Type your last name. There’s a good chance it’s already sitting in Israel’s national archive. And you don’t have to go to Israel to find it. You can search it from your couch in St. Louis in a matter of seconds.
That’s not a metaphor. It’s something people are already doing.
“They go in, and they find their grandfather’s name in there… and all of a sudden they understand that they’re part of a really big story,” said Naomi Schacter, the library’s director of partnerships and international relations.
That moment, unexpected, personal, a little emotional, is what the National Library of Israel is built around.
Not just preserving Jewish history. Connecting people to it.
A search that hits closer than you think
So, we tried it.
We went to the National Library of Israel’s homepage, used the main search bar, nothing fancy, and typed in “St. Louis.”
From there, we clicked on ‘Newspapers’ and then into the Historical Jewish Press collection, known as JPress, which pulls from Jewish newspapers around the world.
One of the first hits was a short item from The Maccabean, a Zionist publication from 1906. It described a mass meeting at the Sherith Sphaard Synagogue in St. Louis, held in memory of Theodor Herzl. About 500 people showed up despite heavy rain and raised money for the Jewish National Fund.
It’s not long. Just a few paragraphs. A handful of names.
But then we kept going.
After searching synagogues, we clicked into the photo archive.
That’s when a name kept showing up: “Dan Hadani in St. Louis.” Hadani had photos of hang-gliders, the Zoo, and restaurants around town. He was on vacation in St. Louis. No big deal, right?
Photo by [010] Hadani Dan (Hadani Dan010)
So we looked him up.
Hadani, it turns out, is a Holocaust survivor who went on to become one of Israel’s most prolific photojournalists. His work helped document decades of Israeli life through the Israel Press and Photo Agency, and along the way, he made stops in St. Louis.
His photos also appeared in the Jewish Light over the years. Some of those images are now sitting in the archive, and yes, we will be doing a full story on Hadani, his life, his work, and of course his photos in St. Louis.
So, just like that, a quick search turned into something else entirely. Not just a record of a moment, but a person. A life. A connection you wouldn’t have known to look for.
How to try it yourself
Start here: https://www.nli.org.il/en
No login. No paywall.
Type your last name.
Try “St. Louis.”
Search a synagogue, a school, a business.
If you get stuck, you can reach out through chat, WhatsApp or email. A real person will help you dig.
The part most people miss
This isn’t really about a library in Israel.
It’s about whether you ever think to look.
Because once you do, even if it’s just a quick search, you might find something small. A name. A place. A photo of the old St. Louis Dolphinarim and moment you didn’t know existed.
And suddenly, it’s not just history anymore. It’s yours.
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