The library was awarded because of their special content as a Swiss heritage of national importance in 2009.
Nevertheless, there were discussions in early 2014 about the future of this cultural heritage for financial reasons.
The library of the largest Jewish community in Switzerland owns more than 50,000 volumes in Yiddish, Hebrew and German language.
Among these there are, in addition to fiction, valuable scientific works, Judaica, Hebraica, Hebrew prints from the 16th to 18th century, theological literature (Talmudica), prayer books and Bibles.

In December 1939, the Verein Jüdische Bibliothek Zürich (literally: Jewish library Zürich association) handed over its stocks to establish the ICZ library while Jewish libraries in Europe were destroyed by the Nazi regime.
After the war, Hannah Arendt, then managing director of the Jewish Cultural Reconstruction, Inc., handed over parts of the library of the Breslau Rabbinical Seminary in Germany which was suppressed by the Nazis.
The oldest books of its collection date back to the 16th century, among them a 1595 print of Flavius Josephus' Antiquities of the Jews, a testimony early book printing dating back to 1595.

On occasion of the 75th anniversary of the ICZ library, the anniversary edition Quelle lebender Bücher (literally: source of living books) was published, edited by the ICZ-librarians Yvonne Domhardt and Kerstin A. Paul, in which 75 people present their favorite book from the library.
Among them are "Five years in the country Neutralia" by the Ukrainian journalist Shemariah Gorelik, who talks about his stay in Switzerland from 1914 to 1918.
Or Johann Caspar Ulrich, who wrote as the first Christian author a veine history of Swiss Jews in the mid-18th-century.
The contemporary Swiss writer Charles Lewinsky was inspired by a 1938 edition of the Israelitisches Wochenblatt: the protagonist Felix Grün in Lewinsky's family saga Melnitz.
Not only because of the complete volumes of the newspaper Israelitisches Wochenblatt, the ICZ is a rich cultural and historical source for Judaism in Switzerland, its library is a central place of the examination of Jewish identity, and with yourself, the literature professor Andreas Kilcher wrote.
The importance of the library was also shown on occasion of the debate on its possible division: The library is full of hidden comments to ourselves.
When for financial reasons the sponsorship publicly discussed to outsource the scientific inventory in the Zürich central library, by end of 2014 the Verein für Jüdische Kultur und Wissenschaft (literally: Association for Jewish Culture and Science), however, managed to collect from foundations and private donations the amount of CHF 250,000, and thus ensuring the financing of the library for another three years.
The library was awarded because of their special content as a Swiss heritage of national importance in 2009. Nevertheless, there were discussions in early 2014 about the future of this cultural heritage for financial reasons. The library of the largest Jewish community in Switzerland owns more than 50,000 volumes in Yiddish, Hebrew and German language. Among these there are, in addition to fiction, valuable scientific works, Judaica, Hebraica, Hebrew prints from the 16th to 18th century, theological literature (Talmudica), prayer books and Bibles.
In December 1939, the Verein Jüdische Bibliothek Zürich (literally: Jewish library Zürich association) handed over its stocks to establish the ICZ library while Jewish libraries in Europe were destroyed by the Nazi regime. After the war, Hannah Arendt, then managing director of the Jewish Cultural Reconstruction, Inc., handed over parts of the library of the Breslau Rabbinical Seminary in Germany which was suppressed by the Nazis. The oldest books of its collection date back to the 16th century, among them a 1595 print of Flavius Josephus' Antiquities of the Jews, a testimony early book printing dating back to 1595.
On occasion of the 75th anniversary of the ICZ library, the anniversary edition Quelle lebender Bücher (literally: source of living books) was published, edited by the ICZ-librarians Yvonne Domhardt and Kerstin A. Paul, in which 75 people present their favorite book from the library. Among them are "Five years in the country Neutralia" by the Ukrainian journalist Shemariah Gorelik, who talks about his stay in Switzerland from 1914 to 1918. Or Johann Caspar Ulrich, who wrote as the first Christian author a veine history of Swiss Jews in the mid-18th-century. The contemporary Swiss writer Charles Lewinsky was inspired by a 1938 edition of the Israelitisches Wochenblatt: the protagonist Felix Grün in Lewinsky's family saga Melnitz. Not only because of the complete volumes of the newspaper Israelitisches Wochenblatt, the ICZ is a rich cultural and historical source for Judaism in Switzerland, its library is a central place of the examination of Jewish identity, and with yourself, the literature professor Andreas Kilcher wrote. The importance of the library was also shown on occasion of the debate on its possible division: The library is full of hidden comments to ourselves. When for financial reasons the sponsorship publicly discussed to outsource the scientific inventory in the Zürich central library, by end of 2014 the Verein für Jüdische Kultur und Wissenschaft (literally: Association for Jewish Culture and Science), however, managed to collect from foundations and private donations the amount of CHF 250,000, and thus ensuring the financing of the library for another three years.
Israelitische Cultusgemeinde Zürich (ICZ)