Recordings of Past Events

We've collected some of our most fascinating discussions, lectures and cultural encounters from recent years here on this page. Have a look!

Recordings of Past Events

Matti Friedman in Conversation With Simon Sebag Montefiore: Live From the National Library of Israel

A special event at the National Library of Israel brings together acclaimed authors Matti Friedman and Simon Sebag Montefiore for a conversation about Jerusalem’s role as a symbol and stage for world history, Israel’s ongoing struggle to define itself, and the ways in which global narratives shape—and are shaped by—this small consequential country. Here is a lively exchange of ideas on the city’s past, present, and future — and its continuing power to fascinate, inspire, and divide.

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The Power of Bearing Witness: Listening as an Act of Hope and Renewal

Stories from survivors of October 7 and reflections on how the work of listening, documenting, and preserving memory furthers healing and hope.

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An Insider’s View of the National Library of Israel During Wartime

The NLI opened its new building in the midst of war, and quickly pivoted to reviving the soul and spirit of the country.

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Between the Burning of a Language and Its Birth: 90 Years Since the Berlin Book Burning

Micha Ullman discusses two of his sculptures with Yigal Zalmona: "The Empty Library" in Berlin, and his new work, "Letters of Light", which can be found on the grounds of the new National Library of Israel.

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Becoming Shakespeare: The Printed Canon at the National Library of Israel

In 2022, the National Library of Israel received a magnificent bequest of rare books from the early modern period. Three of them are original editions of Shakespeare’s works, from the seventeenth century. Two more were printed in the eighteenth century, and relate to Samuel Johnson’s seminal Dictionary of the English Language, which was finally published in 1755. In this presentation Dr Micha Lazarus (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) and Dr Stefan Litt (National Library of Israel) talk about the story these five books tell. It is a story about how Shakespeare, and what Shakespeare meant, were transformed in the century and a half following his death through the medium of print. When he died in 1616 Shakespeare was a wealthy and respected playwright. By the publication of Johnson’s dictionary in 1755, he was England’s native genius, the foundation not only of its literature but of the English language itself. These books at the National Library of Israel tell the story of how Shakespeare became Shakespeare

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