The World’s Oldest Jewish Book on Display at The Jewish Theological Seminary   

The Afghan Liturgical Quire (ALQ) will be featured in the exhibit “Sacred Words: Revealing the Earliest Hebrew Book” 

March 18, 2025, New York, NY — The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) is proud to announce a new exhibition opening on March 19 that will feature the oldest Jewish book in the world — the Afghan Liturgical Quire (ALQ). The exhibit, titled Sacred Words: Revealing the Earliest Hebrew Book, will be on display until July 17.  

“It is our honor to host this historic treasure at the JTS Library,” said Dr. David Kraemer, Joseph J. and Dora Abbell JTS Librarian and Professor of Talmud and Rabbinics. “Bringing it to JTS, sharing its story with the public, and highlighting its celebrated past is truly a gift. This one-of-a-kind manuscript has much to teach us about Jewish history and the many cultures it has touched throughout the past 1300 years.”    

The ALQ is a medieval manuscript comprised of prayers, poems, and pages of the oldest discovered Passover Haggadah, which was mysteriously written upside down. The prayers and poetry in the book draw on texts from the Hebrew Bible.  

The manuscript was found in a cave in the Bamiyan Valley of Afghanistan along the Silk Roads and has been scientifically dated to circa 700. After its discovery in the late twentieth century, Christians, Jews, and Muslims worked together to save it, understand it, and make it accessible to the world.  
 
Sharon Liberman Mintz, Curator of Jewish Art at JTS, noted that, “This manuscript marks a pivotal moment in the history of the Hebrew book—it is the earliest known example of ancient Jewish texts preserved in the form of a codex—a book as we know it today. The Afghan Liturgical Quire offers an extraordinary opportunity to discover a volume of Jewish prayers that predates any known Siddur, revealing a rich liturgical tradition that extends back well over a millennium.  I am delighted to present this remarkable treasure at JTS and invite the public to engage with this unique and historic artifact of Jewish heritage.” 

The “Sacred Words” exhibition was developed in partnership with The Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC, and in cooperation with the Afghan Jewish Foundation, the American Sephardi Federation, and Congregation Anshei Shalom of Jamaica Estates.  

The exhibit is open to the public during Library Hours.

Group tours are available. Please contact Dr. David Kraemer, Joseph J. and Dora Abbell Librarian and Professor of Talmud and Rabbinics, for more information.