Most of the students have left Hebrew Union College. Rare books could be next. (2024)

CINCINNATI — Two years after downsizing the student population on its Clifton Avenue campus, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion is again provoking critics by taking steps to sell rare books and manuscripts from its world-famous Klau Library.

School officials say no sale is imminent, but two things happened this year that make some think a sale is likely.

The school’s director of libraries resigned in February, citing pressure to sell rare books, according to his resignation letter, obtained by the WCPO 9 I-Team. In March, two representatives from the Sotheby’s auction house visited the Klau Library to evaluate its possessions.

“I am worried about the future of this library,” said Michael Meyer, a professor emeritus of Jewish history at HUC. “It has been absolutely essential to my career.”

Dr. Gary Zola, executive director emeritas of the American Jewish Archives, said the school has reneged on its promise to “re-imagine” the Cincinnati campus as part of its 2022 resolution to end its rabbinical residency program in Cincinnati by 2026.

“Part of that vote was to establish a major research center in Cincinnati,” Zola said. “We’re now past two years from that vote and there’s not even one tangible bit of evidence that anything has been done in that department. There’s nothing achieved.”

In an email to the I-Team, spokeswoman Patricia Keim wrote that HUC-JIR is “committed to ensuring that the Klau Library maintains its critical role in research, scholarship, and the Reform Movement and we hope to maintain the Cincinnati campus as a hub for research, gatherings, and academic pursuits.”

But it also faces “notable headwinds,” including a “long-term enrollment decline and changing environment for clergy education.” So, “business as usual is not an option.”

“While we have no current plans to sell any part of our collection, it would be irresponsible to foreclose such actions should they be deemed necessary to preserve and maintain the collection and access to it," Keim wrote. "In any case, any such decision would be carefully reviewed and require approval by the Board of Governors.”

The Sotheby's visit and resignation of Libraries Director Yoram Bitton were first reported by Minneapolis journalist Lev Gringauz, whose Cincy Jewfolk article in April said HUC-JIR faced a $6.5 million budget deficit in its 2024 fiscal year.

Bitton's resignation letter said he didn't want to go against the library's mission "by selling the treasures of the Jewish people to the highest bidder."

Bitton, who joined the Library of Congress in March, did not return a voicemail seeking comment.

"The collection is a united being that took almost 150 years to build," Bitton wrote in the Jan. 24 letter. "To remove any of the treasures is like removing a limb."

The I-Team also obtained photos of Sotheby's employees in the Klau Library. Both referred our inquiries to public relations.

“Sotheby’s is not engaged in a business relationship with HUC-JIR,” spokesman Derek Parsons said. “Sotheby’s specialists routinely conduct visits with institutions and private collectors,” visits that include “inventorying and appraising items” for reasons that do not include a pending sale.

"As far as I know, no decision has been made whether or not to sell the books," Meyer said. "But what is quite clear is that possibility, that frightening possibility, is being considered seriously."

Why it matters
Meyer said the Klau and American Jewish Archives have an unrivaled collection of books, manuscripts, periodicals and recordings that document Jewish life over centuries in China, Europe and the United States.

“This is one of the two or three most important Jewish libraries in the world,” Meyer said. “I have at times been approached by other institutions (to) join their faculty. A principal consideration for me in remaining here was this library.”

Established in 1875, the Klau contains more than 14,000 rare books, including the world’s largest collection of Chinese manuscripts that identify Jewish families dating back to Ming dynasty and a polyglot version of the Book of Psalms created in 1516.

Polyglot texts are used by biblical scholars to compare translations and document observations about specific verses. The Klau’s five-language text is believed to capture the first time Christopher Columbus’ name was used in print.

“Now, the reason I open to this page, Psalm 19, is it says something like the word of the lord will go to the ends of the earth,” explained Jordan Finkin, deputy director of libraries at HUC. “If we look in the footnotes, (readers find a Latin phrase suggesting) Christopher Columbus is fulfilling the prophesy.”

The book was published in Columbus’ hometown of Genoa, Italy just 26 years after the explorer is said to have discovered America.

“So, it’s ‘native son makes good,’ right? I mean, that’s what rare books have is good stories,” Finkin said.

Whether or not rare books are sold soon, Zola questions whether the library and archives can survive without daily visits by the rabbinical students and budding historians who’ve called the Cincinnati campus home for more than a century.

In addition to closing the rabbinical program, HUC-JIR phased out graduate programs in 2023.

“I personally know of no example in the world where an academic library and an archival research center exist thousands of miles away from the academy itself,” Zola said. “Show me an example of how this works. I don’t understand how you can expect to actualize a plan when there is absolutely no precedent for success.”

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