Page 39 - HaMizrachi #10 Yom Yerushalayim - Shavuot 5779
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RECOMMENDED READING
MR. JERUSALEM
The story of Eliyahu Koren and his flagship publication, The Koren Tanakh
When Eliyahu Korngold the Torah while restoring ‘ownership’ became the official Tanakh on which
made aliyah, he was of the Hebrew Bible to the Jewish the President of Israel took his oath,
passionate about a number people. while the Israeli Rabbinate named it
of things, primarily art, the Hebrew as the authoritative Tanakh for the
letter and Jerusalem. He left Germany The official Israeli stamp for most accurate Haftarah readings. To
in 1933, changed his last name to The Koren Tanakh’s 50th anniversary this very day, troops in the IDF receive
Koren and set sail for Eretz Yisrael. a personal copy of the Koren Tanakh
For Eliyahu Koren, it was time the at their induction ceremonies. With
For Mr. Koren, Jerusalem was the words of the prophet Isaiah came to this juxtaposition of physical and
manifestation of beauty and tradition. life: ִּכי ִמ ִּצ ּי ֹון ֵּת ֵצא ת ֹוָרה ּו ְד ַבר ה' ִמיר ּו ׁ ָש ָלִם, spiritual, The Koren Tanakh became
It was a city that represented vitality, “For out of Zion shall the Torah a symbol of Zionism and the revival
rebirth and promise for the Jewish go forth and the word of G-d from of the Jewish people in their national
people as a whole. He began working Jerusalem” (Isaiah 2:3). He designed a homeland.
at the Jewish National Fund (KKL), gold logo for the spine of his Tanakh
designing graphic elements that which would shine the crown of Today, Koren Publishers Jerusalem
became iconic to the State, including Jerusalem. continues to bring the Hebrew
the first official stamp of Israel and The world would know that Jerusalem letter to life. Still headquartered in
Jerusalem’s official coat of arms, still was at the heart of the company. Jerusalem, the company most recently
in use today. Mr. Koren’s remarkable design modernized the Rashi script, based
of the Hebrew lettering and ִנ ּק ּוד on sketches originally designed by
Mr. Koren eventually launched his (vowelization) won the attention of Mr. Koren. Rashi’s original text was
own company, Koren Publishers leading dignitaries. The Koren Tanakh restored, rectifying printing errors
Jerusalem, as he prepared to reveal seen in most other Humashim. Like
his flagship project to the world: The the other Koren fonts, the text is crisp,
Koren Tanakh (the English translation contemporary and legible. It can be
is known as The Jerusalem Bible). seen in The Steinsaltz Humash and in
Published in 1962, The Koren Tanakh upcoming projects.
became the first Hebrew Bible to be
produced entirely by Jews in 500 years Now, more than 50 years later,
and the first Tanakh published in the students of all ages continue to use
new State of Israel. Prior to that time, The Koren Tanakh and especially
most versions of the Hebrew Bible had love the new colorful editions. On
been produced by Christian publishers bookshelves around the world, the
and were rife with printing errors. gold Koren logo shines, reminding us
Determined to rectify these mistakes, that, like Eliyahu Koren, our center
Koren worked on the Tanakh for two and passion as a people will always be
decades, consulting with experts Jerusalem.
on medieval manuscripts, Hebrew
grammarians, copyeditors, and SPECIAL FOR HAMIZRACHI READERS!
opticians so he could to develop the
most accurate, legible design. He Get an extra 10% off any
aspired to revitalize the Hebrew letter item on the Koren Publishers
with a new, precise font that would website when you use the
reflect the sacredness and majesty of promo code MIZRACHI. Offer
valid on orders in the US and
Canada, until June 30, 2019.
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