Publishing House for Torah Manuscripts

Some twenty years ago, Shuvi Nafshi founded an entirely new division dedicated to preparing unpublished manuscripts for publication, and for republishing works that had become rare and out of print. Over the years, this division has published several dozen works totaling hundreds of thousands of volumes. Some of these are from manuscripts that never saw print before, since their authors did not manage to have them published. Others are reworked editions of previously published works.

This painstaking work is done by a dedicated staff of Torah scholars who have expertise in this field. They begin by deciphering and copying the text from the manuscript, studying it in depth and editing it accordingly. All sources cited in the text are verified, and footnotes are added comparing the author’s text with those of other authors. Finally, the work is thoroughly and carefully proofread to ensure that the text is faithful to the original manuscript and/or earlier editions.

A Torah Library

The scholars at work in this division have at their disposal a vast library of Torah texts with tens of thousands of volumes, including copies of hundreds of unpublished manuscripts, some of which are more than 500 years old. The library includes halakhic responsa, novellae on the Torah, novellae on the Talmud, novellae on Kabbalah, and more. Hundreds of the volumes are quite old, having been published over a century ago. Many were the personal property of leading rabbis of previous generations, and the margins are filled with their valuable glosses.

The library includes texts covering every area of Torah wisdom. All this is at the disposal of our scholars and the public in general, as an aid in their pursuit of the Torah’s truth.