Chabad Seforim in Reform Library

By COLlive Staff

Bochurim of Yeshivas Lubavitch Cincinnati’s Shiur Gimel went on their annual end-of-year field trip. No, not to an amusement park, or some other adrenaline-rushing sport. Rather, they went to visit the library at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.

Accompanied by their Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Gershon Avtzon and bochurim Shluchim, 20 boys stepped into a library that holds some of the Jewish world’s most precious books and manuscripts.

With the help of a captivating tour guide, with whom the group posed for a photo, the students got to see the first printed Mishna, the first printed Torah Ohr, very early editions of the Tanya and other books by legendary authors.

Most chilling to see, reported a bochur who has spent all three years at YLC, was the sight of a book that was dated from over 1,100 years ago. “It was literally like catching a glimpse of an ancient time,” he said.

There are also many Chabad Seforim in the library.

The Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Library (HUC-JIR), in Cincinnati, functions both as a campus library and as the main research library within the HUC-JIR Library system.

The Cincinnati Library acquires, preserves and provides access to materials in printed, manuscript and other formats, supporting the teaching functions of the Rabbinic and Graduate programs and meeting the research needs of its various users: the faculty, students and staff of HUC-JIR Cincinnati; the residents of the Cincinnati metropolitan area; and the broader Judaic academic and general community both in the United States and abroad.

The college also has campuses in Los Angeles, New York and Jerusalem.

The tour guide was deeply impressed by the interest shown by such young boys, something he said “one doesn’t see anymore”.