When you think of Amsterdam, images of canals, cycling, and the Anne Frank House probably come to mind, but did you know that the Dutch city is also home to the oldest, continuously running, Jewish library in the world? In the late 1500’s, many Sephardic Jews left their home countries of Spain and Portugal, where they were required to live as Christians, and came to Amsterdam where they could enjoy religious freedom. There they founded a library/school which still runs to this day.
Called Ets Haim (Hebrew for ‘The Tree of Life’), the library was built in 1616 in order to welcome newcomers to live as Jews again. The library was a place for them to debate exactly what being Jewish means and allowed them to worship openly after having to do so secretly in the home countries.
As Atlas Obscura reports, the library was moved in 1675 to the Esnoga, the Portuguese Synagogue complex. Since having open flames so near to so many books was a fire hazard, the building was designed with skylights and octagonal openings between the two floors in order to allow as much natural light as possible. Nowadays the library features lights, including large chandeliers, and a wooden spiral staircase to connect its two floors.
The library holds almost 30,000 books, some of which date back to 1484. It is also home to over 500 manuscripts which date back to 1282. The library stands as a monument to Jewish history and culture, and gives us a great insight into the history of the Sephardic culture.
In 1889, the librarian at the time, David Montezinos, donated his private collection following his wife’s death. This included over 20,000 books, pamphlets, manuscripts, and illustrations. Since then, the library has been known as Ets Haim/Livraria Montezinos in his honour.
In recent years, Ets Haim has partnered with the National Library of Israel and the Jewish Historical Museum in Amsterdam in order to digitise its manuscripts so people across the world can enjoy them. Ets Haim is counted as one of the Dutch Department of Culture’s National Cultural Heritage sites, and part of UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register.
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