During the cornerstone ceramony of the new National Library building in Jerusalem, President Rivlin presented a Persian-Jewish manuscript, copied in 1899. It contains Persian Piyutim and Liturgical poems previously unknown and extremely rare. During the cataloguing process it was clear that this was a major discovery in the research and history of Persian Jewry.

 "Poem for a Brit Milah", from the manuscript 

The National Library is currently working hard to digitize the content of the manuscript, scanning it and putting it online so it can be available and accessible for researchers and anyone else who wishes to view it from around the world.

A previously unknown piyut by Bahb Ben Lutuf, from the manuscript

It is interesting to note that the manuscript's author is unknown. However, the listing of owners prior to the Rivlin estate,  reveals that  the previous owner had passed away in 1978 – approximately a year before the Iranian Revolution which brought about the severing of diplomatic relations between Israel and Iran.

The births and deaths of the previous manuscript owners, from the manuscript