Museum of the Bible in the South of Washington, DC. Photo: Farragutful, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
The goal of the Washington DC Museum of the Bible is to educate the public about the history of the Bible, its many narrative forms, and its impact on societies around the world. The building, located at 400 4th Street SW, has a total of 430,000 square feet and stands out for its design and architecture, the combined work of seven design firms.
Recently, the museum presented an extraordinary work to the public for the first time: a Jewish manuscript that scholars claim is the oldest Jewish book ever discovered.
It is named after the Afghan Liturgical Quire, and is 1,300 years old. The book measures just five by five inches and contains a mix of prayers, poems, and what is considered the oldest known version of the Haggadah.
It was created by Jews living in a Buddhist civilization in what is now Afghanistan, in a minority Jewish community living in the Bamiyan Valley, an important point on the Silk Road.
Although older Hebrew texts have been found, they were found in scrolls, but to date, this is the oldest book found.
The exhibition will be available in New York in 2025, and full academic studies on the manuscript are expected to be published in April.
