Brown University

Judaic Studies

Material of the Week: Sphaera Mundi

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A detailed 16th-century woodcut diagram from Sphaera Mundi showing a geocentric model of the celestial sphere.

Published: 1546, Basel, Switzerland Published just three years after Copernicus proposed his heliocentric (Sun-centered) cosmic model, Sphaera Mundi, written by Rabbi Abraham Hispanus, subscribes to the still widely accepted geocentric (Earth-centered) model of the universe. In Hebrew and Latin, the text elucidates the design of the universe with dozens of illustrations, and various leaves include … Material of the Week: Sphaera Mundi

Haggadot at the Hay – March 15, 2018

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An open page from the 1546 edition of Sphaera Mundi featuring two woodcut diagrams: the top illustration depicts a lunar eclipse and the bottom shows a solar eclipse, with both diagrams labeled in Hebrew and Latin.

Around 20 students, faculty, and guests visited the Hay on March 15 for Haggadot at the Hay, a short tour of the ongoing Ungerleider Collection of Haggadot and a show-and-tell with curated Judaica housed at the Hay. Below are some of the items featured during the event. Sephardic Siddurim: Early Jewish Presence in North America After … Haggadot at the Hay – March 15, 2018