NYC Gazette

Yeshiva University possesses a Yemenite Megillat Esther, a scroll that has traveled a long journey before finding its home at the institution. The scroll's story began in 1868 when Reverend Joshua Weaver, then Rector of the St. James American Episcopal Church in Florence, Italy, embarked on a pilgrimage to Palestine. During his travels, he acquired the Megillah from an unknown source while riding "mounted on a camel with a special group of guards and guides." The exact date when the scribe penned the Yemenite Megillah remains unknown. It is made of deerskin and includes blessings recited before and after its reading.

Weaver later transitioned to academia as a professor of Hebrew language at the General Theological Seminary in New York. He eventually gifted the Megillah to his relative William Ritchie, an Omaha-based lawyer and prominent Democratic party leader. At that time, Rabbi Israel Mowshowitz was serving as rabbi of the United Orthodox Congregations of Omaha and had connections with Dr. Samuel Belkin, President of Yeshiva University during 1948-1949. Rabbi Mowshowitz visited Ritchie, who expressed interest in donating the Megillah to Yeshiva University in memory of his late wife.

Rabbi Mowshowitz sent the Megillah to Yeshiva University where it was displayed in 1950 as part of a Purim exhibit and kept in rare collections until 1980 when it came under the care of the Yeshiva University Museum. Rabbi Mowshowitz had suggested to Dr. Belkin that Yeshiva should start a museum—a vision that eventually became reality.

The delicate nature of the Yemenite Megillah makes it unsuitable for synagogue use today; it could have been consigned to Genizah or burial as shemos if not for its current placement at Yeshiva University.

"Who would have imagined that the chain of ownership, starting with an Episcopalian Reverend would lead the Megillah to an honored home at Yeshiva University," remarked Shulamith Z. Berger, Curator of Special Collections and Hebraica-Judaica.