- 11:00    Break
11:00 - 12:00    Pilgrims in Works From the Islam Collection at the National Library-Dr. Sam Thrope,Curator of the Islam and Middle East Collection at the National Library 
12:00 - 12:30    Break 
12:30 - 14:00    The Unique Role of the National Library in Jerusalem - David Ivgi, Researcher, Curator, and Art Lecturer
14:00- 14:15    Break
14:15 - 15:30    Journeys of European Rulers to the Holy Land - Dr. Stefan Litt, Curator of the Humanities Collection at the National Library

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Steve Reich’s harrowing pieceDifferent Trains explores the symbolic distance between the trains he rode as a Jewish-American child in 1940s United States, and the trains that carried European Jews to the extermination camps at the very same time. This performance of Difference Trains will be accompanied by a video-art piece by Spanish artist Beatriz Caravaggio and followed by the Clarinet Quintet On Jewish Themes by Jacob Weinberg—a Russian-born Jewish composer (1879) who immigrated to Mandatory Palestine in the 1920s but eventually settled in New York, dedicating his life to preserving and nurturing the musical traditions of Eastern European Jewry.

This is a concert about memory and identity, where two Jewish composers reflect on their Jewishness—and the devastation caused by the Holocaust—from across a gulf of time, space, and sound.

*Items from the Weinberg Archive will be displayed for the concertgoers.

Jacob Weinberg – Quintet for Clarinet and Strings“On Jewish Themes”
 Steve Reich –Different Trains, for String Quartet and Video Projection

The Israeli Chamber Project

Tibi Cziger– clarinet |Korbinian Altenberger– violin | Kobi Malkin – violin |Guy Ben-Ziony – viola |Michal Korman – cello

✦ This series is made possible by the generous support of Suzie and Bruce Kovner.

A concert celebrating the 75th birthday of composer, pianist, arranger, and educator Menachem Wiesenberg, one of Israel’s most prominent and versatile musicians. Wiesenberg’s singular career spans the full range between original composition and the craft of arrangement. Like a skilled translator, he takes existing works and recreates them, listening to them with profound respect before unleashing his boundless imagination. The program will feature some of the composer’s original works alongside his arrangements of songs by Sasha Argov.

*Items from the Menachem Wiesenberg Archive will be displayed for the concertgoers.

The full concert program will be released soon. Stay tuned! 

✦ This series is made possible by the generous support of Suzie and Bruce Kovner.

The final concert of the series is dedicated to Professor André Hajdu—an acclaimed composer, teacher, and ethnomusicologist—marking a decade since his passing. The program focuses on Hajdu’s years in his native Hungary, as a disciple of Zoltán Kodály, when he began traveling through villages, documenting the folk melodies of the Roma people, and developing his unique musical language.

The concert will feature early works Hajdu composed in Hungary, arrangements of rural tunes he recorded in his notebooks, and works by Hungarian composers like Bartók and Kodály, who had influenced his work.

*Items from the André Hajdu Archive will be displayed for the concertgoers.

The full concert program will be released soon. Stay tuned!

 ✦ This series is made possible by the generous support of Suzie and Bruce Kovner.