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The Cairo Genizah is considered one of the world's greatest Hebrew manuscript treasures. Yet the story of how over a quarter of a million fragments hidden in Egypt were discovered and distributed around the world, before becoming collectively known as “The Cairo Genizah,” is far more convoluted and compelling than previously told. The full story involves an international cast of scholars, librarians, archaeologists, excavators, collectors, dealers and agents, operating from the mid-nineteenth to the early twentieth century, and all acting with varying motivations and intentions in a race for the spoils. Basing her research on a wealth of archival materials, Jefferson reconstructs how the...
Explains how Cairo came to have its important Genizah archive, how Cambridge developed its interests in Hebraica, and how a number of colourful figures brought about the connection between the two centres. Also shows the importance of the Genizah material for Jewish cultural history.
"The 'discovery' the Cairo Genizah has transformed Judaic Studies and our understanding of the Medieval Middle East more broadly. However, the complete story of how over a quarter of a million Hebrew manuscript fragments were discovered in 19th century Egypt and reassembled in collections around the world is far more convoluted and compelling than previously told. A little-known, forgotten or ignored cast of scholars, librarians, archaeologists, excavators, collectors, dealers and agents, all acting with varying motivations and intentions, utilized hidden networks and created alliances to find, disperse and redistribute these materials. Based on a wealth of archival materials, this book will...
Indiana Jones meets The Da Vinci Code in an old Egyptian synagogue--the amazing story of one of the most important discoveries in modern religious scholarship. In 1896, Rabbi Solomon Schechter of Cambridge University stepped into the attic of the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Cairo, Egypt, and there found the largest treasure trove of medieval and early manuscripts ever discovered. He had entered the synagogue's genizah--its repository for damaged and destroyed Jewish texts--which held nearly 300,000 individual documents, many of which were over 1,000 years old. Considered among the most important discoveries in modern religious history, its contents contained early copies of some of the Dead Sea Sc...
Indiana Jones meets The Da Vinci Code in an old Egyptian synagogue--the amazing story of one of the most important discoveries in modern religious scholarship. In 1896, Rabbi Solomon Schechter of Cambridge University stepped into the attic of the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Cairo, Egypt, and there found the largest treasure trove of medieval and early manuscripts ever discovered. He had entered the synagogue's genizah--its repository for damaged and destroyed Jewish texts--which held nearly 300,000 individual documents, many of which were over 1,000 years old. Considered among the most important discoveries in modern religious history, its contents contained early copies of some of the Dead Sea Sc...
"Almost one thousand years ago, the Jews of Old Cairo began to place their worn-out books and scrolls into a hidden storage room - a genizah - of their synagogue. Over the years, they added all sorts of writings to the pile, sacred and secular texts alike. When the chamber was emptied at the end of the 19th century, it held hundreds of thousands of paper and parchment fragments. Now known as the 'Cairo Genizah', it has become one of the most important sources of knowledge for the history of the Middle East and the Mediterranean world. This book offers the first illustrated introduction to the unique collections of Cairo Genizah manuscripts at Cambridge University Library. Join Genizah experts Nick Posegay and Melonie Schmierer-Lee as they take you on a journey of discovery through more than 125 years of research at the University of Cambridge, showcasing over 300 stunning, full-colour manuscript images across 12 thematic chapters. From ancient Bibles to medieval magic and Renaissance printing presses, The Illustrated Cairo Genizah reveals the forgotten stories of Jewish, Muslim, and Christian communities at the centre of a millennium of world history.".
The collection of Hebrew, Arabic and Jewish manuscript material that was deposited in the Cairo Genizah as early as a thousand years ago is of major significance for our understanding of all aspects of life in the medieval Mediterranean world. This volume presents a selection of papers from the third congress of the Society for Judaeo-Arabic Studies: after introductory material by the editors, it ranges over a wide area of Judaeo-Arabic language and literature, giving the reader a clear impression of recent research in the field. Among the topics covered are the early grammarians, translators and commentators; newly discovered texts of poetry, liturgy and legend; and the religious difference...
NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARD FINALIST Part of the Jewish Encounter series One May day in 1896, at a dining-room table in Cambridge, England, a meeting took place between a Romanian-born maverick Jewish intellectual and twin learned Presbyterian Scotswomen, who had assembled to inspect several pieces of rag paper and parchment. It was the unlikely start to what would prove a remarkable, continent-hopping, century-crossing saga, and one that in many ways has revolutionized our sense of what it means to lead a Jewish life. In Sacred Trash, MacArthur-winning poet and translator Peter Cole and acclaimed essayist Adina Hoffman tell the story of the retrieval from an Egyptian geniza, or repository fo...