More about the Strashun Collection

The Strashun Library of rabbinical and other works, often referred to as the most important library of Jewish learning in prewar Europe, was bequeathed to the Jewish community of Vilna by its founder, Matityahu (Matisyahu) Strashun (1817-1885).

The surviving books of the library include:

• Early Hebrew imprints from Italy (16th-17th centuries)
• Early imprints from Ottoman Empire (16th-18th centuries)
• Rare imprints from Germany and Holland (17th-18th centuries)
• Rare books from Eastern Europe (16th-18th centuries)

Highlights of the Strashun Library

Hokhmat Shelomoh (Wisdom of Solomon), by Shelomoh ben Yehi’el Luria. (Kraków, ca. 1582) An example of an early Hebrew book printed in Poland.

Meshal ha-Kadmoni (Parables of Antiquity), by Isaac ben Solomon Sahula (1244-1300?). (Venice, 1547) Parables with moral lessons written in 1281 by a Castilian Hebrew poet, scholar, and kabbalist. An edition of the first illustrated Hebrew book ever first printed in 1491.

Torah Nevi'im u-Khetuvim, by Uri Feibush, son of Aharon ha-Levi. (Amsterdam, 1679). Yiddish translation of the Bible by Yekutiel Ben Isaac Blitz. This is the first Yiddish translation of the complete Bible.

Etz Hayim, by Solomon ben David de Oliveyra (d. 1708). (Amsterdam, 1682). Hebrew-Portuguese dictionary. Oliveyra was a rabbi, philologist, and poet. Born in Lisbon, he lived most of his life in Amsterdam, where he was a teacher and a member of the rabbinical council.

Midrash Tehilim (Midrash to Psalms). (1512) The first known edition of the important haggadic midrash, collection of stories and legends and commentaries to the Psalms, known since the 11th century.

Sefer Rav Mordekhai  by Mordecai ben Hillel ha-Kohen (c.1250-1298) . (Krakow, 1598). Unique example of early Hebrew printing in Krakow, Poland.  Considered one of the fundamental sources for Joseph Karo’s Shulchan Aruch. 

Shulhan Arukh by Joseph Karo, annotations by Moses Isserlis. Volume Yoreh Deah. (Amsterdam, 1648.) Rare edition, and perhaps the only extant copy in a library collection.  

Lebens beshraybung Yozef II  (Biography of Joseph II). (Brno, 1799).  Extremely rare secular, Yiddish book in Yiddish published in Brno in 1799, a biography of  Joseph II (1741-1790), Holy Roman Emperor, the ruler of Habsburg lands from 1780-1790.