He moved to Germany at a young age, working as a teacher[2] in Berlin and Paderborn before settling in Hanover as a financially independent Klausrabbiner at the Michael David'sche Stiftung.

[4] By the time of his death in 1868, Rosenthal's collection was considered the largest private library in this field in Germany, consisting of more than 5,200 volumes that included 32 manuscripts, 12 Hebrew incunabula, and a selection of rare Hebraica and Judaica on the subjects of religion, literature, and history.

George Rosenthal housed the library in his home on Amsterdam's Herengracht and commissioned the Dutch-Jewish bibliographer Meijer Roest (1821-1889) to compile a catalogue of the collection.

Leeser Rosenthal's children wanted the library to remain undivided and serve as a public resource in memory of their learned father.

The reading room was closed and a number of seals had been attached, but most of the Bibliotheca Rosenthaliana was kept in the book storage depot.

Some of the Bibliotheca Rosenthaliana's manuscripts and incunables had already been placed in crates below the book depot since they were part of a single organisational unit along with those of the University Library.

Herman de la Fontaine Verwey, the University librarian during the war, made plans with Hirschel to smuggle the most valuable books out of the reading room, using old seals discarded when new ones were applied.

[8] The Pekidim and Amarkalim (officers and treasurers) formed an international organization whose purpose was to coordinate the fundraising to support impoverished Jews in Palestine.

The organization maintained close contacts with the leaders of the Jewish communities in the cities of Jerusalem, Hebron, Safed and Tiberias.

The archive, which contains 10,100 incoming letters, is a very important source for the early history of the Jewish settlement in Palestine in modern times.

That his archive, comprising four boxes of handwritten material and three with copies and clippings, exists is partially due to the fact that he was murdered, after which his house was sealed and his papers returned to his widow.

[12] The Esslingen Machzor has been digitised and made available online together with its counterpart, held at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York.

The Bibliotheca Rosenthaliana holds a late thirteenth century copy of Rabbi Isaac ben Moses of Vienna's famous work, Sefer Or Zarua.

Despite its nature as a halakhic work, Sefer Or Zarua provides plenty of historical information in the form of everyday traditions and local customs across Europe that makes it an interesting source for both religious and medieval historians.