Page B20-The Canadian Jewish News, Thursday, December 21, 1989
Over 100,000 pages put on microfiche
JERUSALEM-
The Jewish Writers Guild of Jerusalem, headed by former Otlawan, Rabbi Yaakpv Rosenes, has undertalcen the formidable task of^jreserviug-five-f centuries of classic J_ewish scholarly writings on microfiche film.
I'Many of the precious printed materials and books in Israel and other centres of Jewish learning are being ravaged by time.'' said Rosenes. "The guild was formed to see that these documents are preserved on film and made available to future generations of scholars around the world."
Rosenes and his-coir ; leagues have been locating, collating, indexing and', filming materials for almost' tw'o' years. So far they've put more than • 100.000 pages on microfiche. But with hundreds of thousands of documents to assess, dating back to the 15th century, their task has barely begun.
Once completed, a computer-based index and bibliography will be available to any library, synagogue, school or scholar;
"Because the$e materials are on microfiche, rare and fragile volumes that cannot be circulated — or even handled by other than a few specialist scholars — can be easily sent in compact: microfiche format to any institution pr individual with access to a microfiche reader." said Rabbi Re-uven Bulka, spritual leader of Ottawa's MaChzikei Hadas Congregation, who is both a user 6f the libraiy and a board member.of the Canadian Friends of the -PLoi.ect. "It's an outstand-
search for and locate each reference in the microfilm collection.
The guild has also sent 100 volumes of basic Jewish reference works to the newly-opened yeshiva in Moscow.
The project is being supported by an Ottawa-based charitable organization, the Canadian Friends of the Judaica Archive Project. -Majoi^Canadian donors in-clude'Tfie Diena family of Toronto, Mr. Albert .Dov Friedberg,. a collector of Judaica, and Mrs. Jacob M. Lqwy of Montreal whose husband's collection is housed, in the National Library of Canada. International donors include the Rothschild Foundation of Israel. the Rudman Educational Foundation of New York, and a leading British industrialist.— -
The Canadian Friends have a number of goals.
Among them is the raising of ftinds for the purchase of a microfiche camera to be used by the guild.
'The loss of any culture's legacy is a tragedy for all humanity/'said Rosenes. With this project, printed works that would otherwise disintegrate with time will be saved for future genera-' tions. The portability of the iflicniificlfe format is an invaluable feature and means that institutions and individuals around the world can have ready access to centuries of Jewish' teachings and philosophy."'^-.— '
Another active board member is Rabbi Mena-chefriGppin;: National Executive Director pf :Mizrachi in Canada. He " was in Ottawa to attend the- ■ June meetirig of the Cana-" dian Friends of the Judaica Archive Project.. He
reflected that man's full capability to reason with clarity took place at Mount Sinai when the Torah was . revealed.
'•As we move away from Sinai the more difficult it is to resolve what it is that God wants of us. While we cherishai our ancient writings as one way of hnking Sinai to a particular age, our ability to save these writings and respon-sa grew progressively worse. Persecution, expulsion and worst of all destruction of those documents now makes it imperative that we not lose this opportunity to preserve, on microfiche, those source writings that are our heritaige."
' Robert: Montague of the Canadian Institute for Historical Microrepro-"duciionsradvises the board on all technical matters that affect
Rabbi Yaacov Rosenes holds some of the manuscripts that will be converted onto microfiche.
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ing example pf the 20th century coming to the rescue of the first century.'' The guild recently signed an agreernent' with Otzar HaPoskim, the Israeli insti-^ tute that collects and indexes, all legal decisions and arguments affecting Jewish life, to microfilm the source material of their master halachic index, comprising more thajL. 3,500 responsa (religious arguments and decisions) and halachic works. A "super-index'- will be^ computerized and, when . completed, will enable government, rabbinical and judicial bodies, as well as scholars and researchers to
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