Yeshiva University Museum

500 Years of Treasures from Oxford showcases in America for the first time an extraordinary array of ancient manuscripts, books, and silver, including what has been called “the most important collection of Anglo-Jewish manuscripts in the world.”

Among over 50 scintillating works, visitors will see a late 12th-century Ashkenazi siddur (book of daily prayers), thought to be the oldest extant anywhere, that was owned by a Sephardic Jew from the Iberian Peninsula who emigrated to England and wrote notes on his business dealings in Judeo-Arabic, a 13th-century manuscript of Samuel and Chronicles that was used by Christians to learn Hebrew, and two of the oldest manuscripts of Rashi in the world.

The show not only reveals Corpus’ then revolutionary study of Scripture in its original languages, but, through dazzling illuminated texts, the early origins of English and French, Italian Renaissance works, and explorations of the natural world (including contemporary sketches of Galileo’s observations of the moon’s surface, and a letter by Newton about the orbits of comets).

A rich array of programming, including lectures, gallery talks, and docent-led tours complements the exhibition, featuring such speakers as Brad Sabin Hill (former Fellow in Hebrew Bibliography, Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies), Roger Cohen (columnist, The New York Times), Lenn Goodman (Vanderbilt University), and Gerry Baker (editor-in-chief, The Wall Street Journal).

500 Years reveals to America a collection of astonishing treasures that are usually only accessible to scholars with specific research requirements.

500 Years of Treasures from Oxford is presented by Oxford University's Corpus Christi College, the Center for Jewish History, and Yeshiva University Museum.

The exhibition is made possible through generous support from The David Berg Foundation, The Achelis and Bodman Foundation, the Joseph Alexander Foundation, Bedrock/Dabbah Securities Corp., Warren Finegold, Felicia Herman and David Ben-Ur, The Roger and Susan Hertog Charitable Fund, The Hite Foundation, Daniel and Laura Kaufthal, The Kirsh Foundation Holdings Limited, SR Labby LLP, Ruth and Sid Lapidus, Joel and Carol Levy, Monticello Associates, Bruce Slovin, and by:

Alumni and Friends of Corpus Christi College
Peter Anderton, Timothy Bishop, David Bloch and Rebecca Prime, Michael F. Brewer, John Campbell, Richard Carwardine, John Field, Marc Gabelli, Gabrielle Davis Ginsberg and Jeffrey I. Ginsberg, Dina Gold, Robert Gordon, Alan Goulty and Lillian Harris, Nathan Holcomb, Matthew Latimer and Anna Sproul-Latimer, Satyen Mehta, Robert Newman, Elizabeth and Paul Planet, Robert Rosenfeld, Ashley Stevens, Michael Sulmeyer, Michael Tuohy, Robert Watson, Ian Wilson, Christopher Wright.

Additional support has been provided by the New York State Council on the Arts, and by Friends of Yeshiva Universiity Museum and of the Center for Jewish History.