Reading the Tree: A Hands-On Workshop in Ilanot Manuscripts

Image: Detail, MS O Hebr. 33:3, Uppsala University Library

Date and Time

February 26, 2026
10:30AM - 12:30PM EST

Location

Hofer Classroom, Houghton Library, Harvard Yard

Houghton-Medieval Studies Workshop in Early Book History (1), Co-sponsored by the Committee on Medieval Studies and Houghton Library

Yossi Chajes (Sir Isaac Wolfson Professor of Jewish Thought, University of Haifa). 

Space in this hands-on workshop is limited; please click here to register.


This hands-on workshop centers on three major ilanot manuscripts on exclusive loan to the seminar from the Klau Library (HUC–JIR, Cincinnati): an early witness of the Magnificent Parchment (a pinnacle of the classical ilanot tradition); an extraordinary rotulus among the earliest extant “Great Trees” of the Lurianic school; and a highly imaginative ilan visualizing Saruqian cosmogonic teachings. Our close examination will be enriched by comparative consultation of kabbalistic works at Houghton, highlighting the visual repertoires these manuscripts adapt to map divine topography and the emanatory chain of being.