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“The former Jewish residential district in Warsaw has ceased to exist. The great action ended with the blowing up of the Warsaw synagogue at 20:15. " Thus, in a report to SS-Obergruppenführer and General of Police Krüger of May 16, 1943, Jürgen Stroop described the demolition of the Great Synagogue in Tłomackie. As a result of the fire, its flames also burst into the neighboring building of the Main Judaic Library, now the seat of the Jewish Historical Institute. Despite the passage of over 75 years, traces of damage can be seen on the floor in the Institute’s hall.

Interesting discoveries happen in every library and the JHI library is no exception. This time I came across a work Rishmey Sheela, published in Warsaw, by Israel Moshe ben Arie Leib, a rabbi in Zabłudów. The Hebrew year [5]571, given in the chronogram, is the year 1811 in the Gregorian calendar. The volume belonging to the collection of the Jewish Historical Institute is the oldest book printed in Hebrew in Warsaw by a Jewish printer.