Our Books. Our Heritage.

Some thoughts on the holiday of “Hei Teves,” the fifth day of the month of Tevet.  For context, please see here.

 

How valuable is a book?  Well, wouldn’t that depend on what kind of book?  Hardcover, softcover, new book, old book, classic book, antique book and so many other variables.  Some books sell for a nominal amount and some are much more expensive.  Some also have historical significance and will be more valuable.  A rare manuscript with great historical value would probably be sold at a high price at a professional auction.  All of the above is how a book dealer or collector would appraise a book, and every book has a market value.

 

Then there are holy books.  Yes, Torah books have financial value, but there is something much deeper about holy books that cannot be quantified in financial terms.  The first word of the Ten Commandments is “Anochi,” spelled with four Hebrew letters Alef, Nun, Chaf and Yud.  Our sages taught that these four letters are an acronym for “Ana Nafshi Ketavit Yehavit,” I have written and given Myself.  Hashem is telling us, at the great revelation when we became an official nation, that He is “giving Himself” to us in the book of the Torah.

 

We revere our holy books for many reasons, for example their historic value and the lessons that we learn from their teachings.  It is safe to say that we are still here today because of our reverence for our books and their contents.  The written Torah and the Oral Torah that was later transcribed and published, and our adherence to their teachings, is how we have remained faithful to our traditions and continue to thrive as a nation.  But there is more.

 

When we study a text written by a great sage, we are connecting to that sage’s life and holiness.  Our great scholars and teachers were not just authors.  They were the bearers of our tradition and our faith, and they put all of that, along with everything they stood for as Jewish leaders, into their books.  So when I pick up a Talmud and study the teaching of Abaye and Rava (Talmudic sages), or when I study a law in Rambam’s Mishneh Torah, I feel like these Torah giants are reaching out over the generations and I can feel a connection to them.

 

Over the generations, our leaders have recognized this intrinsic value of our books, and built great libraries, often at great financial and personal cost.  The Chabad Rebbes were among those leaders, and the Lubavitch library is known as one of the most extensive and valuable in the world.  When a relative of the previous Rebbe claimed the library as his personal property and stole and sold rare books in the mid ‘80s, the Rebbe explained that this is not just the theft of property, but a denial of the whole idea of the tradition and holiness of our books.

 

When a federal judge ruled in favor of the Jewish community and ordered that all the books be returned, we celebrated a victory of an event much broader than the return of stolen items from the community.  This was an affirmation that there is something much deeper in our Torah books than financial value.  It also affirmed the role of a Jewish leader, as someone who is completely devoted to his people, and that whatever he does, including collecting books for his library, is for the people.

 

It is customary to mark this day, in addition to attending parties and celebrations, by purchasing holy books.  A couple of websites that have major sales today are kehotonline.com and sie.org.  And, of course, the purpose of having books is to study their contents.  Happy buying and happy studying!