Sefer ha-Chassidim: restored in 2006 with funding from James A. Gordon and Andrea S. Gordon in memory of Benjamin Schwartz.

Tiqquney ha-Zohar and Sefer Menorath ha-Maor: restored in 2006 with funding from the Ringing Rocks Foundation.

Orach Chayim: restored in 2011 with funding from the Boston Chapter of Save Venice Inc.

The Renato Maestro Library and Archive in the Ghetto of Venice houses books, manuscripts, and periodicals belonging to the Jewish Community of Venice. The library is particularly strong in nineteenth- and twentieth-century material, but also houses numerous rare books dating to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In 2006, Save Venice restored three of these early modern printed books, as well as a fourth book in 2011.

Sefer ha-Chassidim was printed in Basel in 1581 and is a major work in the field of ethics, containing teachings of the Hasidei Ashkenaz movement of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.

The four volume Tiqquney ha-Zohar is a seminal work on Jewish mysticism containing seventy interpretations of Bereshit (“in the beginning”), printed in Mantua in 1558.

The Sefer Menorath ha-Maor, printed in Mantua in 1563, was a popular work of religious edification written by Isaac Aboab at the end of the fifteenth century and first printed in Constantinople in 1514.

The Orach Chayim written by Jacob ben Asher (c. 1270 – 1340) contains 697 chapters and deals with blessing, prayers, the Sabbath, festivals and fasts. It was printed in Venice in 1551.

These books were restored by Margherita Errera of the Filigrana conservation firm, with the guidance of the Library and Archives Department of the Veneto Region.

For select projects, conservation dossiers in Italian containing limited textual and photographic documentation may be available for consultation by appointment at the Venice office of Save Venice and the Rosand Library & Study Center. For inquiries, please contact us at venice@savevenice.org.

Sefer ha-Chassidim (The Book of the Righteous)
1581
Printed in Basel

Tiqquney ha-Zohar (The Book of Splendor)
1558
Printed in Mantua

Sefer Menorath ha-Maor (The Book of the Lamp of Light)
1563
Printed in Mantua

Orach Chayim (Way of Living)
1551
Printed in Venice

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