The Library

One of the main instruments of support for the Nahmanides Institute for Jewish Studies and for the Museum of Jewish History is the library specializing in Judaica, which bears the name of the Israeli philanthropist Eliezer Elhanan Schalit. The Library collection started to be established in 1991, on the basis of a small stock of volumes from the Girona Municipal Archive, to which were added books originating from the Bonastruc ça Porta Centre.

Little by little, thanks to the efforts and cooperation of different institutions, entities and private individuals, a stock of books has been built up which now (2012) constitutes 9.000 references: monographs (6.463), articles (2.246) and periodical publications (289). It is probably the most important public collection of Judaica in Catalonia. Access to and use of the Library is open to all persons who wish to learn about, increase their knowledge of, research into, or simply get to know better Jewish culture from different viewpoints.

The themes of the collection are all related to Jewish history and culture. The largest section is dedicated to the history of the Catalan Jewish communities and that of Girona in particular, but also the history of the Jewish people all over the world and at all periods. After this there are books dealing with cabbalism, philosophy and Jewish thought throughout the ages. There is also a significant number of books dealing with relations with the Christian community, and including subjects such as the persecutions of the Inquisition, and there are sections dealing with science, literature, poetry and Jewish culture in general. In addition, there are books dealing with cookery, art, folklore, music, personal names, short stories, stories for children, etc.

Since 2008 we have considerably expanded the section dedicated to studies concerning women. Finally, it is also worth noting our collection of novels, which is one of the sections with the largest number of users and readers.