The Sheridan Libraries are fortunate to possess significant holdings in the area of Jewish Studies. The collection dates back to the university’s founding and has been strengthened over the decades by many generous donors.
Now, joining the collection are two rare works: a 1741 printing from Fürth (in present-day Germany) of the Ein Ya’akov—an important compilation and exegesis by Jacob ben Solomon Ibn Habib that greatly expanded the reach of the Talmud to less specialized audiences—and a 1822 printing from Direnfurt (in what is today Brzeg Dolny, Poland) of the Sefer Zevah Shemuʼel, a guide to kosher butchery (shechita).
Excerpt of Ein Ya’akov (Fürth, 1741)
Perhaps even rarer than these items, however, is the donor, Eren Parla. Mack Zalin, the Librarian for Classics, Comparative Thought and Literature, Jewish Studies, and Modern Languages and Literatures at the Sheridan Libraries describes Parla as “a young man who approached me out of the blue earlier this year with the type of donation one typically encounters from distinguished and aged scholars who are cleaning out their offices after long and productive careers. Eren, on the other hand, is just getting started.”
Though still an undergraduate at George Mason University, Parla has already made extraordinary contributions to the promotion of material culture around the world. Among them is his recent, voluntary repatriation to the Korean Studies Institute in Andong of a priceless UNESCO-listed Confucian woodblock that sat in his grandparents’ house for decades. Less conspicuous, but no less remarkable, are his efforts to place hundreds of antiquarian Jewish books—some collected by his ancestors and others purchased with funds out of his own pocket—in research libraries across North America, including the Smithsonian’s American History Museum, YIVO, the Jewish Veterans Museum in Washington, D.C, and Harvard’s Judaica Division, so that they can be more accessible to scholars and the general public alike.
That the Sheridan Libraries are included among the ranks of such venerable institutions is a testament to the existing strength of its holdings in Judaica and the reputation of the Leonard and Helen R. Stulman Jewish Studies Program at Johns Hopkins.
“Eren’s generosity, born from a desire to share knowledge widely as the descendant of educators, is a testament to the Jewish principle of l’dor v’dor, which means “from generation to generation,” says Zalin. “His donation will doubtlessly inspire future gifts, as well, which we are most grateful for. Todah rabah, Eren!”
Ein Ya’akov (Fürth, 1741) and Sefer Zevah Shemuʼel (Direnfurt, 1822) pictured prior to their accessioning.
This Sunday, November 2, 1-3 PM, join Zalin and Associate Professor Samuel Spinner, Tandetnik Chair in Yiddish Language, Literature, and Culture as they explore more than a dozen rare works from the Sheridan Libraries collection of rare Judaica and discuss how these materials inspire teaching, research, and cultural life at Hopkins, across Baltimore, and around the world. The free event will be held in the Carriage House at Evergreen Museum & Library.
Advance registration is requested. Walk-ins welcome with photo id if space is available: https://events.jhu.edu/form/hopkins-judaica