The first of the genizah papers to arrive in england was a page in hebrew from a book by. The cairo genizah collection of the bodleian libraries. Indiana jones meets the da vinci code in an old egyptian synagogue the amazing story of. But the contents of the cairo genizah show that jews were allowed a far more. The amazing discoveries of forgotten jewish history in an egyptian synagogue attic. For a thousand years, the jewish community of fustat old cairo, placed their wornout books and other writings in a storeroom genizah of the ben ezra synagogue, and in 189697 the cambridge scholar, dr solomon schechter, with financial help from the master of st. U penn libraries cajs library taylorschechter genizah research unit cambridge library. However, as you can see above, when i returned home weary and disheveled at about 10. The smith sisters were born in 1843, in irvine, scotland, and raised with stern enlightenment by their very wealthy widowed father, who, as.
The taylorschechter cairo genizah collection in cambridge university library, the. Completing the 118yearold puzzle of the cairo genizah israeli supercomputer is matching up 200,000 text fragment images in historic breakthrough for ancient manuscript scholarship. The cairo genizah and the material text our speaker, marina rustow, is khedouri a. In 1896, cambridge university scholar solomon schechter jumped down into the.
As we read of the jews fleeing egypt, this past wednesday in hazzan menes coffee with the cantor class we were reminded of our complex history with egypt, so it seems a good time to mention the cairo genizah. Kleins article on targumic studies and the cairo genizah sheds lightfrom the middle. For many centuries, cairo played an important role as one of the most prominent middle eastern economic, political and cultural centers. The importance of the cairo genizah became apparant in 1896, when two christians brought some leaves to solomon schechter, who at the time was a professor of talmudic and rabbinical literature at englands cambridge university. Treasures of the cairo genizah highland park conservative. The bestknown genizah, the cairo genizah, is located in the ezra synagogue in fustat old cairo, egypt. He travelled to cairo to find the source of the manuscripts, uncovering the remarkable hoard known as the cairo genizah and bringing 200,000 medieval jewish fragments back to cambridge university library, the famous taylorschechter genizah collection. The single largest and most important collection of medieval jewish manuscripts in the world, and one of the greatest literary treasures of cambridge university library, was recovered from the dusty storeroom, known as a genizah, of an ancient egyptian synagogue.
Cambridge bibliographical society collection development and. For a thousand years, the jewish community of fustat old cairo, placed their wornout books and other writings in a storeroom genizah of the ben ezra synagogue, and in 1896. The amazing discoveries of forgotten jewish history in an egyptian synagogue attic unabridged audiobook, by rabbi mark glickman. It begins with an overview of a century of work on the famous taylorschechter collection of hebrew manuscripts at cambridge university library. Cole and hoffman discussed the book with sara ivry in an episode of vox tablet. Apr 26, 2017 medieval jewish papers tell vivid stories in cambridge exhibition.
Cambridge university library genizah series book 1. Indiana jones meets the da vinci code in an old egyptian synagogue the amazing story. Zilkha professor of jewish civilization in the near east at princeton university. Browse the genizah fragments university of pennsylvania. Mar 08, 2020 gathering dust and aging not gracefully in the genizah of the ben ezra synagogue in old cairo, this amazing trove of jewish manuscripts and administrative documents from the 10th to th century was brought to the attention of solomon schecter in 1896 by the scottish semitic scholars, the twin sisters, agnes s. The contents of the book go up to heaven like the soul schechter 1897.
For nearly a millennium, the genizah, or storeroom, of the ben ezra synagogue in cairo. Sacred treasure the cairo genizah audiobook by rabbi. They showed the parchment leaves to a fellow cambridge university scholar. Eye witness account from the cairo genizah testifying to the local practice of burying materials 11th century ce image. Kleins article on targumic studies and the cairo genizah sheds lightfrom the middle ageson the cain and abel narrative genesis 4. Ben outhwaite, head of the cambridge university library genizah research. Torah scrolls, prayer books, letters, receipts, amulets and other. The subject suggests dreary text and arcane terminology.
The perne club is the humanities discussion society at peterhouse. Medieval jewish papers tell vivid stories in cambridge exhibition. Documentary unravels history and digital future of mysterious. 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.
Medieval documents from the cairo genizah are now on display in an exhibit at. Help about home a catalogue of cairo genizah fragments at the bodleian libraries. Sep 06, 2009 the smith sisters were born in 1843, in irvine, scotland, and raised with stern enlightenment by their very wealthy widowed father, who, as soskice reports, educated his daughters more or less. The genizah of medieval cairo provides a window on the life of a community a thousand years ago a jewish community in the centre of a thriving islamic empire, international in outlook, multicultural in make up, devout to its core. A guide for the perplexed is dara horns most ambitious, audacious, edifying, and entertaining novel yet. The amazing discoveries of forgotten jewish history in an egyptian synagogue attic unabridged sacred treasure the cairo genizah.
For a thousand years, the jewish community of fustat old cairo, placed their wornout books and other writings in a storeroom genizah of the ben ezra synagogue, and in 189697 the cambridge scholar, dr solomon schechter, with financial help from the master of st johns college, charles taylor, arrived to examine it. This collection of original contributions by an international group of experts summarizes recent developments in genizah research. Dec 31, 2017 it also provides an indepth account, together with transcriptions of original letters, of the activities of the various genizah manuscript collectors operating in cairo during the late 1890s and the unspoken race to recover the original hebrew version of the book of ben sira. Poetry by various fatimid authors, such as tamim alfatimi 948 984, can be found in the cairo genizah, which are held at the taylorschechter genizah collections of cambridge university library. The topics are varied, including secular and religious poetry, although love poetry is the dominant theme. Aug 08, 2017 we, with our partners at the university of pennsylvania libraries, the princeton geniza project, the library of the jewish theological seminary, and the genizah research unit at cambridge university library, are delighted to announce the launch of scribes of the cairo geniza formerly known as surviving scripts, a project to sort and expand. In 1897, 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. October 28, 2010 this past tuesday was a long hard day for me. Jan 25, 2019 as we read of the jews fleeing egypt, this past wednesday in hazzan menes coffee with the cantor class we were reminded of our complex history with egypt, so it seems a good time to mention the cairo genizah. In europe, the church, the feudal lords, the cities, and the. The importance of the genizahs contents rivals that of the rosetta stone, and by virtue of its sheer mass alone, it will continue to command our attention indefinitely. Sacred treasure the cairo genizah audiobook by rabbi mark. His book, the cairo geniza was published by blackwell in 1958, with a.
Indiana jones meets the da vinci code in an old egyptian synagoguethe 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. A genizah a hiding place generally refers to a depository for items which can read more. Medieval jewish papers tell vivid stories in cambridge. The taylorschechter collection at cambridge is the largest, by far, single. Book for children from cairo geniza michelle paymar. The documents of the cairo geniza as a source for mediterranean social history thestudents of the history of the mediterra nean countries during the high middle ages have often complained about the almost complete ab sence of archives in muslim countries. Over one hundred years ago, solomon schechter was a professor of talmudic and jewish studies at cambridge university in england. Recommended for jewish studies classes, book groups, and synagogue adult study classes. Ben outhwaite, head of the cambridge university library genizah research unit and raquel ukeles, islam and middle east curator at the national library of israel, will join filmmaker michelle paymar, whose breathtaking film from cairo to the cloud tells the story of how the content of the genizah, dispersed around the globe, has become.
Sacred treasure the cairo genizah, with rabbi mark glickman. It was the identification of a ben sira text among the bodleian fragments in may of that year which induced schechter to proceed to cairo in the autumn and bring back with him practically the entire written contents of the genizah. Ernest james, two book lists from the cambridge genizah fragments, jqr 20. Acquired over the years since 1890 it consists of about 4,000 fragments. We, with our partners at the university of pennsylvania libraries, the princeton geniza project, the library of the jewish theological seminary, and the genizah research unit at cambridge university library, are delighted to announce the launch of scribes of the cairo geniza formerly known as surviving scripts, a project to sort and expand. Solomon schechter at work in cambridge university library, 1898. The amazing discoveries of forgotten jewish history in an egyptian synagogue attic by rabbi mark glickman is a fascinating glimpse through time. Their contents and significance cambridge university library genizah series. Schechter recognized them as the hebrew original book of wisdom, ascribed to ben sira. The cairo geniza is an accumulation of almost 200,000 jewish manuscripts that were found in the genizah of the ben ezra synagogue built 882 of fustat, egypt now old cairo, the basatin cemetery east of old cairo, and a number of old documents that were bought in. A genizah is a storage room for discarded books and written materials. These manuscripts outline a 1,000year continuum 870 ce to 19th century of jewish middleeastern and north african history and comprise the largest. Sacred treasure the cairo genizah, with rabbi mark glickman in 1897, 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. For a millennium the jewish community of old cairo placed their old books and.
Hundreds of thousands of ancient documents offer a unique glimpse into jewish life in cairo. Benshammai wrote up the nice paper, medieval history and religious thought. The cairo genizah is the single most complete archive of a society anywhere in the whole medieval world simon schama, the story of the. The taylorschechter cairo genizah collection at cambridge university library. Annual genizah lecture 2019 tickets, wed, oct 30, 2019 at 5. These now constitute the bulk of the taylorschechter collection at the cambridge university library. Taylorschechter genizah research unit cambridge university.
Sacred treasure the cairo genizah indiana jones meets the da vinci code in an old egyptian synagoguethe amazing story of one of the most important discoveries in modern religious scholarship. Gathering dust and aging not gracefully in the genizah of the ben ezra synagogue in old cairo, this amazing trove of jewish manuscripts and administrative documents from the 10th to th century was brought to the attention of solomon schecter in 1896 by the scottish semitic scholars, the twin sisters, agnes s. The taylorschechter genizah collection is a window on the medieval world and has been colourfully described as a refuge for writings and a battlefield of books. The collection of cairo genizah fragments held at the bodleian libraries is one of major collections of its kind. Sacred treasure the cairo genizah is the first accessible, comprehensive account of this astounding treasure trove of documents and their discovery. Before we could ask our volunteers to transcribe, we needed more information about the fragments themselves.
New project scribes of the cairo geniza daily zooniverse. Solomon schechter studying documents from the cairo geniza, c. This collection of original contributions by an international group of experts. Ben outhwaite, director, taylorschechter genizah research unit, cambridge university traces with pageturning enthusiasm the discovery, study, and significance of the cairo genizah. Oct 30, 2008 the cairo geniza is an accumulation of almost 200,000 jewish manuscripts that were found in the genizah of the ben ezra synagogue built 882 of fustat, egypt now old cairo, the basatin cemetery east of old cairo, and a number of old documents that were bought in cairo in the later 19th century. Advanced search sample sacred treasure the cairo genizah. Completing the 118yearold puzzle of the cairo genizah. The cairo geniza, alternatively spelled genizah, is a collection of some 400,000 jewish. The taylorschechter cairo genizah collection at cambridge university library is the worlds largest and most important single collection of medieval jewish manuscripts. The cairo geniza, alternatively spelled genizah, is a collection of some 400,000 jewish manuscript fragments and fatimid administrative documents that were found in the genizah or storeroom of the ben ezra synagogue in fustat or old cairo, egypt.
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