A Most Memorable Reference Question

A Most Memorable Reference Question

Having been a librarian for near to forty years I have learned that most librarians who assist patrons with their reference questions have at least one or two memorable stories they enjoy sharing. Some are funny, some are poignant. They are the librarians’ “war stories.”

The incident I am about to relate occurred around 1976, when HUC-JIR was still on West 68^th Street. One Monday morning I answered the telephone and was greeted by the voice of a young man who spoke English with a mild Yiddish inflection at machine-gun speed. He did not offer his name but asked point-blank,” What can you tell me about the Sayfer Khenikh?

It took me a moment to realize he was referring to the apocryphal Book of Enoch, known in Hebrew as Sefer Hanokh.

Now while the Book of Enoch was historically a “Jewish book” and at one time was held to be holy by some Jews, as evidenced by its citation in the Christian Bible (Jude 1:14-15) and by fragments found at Qumran, it is virtually unknown to Jews today outside of scholarly circles. Moreover, it is largely unknown today to mainstream or even Evangelical Christians in the United States. So I was curious as to how this young man came across it and why he was calling me.

I asked how he knew about this book, and he said that the previous Shabbos he came across a marvelous book at the home of an acquaintance called the Sayfer Agudeh. It took me a moment to decipher that he was referring to the classic Sefer ha-Agadah, complied by Ravnitzky and Bialik, hardly something a student in a Haredi yeshivah would read!

He said the book contained many Medroshim he had never heard before, and that he was especially enthralled by some attributed to the Book of Enoch, and he wanted to know more about it.

He also said that he had called other Jewish libraries, but the librarians said they had nothing to tell him and that ours was the last library on his list.

I asked him if he was a student in a yeshiva and if he had a “rebbe” or “mashgiah ruhani.” He said yes to both.

I then instructed him to go to his “rebbe” or “mashgiah ruhani” and tell him that I would be willing to tell him (the young man) anything he wanted to know about the Sayfer Khenikh if and only if his “rebbe” or “mashgiah ruhani” gave me permission to do so.

He rang off, and I doubted if I would hear from him again.

The following Friday morning the telephone rang and it was the same young man calling back.

He said that he went to his “rebbe” and told him what he had asked me and what I had then instructed him to do, namely, ask the teacher or spiritual mentor’s permission for me to share what I knew about the Book of Enoch.

“My ’rebbe’ told me to do three things: to thank you, to tell you that he says that you are mensch, but, no, you may not tell me anything about the Sayfer Khenikh.”

He then wished me “A Gitn Shabbos” and hung up.