Jewish culture is profoundly textual. Literacy has always been highly valued, and the written word enjoys a status that is all the stronger for want of a strong continuous tradition of musical or visual art. The book has been accorded a status little short of magical. At the heart of Jewish worship is the display, reading and exposition of a written text, the Torah. Public education has been accorded a high priority in Jewish society down the ages, and the possession of books has been a feature of Jewish homes even when it was rare in the surrounding culture. Scholarship has been valued as a profession, and those who earn their livelihood by other means have made time in their lives to pursue it, often to a high standard. The scholars have been the custodians and transmitters of Jewish culture throughout the centuries, and they are the true heroes of Jewish history.

Most of what has been said may seem unremarkable in a society shaped by Christianity, which has adopted or imitated the Jewish respect for sacred texts; and indeed it could be argued that all the world's religions possess sacred scriptures of their own that stand at the core of religious belief and practice. But in Jewish life the place of the book is exceptionally elevated. Jews have tended to show an extraordinary respect for books, and there is no hint of the chaining, censorship or even burning of books as practised in the past by other religions.