A rare recording of the Nobel-prize winning Israeli author S.Y. Agnon at his 70th birthday party has been found at the home of the late Micha Schocken, the youngest son of Salman Schocken, who owned Haaretz at the time. On the four forgotten tapes, which last a total of 85 minutes, Agnon can be heard conversing with other well-known people at the party, which took place in July 1958 at the Schocken Library in Jerusalem.

The event was attended by some 200 guests, among them leading figures from the world of academia and the government.

The tapes contain a speech by Agnon and also one by Gershom Schocken, who was the publisher and editor of Haaretz at the time and the host of the event. Other speeches were made by literary critic Baruch Kurzweil; historian and former education minister Prof. Ben-Zion Dinur; then chair of the Knesset Education Committee, Shoshana Persitz; and author S. Yizhar, who was invited to speak as the representative of the younger generation of authors. The evening's emcee was kabbala luminary Prof. Gershom Sholem.

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In his speech, Agnon described the celebrations of his 50th and 60th birthdays. Each time, he said, he had to deal with an abundance of congratulations and the need to make a speech. With regard to his 60th birthday, he said: "I did not recount great things and wonders about myself. Who more than I knows of my impoverishment? I say this not from false modesty, but from my own opinion - that an author who believes he has great things to tell about himself misappropriates his mission. The individual to whom God gave an author's pen must write of the acts of God and his wonders with human beings."

Journal to publish CDs, transcripts

The tapes have been entrusted to the care of Prof. Dan Laor, Agnon's biographer. They will be transferred to CDs, which will come out simultaneously with the 30th edition of the Hebrew-language literary journal Alpayim. The journal will feature a complete transcript of the tapes.

According to Laor's article in the journal, 1958 was a banner year for the acclaimed author. It was the year he won the Israel Prize for the second time, and received an honorary doctorate.

Agnon opened his speech by saying "I had a mishap with you, a 'puncture.' I didn't prepare a speech. I expected our righteous messiah to appear, and that you and I would go out to greet him and I would not have to stand here and speak about my 70 years."