{"id":132742,"date":"2026-05-27T05:00:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T05:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/132742\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T05:00:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T05:00:09","slug":"israels-national-library-recieves-copy-of-uks-first-jewish-cookbook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/132742\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel’s National Library recieves copy of UK’s first Jewish cookbook"},"content":{"rendered":"

A rare hard copy of the first Jewish cookbook and housekeeping guide published in England recently joined the ever-growing collections of the National Library of Israel<\/a> (NLI).<\/p>\n

NLI announced the acquisition in a statement last week ahead of the Shavuot<\/a> holiday, noting that it will join the library’s collection of historical and modern cookbooks of Jewish and Israeli cuisine.<\/p>\n

Published in 1846, The Jewish Manual: Practical Information in Jewish and Modern Cookery (With a Collection of Valuable Recipes & Hints Relating to the Toilette boasts a range of recipes, self-care tips and tricks, and housekeeping advice.<\/p>\n

Authorship of The Jewish Manual, however, remains a question.\u00a0While the cookbook was originally published anonymously by \u201cA Lady,\u201d scholars later attributed the title to British linguist Lady Judith Montefiore, the wife of Sir Moses Montefiore.<\/p>\n

Though there is no concrete proof of the matter, the theory is plausible for several reasons.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe first kosher cookbook published in England from 1846, titled ”The Jewish Manual of Modern Cookery, With a Collection of Valuable Recipes & Hints Relating to the Toilette,” May 26, 2026. (credit: Haim and Hanna Salomon Judaica Collection at the National Library of Israel)<\/p>\n

The Jewish Manual\u2019s text indicates the author was well-traveled, including to Israel (at the time, under the rule of the Ottoman Empire), and a member of the upper class.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Very few Jewish women living in England<\/a> at the time held the title of Lady, and many of the recipes printed in the book correspond to cuisine served in the Montefiore home.<\/p>\n

Montefiore had also accompanied her husband on five of his trips to Israel.<\/p>\n

Cookbook includes recipes, self-care, housekeeping tips<\/p>\n

Recipes in The Jewish Manual include several types of cheesecake, \u201cPalestine Soup\u201d (made using the knuckle of a veal, the foot of a calf, a large fowl, a pound of chorissa, water, lemon peel, Jerusalem artichokes, sweet herbs, and spices), and \u201cRoasted Chestnuts for Desserts.\u201d<\/p>\n

NLI also shared\u00a0a few of\u00a0The Jewish Manual\u2019s dairy recipes in its statement\u00a0in honor of Shavuot, including several cheesecake recipes<\/a> (both sweet and savory), one for macaroni and cheese, and another for fondue.<\/p>\n

Chapters covering personal, self-care include mentions of specifically \u201ccosmetic baths, composed of milk\u201d that were also \u201cin frequent use among the higher classes in the East; and we have been informed that they are gradually gaining favor in France and England.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other sections focus on providing advice \u201cto guide the young Jewish housekeeper in the luxury and economy of \u2018The Table,\u2019 on which so much of the pleasure of social intercourse depends.\u201d<\/p>\n

NLI’s mission: Preserving Jewish knowledge, heritage\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cUp until now, the library\u2019s catalog only had access to the Montefiore Collection\u2019s digital copy of The Jewish Manual,\u201d explained Dr. Chaim Neria, Curator of the Haim and Hanna Solomon Judaica Collection at the National Library of Israel.<\/p>\n

Neria noted how important it was for the museum to acquire a physical copy of the Jewish cookbook.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was important to us to have a hard copy, as acquiring this book, the first-ever Jewish cookbook published in England, is part of our mandate to collect, preserve, and share collections of knowledge, heritage, and culture of the Jewish people, the State, and the Land of Israel,” Neria said. \u201cThe Montefiore family heritage is most certainly intertwined with all the above.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A rare hard copy of the first Jewish cookbook and housekeeping guide published in England recently joined the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":132743,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[3077,6446,37,44326,44325,26371,44324,36967],"class_list":["post-132742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-england","tag-food","tag-israel","tag-jewish-cuisine","tag-jewish-food","tag-national-library-of-israel","tag-recipe","tag-shavuot"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116644781905495594","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132742\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}